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History of
Sindhi Language
Sindhi is one of the major languages of Pakistan, spoken in the province of
Sindh by approximately twenty million people. It is one of the oldest
languages of the sub-continent, with a rich culture, vast folklore and
extensive literature.
Linguistic Boundaries:
Sindhi has extended its isoglosses beyond the geographical boundaries of the
province of Sindh. In Northern Sindh it flows over the north-west into
Balochistan province, to the North and North-west into the Punjab and the
former Bhawalpur State; on the West it is bounded by the mountain range
separating Sindh from Balochistan. This boundary has not been crossed by
Sindhi, except in the Southern part of the hilly area of Kohistan. Here in
general, the language spoken is Balochi but Sindhi is also found being
spoken by a good number of population in the former lasbella State, now a
part of Balochistan Province. It is spoken as mother tongue. It has spread
its influence still further a field towards the Persian Gulf in the Markran
area of Balochitan and is spoken as a first language along with Balochi (Markrani)
by a large number of people in jadgal, guwadar, ormara and pasni, and has
crossed the Gulf and is spoken in Muskat, Abuzahbi and generally in the
coastal region.
In the east and south-east, Sindhi has crossed the Rann of Katch and is
spoken by a large number of people in Katch, Gujarat and the peninsula of
Kathiawar and sorahtar in India.
In the east, it has influenced the speech of the neighboring part of former
Marwar and Jaisalmir states of Rajputana in India.
After the partition of India, numerous Sindhi Hindus migrated from Sindh and
settled in Central, Western and Northern part of India.
Sindhi is not only spoken in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent but it is also
spoken by approximately 4,00,000 peoples, as their first languages, in
Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Congo, South Africa, Madagascar, East Africa & in
U.K. U.S.A., and Canada by those who have migrated to U.K., U.S.A., and
Canada from Uganda and other countries of the world. It is also spoken in
Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Srilanka, and in some other countries in
Far-East and South-East-Asia by some traders who have settled there in the
first quarter of the nineteenth century or even earlier than that by their
fathers & fore fathers.
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