Sindhi language

Not to be confused with Hindi.

Sindhi (/ˈsɪndi/ SIN-dee; Sindhi: سِنڌِي‎ (Perso-Arabic) or सिन्धी (Devanagari), pronounced [sɪndʱiː]) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status. It is also spoken by a further 1.7 million people in India, where it is a scheduled language, without any state-level official status. The main writing system is the Perso-Arabic script, which accounts for the majority of the Sindhi literature and is the only one currently used in Pakistan. In India, both the Perso-Arabic script and Devanagari are used.

Sindhi
Sindhī سِنڌِي‎ सिन्धी
Sindhi written in Perso-Arabic script and Devanagari
Pronunciation	IPA: [sɪndʱiː]
Native to	Pakistan India
Region	Sindh and near the border in neighbouring regions such as Kutch and Balochistan
Ethnicity	Sindhis
Native speakers	c. 32 million (2011–2017)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Northwestern Sindhic Sindhi
Writing system	Naskh script, Devanagari and others
Official status
Official language in	Pakistan Sindh (provincial official) India (scheduled language)
Regulated by	Sindhi Language Authority (Pakistan) National Council for Promotion of Sindhi Language (India)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	sd
ISO 639-2	snd
ISO 639-3	snd
Glottolog	sind1272  Sindhi
Linguasphere	59-AAF-f
The proportion of people with Sindhi as their mother tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census
Sindhi is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Sindhi is first attested in historical records within the Nātyaśāstra, a text thought to have been composed between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. The earliest written evidence of Sindhi as a language can be found in a translation of the Qur’an into Sindhi dating back to 883 A.D. Sindhi was one of the first Indo-Aryan languages to encounter influence from Persian and Arabic following the Umayyad conquest in 712 CE. A substantial body of Sindhi literature developed during the Medieval period, the most famous of which is the religious and mystic poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai from the 18th century. Modern Sindhi was promoted under British rule beginning in 1843, which led to the current status of the language in independent Pakistan after 1947.

History

Cover of a book containing the epic Dodo Chanesar written in Hatvanki Sindhi or Khudabadi script.

Origins

The name "Sindhi" is derived from the Sanskrit síndhu, the original name of the Indus River, along whose delta Sindhi is spoken.

Like other languages of the Indo-Aryan family, Sindhi is descended from Old Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit) via Middle Indo-Aryan (Pali, secondary Prakrits, and Apabhramsha). 20th century Western scholars such as George Abraham Grierson believed that Sindhi descended specifically from the Vrācaḍa dialect of Apabhramsha (described by Markandeya as being spoken in Sindhu-deśa, corresponding to modern Sindh) but later work has shown this to be unlikely.

Early Sindhi (2nd–16th centuries)

Literary attestation of early Sindhi is sparse. Sindhi is first mentioned in historical records within the Nātyaśāstra, a text on dramaturgy thought to have been composed between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. The earliest written evidence of Sindhi as a language can be found in a translation of the Qur’an into Sindhi dating back to 883 A.D. Historically, Isma'ili religious literature and poetry in India, as old as the 11th century CE, used a language that was closely related to Sindhi and Gujarati. Much of this work is in the form of ginans (a kind of devotional hymn).

Sindhi was the first Indo-Aryan language to be in close contact with Arabic and Persian following the Umayyad conquest of Sindh in 712 CE.

Medieval Sindhi (16th–19th centuries)

Medieval Sindhi literature is of a primarily religious genre, comprising a syncretic Sufi and Advaita Vedanta poetry, the latter in the devotional bhakti tradition. The earliest known Sindhi poet of the Sufi tradition is Qazi Qadan (1493–1551). Other early poets were Shah Inat Rizvi (c. 1613–1701) and Shah Abdul Karim Bulri (1538–1623). These poets had a mystical bent that profoundly influenced Sindhi poetry for much of this period.

Another famous part of Medieval Sindhi literature is a wealth of folktales, adapted and readapted into verse by many bards at various times and possibly much older than their earliest literary attestations. These include romantic epics such as Sassui Punnhun, Sohni Mahiwal, Momal Rano, Noori Jam Tamachi, Lilan Chanesar, and others.

The greatest poet of Sindhi was Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (1689/1690–1752), whose verses were compiled into the Shah Jo Risalo by his followers. While primarily Sufi, his verses also recount traditional Sindhi folktales and aspects of the cultural history of Sindh.

The first attested Sindhi translation of the Quran was done by Akhund Azaz Allah Muttalawi (1747–1824) and published in Gujarat in 1870. The first to appear in print was by Muhammad Siddiq in 1867.

Modern Sindhi (1843–present)

In 1843, the British conquest of Sindh led the region to become part of the Bombay Presidency. Soon after, in 1848, Governor George Clerk established Sindhi as the official language in the province, removing the literary dominance of Persian. Sir Bartle Frere, the then commissioner of Sindh, issued orders on August 29, 1857, advising civil servants in Sindh to pass an examination in Sindhi. He also ordered the use of Sindhi in official documents. In 1868, the Bombay Presidency assigned Narayan Jagannath Vaidya to replace the Abjad used in Sindhi with the Khudabadi script. The script was decreed a standard script by the Bombay Presidency thus inciting anarchy in the Muslim majority region. A powerful unrest followed, after which Twelve Martial Laws were imposed by the British authorities. The granting of official status of Sindhi along with script reforms ushered in the development of modern Sindhi literature.

The first printed works in Sindhi were produced at the Muhammadi Press in Bombay beginning in 1867. These included Islamic stories set in verse by Muhammad Hashim Thattvi, one of the renowned religious scholars of Sindh.

The Partition of India in 1947 resulted in most Sindhi speakers ending up in the new state of Pakistan, commencing a push to establish a strong sub-national linguistic identity for Sindhi. This manifested in resistance to the imposition of Urdu and eventually Sindhi nationalism in the 1980s.

The language and literary style of contemporary Sindhi writings in Pakistan and India were noticeably diverging by the late 20th century; authors from the former country were borrowing extensively from Urdu, while those from the latter were highly influenced by Hindi.

Geographic distribution

In Pakistan, Sindhi is the first language of 30.26 million people, or 14.6% of the country's population as of the 2017 census. 29.5 million of these are found in Sindh, where they account for 62% of the total population of the province. There are 0.56 million speakers in the province of Balochistan, especially in the Kacchi Plain that encompasses the districts of Lasbela, Hub, Kachhi, Sibi, Sohbatpur, Jafarabad, Jhal Magsi, Usta Muhammad and Nasirabad.

In India, Sindhi mother tongue speakers were distributed in the following states:

2011 Census Statistics (India Total: 2,772,264)

State	Population
Gujarat	1,184,024
Maharashtra	723,748
Rajashtan	386,569
Madhya Pradesh	245,161
Chattisgarh	93,424
Delhi (NCT)	31,177
Uttar Pradesh	28,952
Assam	19,646
Karnataka	16,954
Andhra Pradesh	11,299
Tamil Nadu	8,448
West Bengal	7,828
Uttarakhand	2,863
Odisha	2,338
Bihar	2,227
Jharkhand	1,701
Haryana	1,658
Kerala	1,251
Punjab	754
Goa	656
Dadra and Nagar and Daman and Diu	894
Meghalaya	236
Chandigarh	134
Puducherry	94
Nagaland	82
Himachal Pradesh	62
Tripura	30
Jammu and Kashmir	19
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	14
Arunachal Pradesh	12
Lakshadweep	7
Sikkim	2

Official status

Sindhi is the official language of the Pakistani province of Sindh and one of the scheduled languages of India, where it does not have any state-level status.

Prior to the inception of Pakistan, Sindhi was the national language of Sindh. The Pakistan Sindh Assembly has ordered compulsory teaching of the Sindhi language in all private schools in Sindh. According to the Sindh Private Educational Institutions Form B (Regulations and Control) 2005 Rules, "All educational institutions are required to teach children the Sindhi language. Sindh Education and Literacy Minister, Syed Sardar Ali Shah, and Secretary of School Education, Qazi Shahid Pervaiz, have ordered the employment of Sindhi teachers in all private schools in Sindh so that this language can be easily and widely taught. Sindhi is taught in all provincial private schools that follow the Matric system and not the ones that follow the Cambridge system.

At the occasion of 'Mother Language Day' in 2023, the Sindh Assembly under Culture minister Sardar Ali Shah, passed a unanimous resolution to extend the use of language to primary level and increase the status of Sindhi as a national language of Pakistan.

The Indian Government has legislated Sindhi as a scheduled language in India, making it an option for education. Despite lacking any state-level status, Sindhi is still a prominent minority language in the Indian state of Rajasthan.

There are many Sindhi language television channels broadcasting in Pakistan such as Time News, KTN, Sindh TV, Awaz Television Network, Mehran TV, and Dharti TV.

Dialects

The dialects of Sindhi language shown on map.

Sindhi has many dialects, and forms a dialect continuum at some places with neighboring languages such as Saraiki and Gujarati. Some of the documented dialects of Sindhi are:

• Vicholi: The prestige dialect spoken around Hyderabad and central Sindh (the Vicholo region). The literary standard of Sindhi is based on this dialect.
• Uttaradi: The dialect of northern Sindh (Uttaru, meaning "north"), with minor differences in Larkana, Shikarpur and in parts of Sukkur and Kandiaro.
• Lari: The dialect of southern Sindh (Lāṛu) spoken around areas like Karachi, Thatta, Sujawal, Tando Muhammad Khan and Badin districts.
• Siroli/Siraiki or Ubheji: The dialect of northernmost Sindh (Siro, meaning "head"). Spoken in smaller number all over Sindh but mainly in Jacobabad and Kashmore districts, it has little similarity with the Saraiki language of South Punjab and has variously been treated either as a dialect of Saraiki or as a dialect of Sindhi.
• Lasi: The dialect of Lasbela, Hub and Gwadar districts in Balochistan, closely related to Lari and Vicholi, and in contact with Balochi.
• Firaqi Sindhi: The dialect of the Kachhi plains the north eastern districts of Balochistan, where it is referred to as Firaqi Sindhi or commonly just Sindhi.
• Thareli: also called Tharechi dialect, spoken in north eastern Thar Desert of Sindh, called Nara desert (Achhro thar), but mainly spoken in the western part of Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, India by many Sindhi Muslims.
• Sindhi Bhili: It is a dialect spoken in Sindh by the Sindhi Meghwars and Bheels. Sindhi Bhil is known to have many old Sindhi words, which were lost after Arabic, Persian, and Chaghatai influence.

The variety of Sindhi spoken by Sindhi Hindus who emigrated to India is known as Dukslinu Sindhi. Furthermore, Kutchi and Jadgali are sometimes classified as dialects of Sindhi rather than independent languages.

Sindhi dialects Comparison

English	Vicholi	Lari	Uttaradi	Lasi	Kutchi	Dhatki
I	Aao(n)	Aao(n)	Mā(n)	Ã	Aau(n)	Hu(n)
My	Muhnjo	Mujo	Mānjo/Māhjo	Mojo/Mājo	Mujo	Mānjo/Māhyo
You "Sin, plu" (formal)	Awha(n)/Awhee(n) Tawha(n)/Tawhee(n)	Aa(n)/Aei(n)	Taha(n)/Taa(n)/ Tahee(n)/Taee(n)	Awa(n)/Ai(n)	Aa(n)/Ai(n)	Awha/Ahee(n)/ Aween
To me	Mukhe	Muke	Mānkhe	Mukh	Muke	Mina
We	Asee(n)	Asee(n), Pān	Asā(n)	Asee(n)	Asee(n), Pān	Asee(n), Asā(n)
What	Chha/Kahirō	Kujjāro/Kujja	Chha/Shha	Chho	Kuro	Kee
Why	Chho	Ko	Chho/Shho	Chhela	Kolāi/Kurelāe	Kayla
How	Kiya(n)	Kei(n)	Kiya(n)		Kee(n)	Kiya(n)
No	Na, Kōna, Kōn	Nā(n), Kīna	Na, Kōna, Kāna, Kon, Kān	Nā(n), Ma	Nā	Nā, Ni, Ko, Kon, Ma
Legs (plural, fem)	Tangu(n), Jjanghu(n)	Tangu(n), Jjangu(n)	Tangā(n), Jjanghā(n)
Foot	Pair	Pair/Pagg/Pagulo	Pair	Pair	Pag	Pagg, Pair
Far	Pare	Ddoor	Pare/Parte	Ddor	Chhete	Ddor
Near	Vejhō	Vejo/Ōdō/Ōdirō/Ore	Vejhō/Vejhe/Orte	Ōddō	Wat, bājūme	Nerro
Good/Excellent	Sutho, Chaṅō	Khāso/Sutho/Thhāuko	Sutho, Bhalo, Chango	Khāsho	Khāso, Laat	Sutho, Phutro, Thhāuko
High	Utāho	Ucho	Mathe	Ucho	Ucho	Uncho
Silver	Rupo	Chādi/Rupo	Chāndi	Rupo	Rupo
Father	Piu	Pay/Abo/Aba/Ada	Pee/Babo/Pirhe(n)	Pe	Pe, Bapa, Ada
Wife	Joe/Gharwāri	Joe/Wani/Kuwār	Zaal/Gharwāri	Zaal	Vahu/Vau	Ddosi, Luggai
Man	Mardu	Māņu/Mārū/Mard /Murs/Musālu	Mānhu/Musālo/Bhāi /Kāko/Hamra	Mānhu	Māḍū/Mārū	Mārū
Woman	Aurat	Zāla/ōrat/ōlath	Māi/Ran	Zāla	Bāeḍi/Bāyaḍī
Child/Baby	Bbār/Ningar/Bbālak	Bbār/Ningar/Gabhur/ Bacho/Kako	Bbār/Bacho/Adro/ Phar (animal)	Gabhar	Bār/Gabhar
Daughter	Dhiu/Niyāni	Dia/Niyāni/Kañā	Dhee/Adri	Dhia	Dhi	Dikri
Sun	Siju	Sij, Sūrij	Sijhu	Siju	Sūraj	Sūraj
Sunlight		Kārro	Oosa		Tarko
Cat	Billi	Bili/Pusani	Billi	Phushini	Minni
Rain	Barsāt/Mee(n)h /Bārish	Varsāt/Mee(n)/Mai(n)	Barsāt/Mee(n)hu		Varsāt	Meh, Maiwla
And	Aēi(n)	Ãū(n)/Ãē(n)/Nē	Aēi(n)/Aū(n)/Aen	Ãē/Or	Nē/Anē	A'e(n)/Ān
Also	Pin/Bhi	Pin, Bee	Bu/Pun		Pin/Pan
Is	Āhe	Āye	Aa/Āhe/Hai	Āhe/Āye	Āye	Āhe/Āh/Āye/Hai
Fire	Bāhe	Bāē/āgg/jjērō	Bāhe/Bāh	Jjērō	Jirō/lagāņō/āg
Water	Pāņī	Pāņī/Jal	Pāņī	Pāņī	Pāņī/Jal	Pāņī
Where	Kithē	Kithē	Kithē, Kāthe, Kehda, Kāday, Kādah, Kidah, Kithrē	Kith	Kithē	Kith
Sleep	Nindr(a)	Nind(a)	Nindr(a)	Nind	Ninder	Oongh
Slap	Thaparr/Chammāt	Tārr	Chamātu/Chapātu/ Lapātu/Thapu
To Wash	Dhoain(u)	Dhun(u)	Dhoain(u)/Dhuan(u)/ Dhowan(u)			Dhuwan(u)/ Dhoon(u)
Will write (Masc)	Likhandum, Likhandus	Likhados	Likhdum, Likhdus	Likhdosī		Likhsā(n)
I Went	Aao(n) Vius	Aao(n) Vēs	Ma(n) Vayus (m)/ Vayas (f)	Ã viosī		Hu Gios

Phonology

Sindhi has a relatively large inventory of both consonants and vowels compared to other Indo-Aryan languages. Sindhi has 46 consonant phonemes and 10 vowels. The consonant to vowel ratio is around average for the world's languages at 2.8. All plosives, affricates, nasals, the retroflex flap, and the lateral approximant /l/ have aspirated or breathy voiced counterparts. The language also features four implosives.

Consonants

Sindhi consonants

		Labial		Dental/ alveolar		Retroflex		(Alveolo-) Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal	plain		m م‎		n ن‎		ɳ ڻ‎		ɲ ڃ‎		ŋ ڱ‎
	breathy		mʱ مهہ‎		nʱ نهہ‎		ɳʱ ڻهہ‎
Stop/ Affricate	plain	p پ‎	b ب‎	t̪ ت‎	d̪ د‎	ʈ ٽ‎	ɖ ڊ‎	tɕ چ‎	dʑ ج‎	k ڪ‎	ɡ گ‎
	breathy	pʰ ڦ‎	bʱ ڀ‎	t̪ʰ ٿ‎	d̪ʱ ڌ‎	ʈʰ ٺ‎	ɖʱ ڍ‎	tɕʰ ڇ‎	dʑʱ جهہ‎	kʰ ک‎	ɡʱ گهہ‎
Implosive			ɓ ٻ‎		ɗ ڏ‎				ʄ ڄ‎		ɠ ڳ‎
Fricative		f ف‎		s س‎	z ز‎	ʂ ش‎				x خ‎	ɣ غ‎	h ھ ه‎
Approximant	plain		ʋ و‎		l ل‎				j ي‎
	breathy				lʱ لهہ‎
Rhotic	plain				r ر‎		ɽ ڙ‎
	breathy						ɽʱ ڙهہ‎

The retroflex consonants are apical postalveolar and do not involve curling back of the tip of the tongue, so they could be transcribed [t̠, t̠ʰ, d̠, d̠ʱ n̠ n̠ʱ ɾ̠ ɾ̠ʱ] in phonetic transcription. The affricates /tɕ, tɕʰ, dʑ, dʑʱ/ are laminal post-alveolars with a relatively short release. It is not clear if /ɲ/ is similar, or truly palatal. /ʋ/ is realized as labiovelar [w] or labiodental [ʋ] in free variation, but is not common, except before a stop.

The vowel phonemes of Sindhi on a vowel chart

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
Mid		ə
Open-mid	æ		ɔ
Open			ɑ

The vowels are modal length /i e æ ɑ ɔ o u/ and short /ɪ ʊ ə/. Consonants following short vowels are lengthened: /pət̪o/ [pət̪ˑoː] 'leaf' vs. /pɑt̪o/ [pɑːt̪oː] 'worn'.

Grammar

Nouns

Sindhi nouns distinguish two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), and five cases (nominative, vocative, oblique, ablative, and locative). This is a similar paradigm to Punjabi. Almost all Sindhi noun stems end in a vowel, except for some recent loanwords. The declension of a noun in Sindhi is largely determined from its grammatical gender and the final vowel (or if there is no final vowel). Generally, -o stems are masculine and -a stems are feminine, but the other final vowels can belong to either gender.

The different paradigms are listed below with examples. The ablative and locative cases are used with only some lexemes in the singular number and hence not listed, but predictably take the suffixes -ā̃ / -aū̃ / -ū̃ (ABL) and -i (LOC).

		SG			PL			Gloss
		NOM	VOC	OBL	NOM	VOC	OBL
M	I	ڇوڪِرو‎ chokiro	ڇوڪِرا‎ chokirā	ڇوڪِري‎ chokire	ڇوڪِرا‎ chokirā	ڇوڪِرا / ڇوڪِرَ‎ chokirā / chokira	ڇوڪِرَنِ‎ chokirani	boy
	II	ٻارُ‎ ɓāru	ٻارَ‎ ɓāra			ٻارو / ٻارَ‎ ɓāra / ɓāro	ٻارَنِ‎ ɓārani	child
	III	ساٿِي‎ sāthī		ساٿِيءَ‎ sāthīa	ساٿِي‎ sāthī	ساٿيئَرو‎ sāthīaro	ساٿيَنِ‎ sāthyani	companion
		رَھاڪُو‎ rahākū		رَھاڪُوءَ‎ rahākūa	رَھاڪُو‎ rahākū	رَھاڪُئو‎ rahākuo	رَھاڪُنِ‎ rahākuni	inhabitant
	IV	راجا‎ rājā			راجا / راجائتو ‎ rājā / rājāito		راجائُنِ ‎ rājāuni	king
		سيٺُ‎ seṭhu			سيٺَ ‎ seṭha		سيٺَنِ ‎ seṭhani	merchant
F	I	زالَ‎ zāla			زالُون‎ zālū̃		زالُنِ‎ zāluni	woman, wife
		سَسُ‎ sasu			سَسُون‎ sasū̃		سَسُنِ‎ sasuni	mother-in-law
	II	دَوا‎ davā			دَوائُون‎ davāū̃		دَوائُنِ‎ davāuni	medicine
		راتِ‎ rāti			راتيُون‎ rātyū̃		راتيُنِ‎ rātyuni	night
		هوٽَل‎ hoṭal			هوٽَلُون‎ hoṭalū̃		هوٽَلُنِ‎ hoṭaluni	hotel
	III	ڳَئُون‎ ɠaū̃		ڳَئُونَ‎ ɠaū̃a	ڳَئُون‎ ɠaū̃		ڳَئُونِ‎ ɠaūni	cow
	IV	نَدِي‎ nadī		نَدِيءَ‎ nadīa	نَديُون‎ nadyū̃		نَديُنِ‎ nadyuni	river

A few nouns representing familial relations take irregular declensions with an extension in -r- in the plural. These are the masculine nouns ڀاءُ‎ bhāu "brother", پِيءُ‎ pīu "father", and the feminine nouns ڌِيءَ‎ dhīa "daughter", نُونھَن‎ nū̃hã "daughter-in-law", ڀيڻَ‎ bheṇa "sister", ماءُ‎ māu "mother", and جوءِ‎ joi "wife".

	SG			PL			Gloss
	NOM	VOC	OBL	NOM	VOC	OBL
M	ڀاءُ‎ bhāu			ڀائُرُ / ڀائُرَ‎ bhāuru / bhāura	ڀائُرَ / ڀائُرو‎ bhāura / bhāuro	ڀائُرَنِ / ڀائُنِ‎ bhāurani / bhāuni	brother
F	ڌِيءَ / ڌِيءُ‎ dhīa / dhīu			ڌِيئَرُ / ڌِيئَرُون / ڌِيئُون‎ dhīaru / dhīarū̃ / dhīū̃		ڌِيئَرُنِ / ڌِيئُنِ‎ dhīaruni / dhīuni	daughter

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Like other Indo-Aryan languages, Sindhi has first and second-person personal pronouns as well as several types of third-person proximal and distal demonstratives. These decline in the nominative and oblique cases. The genitive is a special form for the first and second-person singular, but formed as usual with the oblique and case marker جو jo for the rest. The personal pronouns are listed below.

Personal pronouns

	SG		PL
	1	2	1	2
NOM	مَان‎ / آئُون‎ mā̃ / āū̃	تُون‎ tū̃	اَسِين‎ asī̃	تَوِھِين‎ tavhī̃
OBL	مُون‎ mū̃	تو‎ to	اَسَان‎ asā̃	تَوِھَان‎ tavhā̃
GEN	مُنھِنجو‎ mũhinjo	تُنھِنجو‎ tũhinjo	—

The third-person pronouns are listed below. Besides the unmarked demonstratives, there are also "specific" and "present" demonstratives. In the nominative singular, the demonstratives are marked for gender. Some other pronouns which decline identically to ڪو‎ ko "someone" are ھَرڪو‎ har-ko "everyone", سَڀڪو‎ sabh-ko "all of them", جيڪو‎ je-ko "whoever" (relative), and تيڪو‎ te-ko "that one" (correlative).

Third-person pronouns

			Demonstrative							Interrogative	Relative	Correlative
			Unmarked		Specific		Present		Indefinite
			PROX	DIST	PROX	DIST	PROX	DIST
SG	NOM	M	ھِي‎ hī	ھُو‎ hū	اِھو‎ iho	اُھو‎ uho	اِجهو‎ ijho	اوجهو‎ ojho	ڪو‎ ko	ڪيرُ‎ keru	جو‎ jo	سو‎ so
		F	ھِيءَ‎ hīa	ھُوءَ‎ hūa	اِھَا‎ ihā	اُھَا‎ uhā	اِجَها‎ ijhā	اوجَها‎ ojhā	ڪَا‎ kā	ڪيرَ‎ kera	جَا‎ jā	سَا‎ sā
	OBL		ھِنَ‎ hina	ھُنَ‎ huna	اِنهين‎ inhẽ	اُنهين‎ unhẽ	—		ڪَنْھِن‎ kãhĩ		جَنْھِن‎ jãhĩ	تَنْھِن‎ tãhĩ
PL	NOM		ھِي‎ hī	ھُو‎ hū	اِھي‎ ihe	اُھي‎ uhe	اِجهي‎ ijhe	اوجهي‎ ojhe	ڪي‎ ke	ڪيرَ‎ kera	جي‎ je	سي‎ se
	OBL		ھِنَنِ‎ hinani	ھُنَنِ‎ hunani	اِنَهنِ‎ inhani	اُنَهنِ‎ unhani	—		ڪِنِ‎ kini		جِنِ‎ jini	تنِ‎ tini

Numerals

Num. Cardinal 0 ٻُڙِي‎ ɓuṛi 1 هِڪُ‎ hiku 2 ٻَہ‎ ɓa 3 ٽِي‎ ṭī 4 چَارِ‎ cāri 5 پَنج‎ pañja 6 ڇَھَہ‎ chaha 7 سَتَ‎ sata 8 اَٺَ‎ aṭha 9 نَوَ‎ nava

Num. Cardinal 10 ڏَھَہ‎ ɗaha 11 يَارَنھَن‎ yārãhã 12 ٻَارَھَن‎ ɓārahã 13 تيرَھَن‎ terahã 14 چوڏَھَن‎ coɗahã 15 پَندرَھَن‎ pandrahã 16 سورَھَن‎ sorahã 17 سَترَھَن‎ satrahã 18 اَرِڙَھَن / اَٺَارَھَن‎ ariṛahã / aṭhārahã 19 اُڻوِيھَہ‎ uṇvīha

Postpositions

Most nominal relations (e.g. the semantic role of a nominal as an argument to a verb) are indicated using postpositions, which follow a noun in the oblique case. The subject of the verb takes the bare oblique case, while the object may be in nominative case or in oblique case and followed by the accusative case marker کي khe.

The postpositions are divided into case markers, which directly follow the noun, and complex postpositions, which combine with a case marker (usually the genitive جو jo).

Case markers

The case markers are listed below.

The postpositions with the suffix -o decline in gender and number to agree with their governor, e.g. ڇوڪِرو جو پِيءُ‎ chokiro j-o pīu "the boy's father" but ڇوڪِر جِي مَاءُ‎ chokiro j-ī māu "the boy's mother".

Case markers

Case	Marker	Example	English
Nominative	—	ڇوڪِرو‎ chokiro	the boy
Accusative Dative	کي‎ khe	ڇوڪِري کي‎ chokire khe	the boy to the boy
Genitive	جو‎ j-o	ڇوڪِري جو‎ chokire jo	of the boy
	سَندو‎ sand-o	ڇوڪِري سَندو‎ chokire sando
Sociative	سُڌو‎ sudh-o	ڇوڪِري سُڌو‎ chokire sudho	along with the boy
Comitative Instrumental	سَان‎ sā̃	ڇوڪِري سَان‎ chokire sā̃	with the boy
	سَاڻُ‎ sāṇu	ڇوڪِري سَاڻُ‎ chokire sāṇu
Locative	۾‎ mẽ	ڇوڪِري ۾‎ chokire mẽ	in the boy
	مَنجِهہ‎ manjhi	ڇوڪِري مَنجِهہ‎ chokire manjhi
Adessive	تي‎ te	ڇوڪِري تي‎ chokire te	on the boy
	وَٽِ‎ vaṭi	ڇوڪِري وَٽِ‎ chokire vaṭi	near the boy the boy has...
Orientative	ڏَانھَن‎ ḍā̃hã	ڇوڪِري ڏَانھَن‎ chokire ḍā̃hã	towards the boy
Terminative	تَائيِن‎ tāī̃	ڇوڪِري تَائيِن‎ chokire tāī̃	up to the boy
Benefactive	ل‎اءِ lāi	ڇوڪِري لاءِ‎ chokire lāi	for the boy
Semblative	وَانگُرُ‎ vānguru	ڇوڪِري وَانگُرُ‎ chokire vānguru	like the boy
	جَھْڙو‎ jahṛ-o	ڇوڪِري جَھْڙو‎ chokire jahṛo

There are several ablative case markers formed from the spatial postpositions and the ablative ending -ā̃. These indicate complex motion such as "from inside of".

Ablative case markers

Marker	Example	English
کَان‎ khā̃	ڇوڪِري کَان‎ chokire khā̃	from the boy
مَان‎ mā̃	ڇوڪِري مَان‎ chokire mā̃	from inside the boy
تَان‎ tā̃	ڇوڪِري تَان‎ chokire tā̃	from upon the boy
ڏَانھَان‎ ḍā̃hā̃	ڇوڪِري ڏَانھَان‎ chokire ḍā̃hā̃	from the direction of the boy

Finally, some case markers are found in medieval Sindhi literature and/or modern poetic Sindhi, and otherwise not used in standard speech.

Obsolete/rare case markers

Case	Marker	Example	English
Accusative Adessive	ڪَني‎ kane	ڇوڪِري ڪَني‎ chokire kane	to/near the boy

Complex postpositions

The complex postpositions are formed with a case marker, usually the genitive but sometimes the ablative. Many are listed below.

Sindhi	Transliteration	Explanation
جي اَڳيَان‎	je aɠyā̃	"ahead of, before"; apudessive
جي اَندَرِ‎	je andari	"inside of"; inessive
جي بَدِرَان‎	je badirā̃	"instead of, in place of"
جي بَرَابَر‎	je barābar	"equal to"
جي ٻَاھَرَان‎	je ɓāharā̃	"outside of"
کَان ٻَاھَرِ‎	khā̃ ɓāhari
جي باري ۾‎	je bāre mẽ	"about, concerning"
جي چَوڌَارِي‎	je caudhārī	"around"
جي ھيٺَان‎	je heṭhā̃	"below, under"
جي ڪَري‎	je kare	"for, on account of"
جي لَاءِ‎	je lāi	"for"
جي مَٿَان‎	je mathā̃	"above, on top of, upon"
کَان پَري‎	khā̃ pare	"far from"
جي پَارِ‎	je pāri	"across, on the other side of"
جي پَاسي‎	je pāse	"on the side of, near"
کَان پوءِ‎	khā̃ poi	"after"
جي پُٺيَان‎	je puṭhyā̃	"behind"
جي سَامهون‎	je sāmhõ	"in front of, facing"
کَان سِوَاءِ‎	khā̃ sivāi	"besides, apart from"
جي وَاسطي‎	je vāste	"for the sake of, on account of"
جي ويجهو‎	je vejho	"near"; adessive
جي وِچِ ۾‎	je vici mẽ	"between, among"
جي خَاطِرِ‎	je xātiri	"for the sake of"
جي خِلَافِ‎	je xilāfi	"against"
جي ذَرِيعي‎	je zarī'e	"via, through"; perlative

Vocabulary

According to historian Nabi Bux Baloch, most Sindhi vocabulary is from ancient Sanskrit. However, owing to the influence of the Persian language over the subcontinent, Sindhi has adapted many words from Persian and Arabic. It has also borrowed from English and Hindustani. Today, Sindhi in Pakistan is slightly influenced by Urdu, with more borrowed Perso-Arabic elements, while Sindhi in India is influenced by Hindi, with more borrowed tatsam Sanskrit elements.

Writing systems

Sindhis in Pakistan use a version of the Perso-Arabic script with new letters adapted to Sindhi phonology, while in India a greater variety of scripts are in use, including Devanagari, Khudabadi, Khojki, and Gurmukhi. Perso-Arabic for Sindhi was also made digitally accessible relatively earlier.

The earliest attested records in Sindhi are from the 15th century. Before the standardisation of Sindhi orthography, numerous forms of Devanagari and Laṇḍā scripts were used for trading. For literary and religious purposes, a Perso-Arabic script developed by Abul-Hasan as-Sindi and Gurmukhi (a subset of Laṇḍā) were used. Another two scripts, Khudabadi and Shikarpuri, were reforms of the Landa script. During British rule in the late 19th century, the Perso-Arabic script was decreed standard over Devanagari.

Perso-Arabic script

During the British raj, a variant of the Persian alphabet was adopted for Sindhi in the 19th century. The script is used in Pakistan and India today. It has a total of 52 letters, augmenting the Persian with digraphs and eighteen new letters (ڄ ٺ ٽ ٿ ڀ ٻ ڙ ڍ ڊ ڏ ڌ ڇ ڃ ڦ ڻ ڱ ڳ ڪ‎) for sounds particular to Sindhi and other Indo-Aryan languages. Some letters that are distinguished in Arabic or Persian are homophones in Sindhi.

Below table presents Sindhi Perso-Arabic alphabet. Letters shaded in yellow are solely used in writing of loanwords, and the phoneme they represent are also represented by other letters in the alphabet. Letters and digraphs shaded in green aren't usually considered as part of the base alphabet. They are either commonly used digraphs representing aspirated consonants, or are ligatures serving a grammatical function. These ligatures include the ۽‎, which is pronounced as [ãĩ̯] and represents and, and the ۾‎, which is pronounced as [mẽ] and it creates a locative relationship between words.

Sindhi alphabet

Perso-Arabic [IPA]	ا‎ [∅]/[ʔ]/[aː]	ب‎ [b]	ٻ‎ [ɓ]	ڀ‎ [bʱ]	ت‎ [t]	ٿ‎ [tʰ]
Perso-Arabic [IPA]	ٽ‎ [ʈ]	ٺ‎ [ʈʰ]	ث‎ [s]	پ‎ [p]	ج‎ [d͡ʑ]	ڄ‎ [ʄ]
Perso-Arabic [IPA]	جهہ‎ [d͡ʑʰ]	ڃ‎ [ɲ]	چ‎ [t͡ɕ]	ڇ‎ [t͡ɕʰ]	ح‎ [h]	خ‎ [x]
Perso-Arabic [IPA]	د‎ [d]	ڌ‎ [dʱ]	ڏ‎ [ɗ]	ڊ‎ [ɖ]	ڍ‎ [ɖʱ]	ذ‎ [z]
Perso-Arabic [IPA]	ر‎ [r]	ڙ‎ [ɽ]	ڙهہ‎ [ɽʰ]	ز‎ [z]	ژ‎ [ʒ]	س‎ [s]
Perso-Arabic [IPA]	ش‎ [ʂ]	ص‎ [s]	ض‎ [z]	ط‎ [t]	ظ‎ [z]	ع‎ [ɑː]/[oː]/[eː]/[ʔ]/[∅]
Perso-Arabic [IPA]	غ‎ [ɣ]	ف‎ [f]	ڦ‎ [pʰ]	ق‎ [q]	ڪ‎ [k]	ک‎ [kʰ]
Perso-Arabic [IPA]	گ‎ [ɡ]	ڳ‎ [ɠ]	گهہ‎ [ɡʱ]	ڱ‎ [ŋ]	ل‎ [l]	لهہ‎ [lʱ]
Perso-Arabic [IPA]	م‎ [m]	مهہ‎ [mʰ]	ن‎ [n]/[◌̃]	نهہ‎ [nʰ]	ڻ‎ [ɳ]	ڻهہ‎ [ɳʰ]
Perso-Arabic [IPA]	و‎ [ʋ]/[ʊ]/[oː]/[ɔː]/[uː]	ھ‎ [h]	هـ ه‎ [h]	ـہ ہ‎ [ə]/[əʰ]/[∅]	ء‎ [ʔ]/[∅]	ي‎ [j]/[iː]
Perso-Arabic [IPA]	۽‎ [ãĩ̯]	۾‎ [mẽ]

The orthography of the letter hāʾ in Sindhi, especially as it comes to typing as opposed to handwriting, has been a source of confusion for many. Especially because whereas in Arabic and Persian, there exists one single letter for hāʾ, in Urdu, the letter has diverged into two distinct variants: gol he ("round he") and do-cašmi he ("two-eyed he"). The former is written is written round and zigzagged as "ہـ ـہـ ـہ ہ", and can impart the "h" (/ɦ/) sound anywhere in a word, or the long "a" or the "e" vowels (/ɑː/ or /eː/) at the end of a word. The latter is written in Arabic Naskh style (as a loop) (ھ) , in order to be used in digraphs and to create the aspirate consonants.

For most aspirated consonants, Sindhi relies on unique letters as opposed to the Urdu practice of digraphs. However, this doesn't apply to all aspirated consoants. Some are still written as digraphs. The letter hāʾ is also used in Sindhi to represent the sound [h] in native Sindhi words, in Arabic and Persian loanwords, and to represent vowels (/ə/ or /əʰ/) at the end of the word. The notations and conventions in Sindhi are different from either Persian or Arabic and from Urdu. Given the variety of the types of hāʾ across these languages for which Unicode characters have been designed, in order for the letters to be displayed correctly when typing, a correct and consistent convention needs to be followed. The following table will present these in detail.

Unicode	Letter or Digraphs				IPA	Note	Examples
	Final	Medial	Initial	Isolated
U+06BE	ـھ‎	ـھـ‎	ھـ‎	ھ‎	[h]		دوھَ⹁ ھُو⹁ مھينن⹁ ويھُ‎
U+0647	ـه‎	ـهـ‎	هـ‎	ه‎	[h]	Used for borrowed words	وحدهُ لا⹁ والله‎
U+062C + U+0647	ـجهہ‎	ـجهـ‎	جهـ‎	جهہ‎	[d͡ʑʰ]	In isolated and final positions, an extra hāʾ ـہ‎ (U+06C1) is added	ٻاجَهہ⹁ اُجِهي⹁ منجهان⹁ ڪُجهہ‎
U+06AF + U+0647	ـگهہ‎	ـگهـ‎	گهـ‎	گهہ‎	[ɡʱ]	In isolated and final positions, an extra hāʾ ـہ‎ (U+06C1) is added	گهہ⹁ گهوٽُ⹁ گهڻگُهرون⹁ سگهہ‎
U+0647	ـهہ‎	ـهـ‎	-	-	[◌ʰ]	Forming part of digraph for representation of other aspirated consonants ([ɽʰ], [lʱ], [mʰ], [nʰ], [ɳʰ]). In isolated and final positions, an extra hāʾ ـہ‎ (U+06C1) is added	ٻنهي⹁ ٿالهہ‎
U+06C1	ـہ‎	-	-	ہ‎	[ə] / [əʰ] / [∅]		نہ‎

The punctuation of Sindhi Perso-Arabic script differs slightly from that of Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. Namely, instead of using the typical inverted comma (،‎ [U+060C]) common in these mentioned alphabet, a reversed comma (⹁‎ [U+2E41]) is used. Although many documents do indeed incorrectly use Urdu punctuations.

Comparison of Punctuations

	Full Stop	Comma	‌ Semicolon
Sindhi	.‎	⹁‎	⁏‎
Urdu	۔‎	،‎	؛‎
Persian/Arabic	.‎	،‎	؛‎

Farsi (perso-Arabic) or Shikarpuri Sindhi.

Devanagari script

In India, the Devanagari script is also used to write Sindhi. A modern version was introduced by the government of India in 1948; however, it did not gain full acceptance, so both the Sindhi-Arabic and Devanagari scripts are used. In India, a person may write a Sindhi language paper for a Civil Services Examination in either script. Devanagari was seen as the most practical option for Sindhi language in India. Diacritical bars below the letter are used to mark implosive consonants, and dots called nukta are used to form other additional consonants.

अ	आ	इ	ई	उ	ऊ	ए	ऐ	ओ	औ
ə	a	ɪ	i	ʊ	uː	e	ɛ	o	ɔ
क	ख	ख़	ग	ॻ	ग़		घ		ङ
k	kʰ	x	ɡ	ɠ	ɣ		ɡʱ		ŋ
च	छ		ज	ॼ	ज़		झ		ञ
t͡ɕ	t͡ɕʰ		d͡ʑʰ	ʄ	z		d͡ʑ		ɲ
ट	ठ		ड	ॾ	ड़		ढ	ढ़	ण
ʈ	ʈʰ		ɖ	ɗ	ɽ		ɖʱ	ɽʱ	ɳ
त	थ		द				ध		न
t	tʰ		d				dʱ		n
प	फ	फ़	ब	ॿ			भ		म
p	pʰ	f	b	ɓ			bʱ		m
य	र	ल	व
j	r	l	ʋ
श	ष	स	ह
ʂ	ʂ	s	h

Laṇḍā scripts

Laṇḍā-based scripts, such as Gurmukhi, Khojki, and the Khudabadi script were used historically to write Sindhi.

Khudabadi

Khudabadi or Sindhi
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Sind (318), ​Khudawadi, Sindhi
Unicode
Unicode alias	Khudawadi
Unicode range	U+112B0–U+112FF

The Khudabadi alphabet was invented in 1550 CE, and was used alongside other scripts by the Hindu community until the colonial era, where the sole usage of the Arabic script for official purposes was legislated.

The script continued to be used on a smaller scale by the trader community until the Partition of India in 1947.

ə	a	ɪ	i	ʊ	uː	e	ɛ	o	ɔ
k	kʰ		ɡ	ɠ			ɡʱ		ŋ
c	cʰ		ɟ	ʄ			ɟʱ		ɲ
ʈ	ʈʰ		ɖ	ɗ			ɽ	ṛ	ɳ
t	tʰ		d				dʱ		n
p	pʰ	f	b	ɓ			bʱ		m
j	r	l	ʋ
ʂ		s	h

Khojki

Khojki was employed primarily to record Muslim Shia Ismaili religious literature, as well as literature for a few secret Shia Muslim sects.

Gurmukhi

The Gurmukhi script was also used to write Sindhi, mainly in India by Hindus.

Roman Sindhi

See also: Romanisation of Sindhi

The Sindhi-Roman script or Roman-Sindhi script is the contemporary Sindhi script usually used by the Sindhis when texting messages on their mobile phones.

Advocacy

See also: 1972 Sindhi Language Bill

In 1972, an bill was passed by the provincial assembly of Sindh which saw Sindhi, given official status thus becoming the first provincial language in Pakistan to have its own official status.

• Sindhi language was made the official language of Sindh according to Language Bill.
• All Educational institutes in Sindh are mandated to teach Sindhi as per the bill.

Software

By 2001, Abdul-Majid Bhurgri had coordinated with Microsoft to develop Unicode-based Software in the form of the Perso-Arabic Sindhi script which afterwards became the basis for the communicated use by Sindhi speakers around the world. In 2016, Google introduced the first automated translator for Sindhi language. Later on in 2023 an offline support was introduced by Google Translate. Which was followed by Microsoft Translator strengthening support in May of same year.

In June 2014, the Khudabadi script of the Sindhi language was added to Unicode, However as of now the script currently has no proper rendering support to view it in unsupported devices.

See also

• 1972 Sindhi Language Bill
• Institute of Sindhology
• Sindhi Transliteration
• Languages of India
• Languages of Pakistan
• Languages with official status in India
• List of Sindhi-language films
• Provincial languages of Pakistan
• Sindhi literature
• Sindhi poetry

Sources

• Nihalani, Paroo (1974). "Lingual Articulation of Stops in Sindhi". Phonetica. 30 (4): 197–212. doi:10.1159/000259489. ISSN 1423-0321. PMID 4424983. S2CID 3325314.
• Addleton and Brown (2010). Sindhi: An Introductory Course for English Speakers. South Hadley: Doorlight Publications. Archived from the original on 2010-08-28. Retrieved 2010-03-18.
• Bughio, M. Qasim (January–June 2006). Maniscalco, Fabio Maniscalco (ed.). "The Diachronic Sociolinguistic Situation in Sindh". Web Journal on Cultural Patrimony. 1.
• Cole, Jennifer S (2001). "Sindhi". In Garry, Jane; Rubino, Carl (eds.). Facts About the World's Languages. H W Wilson. pp. 647–653. ISBN 0-8242-0970-2.
• International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. 1999. ISBN 0-521-63751-1.
• Khubchandani, Lachman M (2003). "Sindhi". In Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh (eds.). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. pp. 622–658. ISBN 978-0-415-77294-5.
• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
• Shackle, Christopher (2007). "Pakistan". In Simpson, Andrew (ed.). Language and national identity in Asia. Oxford linguistics Y. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-922648-1.
• Trumpp, Ernest (1872). Grammar of the Sindhi Language. London: Trübner and Co. ISBN 81-206-0100-9.
• Chopra, R. M (2013). "Persian in Sindh". The rise, growth, and decline of Indo-Persian literature (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Iran Culture House. OCLC 909254259.

External links

• Sindhi Language Authority
• Sindhi Dictionary
• All about Sindhi language and culture at the Wayback Machine (archived August 31, 2015)
• Mewaram's 1910 Sindhi-English dictionary