Saraiki language

Saraiki (sometimes spelled Siraiki and Siroli) is a Western dialect of Punjabi or an independent language spoken in southern region of the Pakistani province of Punjab by the ethnic Saraiki people.^[1][2] It belongs to the Western Punjabi group known as Lahnda. Saraiki is native to southern Punjab and northern Sindh, while it is also spoken in parts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan; as well as by partition migrants and their descendants in India although it is dying out among partition migrants within India as it becomes replaced by the more mainstream Hindi.

Saraiki
سَرَائُیکی, سرولی
Native to	Pakistan
Region	Southern Punjab, Northern Sindh, and Eastern Balochistan
Native speakers	20 million (2024)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Northwestern Sindhi Northern Sindhi Saraiki
Writing system	Sindhi alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	skr

It is sometimes claimed to be a language, although it lacks certain traits to be referred to as a distinct language, and is widely recognized as a variety of Western Punjabi.^[3]

Etymology

The word Saraiki is probably derived from the Sindhi word Siraiki for its own dialect,^[4] which means dialect of Sero/Siro (Sauvīra) region in ancient Sindh.^[5] today the name of Siraiki dialect of Sindhi is changed to Siroli/Sireli to not create confusion.^[6]

National day of Saraiki

National day of Saraiki language and Saraiki culture is celebrated on November 22.