Talk:Languages of Pakistan

Question "what is the official language(s) of Pakistan" should be addressed at top--that's what most readers come looking for

I do find the huge variety of languages interesting, please don't get me wrong. But an encyclopedia article should cover the basics in the first couple of paragraphs, namely, what languages are used to conduct government business, and if there is controversy about this, a brief explanation of the positions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.86.248.1 (talk) 00:48, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

English and Urdu

The summary lists Engligh as the national language, and Urdu as the official, then the details contradict it. 85.210.44.166 02:53, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

English / Urdu Debate

I extracted some POV debate content out of the article. It sounds hopelessly biased and even strange (complaining about learning English in English). If someone wants to clean this up, we can put back in that there is a debate, yadda, yadda, yadda --MarsRover 03:31, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Urdu

There is also a wide strong debate against Urdu by the staunch Pakistani nationalists led by the Pakistan Language Movement that; Should Urdu or Hindustani continue as our National Language? However their answer is No! and here is a very good reason why: Language is the most important aspect of culture, just like it is in England of the British Isles in the UK. It is the dominant feature in determining nationality in Pakistan’s Case or ethnicity in Bangladesh’s Case based on languages. It is the binding force that unites a people, and makes them distinct from others, especially the disparity between the formers Province of West Pakistan and East Pakistan administrative provincial regional state Entities of pre-1971. Language represents a people’s heritage and identity. However, the imposition of Urdu as the so-called ‘sole’ national language of Pakistan has been disastrous to the country ever since it's inception in 1947 evidently shown on the 1971 conflict of East Pakistan provincial region of a United Pakistan (UP) into a disastrous separate and unfortunate for Pakistanis a nation of a inevitable Bangladesh from hereto Pak-Territory in the partitioned eastern Bengal region of India pre-1947, only to be united by foreign rule i.e. Indian Empire Rajs of Britain.

English

There is also a wide general debate against the staunch Pakistani nationalists led by the Pakistan Language Movement that; Should English or Angraisè continue as our Official Language? However their answer is No! and here is the reason why: All the languages of Pakistan are oppressed, and the ruling elite Anglophones continue to deny them their rightful role they deserve as the official languages of Pakistan. Fifty years after the so-called jointly independence of India into Free Indias’ of (Bharat) & Muslim PAKISTAN from the U.K of Gr. Britannia and Ireland. The English Language continues to this day as the official language and graduates from non-English medium schools face a job market in the control of these colonial forces bent on the total destruction of all Pakistani languages. The fact is that in 1947 we inherited an elitist ruling class bureaucracy tenaciously clinging to power and owing allegiance to Great Britain alone and seeking a strengthening of Anglo-American interests and cultural subversion, the destruction of Muslim/Pakistani values and lifestyles throughout the country. The plain fact is that as long as English remains as the official language of Pakistan it will be difficult to create a vibrant national spirit or culture The status of a national language is meaningless; unless it is allowed to assume the role of official language or native languages of Pakistan, and as the medium of universal instruction within the country. Language is a potent force in the promotion of nationalism and national cohesion.

I agree with this totally.Well said.

————————————————————————————

No this doesn't belong in the article. What should be the national or official languages is not what the article is about. It's what languages are spoken in Pakistan 99.227.68.85 (talk) 21:05, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

Iranian languages?

Say there are more Pathans in Pakistan than Iran.Labelling Pashto and Balochi "Iranian languages" is clearly provocitive.-Vmrgrsergr 20:36, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Pashto and Balochi belong to the family of Iranian languages, a group of languages that stretches from Turkey to Tajikistan. The name is well established in linguistics, and is not provocative at all. —Angr 14:21, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Edit tag

Don't have much to say for this one. It's not too bad, but some parts of the article (especially near the bottom) need some work, preferably by someone with knowledge of the subject so mistakes aren't made in the content. It's generally understandable but doesn't flow well to an English reader. Brutannica 22:13, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

I will see what I can do about it.-Vmrgrsergr 03:05, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Whats with the Map???

why is a map of all of South Asia here? this is a Pakistan speof scific article and should contain a map of Pakistan only!

If its about the lexical similarities of languages spoken in Pakistan then a wider map stretching from Iran, Central Asia, Afghanistan all the way to Tibet should have been included.

Please put a Pakistan specific map for this article as many are easily available.

Can you suggest a map if they are easily available? Preferable with the legend in English (not in German). MarsRover 23:25, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

I think a map of south Asia is very much warranted, given most languages overlap with neighbouring regions, that's what i was looking for here actually. Happy to translate a German legend, my German's not great but good enough to translate a couple of short phrases with the help of a dictionary. Irtapil (talk) 03:51, 25 January 2020 (UTC)

Ethnologue

It looks like large portions of this article were taken directly from the copyrighted Ethnologue article on Pakistan. Pretty much all of the content from Ethnologue will have to be deleted to avoid a copyright violation. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 14:11, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Unsourced figures

The article says 50% of Pakistanis "have a basic understanding of English" or something to that effect. It also says 70% of Pakistanis can understand Punjabi. Where did these figures come from? Because I as a Pakistani find this doubtful. I would say about 30% of Pakistanis can speak functional English and only 50% can understand Punjabi. However since this is conjecture, I am not going to insert it into the article. But it seems someone put figures into the article based on personal 'observations' with no reputable source cited. Someone needs to cite these figures or remove them --Zaindy^٨٧ 10:35, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Agreed. Done. Poloplayers (talk) 16:41, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Chitral language survey

If anyone is really serious about this, a bunch of pdfs over here: http://www.sil.org/sociolx/pubs/ssnp.asp seem very informative on a subset of the subject. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.78.116.237 (talk) 19:35, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

Some reorganization ideas

A few possible ideas that occurred to me (not sure whether I completely agree with them or not):

• Add a main article link at the top of each of the languages described by a paragraph or more.
• Change the link in the table to point to the section of this article
• Coordinate the organization of the infobox and the article: Official, Provincial, Regional, Other
• Move Seraiki from 'Provincial' to 'Regional' languages. It is a major language with no province.

Anyone have any comments about these ideas? YBG (talk) 04:47, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

I agree with all your points. Saraiki has been moved under the head of "Regional Languages" Poloplayers (talk) 16:40, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

"History" section is redundant

The "History" section is redundant as it is half-heartedly repeating what is already stated under each language sub-section. When each language has its own sub-section, there is no need for a "History" section, which is not even providing the history of the languages property. All information pertaining to a language should go under the respective language sub-section.

Poloplayers (talk) 16:52, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Insertion of incorrect data

User 119.153.154.4 is repeatedly inserting incorrect and inflated data (backed up by no source whatsoever) on the number and percentage of Saraiki speakers under the Language Demographics section. The 1998 census and previous censi cannot be changed to suit your personal belief on what the numbers should be. Consider this a first warning. Repeated violations will be reported as vandalism. If you intend to change a figure, then back it up with a credible source, otherwise refrain from doing so. This link will take you to the OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN DEMOGRAPHICS STATISTICS ON LANGUAGES: http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf Poloplayers (talk) 14:39, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Capitalization of headings

The Wikipedia style for capitalizing headings is to use "sentence case" instead of "title case", e.g.,

Important things to know about this subject

not:

Important Things to Know About This Subject

This may be unfamiliar to many editors who believe that or have been taught that "title case is the right way to capitalize headings". It isn't the "right way", it is one style. Wikipedia has, for better or worse, chosen to follow a different style, i.e., capitalize the heading the same way you would capitalize any sentence:

• capitalize the first word,
• capitalize any proper nouns (people, places, organizations), and
• begin all other words with lower case letters.

See WP:MSH for more information. Ground Zero | t 15:06, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

persian and turkic languages cultural languages ???

I decided to put the accuracy tag on the article because I don't find this claim that Turkic and Persian languages are part of Pakistani culture. I'm willing to accept this claim but it should be backed up by some points. Are there any written records of Turkic languages in Pakistani museums such as literature or other? Or anything of significance? There is not single Turkic language spoken in Pakistan.

As for Persian it is not spoken by Pakistanis as a native language. Some people learn it but it is not considered a local language.

Also this claim that Brahui is of unknown origin also seems incorrect when most people have established it's a dravidian language though very distinct from other dravidian languages. Unless people claiming it's "unknown" origin can give some evidence. Please discuss. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.227.68.85 (talk) 20:55, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

Persian and Turkish is our cultural languages as the Turkic people established rule in region of modern Pakistan. They settled here and spoke Persian in court and government, and among themselves Turkish. Greek and Latin are still taught as classical languages in many schools in western countries. While the British colonial government ended the teaching of Turkish, Persian and Arabic while introducing English to cut off links to Middle East and Central Asia.

Some linguists are questioning the origins of Brahui. Brahui is a Dravidian language and they migrated around 1000 AD from Central India and settled in Balochistan. This has been mentioned to balance all view points. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.117.182.54 (talk) 00:40, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Saraiki Language

In language map of Pakistan Saraiki is not shown. Kindly it may be shown. Map of Sindhi and Punjabi are shown but map of saraiki is not shown. Dialects of Sindhi and Punjabi are written but Dialects of saraiki are not written. When I wrote these these are removed. I think that these are removed by mistake

Not removed by mistake, you need to discuss these things first. And "discuss" doesn't mean just posting some huge chart that is inappropriate here. --Taivo (talk) 03:23, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

Saraiki be added in map of languages of Pakistan, Please. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.186.8.237 (talk) 11:10, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

As sindhi and punjabi are with map and dialects. Saraiki be treated same. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.186.8.237 (talk) 11:07, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

Language Map of Pakistan

This map is absolutely wrong, Saraiki must be added in this map. Saraiki is the largest language of pakistan. File_talk:Pakistan_ethnic_map.svg .Kindly upload this First map. http://thepolyglotexperience.blogspot.com/2011/01/pakistan-language-map.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.186.17.238 (talk) 01:42, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

That's an inferior map, and you have not demonstrated that the Saraiki are ethnically distinct from the Panjabi. — kwami (talk) 16:32, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

Sariki are ethinically distinct from punjabi.Sarraiki-language-and-ethnic-identity-by-dr-saiqa-imtiaz-asif

This article isn't about ethnicity, it's about language. --Taivo (talk) 11:25, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes this article is about language. I wrote this due to kwami. Saraiki is a language so in map Saraiki language be shown also. I hope that this will be done soon.Language map of Pakistan — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.186.118.43 (talk) 10:21, 4 November 2012 (UTC) Saraiki must be shown in map.10:37, 16 November 2013 (UTC)182.186.6.80 (talk)

It is confirm that Saraiki is a language. Also Jhangvi dialect is dialect of Saraiki. This article is redundant with the Riasti dialect, Shah puri dialect,Multani dialect, Multani language, Thalochi dialect, Thalochi ,Derawali dialect articles. I suggest merging these articles , as the all these are same. And also be Redirected to Saraiki language. Kindly See these External Links

• http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=skr
• http://globalrecordings.net/en/language/16338
• http://votebits.com/sweet-and-interesting-languages-of-pakistan/
• http://www.ankarascene.com/haber/pakistan-823.html
• http://thepolyglotexperience.blogspot.com/2011/01/pakistan-language-map.html
• http://languagemaps.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/languages-of-pakistan/
• http://mazhar.dk/pakistan/
• http://www.dostpakistan.pk/geography/languages/
• http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Ethnic_groups_in_Pakistan

Department of Saraiki, Islamia University, Bahawalpur was established in 1989 and Department of Saraiki, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan was established in 2006. Saraiki is taught as subject in schools and colleges at higher secondary, intermediate and degree level. Allama Iqbal open university Islamabad, and Al-Khair university Bhimbir have their Pakistani Linguistics Departments. They are offering M.Phil. and Ph.D in Saraiki. Five T V channels and Ten Radio Stations are Serving Saraiki language.182.186.4.140 (talk) 15:14, 17 November 2013 (UTC)182.186.99.164 (talk) 02:44, 24 November 2013 (UTC)182.186.80.221 (talk) 15:38, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

References

Dialects

This article is an overview of the languages of Pakistan. We don't need to list every dialect of every language and every city in which every dialect is spoken. That's what the links to the articles are for. Please read WP:content fork. — kwami (talk) 06:11, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

• If saraiki is dialect so be removed from here.182.186.6.80 (talk) 10:45, 16 November 2013 (UTC)

Problem with User:Robinuthapa

What is going on here? Robinuthapa is continuously adding information which I do not think is suitable. Please see the page history. I want to get the opinions of others.

—Syɛd Шαмiq Aнмɛd Hαsнмi (тαlк) 18:41, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

A biased and incorrect Map of Langauges of Kyhber Pukhtunkhwa

Map being used in various articles pertaining to languages of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa is incorrect and biased. It is showing tank as Seraiki speaking which is incorrect as majority of people in Tank speak Pashto. It is showing Karak as Hindko speaking while we know that almost 99% of the population of Karak is Pashto speaking Khattak. It is showing battagram as hindko speaking while we all know that most of the people in Battagram speak Pashto. Similarly, it is showing Shangla as hindko speaking, which is incorrect as most of the people their also speak Pashto. Finally, it is showing Toorghar district as Hindko speaking while we know most of the people their also speak Pashto. I think all this show biasness or incompetence on the part of the person who included that Map. Furthermore, it should also be noted that the map fails to show that most of the people on western side of Mansehra and Haripur speak Pashto, while most on western side of D.I.Khan also speak Pashto. I feel that the Map has grossly exaggerated the number of speakers of other languages. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tigerkhan007 (talk • contribs) 17:08, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Provincial Languages

• Province Punjab = Punjabi
• Province Sindh = Sindhi
• Province Balochistan = Balochi
• Province Pakhtunkhwa = Pakhto

Is there any further need to justify why the are called Provincial languages. Macedonish (talk) 04:24, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

• • According to text book published by Punjab text book board Lahore all the languages are regional languages. so these be written regional languages.182.186.101.221 (talk) 15:46, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

In province of Punjab majority language is Punjabi approx 76%. In province of KPK majority language is Pashto approx 74%. In province of Sindh majority language is Sindhi (approx 59%). In province of Balochistan majority language is Balochi (approx 59%). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 39.32.251.122 (talk) 15:52, 26 November 2013 (UTC)

IS ANY BODY READY TO USE TALK PAGE AND DEVOLP CONCENSUS ? I DONT THINK SO 39.32.102.184 (talk) 17:47, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

Pashtun population as per census 2017 http://tigerkhan007.blogspot.com/2017/08/pakistan-census-2017-pashtun-population.html

References

Exaggerations Reverted

Pashto

http://tigerkhan007.blogspot.com/2017/08/pakistan-census-2017-pashtun-population.html pashtuns as per census 2017

Pashtun communities in the cities of Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore. Karachi is one of the biggest Pashto speaking city in the world although the Pashto speakers constitute only about 25% of the city's population. but as per census it is 11.5 % 39.32.251.122 (talk) 15:47, 26 November 2013 (UTC)

The demographic information regarding provinces of Pakistan presented to general public is usually pretty off and in some cases do not even make any mathematical sense. Subsequent to the merger of FATA with KP the demographic miscalculations in KP becomes more profound. For example some publications state that 18% of the population of KP is Hindko speaking, however, upon research not one recent empirical study was found where global Hindko speaking exceeds 3.7 million worldwide (rounded to 4 million) i.e. including Hindko speakers of Pakistani Kashmir, Punjab and other areas outside KP. If we impose that number on 30.5 million and 35.5 million we get 13% and 11%, respectively. Even if we consider entire population of Hazara Division to be Hindko speaking then Hindko speakers would represent 15% of the merged province. It may, however, be noted that out of 7 districts of Hazara Division, only Abbottabad is overwhelmingly Hindko, while Ghazi Tehsil of Haripur District, and Ogai Tehsil of Mansehra District is Pashto speaking. Districts of Torghar and Battagram are also Pashto speaking, while Kohistan upper and lower have Kohistani as majority language. Keeping the above example in our analysis, it is ascertained that KP is the most homogeneous province having 82% population being Pashto speaking, followed by Punjabi's in Punjab at 75%, 60-62% Sindhi's in Sindh and around 50% Balochi & Brahvi combined in Baluchistan. Finally, the interesting fact is that around 38 Pakistani districts have Pashto majority, followed by 21 Sindhi, 20 Punjabi, 19 Balochi, 13 Seraiki, 8 Urdu, 4 Potohari, 3 Brahvi and Hindko each, 2 Koistani and 1 Chitrali. 182.180.61.170 (talk) 08:35, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Sindhi

Sindhi is spoken as a first language by 15.5% of Pakistanis, mostly in Sindh, parts of Balochistan, Southern Punjab and Balochistan. while as per census it is 13 % and spoken in Sindh only

IS ANY BODY READY TO USE TALK PAGE AND DEVOLP CONCENSUS ? I DONT THINK SO 39.32.102.184 (talk) 17:48, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

Instead of edit warring and shouting here, you should log in from your primary account (.i.e. LanguageXpert (talk · contribs)) and file an unblock request. -- SMS ^Talk 18:47, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

Smsarmad First i am not shouting and I dont see wikipedia as sock hide and seek game so not interested in your sock hunter attitude. Wikipedia provides information to the people around the world so our objective is present correct information. So if you have solid arguments and reliable sources then you are justified to revert my edits. Coming to the point. Lahore one of the oldest city in the indo pak and capital of Pakistan 56 % Population Province Punjab has a population around 9 Million accumulated over the centuries. Then how Pashtun accumulated by magic to 7 million in Karachi in last 30 years. Even a child can understand such baseless and childish claims. As as per census it is 11.5 % of Karachi and third not the second biggest language of Karachi. So there is no need to revert my edits on Karachi article and in this article. Similarly Quetta is a multi ethnic city comprising of Pashtun Balochi Barahvi Punjabi Hazara etc people but you reverted it with edit that pashto is language of majority in quetta but my dear census figures clearly show that quetta is a multi ethnic city. Similarly Sindhi as per census it is 13 % not 15.5 %. Please also refer above section to my arguments to Provincial Language. Let us behave like User KWAMIKAGAMI who is very good professional.39.32.102.184 (talk) 15:42, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

Writing in All Caps while in a discussion at internet is considered as "Shouting". If you "dont see Wikipedia as sock hide and seek game" then may I ask you why have you been creating all these socks? Your behavior doesn't suggest that you consider Wikipedia an encyclopedia, neither you seem to be here building it or are willing to follow the rules here. Though I have no side to take in this content dispute but how one can expect any positive outcome of a discussion with someone who has a POV to further and doesn't follow the Wikipedia's policies. That is why I suggested you to start following rules and ask for an unblock instead of Block evasion. -- SMS ^Talk 17:53, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

You can not presume that I am negative. No human is perfect so like any human me and you can be positive or negative depending on circumstances so do not make wrong presumptions and stop being Personal on Wikipedia. More mature attitude is to focus on which content is correct or incorrect on wikipedia articles based on reliable sources. so that we conserve our energies towards common goal of true and fair view. So keeping in view this section and above section make the amendments in the article if you do not have any confusion about them. 39.32.90.69 (talk) 16:34, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

Sindhi language

Please explain as to how the Sindhi language has been sectioned into 'Urban and Rural' in Sindh province (without citation either)? Where is the source to estimate number of speakers of 'Urdu & Sindhi' languages? Please remove this bias 'statistics' without citations. SarfarazLarkanian 11:34, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

Writing Systems image is incorrectly identified as Sindhi

In the writing seection, there is an image captioned "The earliest Sindhi manuscripts written during the Abbasid Era". This is incorrect. The language is Arabic and that same image has been used in articles on Arabic script. I suggest the image be removed. --Zohair Ahmad (talk) 04:19, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CY3CHReWEAAuq8L.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CY3CGbxWsAAQFS2.jpg

What of language? Translit? Only latinization? What of rules?--Albedo ^@ 18:26, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to one external link on Languages of Pakistan. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

• Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20060217220529/http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf to http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 21:35, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to one external link on Languages of Pakistan. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

• Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20090505005729/http://www.ethnologue.com:80/show_country.asp?name=PK to http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=pk

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 23:16, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

Hazaragi dialect

Hazaragi is a dialect of Persian languages while the illiterate people know this. --Shxahxh (talk) 13:17, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 March 2018

The earliest Sindhi manuscripts written during the Abbasid Era

This picture is incorrect. The picture is of Arabic manuscript and the title says it's "The earliest Sindhi manuscript". Please remove it. Grunfunke (talk) 08:47, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

 Done - although how relevant it is to the article I am less sure - it is from the Abbasid-era but the Abbasid Caliphate only included a small part of Pakistan - Arjayay (talk) 15:02, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

Level of detail on individual languages

This needs a major rewrite: the current organisation – with a section on each of the main languages – might have facilitated the creation of this article by copy and pasting from the individual language articles, but it's not really optimal. I reckon it's best to be organised by topic/aspect: first a geographic overview: what is spoken where, and by how many people, then a section on sociolinguistics (the different domains of usage of the languages), and then a section on the country's language policy. However, such a major rewrite isn't coming any time soon, and so for the time being I took the liberty of trimming down some of the egregious detail about the individual languages. But this has been reverted [1]. I really don't see how this content could stay: a sentence or two giving a grounding for each language is fine, but we can't have paragraphs of text about the early, pre-Pakistan, origins of a language, or about its mediaeval literary traditions. This is way beyond the scope of this article. Additionally, much of this content is either unsourced, or if sourced it's really off centre: the paragraphs on the history of Urdu for example baldly represent the language as derived from Old Punjabi, and that's at odds with current consensus. – Uanfala (talk) 14:07, 15 January 2020 (UTC)

There is nothing wrong with having general information on the origins of the languages. I think that's most important. But it should remain limited so we don't go WP:OFFTOPIC. Sociolinguistics is also good, but we also need to ensure we don't overfill the article with it, otherwise it's also off topic. These should be discussed in the individual articles of the languages. Languages history should not be restricted to a country's modern history. We have so many cases of languages being spoken long before the country itself that adopted them like English for America, Portuguese for Brazil and like that. The paragraph does not represent urdu as derived from old Punjabi. Old Punjabi is different from modern Punjabi. If you actually read it, it stated some linguists believe it. It's reliably sourced and not saying anything that it is necessarily act, it's saying some linguists have come to this conclusion. It's only stating according to them. If you also read the Urdu article, there is still debate on where and what it originated from, so there is nothing wrong with including another suggestion, which nobody's saying is fact, just another authority's theory. And it's only one sentence, not an entire article or even a section--AdillAdell (talk) 23:21, 19 January 2020 (UTC)

I'm sorry but you've just restored all the problematic content, with the spadefuls of unsourced and off-topic statements. The sentence about the Punjabi origins of Urdu was removed when you tried to add it to the main article (so you're having this section as a content fork). The several paragraphs on the origin of Urdu have absolutely nothing to do with Pakistan. The statement about Brahui being a relict language is sourced and has some supporters, but it's misleading presented on its own like that, etc. Most of the content is rubbish, and there's no need to try improving it because it doesn't belong here in the first place. – Uanfala (talk) 00:01, 20 January 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 14 May 2021

Hindko is spoken by 2.24% population of Pakistan. It should be kept in the category of Sub-provincial langauges of Pakistan. It is the 6th largest language of Pakistan. See reference 4 "CCI defers approval of census results until elections". Retrieved 12 April 2020. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dr. Mohammad Munir (talk • contribs) 02:46, 14 May 2021 (UTC) Hindko is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several discontinuous areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

There is a nascent language movement, and in recent decades Hindko-speaking intellectuals have started promoting the view of Hindko as a separate language. There is a literary tradition based on Peshawari, the urban variety of Peshawar in the northwest, and another one based on the language of Abbottabad in the northeast. In the 2017 census of Pakistan, 4.65 million people declared their language to be Hindko. Hindko is mutually intelligible with Punjabi and Saraiki, 111.119.177.12 (talk) 02:13, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 10:51, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 22 December 2021

Urdu appears as an official language with English, under the map/ image on the right hand side of the page. It is also referred to as an official language of Pakistan throughout the article, without any citations/references. As a consequence, a google search for official language Pakistan displays incorrect information as the first result. Urdu is a 'national language' and attempts to revise its status have repeatedly failed. "https://tribune.com.pk/story/2321215/govt-failed-to-make-urdu-official-language-sc' It is not an official language, and there is no citation throughout the article that suggests otherwise. Please consider removing those claims from this page altogether. Thank you 2400:ADC1:1A5:2000:FD71:8CE:512D:5862 (talk) 23:57, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

 Not done: The page's protection level has changed since this request was placed. You should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 23:47, 24 December 2021 (UTC)

Punjy

Mai ona chunda aw 2409:4055:2E9E:F411:0:0:F5C8:4007 (talk) 08:22, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

Pakistan language

Clear 43.231.29.181 (talk) 15:49, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: ANTH473 INLG480 Living Languages

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 5 September 2022 and 31 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Annaubco (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Annaubco (talk) 01:11, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

Clarification about the status of the Bengali language in Pakistan

The current version of the article has a paragraph about Bengali that says both that Bengali is not an official language of Pakistan; that it was recognized as the second official language in 1956; and that article 214(1) of the Constitution (of Pakistan, presumably) was revised to declare Bengali a national language alongside Urdu. A little research suggests that there were significant changes in the status of Bengali in Pakistan in 1956 and, of course, 1971 (when Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan).

It seems to me that the article should be revised to either state the current situation or, better still, describe the general timeline of recognition of Bengali in Pakistan and how it changed in 1956 and 1971, with a clear mention of the impact of the creation of Bangladesh. Luis Dantas (talk) 23:53, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

Proposed merge of Proposal for making Arabic as the state Language of Pakistan into Languages of Pakistan

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

---

The contents of this article, including the list of supporters could be summarised adequately in a few sentences at Languages of Pakistan#Arabic, at a dedicated heading if necessary. IgnatiusofLondon (he/him • ☎️) 17:21, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

• Merge subject not detailed enough for own article. '''[[User:CanonNi]]''' (talk|contribs) 23:51, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

• Merge Mehedi Abedin 07:09, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

• Merge. Although several sources are cited, most of them don't seem to provide WP:SIGCOV of the subject, hence failing WP:GNG, plus it's a fairly short article. Liu1126 (talk) 19:45, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Foreign Languages

The main article says that many Pakistanis have begun studying Mandarin Chinese, with a view to taking part in the new joint business initiatives with China.

In common with other parts of the British Empire, private schools for the elite used to teach French and Latin. Up to the 1950s there was also a feeling that serious students of some sciences needed to learn German. I would suspect that children of the ruling class are still being taught French and German, but probably not Latin. Persian, the official language before 1837, used also to be widely taught and is still regarded as a classical language.

Someone with access to official statistics regarding schools and examinations should tell us to what extent foreign languages are taught and understood in Pakistan. There are many Pakistanis working abroad, and most of those who come back would have useful knowledge of foreign languages also. NRPanikker (talk) 22:12, 17 April 2024 (UTC)