Saraiki Language - Writing System

Writing System

There are three writing systems for Saraiki, though very few Saraiki speakers—even those literate in other languages — are able to read or write their own language in any writing system. The most common Saraiki writing system today is the Persian script, which has also been adapted for use on computers. Saraiki has a 42-letter alphabet including 37 of the Urdu alphabet and five letters unique to Saraiki. The Saraiki keyboard can also be used for other languages such as Punjabi & Kashmiri. The Devanagari and Gurmukhi scripts, written from left to right, were used by Sikhs and Hindus. Though not used in present-day Pakistan, there are still emigrant speakers in India who know the Devanagari or Gurmukhi scripts for Saraiki. Traders or bookkeepers wrote in a script known as Langdi, although use of this script has been significantly reduced in recent times. Likewise, a script related to the Landa scripts family, known as Multani, was previously used to write Saraiki.Preliminary Proposal to Encode the Multani Script in ISO/IEC 10646 is submitted by Anshuman Pandey, on 26-04-2011. Saraiki Unicode has been approved in 2006. The transliteration from and to Persian and Devanagari scripts for Saraiki language can be made online.

In the process of creating a distinct Saraiki written language, activists have paid attention to creating a standard script and orthographic norms. Orthographic and linguistic standardization of Saraiki seems more connected with the politics of identity. Although Saraiki shares four implosive sounds with Sindhi, care was taken so that the Saraiki script and the representation of these symbols should be different from that of Sindhi so that the Sindhis should not lay any claims over Saraiki literature as theirs. Here is an example of Saraiki poetry by Khwaja Ghulam Farid:

اپڑیں ملک کوں آپ وسا توں ۔ پٹ انگریزی تھانے