13 Facts About Hindko

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.

Hindko is mutually intelligible with Punjabi and Saraiki, and has more affinities with the latter than with the former.

Varieties of Hindko are primarily spoken in a core area in the district of Attock in the northwestern corner of the province of Punjab, and in two neighbouring regions: in Peshawar to the north-west, and Hazara to the north-east, both in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

However, the Hindko-speaking community belonging to the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are sometimes recognised collectively as Hazarewal.

The other Hindko speakers include the Sayyids, Awans, Mughals, Tanolis, Turks, Qureshis and Gujjars.

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In most Hindko-speaking areas, speakers of Pashto live in the same or neighbouring communities.

Hindko contrasts stop consonants at the labial, alveolar, retroflex, palatal and velar places of articulation.

The disappearance of the voiced aspirates from most Hindko varieties has been linked to the development of tone.

Unlike many Indo-Aryan languages, but in common with Punjabi, Hindko varieties have a system of pitch accent, which is commonly referred to as tone.

Hindko is generally written in a variety of the Punjabi alphabet.

Gandhara Hindko Board is a leading organisation that has been active in the preservation and promotion of the Hindko and culture since 1993.

In 2003 the Gandhara Hindko Board published first a Hindko dictionary which was compiled by a prominent linguists from Abbottabad, Sultan Sakoon.

Idara-e-Faroghe Hindko based in Peshawar is another body that is promoting the Hindko.