Hindko

Hindko (ہندکو pronounced [/Hindkoŭ/], also Hindku or Hinko,) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 5 million people in Pakistan. Most of them are found in Hazara (a region of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), but there are also speakers in other parts of the province (such as Kohat and Peshawar). There are also speakers in Azad Kashmir and in north-western Punjab. Hazara Hindko is the standard variety of Hindko.

Hindko
ہندکو
Hindko
Native toPakistan
RegionPunjab Province (Attock District), Kohat, Peshawar
Native speakers
(625,000 cited 1981)[1]
Dialects
  • Hazarewal Hindko (which has further subdivisions)
  • Peshawari
  • Kohati
Nasta'liq script
Language codes
ISO 639-3hnd (Southern Hindko)
Dialects of Punjabi

There is no proper, formal generic name for these people because they belong to diverse ethnicities and tend to identify themselves by the larger families, castes and tribes. However the people of the largest group in the districts of Haripur, Abbottabad and Mansehra are sometimes recognised collectively as Hazarawal, named after the Hazara Division that comprises these districts. In Peshawar city they are referred to as "Kharay" meaning City-dwellers or Hindkowans.

References

  1. Hindko at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
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