Sindhi Bhil, () is an Indo-Aryan dialect spoken in the

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

i province of

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

, as well as some parts of

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

. Sindhi Bhil is often referred to as a Sindhi dialect rather than a separate language alongside Lasi.

Characteristics

Sindhi Bhil is known to have many old Sindhi words, which were lost after

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, and Chaghatai words were absorbed into Sindhi. Sindhi Bhil's Badin dialect is closest to Sindhi. The Mohrano speakers have added many Dhatki words into their language, and some say the Mohrano dialect of Sindhi Bhil may be considered a different language due to the number of Dhatki loanwords it has.

Speakers

The

Sindhi Bhils The Sindhi Bhils/Bheels ( Sindhi: ) are an Sindhinised sub-group of the Bhil people who live in the Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan. They are one of major tribes in the region, and are one of the Hindu groups in Pakistan w ...

and Sindhi Meghwars are the speakers of Sindhi Bhil and are

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and number around 86,500. They live in Balochistan and Sindh, while there are diasporas in

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

due to the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. They are part of the

Bhil people Bhil or Bheel refer to the various indigenous groups inhabiting western India, including parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and are also found in distant places such as Bengal and Tripura. Though they now speak the Bhili language, an Indo-A ...

Dialects

Sindhi Bhil has four dialects. The most spoken is Badin which has around 10,000 speakers. It is spoken in the city of Badin and also Matli. Other dialects include Mohrano, Nuclear Sindhi Bhil, and Sindhi Meghwar. Mohrano is spoken in Tando Allahyar.

References

{{reflist Sindhi language Northwestern Indo-Aryan languages Languages of Sindh

Characteristics

Speakers

Dialects

See also

References