20 million Balochi speakers residing in different regions many reside in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan
ABSOR: It is estimated that out of the 20 million Balochi speakers residing in different regions many reside in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan, Iranian Balochistan (Sistan), Afghanistan and other parts of Asia and Europe. Speakers of Balochi use different dialects of the language. There are mainly three dialects of the Balochi language: Makurani, Rakhshani, and Koh-e-Sulemani. Balochi, one of the oldest languages, has an unrecorded history like many other old languages and their dialects. The views Baloch and Western scholars share about the language’s origin are yet controversial and unclear; however, we cannot wholly claim that the origin of Balochi language is unclear as there are some satisfactory answers to it. Some of them state, it originated in Persia, and some relate its origin to the Iranian group of the Indo-European family of languages. However, the language we speak at present is a very rich language; rich in idioms and idiomatic phrases, lullabies, folk tales, folk songs, and folk literature. The language also has a rich literary history of contribution from poets, writers and scholars.
A lot of literary work in Balochi language has been done since the 1950s onwards. As Sayad believed, the mid-19th period and twentieth century was the period of the renaissance of the Balochi language. Most scholars believe that Balochi originated in the Iranian group of the Indo-European family of languages around three thousand years ago and is older than other languages spoken in its neighbourhood. The Indo-European family of languages has originated from the Aryan language, one of the basic languages of ancient people.
Lastly, it would be a step in the right direction if we pledge to struggle to enrich and promote our language since language plays a pivotal role in forming one’s identity, individually and collectively.
Muhammad Bakhtiyar
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2018.
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