Hindko and Gujari. c - SIL International

4
Calvin R. Rensch
The term Hindki is often used to refer to a speaker of the
Hindko language (Shackle 1980:482), 3 but in popular usage it
may refer to the language as well. In older literature it was
frequently used for the language — for example, in the Imperial
Gazetteer of NWFP, which regularly calls it Hindki
(1905:130,172,186 ff.). Grierson uses it to designate certain
dialects of his Lahnda grouping, some others being called
Hindko (LSI VIII.1:554,565 ff.).
It seems clear that the term Hindko/Hindki has developed as
a label to distinguish far western forms of Indic speech from the
Iranian dialects called Pashto, largely spoken even farther west.
1.1.1 Linguistic fault line
The speakers of Hindko, a member of the Indic language
family, 4 live along the east side of the linguistic fault line that
separates Indic from Iranian languages. In most Hindko-speaking
areas speakers of Pashto live in neighboring communities and
often in the same communities as Hindko speakers, although this
is less true in the vicinity of Abbottabad and in the Kaghan
Valley than elsewhere. In the mixed areas many people speak
both languages.
The relationship between Hindko and Pashto does not seem
to be one of stable bilingualism. In the northeast Hindko is
dominant in some areas and even seems to be advancing, both in
domains of usage and in numbers of speakers, 5 whereas in the
3 Note that the Imperial Gazetteer of India for NWFP (1905:150) mentions
a slightly broader usage of the term “Hindki”: “In the popular phraseology
of the District [i.e., Peshawar] all tribes who are not Pashtoons are Hindkis …”
4 Grierson (LSI I:135; VIII.1:134-5) suggests a strong Dardic influence in
the formation of Hindko as well as other “Lahnda” dialects. This does not deny,
however, the fundamentally Indic nature of Hindko in contrast to the Iranian
languages.
5 Many speakers of Hindko in Hazara Division are Pashtoons, largely
Swati Pathans, who have shifted in recent centuries from being speakers of
Pashto to being speakers of both Pashto and Hindko and now, in many cases, to
being speakers of Hindko but not Pashto. As evidence that this process is an
ongoing one, three respondents from Sherpur stated their belief that Hindko is
replacing Pashto in that area.