Hindko and Gujari. c - SIL International

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Calvin R. Rensch
language used with speakers of Panjabi. The fact that Hindko
speakers from Singo Di Garhi generally speak Hindko with
speakers of either Gujari or Panjabi is, of course, feasible only
because the three languages are relatively similar – by contrast,
for example, with Pashto. A majority of respondents also report
using Hindko with Pashto speakers, although slightly more than
one-fourth use Urdu. Only one person reports using Pashto with
Pashto speakers. It is only in communicating with Urdu speakers
that Singo Di Garhi residents use another language more than
Hindko. Even so, more than half the respondents use at least
some Hindko when speaking with speakers of Urdu.
From these responses it is clear that the Hindko speakers of
Singo Di Garhi, even though ethnically Swati Pathans and,
hence, descended from Pashto-speakers, have little opportunity
or necessity to speak Pashto. There are few Pashto speakers
living in their vicinity. In this respect their situation is more like
that of Balakot, another area where Pashto is only rarely used,
than that of Jammun and Sherpur, where Pashto is prevalent.
The apparently lower use of Urdu by Singo Di Garhi
residents as compared with Jammun residents cannot be related
to amount of education, which is the factor that most commonly
promotes Urdu proficiency. Neither community has a high
school; each has a primary school. Furthermore, the level of
education attained by men in the two communities seems to be
about the same. In Jammun 58.7 percent of the men were
reported to have had some education (see figure 1.4) and in
Singo Di Garhi the percentage is 61.4 percent (see figure 1.5).
However, Singo Di Garhi residents report traveling outside their
village a bit less and for shorter periods than Jammun residents
(see also §2.1). It may be that less travel gives them less contact
with Urdu and less opportunity to use the Urdu that they have
learned.
In Jammun 21.6 percent of the women have had some
education as compared with 2.3 percent in Singo Di Garhi. The
difference in women’s education, however, is unlikely to account
for different language use patterns reported by male respondents.
It does correlate well, however, with the fact that women from