Hindko and Gujari. c - SIL International

Hindko 31
(2.3) Languages Used by Sherpur Respondents With Speakers of
Other Languages, In Percentages of Respondents (n = 30)
Language
Used by
Respondent
with
Hindko
speakers
with
Pashto
speakers
with
Urdu
speakers
with
Panjabi
speakers
Hindko 97 10 57 93
Pashto 87
Urdu 3 87
Panjabi 20
Gujari 7
Hindko/Pashto 3
Hindko/Urdu 3 10
Hindko/Panjabi 13
Pashto/Urdu 10
with
Gujari
speakers
In its language-use patterns Sherpur is the most multilingual
of the communities studied as viewed from several standpoints:
First, it is the only community in which less than 100 percent of
the respondents report using only Hindko in the home domain.
Presumably, this results from intermarriage.
Of greater significance is the fact that eighty-seven percent
of the Hindko-speaking respondents report using Pashto with
Pashto speakers. This indicates a more widespread use of Pashto
than for any of the other communities studied. It is doubtless a
result of frequent contact with Pashto speakers in the village
itself, including intermarriage, and of travel to Pashto-speaking
areas. A large number, perhaps half, of the residents of Sherpur,
largely in the lower part of the village, speak Pashto as their first
language; among these, cousin marriage is widely practiced. The
Pashtoons in the upper part of the town, by contrast, use Hindko
as the language of the home and do not regularly practice cousin
marriage. In spite of these differences in marriage patterns and
home languages, the Hindko speakers report considerable
intermarriage with Pashto speakers.
A high eighty-seven percent of the respondents report using
Urdu with those recognized as speakers of Urdu. Again, this