Pothohari, Pothwari and Pahari: language and identity
Explore overlapping language names, a Leeds-based grammatical study and the problem of recognition in Britain.
Pothohar, Mirpur, Murree and British diaspora connections
Language · A guide to the archive
Language, region and identity
Compare regional language descriptions and historical classification with the institutions and communities that use those names.
How to approach this subject
Read the source and context behind each language label. A historical classification, a literary institution and a person’s self-description need not answer the same question. This selection gives each entry its own scope and keeps disagreement visible, without treating one regional label as a substitute for all speakers’ identities.
An intentional selection
Begin with these entries
Saraiki: language, scholarship and self-identification
Understand why Saraiki is treated as a language in its own right and how linguistic description differs from a history of recognition.
Southern Punjab and the wider middle Indus region
Hindko: language, place and cultural institutions
Read Hindko through northwestern linguistic research, the 2023 census and the work of its own literary institutions.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and connections with northwestern Punjab
Dogri: language, literature and recognition
An introduction to Dogri’s literary institutions, changing public recognition and a documented digital text collection.
Jammu and neighbouring north Indian regions
Lahnda: the history of a linguistic category
Understand why Lahnda appears in older scholarship and library records, and why those classifications need context.
Western Punjab and connected northwestern language communities