Pakistan

Northern Pashto

also: Yusufzai Pashto, Peshawari Pashto

The Pashto of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and parts of eastern Afghanistan. The literary basis of Pakistani Pashto, with the characteristic /ʃ/-realisation of the historical retroflex sibilant.

Eastern Balochi

also: Pakistani Balochi

The Balochi of Pakistan's Balochistan, centred on Quetta. The largest Balochi variety by speakers and the basis of most Balochi-language broadcasting and publishing.

Wakhi

also: Wakhi Pamir

A Pamir Iranian language spoken across the Wakhan Corridor where Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China meet. One of the most archaic Iranian languages, retaining features of Old Iranian lost everywhere else.

Majhi Punjabi

also: Standard Punjabi

The Majhi variety of central Punjab on both sides of the India-Pakistan border. The basis of the literary standard for both Gurmukhi-script Indian Punjabi and Shahmukhi-script Pakistani Punjabi.

Lahnda

also: Western Punjabi, Saraiki cluster

The Western Punjabi cluster of Pakistan, including Saraiki and Hindko. Often classified as a distinct language group rather than a Punjabi dialect.

Urdu

The Hindustani national language of Pakistan and one of India's scheduled languages. Linguistically the same spoken language as Standard Hindi, distinguished by its Perso-Arabic script and Persian-Arabic literary register.

Sindhi

An Indo-Aryan language of Sindh province in Pakistan, with substantial communities in India after Partition. Around 25 million speakers; written in both Perso-Arabic and Devanagari scripts.

Kashmiri

also: Koshur

A Dardic Indo-Aryan language of the Kashmir valley, traditionally written in a Perso-Arabic script (Naskh) but also in Devanagari and the Sharada heritage script.

Burushaski

A language isolate spoken in the Hunza, Yasin, and Nagar valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan, northern Pakistan. Around 100,000 speakers; the most-spoken language isolate of Asia.