سنڌي- عربي صورتخطيءَ جو مختصر تعارف: تحقيقي ۽ تنقيدي جائزو A Brief Introduction to the Sindhi-Arabic Script: A Research Review

Abstract

This research review highlights the antiquity of the Sindhi language, the evolution of its writing system, and particularly the origin, development, and reforms of the Sindhi-Arabic script. The study reveals that Sindhi is an extremely ancient language, with written evidence dating back five to seven thousand years. These writings are found in various ancient scripts such as Cuneiform, Brahmi, Kharosthi, Devanagari, and Arabic. Sindhi has been influenced by Arab, Persian, and other civilizations due to historical interactions, especially after the Arab conquest of Sindh, which significantly strengthened the influence of the Arabic language and script. With the spread of Islam, Arabic attained religious, educational, and administrative importance, leading to a large influx of Arabic vocabulary and sounds into Sindhi. To accurately represent these sounds and meanings, Sindhi adopted the Arabic script, which gradually evolved into the Sindhi-Arabic orthography. Although there are differing scholarly opinions regarding the origin of the Sindhi-Arabic script, it is evident that some form of it existed prior to the Arab period and became more established during it. Makhdoom Abul Hasan organized and refined this script by introducing new letters and systematizing it. Later, in 1853, the British officer Sir Bartle Frere Ellis (commonly referred to as Sir B. Ellis) formalized the script with the assistance of Sindhi scholars, establishing a standardized Sindhi alphabet consisting of 52 letters. Ellis’s standardized orthography incorporated Arabic and Persian letters along with additional characters representing unique Sindhi sounds, thereby providing a comprehensive representation of the phonetic system. However, certain aspirated sounds such as: ڙهه، لهه، مهه، نهه  and  ڻهه were not included, leaving some gaps and ambiguities in the script. Furthermore, Sindhi orthography includes certain phonetic distinctions—such as between س, ص, ث or ز, ض, ظ—which are difficult for common speakers to differentiate in pronunciation but are retained due to their importance in preserving the meanings of Arabic loanwords. Removing these distinctions could lead to semantic confusion. Historically, the Sindhi-Arabic script underwent several modifications and refinements, but after 1853 it was officially adopted across Sindh as a standardized writing system. Subsequent attempts to replace it with the Devanagari script were unsuccessful. In conclusion, the Sindhi-Arabic script is the result of a gradual evolutionary process shaped by cultural, religious, and linguistic influences. Despite certain limitations, it remains a fully functional and dynamic system for expressing the Sindhi language, with potential for further refinement over time.