I can understand Punjabi perfectly though I can't understand Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi. Is pure Seraiki similar to Punjabi?

No.

Hi Farhan
I have the same experience.
We Multanis in India call ourselves Punjabi, for ease of identification. We also marry among Pujabis because our cultures are very similar. We are quite different from Sindhi.

There is a lot of similarity in the lexic (words and vocabulary) between Punjabi and Seraiki / Multani. But at the phonological level (the sounds) we share an affinity with Sindhi! Strange, but true.

Grammatically, we have similarities with both Punjabi AND Sindhi.

Let me explain.

Take for example the Punjabi word naaL (with). You will see that in Punjabi, one has a HARD L SOUND (called the retroflex L). But this sound is absent in both Sindhi and Siraiki.

Further, take the word Vann(j) (to go). You will see that the 'n' (nasal sound) is absent in Punjabi, but is present in Multani/ Siraiki as well as Sindhi.

Then there is some Grammatical / Morphological similarity between Seraiki and Sindhi.

Take the the sentence, HE IS DOING.

How would you translate it to Punjabi?

Kar rya hai?

and in Siraiki

Karaynda pya hay. (or Karaynda pay)

now, if you look at the gerund Karaynda, the adding of the -anda to the main verb kar- is very similar to what is done in Sindhi.

It is strange, though, that i cannot translate into Sindhi. And that is the biggest differenct. Lexically (in terms of words and vocabulary) Sindhi is more distant from Siraik than Punjabi. I feel Punjabi and Siraiki are sister languages. They are mutually intelligible.

however, i would not be suprised if Siraiki dialects in the south would be mutually intelligible with Sindhi.

To sum up, i would say, yes, you are right. Multani/ Siraiki and Punjabi are very similar, but Siraiki/ Multani also has similarities at another level with Sindhi.

Regards,

Vikram
vixbenny@gmail.com

"To sum up, i would say, yes, you are right. Multani/ Siraiki and Punjabi are very similar, but Siraiki/ Multani also has similarities at another level with Sindhi."

To say "Seraiki and punjabi are similar" is truth and acceptable, but when someone says "Seraiki similar to punjabi" rather "punjabi similar to seraiki" then this thing is irritating because people interpret this phrase as "Seraiki is just a one dialect of punjabi".

Vikram sahab, the information given by you is valuable for me.

Much Thanks and Best Regards- G. Raza

Raza saab,
yes, i can understand how the statement can be mis-interpreted.
I am firmly of the view that Punjabi and Siraiki are two distinct languages of the same language group and family, and share affinity to each other also due to geographical proximity.

Regards
Vikram