Abstract
Swat has it peculiar historical, geographical, and cultural position. It is a place where various cultures and civilizations developed. Many ethnic and linguistic groups are living in Swat. Presently, nine different indigenous languages are spoken in Swat. Besides these indigenous languages Urdu as national langufranca and English as international languafranca is also spoken to some extent. These nine indigenous languages include Pukhto (Pashto), Gujro (Gujri), Torwali, Gawri, Ushojo, Qashqari, Badeshi, Shina Kohistani, and Westren dialect of Kohistani. Among these languages the Ushojo and Badeshi are endangered languages. All of the languages spoken Swat have a common cultural background. This shared cultural background is the main cause of linguistic commonalities. Religion, national language, media, education system and many other factors created these linguistic commonalities. Pashto being language of the majority and market play a role of linguafranca among various linguistic groups of Swat. That is why Pashto language and Pashtun culture has also influenced these indigenous languages and cultures.This article attempts to introduce languages spoken in Swat along with shared cultural background of these languages.

Muhammad Ali Dinakhel. (2020) Cultural Background of the Languages Spoken in Swat, Putaj Humanities And Social Science, Volume-27, Issue-2.
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