Saraiki as Language or Dialect? A Critical Review of Maldonado García’s Eight Criteria through the Lens of Linguicism and Language Policy

Abstract

María Isabel Maldonado García’s (2016) article “Soraiki: Language or Dialect?” employs an eight-criteria framework to conclude that Saraiki is a dialect of Punjabi. This review critically examines that framework through the integrated lens of language policy, linguicism, and teacher agency. Drawing on Skutnabb-Kangas’s (1988) foundational concept of linguicism, Spolsky’s (2004) tripartite model of language policy, and recent empirical evidence from Southern Punjab, the review demonstrates that Maldonado García’s criteria—prestige, medium of instruction, media presence, literary tradition—are not neutral linguistic indicators but outcomes of systemic institutional discrimination. The review argues that her classification of Saraiki as a “dialect” exemplifies what Mirza and Zaman (2025) term criteria-based linguicism: establishing seemingly neutral conditions for marginalized languages that cannot be fulfilled without the very institutional support the framework denies them. The review concludes by proposing a policy roadmap for establishing Saraiki as a recognized language, grounded in constitutional provisions and recent policy developments in Pakistan.