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Language Information

  name Punjabi
  nativename ,
  states Pakistan , India and other countries with Punjabi migrants
  region Punjab
  speakers Western: 61-62 million<br>Eastern: 28 million<br>Siraiki: 14 million<br>Total: 104 million
  rank 10th
  script Gurmukhi , Shahmukhi
  familycolor Indo-European
  fam2 Indo-Iranian
  fam3 Indo-Aryan
  nation Punjab (India) , Chandigarh , Delhi
  iso1 paiso2=pan
  lc1 panld1=Punjabi (Generic)ll1=none
  lc2 pnbld2=Punjabi (Western)ll2=none
  lc3 pmuld3=Punjabi (Mirpuri)ll3=none
  lc4 lahld4=Lahndill4=none



Punjabi (also '''Panjabi'''; '''' in Gurmukhī , ''Panjābī'' in Shāhmukhī ) is the language of the Punjabi People and the Punjab Region s of India and Pakistan .

It is an '.

The Punjabi people suffered a split between India and Pakistan during the Partition of 1947 . However, Punjabi language and culture tend to be uniting factors in spite of national and religious affiliations.


Dialects and geographic distribution


Punjabi is the official language of the Indian state of Punjab and it is one of the second official languages of 2003 It is also spoken in neighbouring areas such as Haryana and Himachal Pradesh . Punjabi is the predominant spoken language in the Punjab Province of Pakistan although it has no official status there, and both Urdu and English are preferred languages of the elite.

Punjabi is also spoken as a , in which some of their Religious Literature is written. It is the usual language of Bhangra music, which has recently gained wide popularity both in South Asia and abroad.

There are many dialects of Punjabi and they all form part of a Dialect Continuum , merging with Sindhi and related languages in Pakistan, and Hindustani in India. The main dialects of Punjabi are Majhi, Doabi, Malwai and Powadhi in India, and Pothohari, Lahndi and Multani in Pakistan. Majhi is the standard written form of Punjabi and is the dialect used in both Amritsar and Lahore .

The Punjabi University , Patiala , lists the following as dialects of Punjabi: Advanced Centre for Technical Development of Punjabi Language, Literature and Culture

As classified in Ethnologue:


Indo-European
└Indo-Iranian
└Indo-Aryan

├Northern zone
│└Western Pahari
│ └Dogri {Link without Title}

├Northwestern zone
│└Lahnda {Link without Title}
│ ├Jakati {Link without Title}
│ ├Khetrani {Link without Title}
│ ├Mirpur Punjabi {Link without Title}
│ ├Northern Hindko {Link without Title}
│ ├Pahari-Potwari {Link without Title}
│ ├Siraiki {Link without Title}
│ ├Southern Hindko {Link without Title}
│ └Western Punjabi {Link without Title}

└Central zone
└Eastern Punjabi {Link without Title}


Some of these dialects, such as Dogri , Siraiki and Hindko are sometimes considered separate languages.


Western and eastern Punjabi


Many sources subdivide the Punjabi language into Western Punjabi or Lahndi (), and Eastern Punjabi. They tend to do so based on GA Grierson's Linguistic Survey of India. The decision to divide the language has been controversial. The exact division of the language and even the legitimacy of such a division is disputed.

The dialect spoken in central Punjab — on both the Indian and Pakistani side — is Majhi. Grierson defined Western Punjabi as being west of a line running north-south from Montgomery and Gujranwala districts. This is well within present day Pakistan.Masica, CP, "The Indo-Aryan Languages", ISBN 0521299446, p 20 Contrary to this, Ethnologue has come to classify Lahndi as the dialect of Punjabi spoken in all of Pakistan.


Vocabulary


Modern Punjabi vocabulary has been influenced by other languages, including Hindustani , Persian and English . Like other North Indian languages, it is derived from Sanskrit and is therefore Indo-European .

Much like English, Punjabi has moved around the world and developed local forms by integrating local vocabulary. While most loanwords come from Hindustani, Persian and English, Punjabi emigrants around the world have integrated terms from such languages as Spanish and Dutch . A distinctive "Diaspora Punjabi" is thus emerging. As there is no formal consensus over vocabulary and spelling in Punjabi, it is likely that Diaspora Punjabi will increasingly deviate from the forms found on the Indian Subcontinent in the future.


Writing system


There are several different scripts used for writing the Punjabi language, depending on the region and the dialect spoken, as well as the religion of the speaker. The script used for writing Punjabi in the Punjab province of Pakistan is known as Shahmukhi (''from the mouth of the Kings'') which is a modified version of Persian-Nasta'liq script. Sikhs and others in the Indian state of Punjab tend to use the Gurmukhī (''from the mouth of the Gurus'') script. Hindu s, and those living in neighbouring states such as Haryana and Himachal Pradesh sometimes use the Devanāgarī script. Gurmukhī and Shahmukhi scripts are the most commonly used for writing Punjabi and are considered the official scripts of the language.


Examples



Notable authors



See also



References



External links