Punjabi dialects and languages
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| Punjabi languages | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Punjab |
| Linguistic classification | Indo-European
|
Early form | Old Punjabi
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| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | None |
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| Part of a series on |
| Punjabis |
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The Punjabi dialects and languages are a series of dialects and languages spoken in the Punjab region of Pakistan and India with varying degrees of official recognition. They have sometimes been referred to as Greater Punjabi.[1]
The literary languages that have developed on the basis of dialects of this area are Standard Punjabi in eastern and central Punjab, Saraiki in the southwest, and Hindko and Pahari-Pothwari in the north and [2]north-west.
A distinction is usually made between Punjabi in the east and the diverse group of "Lahnda" in the west. "Lahnda" typically subsumes the Saraiki and Hindko varieties, with Jhangvi and Shahpuri intermediate between the two groups.[3] Commonly recognised Eastern Punjabi dialects include Majhi (the standard), Doabi, Malwai, and Puadhi. The "Lahnda" variety of Khetrani in the far west may be intermediate between Saraiki and Sindhi.[4]
The varieties of "Greater Punjabi" have a number of characteristics in common, for example the preservation of the Prakrit double consonants in stressed syllables.[5] Nevertheless, there is disagreement on whether they form part of a single language group, with some proposed classifications placing them all within the Northwestern zone of Indo-Aryan, while others reserving this only for the western varieties, and assigning the eastern ones to the Central zone alongside Hindi.[6]
Standard Punjabi
Standard Punjabi, sometimes referred to as Majhi in India or simply as “Punjabi”, is the most widespread and largest dialect of Punjabi. It first developed in the 12th century and gained prominence when Sufi poets such as Shah Hussain, Bulleh Shah among others began to use the Lahore/Amritsar spoken dialect with infused Persian vocabulary in their works in the Shahmukhi script.[7] Later the Gurmukhi script was standardized based on Majhi using pre-existing Laṇḍā scripts by the Sikh Gurus.[8]
Standard Punjabi is spoken by the majority of the people in Faisalabad, Lahore, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat, Okara, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, Hafizabad, Nankana Sahib and Mandi Bahauddin districts of Pakistan's Punjab Province. It also has a large presence in every district in the rest of Pakistani Punjab, and in all large cities in Pakistan's other provinces.
In India it is spoken in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Pathankot, and the Gurdaspur districts of the State of Punjab.
In Pakistan, the Standard Punjabi dialect is not referred to as the 'Majhi dialect', which may be considered as 'Indian terminology', rather simply as 'Standard Punjabi'. This dialect is widely used in the TV and entertainment industry, which is mainly produced in Lahore.
Eastern Punjabi
Eastern Punjab, known as Chardha or Chardhi,[9] is home to a variety of Punjabic vernaculars and lects. The main ones are listed below.
Malwai
Spoken in the Malwa region of Punjab.[10]
Doabi
Spoken in the Doaba region of Punjab and lowland Himachal Pradesh.[11]
Powadhi
Spoken in the Powadh region of Punjab and Haryana.
Bagri
Spoken in the Bagar tract region of southwestern Punjab (India), northern Rajasthan, and neighbouring areas of Punjab (Pakistan). This is a transitional dialect between the Rajasthani-languages further south, Haryanvi to the east, and Punjabic proper to the north.[12][13]
Western Punjabi
Western Punjabi, also known as Lahnda, has a great deal of diverse and divergent Punjabic vernaculars and dialects. Many scholars[who?] claim they may constitute a separate genetic grouping from Punjabi proper, but this has yet to be established[by whom?] and its validity has been questioned by some[by whom?] but all the have been given separate Language status in the National Census 2022.[14][15] The three include Hindko, Pahari-Pothwari and Saraiki.
References
- ^ For the use of the term "Greater Panjabi", see Rensch (1992, p. 87) and Rahman (1996, p. 175).
- ^ Shackle 1979, p. 198.
- ^ Pothwari has previously been regarded as part of "Lahnda", but Shackle (1979, pp. 201) argues that it shares features with both groups. Jhangvi (Wagha 1997, p. 229) and Shahpuri (Shackle 1979, pp. 201) are transitional between Saraiki and Punjabi.
- ^ Birmani & Ahmed 2017.
- ^ Shackle 2003, p. 591.
- ^ Masica 1991, pp. 446–63.
- ^ Lal, Mohan (1992). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature. Sahitya Academy. p. 4208.
- ^ Bhatt, Shankarlal (2006). Punjab. Bhargava, Gopal K. Delhi: Kalpaz publ. p. 141. ISBN 81-7835-378-4. OCLC 255107273.
- ^ Kaur, Manpreet (2021). Partition Induced Human Trauma, Pain and Sufferings Through Poems (PDF). Mahendergarh: Department of History and Archaeology - Central University of Haryana, Jant-Pali, Mahendragarh, Haryana 123031. p. 36.
- ^ Grover, Parminder Singh (2011). Discover Punjab: Attractions of Punjab. Parminder Singh Grover. p. 179.
- ^ Lehal, Gurpreet Singh. "Introduction". Learn Punjabi - Research Centre for Punjabi Language Technology - Patiala Punjabi University. INDIA -147002: Advanced Centre for Technical Development of Punjabi Language, Literature and Culture. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Gusain, Lakhan (2000). Bagri. München: Lincom Europa. ISBN 3-89586-398-X. OCLC 45797825.
- ^ Gusain, Lakhan (1999). A Descriptive Grammar of Bagri (PDF). Centre of Linguistics & English - School of Language, Literature & Culture Studies - Jawaharlal Nehru University. hdl:10603/16847.
- ^ Shackle 1979.
- ^ Language and national identity in Asia. Andrew Simpson. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007. ISBN 0-19-153308-4. OCLC 252693198.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Sources
- Birmani, Ali H.; Ahmed, Fasih (2017). "Language of the Khetrans of Barkhan of Pakistani Balochistan: A preliminary description". Lingua. 191–192: 3–21. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2016.12.003. ISSN 0024-3841.
- Burling, Robbins. 1970. Man's many voices. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
- Ethnologue. Indo-Aryan Classification of 219 languages that have been assigned to the Indo-Aryan grouping of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages.
- Ethnologue. Languages of India
- Ethnologue. Languages of Pakistan
- Grierson, George A. (1903–1928). Linguistic Survey of India. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Online database
- Masica, Colin P. (1991). The Indo-Aryan languages. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-23420-7.
- Rahman, Tariq (1996). Language and politics in Pakistan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-577692-8.
- Rahman, Tariq. 2006. The role of English in Pakistan with special reference to tolerance and militancy. In Amy Tsui et al., Language, policy, culture and identity in Asian contexts. Routledge. 219-240.
- Rensch, Calvin R. (1992). "The Language Environment of Hindko-Speaking People". In O'Leary, Clare F.; Rensch, Calvin R.; Hallberg, Calinda E. (eds.). Hindko and Gujari. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN 969-8023-13-5.
- Shackle, C. 1970. Punjabi in Lahore. Modern Asian Studies, 4(3):239–267. Available online at JSTOR.
- Shackle, Christopher (1979). "Problems of classification in Pakistan Panjab". Transactions of the Philological Society. 77 (1): 191–210. doi:10.1111/j.1467-968X.1979.tb00857.x. ISSN 0079-1636.
- Shackle, Christopher (2003). "Panjabi". In Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh (eds.). The Indo-Aryan languages. Routledge language family series. Y. London: Routledge. pp. 581–621. ISBN 978-0-7007-1130-7.
- Wagha, Muhammad Ahsan (1997). The development of Siraiki language in Pakistan (Ph.D.). School of Oriental and African Studies. (requires registration)
External links
- Map of Punjabi dialects from Grierson's early 20th-century Linguistic Survey of India