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Punjabi language
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Punjabi ( in Shahmukhi script), ( in Gurmukhi script), ( in transliteration) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region (now split between Pakistan and India) and their diasporas. Speakers include adherents of the religions of Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism.
According to various sources, Punjabi has approximately 90-100 million native speakers, which makes it approximately the 11th most widely spoken language in the world.
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Punjabi ( in Shahmukhi script), ( in Gurmukhi script), ( in transliteration) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region (now split between Pakistan and India) and their diasporas. Speakers include adherents of the religions of Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism.
According to various sources, Punjabi has approximately 90-100 million native speakers, which makes it approximately the 11th most widely spoken language in the world. According to the Ethnologue 2005 estimate, there are 88 million native speakers of the Punjabi language. According to the 2002 census of Pakistan, there are approximately 63 million native speakers of Punjabi in Pakistan, and according to the Census of India, there are over 29 million Punjabi speakers in India.
Along with Lahanda and Western Pahari languages, Punjabi is unusual among modern Indo-European languages in being a tonal language.
In his Linguistic Survey of India, the linguist George Abraham Grierson used the word "Punjabi" to refer to several languages spoken in the Punjab region: the term "Western Punjabi" (ISO 639-3 pnb) covered Saraiki, while the term "Eastern Punjabi" referred to the language based on Majhi dialect (ISO 639-3 pan). The term "Punjabi language" today generally refers to "Eastern Punjabi" i.e. the language based on the Majhi dialect of the historical region of Majha, which spans the Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat and Jehlum Districts of the Pakistani Province of Punjab and Amritsar District and Gurdaspur District of the Indian State of Punjab.
History
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language like many other modern languages of South Asia. The Punjabi language is a descendant of Sauraseni Prakrit, which was the chief language of medieval northern India
Punjabi emerged as an independent language in the 11th century from the Sauraseni Apabhramsa. The literary tradition in Punjabi started with Fariduddin Ganjshakar (Baba Farid)(1173-1266), many ancient Sufi mystics and later Guru Nanak Dev ji, the first Guru of the Sikhism. The early Punjabi literature was principally spiritual in nature and has had a very rich oral tradition. The poetry written by Sufi saints has been the folklore of the Punjab and is still sung with great love in any part of Punjab.
Between 1600 and 1850, Muslim Sufi, Sikh and Hindu writers composed many works in Punjabi. The most famous Punjabi Sufi poet was Baba Bulleh Shah (1680 – 1757), who wrote in the Kafi style. Bulleh Shah practiced the Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538 – 1599), Sultan Bahu (1629 – 1691), and Shah Sharaf (1640 – 1724). His lifespan also overlapped with the legendary Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722 – 1798), of Heer Ranjha fame. Waris Shah's rendition of the tragic love story of Heer Ranjha is among the most popular medieval Punjabi works. Other popular tragic love stories are Sohni Mahiwal, Mirza Sahiba and Sassi Punnun. Shah Mohammad's Jangnama is another fine piece of poetry that gives an eyewitness account of the First Anglo-Sikh War that took place after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Association with the Sikhs
Punjabi is not the predominant language of the Sikh scriptures (which are written in several dialects, though in Gurumukhi script). A few portions of Guru Granth Sahib use the Punjabi dialects, but the book is interspersed with several other languages including old Hindi languages (such as Brajbhasha and Khariboli), Sanskrit and Persian. Guru Gobind Singh, the last Guru of the Sikhs composed Chandi di Var in Punjabi, although most of his works are composed in other languages like Braj bhasha and Persian.
However, in the 20th century, the Punjabi-speaking Sikhs started attaching importance to the Punjabi written in the Gurumukhi script as a symbol of their distinct identity. The Punjabi identity was affected by the communal sentiments in the 20th century. Bhai Vir Singh, a major figure in the movement for the revival of Punjabi literary tradition, started insisting that the Punjabi language was the exclusive preserve of the Sikhs. The Muslim and Hindu Punjabis began to assert that their mother tongues were Urdu and Hindi respectively. After the partition of India, the Punjab region was divided between India and Pakistan. Although the Punjab people formed the biggest linguistic group in Pakistan, Urdu was declared the national language of Pakistan, and Punjabi did not get any official status. The Indian Punjab, which then consisted of what are now Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, became Hindi-majority.
In the 1960s, the Shiromani Akali Dal proposed "Punjabi Suba", a state for Punjabi speakers in India. Paul R. Brass, the Professor Emeritus of Political Science and South Asian Studies at the University of Washington, opines that the Sikh leader Fateh Singh tactically stressed the linguistic basis of the demand, while downplaying the religious basis for the demand -- a state where the distinct Sikh identity could be preserved. The movement for a Punjabi Suba led to trifurcation of Indian Punjab into three states: Punjab (India), Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
Modern Punjabi
In India, Punjabi is one of the 22 languages with official status in India. It is the first official language of Punjab (India) and Union Territory State Chandigarh and the 2nd official language of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the provincial language of Punjab the largest province of Pakistan.
The famous Punjabi writers from Pakistan include:
The famous Indian Punjabi poets in modern times are:
Geographic distribution
Pakistan
Punjabi is the most commonly spoken language of Pakistan. Punjabi is spoken as first language by 44% of Pakistanis. Punjabis comprise the largest ethnic group in the country. Punjabis are dominant in key institutions such as Business, Agriculture, Industry, Government, Army, Navy, Air Force, and Police that is why about 70% of Pakistanis can understand and speak Punjabi.
The Punjabis found in Pakistan are composed of various social groups (caste) and economic groups. Muslim Rajputs, Jat, Gujjars, Gakhars, Khatri or Punjabi Shaikhs, Kambohs, Awans, and Arains, comprise the main tribes in the north, while Gilanis, Gardezis, Syeds and Quraishis are found in the south. There are Pashtun tribes like the Niazis and the lodhis, which are very much integrated into Punjabi village life, especially the members of the Niazi tribe, who see themselves as Punjabis first. People in major urban areas have diverse origins, with many post-Islamic settlers tracing their origin to Afghanistan, Persia, Turkey, Arabia, and Central Asia.
India
Punjabi is spoken as a native language by 3% of Indians, esp. the followers of Sikhism. Punjabi is the official language of the Indian state of Punjab and the shared state capital Chandigarh. It is one of the official languages of the state of Delhi and the second language of Haryana.
The Punjabis found in India are composed of various ethnic groups, tribal groups, social groups (caste) and economic groups. Some major sub-groups of Punjabis in India include (alphabetical order): Jats, Rajputs, Ahirs, Arora, Bania, Bhatia, Brahmin, Gujjar, Kalals/Ahluwalias, Kambojs, Khatris, Labanas, Saini, Sood and Tarkhan. Most of these groups can be further sub-divided into clans and family groups.
Most of East Punjab's Muslims (in today's states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh) left for West Punjab in 1947. However, a small community still exists today, mainly in Malerkotla, the only Muslim princely state among the seven that formed the erstwhile Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU). The other six (mostly Sikh) states were: Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Faridkot, Kapurthala and Kalsia.
The Punjabi Diaspora
Punjabi is also spoken as a minority language in several other countries where Punjabis have emigrated in large numbers, such as the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom (where it is the second most commonly used language) and Canada, where in recent times Punjabi has grown fast and has now become the fourth most spoken language.
Top Ten Punjabi speaking countries.
- Pakistan: 80,000,000- The most commonly spoken language in Pakistan.
- India: 30,000,000- The 11th most commonly spoken language in India.
- United Kingdom: 1,600,000- 2nd most common language in the UK.
- Canada: 800,000- The 4th most common spoken language in Canada.
- United Arab Emerates: 720,000.
- United States: 700,000.
- Saudi Arabia: 640,000.
- Hongkong: 270,000.
- France: 180,000.
- Australia: 120,000.
Dialects: linguistic classification
In Indo-Aryan dialectology generally, the presence of transitional dialects creates problems in assigning some dialects to one or another "language". However, over the last century there has usually been little disagreement when it comes to defining the core region of the Punjabi language. In modern India, the states are largely designed to encompass the territories of major languages with an established written standard. Thus Indian Punjab is the Punjabi language state (in fact, the neighboring state of Haryana, which was part of Punjab state in 1947, was split off from it because it is a Hindi speaking region). Some of its major urban centers are Ludhiana, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, and Patiala. In Pakistan, the Punjabi speaking territory spans the east-central districts of Punjab Province. Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faislabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Sargodha and Sialkot. Lahore the historic capital of Punjab is the largest Punjabi speaking city in the wolrd. Lahore has 86% native Punjabis of total population of the city. and Islamabad the Capital of Pakistan has 71% Native Punjabis of total population.
Major Punjabi dialects
Majhi
- The Majhi dialect is Punjabi's prestige dialect and spoken in the heart of Punjab where most of the Punjabi population lives. The Majhi dialect, the dialect of the historical region of Majha, which spans the Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat and some parts of Jhelum District in Pakistani Punjab and Amritsar District and Gurdaspur District of the Indian State of Punjab.
Jhangochi or Rachnavi
- Jhangochi (???????) dialect is spoken in Pakistani Punjab. Jhangochi or Rachnavi is the oldest and most idiosyncretic dialect of the Punjabi. It is spoken throughout a widespread area, starting from Khanewal and Jhang at both ends of Ravi and Chenab to Gujranwala district. It than runs down to Bahawalnagar and Chishtian araes, on the banks of river Sutlej. This entire area has almost the same traditions, customs and culture. The Jhangochi dialect of Punjabi has several aspects that set it apart from other Punjabi variants. This area has a great culture and heritage, especially literary heritage, as it is credited with the creation of the famous epic romance stories of Heer Ranjha and Mirza Sahiba. It is spoken in the Bar areas of Punjab, i.e. areas whose names are often suffixed with 'Bar', for example Sandal Bar, Kirana Bar, Neeli Bar, Ganji Bar and also from Khanewal to Jhang includes Faisalabad and Chiniot..
Shahpuri
- This dialect is spoken in Pakistani Punjab. The Shahpuri language has been spoken by the people of the town Shahpur. This language has been spoken by the people of District Sargodha including Dera Chanpeer Shah, Khushab, Jhang, Mianwali, Attock, parts of Faisalabad (foremerly Lyallpur), parts of Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalnagar, Chakwal, Mianwali, Sargodha, Khushab and Mandi Bahauddin districts..
Pothowari
- This dialect is spoken in north Pakistani Punjab. mainly The area where Pothowari is spoken extends in the north from Muzaffarabad to as far south as Jhelum, Gujar Khan, Chakwal and Rawalpindi. [phr] 49,440 (2000 WCD). Murree Hills north of Rawalpindi, and east to Bhimber. Poonchi is east of Rawalakot. Potwari is in the plains around Rawalpindi. Alternate names: Potwari, Pothohari, Potohari, Chibhali, Dhundi-Kairali. Dialects: Pahari (Dhundi-Kairali), Pothwari (Potwari), Chibhali, Punchhi (Poonchi), Mirpuri. Pahari means 'hill language' referring to a string of divergent dialects, some of which may be separate languages. A dialect chain with Panjabi and Hindko. Closeness to western Pahari is unknown. Lexical similarity 76% to 83% among varieties called 'Pahari', 'Potwari', and some called 'Hindko' in Mansehra,Muzaffarabad, and Jammun. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Northern zone, Western Pahari.
Hindko
- This dialect is spoken in north west Pakistani Punjab and NWFP mainly this dialect is spoken in districts of Peshawar, Attock, Nowshehra, Mansehra, Balakot, Abbotabad and Murree and the lower half of Neelum District and Muzafarabad..
Malwi
- Malwi Spoken in the eastern part of Indian Punjab. Main areas are Ludhiana, Ambala, Bathinda, Ganganagar, Malerkotla, Fazilka, Ferozepur. Malwa is the southern and central part of present day Indian Punjab. Also includes the Punjabi speaking northern areas of Haryana, viz. Ambala, Hissar, Sirsa, Kurukshetra etc.
Doabi
- Doabi spoken in Indian Punjab. The word "Do Aabi" means "the land between two rivers" and this dialects is spoken between the rivers of Beas and Sutlej. It includes Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts.
Western Punjabi
- George Abraham Grierson's Linguistic Survey of India classified Saraiki/Multani and a few other languages as "Western Punjabi". Modern linguists, however, consider these to be separate languages.
List of All Punjabi dialects
Punjabi University, Patiala, State of Punjab, India takes a very liberal definition of Punjabi in that it classifies Saraiki, Dogri, and Pothohari/Pothwari as Punjabi. Accordingly, the University has issued the following list of dialects of Punjabi:
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The "Lahnda" construct
The name "Punjab" means "5 waters" in Persian (panj ab) and refers to five major eastern tributaries of the Indus River. The historical Punjab region, now divided between Pakistan and India, is defined physiographically by the Indus River and these five tributaries. The bulk of the Panjab, 3.5 rivers are located in Pakistan. One of the five, the Beas River, is a tributary of another, the Sutlej River, and lies entirely in present day India, well within the eastern half of historical Punjab.
The British linguist George Abraham Grierson came to the conclusion that a group of dialects known collectively as "western Punjabi" spoken north and west of the Punjab heartland, in the Indus valley itself and on the lower reaches of the other four tributaries (excluding the Beas River), in fact constituted a language distinct from Punjabi. He christened this group of dialects "Lahinda" in a volume of the Language Survey of India (LSI) published in 1919. He grouped as "southern Lahnda" the dialects that are now recognized as Saraiki. Grierson tentatively identified the boundary between Punjabi and "Lahnda" as a north-south line running from the Gujranwala District to the former Montgomery District (near the town on Sahiwal). This line lies well west of Lahore and within the boundary of Pakistan.
In the aftermath of the independence of Pakistan and subsequent Partition of 1947, some investigators supposed that the Punjabi speakers in new Pakistan might give up their native dialects and adopt one or another "Lahnda" dialect; but this did not occur. Most Punjabis in Pakistan including Muslim migrants from East Punjab now speak the Lahnda dialect.
Classification by Ethnologue
Because of the stature of Ethnologue as a widely accepted authority on the identification and classification of dialects and languages, their divergent views of the geographical distribution and dialectal naming of the Punjabi language merit mention. They designate what tradition calls "Punjabi" as "Eastern Punjabi" and they have implicitly adopted the belief (contradicted by other specialists) that the language border between "western Panjabi" and "eastern Panjabi" has shifted since 1947 to coincide with the international border.
Examples
| English | Majhi, Lahori/Amritsari | Pothohari | Dogri | Multani/Saraiki | Kangri |
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| What are you doing? (masculine) | Ki karan dya ae? | Ka karne uo? | Ke karde o? | Kiya kaarainday paiy ho? | | | What are you doing? (masculine to address female) | Ki karan dyi ai? | Ka karani ay? | Ke karani ae? | Kiya Kaaraindi Paayin? | | | How are you? | Ki haal aya, | Keh aal e? | ke aal a? | Kya Hall hai? | | | Do you speak Punjabi? | Tu Punjabi Bol laynda hai? | Punjabii bolne uo? | Punjabi bolde o? | Kya punjabi alainday way? | | | Where are you from? | Tusin kidhar to ho?/ Tusi kidron aaye ho? | Tusa kudhr nay aiyo? | Tus kudhr to o? | Tusan Kitho Kolo Ayay ho? | | | Pleased to meet you | Tuhanu mil ke bahut khusi hoyi | Tusan milay tay boo khushi oye | Tusan nu miliye bahut khusi oyi | Tuaklon Mil Kolun Bahoon Chunga Lugyay | | | What's your name? | Tuhada naam ki aya? | Tusan naa ke aa? | Tusan da naa kay ai? | Tuadah Naa Kiya ai? | | | My name is ... | Mera naam ... aya | Mara naa ... e | Mera naa ... e | Maida na hayee .... | | | What is your village's name? | Tuhade pind/graam/gaon da ki naam ai?/ Tuhada pind/graam kehda hai? | Tusane graana naa ke aa? | Tusan da graan kay aa? | Tuadi wasti tha naa kiya hay? | | | Yes | Haan | Ahaa | Ah | Haa | | | No | Nahin | Naa | Naa | Naa | | | Would you like (to eat) some sweets? | Barfi lainee aya? | Barfi Kaso? | Barfi khaani e? | Barfi Khaani hay? | | | I love you. | Main tainu pyar kardaa | Mai tuki pyar karna | Mai tusi pyar karna | Mai Taiklo Pyar karaindaan | | | We went to the Cinema | Usii Cinmeh gaye sige | | | Usaan Cenima Gaye hasaay | | Where should I go? | Mainu kitthe jana chahida hai? | | | Maikoon Kithaan Waiyaraan Chahida hay? |
Phonology
Tone
Punjabi has three phonemically distinct tones that developed from the lost murmured (or "voiced aspirate") series of consonants. Phonetically the tones are rising or rising-falling contours and they can span over one syllable or two, but phonemically they can be distinguished as high, mid, and low.
A historical murmured consonant (voiced aspirate consonant) in word initial position became tenuis and left a low tone on the two syllables following it: "horse". A stem final murmured consonant became voiced and left a high tone on the two syllables preceding it: "October". A stem medial murmured consonant which appeared after a short vowel and before a long vowel became voiced and left a low tone on the two syllables following it: "to be lit". Other syllables and words have mid tone.
Grammar
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. In the Punjab province of Pakistan, the script used is Perso-Arabic and is essentially same as Urdu script. In the Indian state of Punjab, Sikhs and others use the Gurmukhi (from the mouth of the Gurus) script. Hindus, and those living in neighbouring Indian states such as Haryana and Himachal Pradesh sometimes use the Devanagari script. Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi scripts are the most commonly used for writing Punjabi and are considered the official scripts of the language.
Role in Education
Notable authors
- See List of Punjabi authors.
Dictionaries
- English to Punjabi Dictionary
- Convert Punjabi word into English
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- Free Windows based Punjabi->English->Punjabi dictionary
- Punjabi Kashmiri Dictionary by Omkar N Koul and Rattan Lal Talashi. Patiala: Language Department. 1998.
See also
Further reading
- Bhatia, Tej. 1993. Punjabi : a cognitive-descriptive grammar. Routledge. Series: Descriptive grammars.
- Gill H.S. [Harjit Singh] and Gleason, H.A. 1969. A reference grammar of Punjabi. Revised edition. Patiala, Punjab, India: Languages Deparmtent, Punjab University.
- Shackle, C. 1972. Punjabi. London: English Universities Press.
External links
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- Dulai, Narinder K. 1989. A Pedagogical Grammar of Punjabi. Patiala: Indian Institute of Language Studies.
- Dulai, Narinder K. and Omkar N Koul 1980. Punjabi Phonetic ReaderMysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.
- Koul, Omkar N. and Madhu Bala 1989. Modes of Address and Pronominal Usage in Punjabi. Mysore: Cenral Institute of Indian languages.
- Koul, Omkar N. and Madhu Bala 1992. Punjabi Language and Linguistics: An Annotated Bibliography. Patiala: Indian Institute of Language Studies.
- Koul, Omkar N. and Madhu Bala 2007. Punjabi Newspaper Reader. Springfield: Dunwoody Press.
- Sukhvinder Singh 2006. Panjabi Phonology: A Sociolinguistic Study. Delhi: Indian Institute of Language Studies.
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