Punjabi language
Language
name=Punjabi | nativename=, | states=Pakistan (80 million speakers)
India (30 million speakers)
Other countries with Punjabi migrants | region=Punjab | speakers=Western: 61-62 million
Eastern: 28 million
Siraiki: 14 million
Total: 104 million | rank=10th | script=Gurmukhi, Shahmukhi | familycolor=Indo-European | fam2=Indo-Iranian | fam3=Indo-Aryan | nation=Punjab (India), Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi | iso2=pan | ld1=Punjabi (Generic)|ll1=none | ld2=Punjabi (Western)|ll2=none | ld3=Punjabi (Mirpuri)|ll3=none | ld4=Lahndi|ll4=none | notice=Indic}}
Punjabi (also Panjabi; in Gurmukhī, Panjābī in Shāhmukhī) is the language of the Punjabi people and the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan.
It is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Iranian subfamily. Unusually for an Indo-European language, Punjabi is tonal; the tones arose as a reinterpretation of different consonant series in terms of pitch. In terms of morphological complexity, it is an agglutinative language[Bhatia, T. "Punjabi: A Cognitive-Descriptive Grammar", 1993. p 279. ISBN 0415003202] and words are usually ordered 'Subject Object Verb'.
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.Punjabi is the official language of the Indian state of Punjab and Chandigarh. It is one of the second official languages of Delhi and Haryana.[The Times of India - "Punjabi, Urdu made official languages in Delhi" 25 June 2003] It is also spoken in neighbouring areas such as Jammu and Kashmir 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 minority language in several other countries where Punjabis have emigrated in large numbers mainly to Canada but also to countries such as the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom (where it is the second most commonly used language["Punjabi Community". The United Kingdom Parliament.]) and Canada (where it is the fifth most commonly used language[Canadian Census Data (2001)]). Punjabi is the preferred language of the Sikhs, 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 [dgo]
"
"Northwestern zone
"""Lahnda [lah]
" "Jakati [jat]
" "Khetrani [xhe]
" "Mirpur Punjabi [pmu]
" "Northern Hindko [hno]
" "Pahari-Potwari [phr]
" "Siraiki [skr]
" "Southern Hindko [hnd]
" ""Western Punjabi [pnb]
"
""Central zone
""Eastern Punjabi [pan]
Some of these dialects, such as Dogri, Siraiki and Hindko are sometimes considered separate languages.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.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.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. Hindus, 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.| English | Gurmukhi | Shahmukhi | Transliteration! Notes |
|---|
| Hello |
|
| Sat Srī Akāl (Sikh)
Namast"/Namaskār (Hindu)
As'salām Alaikam (Muslim) | The greeting used depends on the religion of the speaker. | | Yes (Informal) | | | Hāṁ | | Yes (Formal) | | | Hāṁ Jī | | No (Informal) | | | Nā | | No (Formal) | | | Nahīṁ/Nahīṁ Jī | | My name is ___. | | | M"rā Nāṁ ___ Hai |
* Anwar Masood
* Amrita Pritam
* Batalvi, Shiv Kumar
* Bhai Gurdas
* Bhai Vir Singh
* Bulleh Shah
* Dhani Ram Chatrik
* Duggal, Kartar Singh
* Ghumman, Ilyas
* Gill, Harjeet Singh
* Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari
* Gurdial Singh
*Harbhajan Singh
* Hashim
* Kanwal, Jaswant Singh
* Kassel, Kirpal Singh
* Mohan Singh
* Nanak Singh
* Pash
* Patar, Surjit
* Qadir Yaar
* Seetal, Sohan Singh
* Sekhon, Sant Singh
* Sultan Bahu
* Tiwana, Dalip Kaur
* Waris Shah
* Sanawar Chadhar
* Ahmed Khan Chadhar
* Abid Tamimi* List of Punjabi authors
* List of Punjabi poets
* List of Punjabi prose writers
* List of Punjabi musicians
* List of Punjabi television channels
*Punjabi Culture
* Languages of India
* Languages of Pakistan
* List of national languages of India
* List of Indian languages by total speakersBhatia, Tej K. Punjabi. Facts about the world's languages: An encyclopedia of the world's major languages, past and present. Ed. Jane Garry, and Carl Rubino: New England Publishing Associates, 2001.
* Online translator English to Punjabi, or vice-versa
* Punjabi Dictionary (Gurmukhi)
*Punjabi language online tutorial
* Panjabi / Punjabi Primer
* Punjabi Computing Resource Centre
* Academy of the Punjab In North America (APNA)
* Free online Punjabi (Gurmukhi) lessons
* Learn Gurmukhi - Sound and Graphics
* Punjabi Network
* Peoples and Languages in Pre-Islamic Indus Valley
* Ethnologue - Languages of India
* Ethnologue - Languages of Pakistan
* Panjabi Language
* Punjabi Literature (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਸਾਹਿਤ)
* Academy of the Punjab in North America
|
