Punjabi (also Panjabi; ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Paṁjābī in Gurmukhī, پنجابی Panjābī in Shāhmukhī) is the language of the Punjabi people of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. It is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Iranian subfamily. It is an agglutinative and tonal language where words are 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.

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 Delhi. 25 June 2003 It is also spoken in neighbouring areas such as Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Punjabi is

Punjabi is also spoken as a minority language in several other countries where Punjabis have emigrated in large numbers, such as Britain, the United States, Australia and especially Canada, where it is the fifth most commonly used language. 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:

As classified in Ethnologue:

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 (ਲਹਿੰਦੀ), and Eastern Punjabi. They tend to do so based on GA Grierson's Linguistic Survey of India. The decision to

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. 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.

Examples

Notable authors

• Waris Shah
• Jaka Shah
• Bulleh Shah
• Hashim
• Sultan Bahu
• Navjit Ghuman
• Shiv Kumar Batalvi
• Amrita Pritam
• Kartar Singh Duggal
• Mohan Singh
• Pash
• Sahin Nashin Jahui
• Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari
• Nanak Singh
• Ilyas Ghumman
• Surjit Patar
• Bhai Veer Singh
• Dhani Ram Chatrik
• Akbar Khan
• Gurdial Singh
• Sohan Singh Seetal
• Sant Singh Sekhon
• Jaswant Singh Kanwal
• Bhai Gurdas

See also

• List of Punjabi authors
• List of Punjabi poets
• List of Punjabi prose writers
• List of Punjabi musicians
• List of Punjabi television channels
• Languages of India
• List of national languages of India
• List of Indian languages by total speakers

References

Punjabi Idioma panyabí Panĝaba lingvo Panjâbî Punxabí पंजाबी Bahasa Punjabikn:ಪಂಜಾಬಿ პენჯაბური ენა Bahasa Panjabi Punjabi Punjabi Panjabi Język pendżabskipa:ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Пенджабский язык Punjabi 旁遮普語