Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language. It is the first language of about 160 million people, and is the 9th most spoken language in the world. Most of the people who speak this language live in the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is also spoken in Haryana, India Himachal Pradesh, India and Delhi, India, uttarpradesh rajasthan, Bihar, Jammu amd Kashmir and other states as well . It is spoken by the majority of the population of Pakistan.[4]
| Punjabi | |
|---|---|
| ਪੰਜਾਬੀ پنجابی | |
 'Punjabi' written in Shahmukhi (top) and Gurmukhi (bottom) scripts | |
| Pronunciation | /pʌnˈdʒɑːbi/ |
| Native to | Punjab region |
| Ethnicity | Punjabis |
Native speakers | Eastern Punjabi: 120 million (2011)[1] Western Punjabi: 140 million (2015)[2] |
Indo-European
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Standard forms | Majhi
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| Dialects |
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| Gurmukhi Perso-Arabic (Shahmukhi) Punjabi Braille Laṇḍā (historical) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Pakistan (Punjab)[3]  India (Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | pa |
| ISO 639-2 | pan |
| ISO 639-3 | Either: pan – Eastern Punjabi pnb – Western Punjabi |
| Glottolog | panj1256 Punjabi |
| Linguasphere | 59-AAF-e |
 Areas of the Indian Subcontinent where Punjabi is natively spoken | |
| Part of a series on | |
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| Constitutionally recognised languages of India | |
| Category | |
| Scheduled Languages | |
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A
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| Related | |
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Official languages of India
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Punjabi developed from the ancient language of Prakrit developed simultaneously with Sanskrit.
Punjabi is written in two different scripts, called Gurmukhī and Shahmukhī. Punjabi is the main language spoken by the Sikhs.[5] Most parts of the Guru Granth Sahib use the Punjabi language written in Gurmukhī, though Punjabi is not the only language used in Sikh scriptures. The Janamsakhis, stories on the life and legend of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), are early examples of Punjabi literature.
Dialects
Punjabi has many dialects. The dialects are similar enough to each other that speakers can understand most of the dialects that are related to theirs. Major dialects of Punjabi include Majhi, Puadhi, Malwai, Pothohari, Shahpuri, Jhangvi, Jatki, Doabi, and Pahari, among others.[6]
Majhi is Punjabi's standard dialect because it forms the standard for writing in Punjabi. It is spoken in the centre of Punjab, including the districts of Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Okara, Nankana Sahib, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat, Pakpattan, Hafizabad and Mandi Bahauddin. In India it is spoken in Amritsar, Tarn Taran Sahib and Gurdaspur districts.
Other dialects of Punjabi include Pahari, Rachnavi, Chenavari, Chhachi, Jandali, Ghebi. The Saraiki, spoken in southern Punjab, and Dogri, spoken in Kashmir, are closely related to Punjabi. The relation of several dialects to languages other than Punjabi creates problems in assigning them to one or another "language".[7][8][9]
Distribution
Over 93% of people who speak Punjabi as their first language live in Pakistan and India. It is the most widely spoken native language in Pakistan. It is spoken as a first language by over 44% of Pakistanis. There were 76 million Punjabi speakers in Pakistan in 2008.[10] In India, Punjabi is spoken as a native language by 3% of the population. This was about 33 million in 2011.[11] It is the official language of the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana.
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Punjabi is also spoken as a minority language in several other countries where large numbers of Punjabis have emigrated.In the United Kingdom, it is the second-most-commonly used language.[12] In Canada, it is the fourth-most-spoken language.[13] There were 2.2 million Punjabi speakers in the US in 2017.[14] and 1.3 million in the UK in 2000.[12]
Phonology
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Writing system
There are three ways to write Punjabi: Gurmukhi, Shahmukhi, and Devanagari. In the Punjab province of Pakistan, the script that is most used is Shahmukhī. The Majhi dialect is the written standard for Punjabi in both parts of Punjab.
References
- "Punjabi, Eastern". Ethnologue. Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- "Punjabi, Western". Ethnologue. Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- "Pakistan Census". Census.gov.pk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- "Pakistan Census". Archived from the original on 2011-09-12. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
- Melvin Ember, Carol R. Ember, Ian A. Skoggard, ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Springer. p. 1077. ISBN 978-0-306-48321-9.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) - Grierson, George A. 1904–1928. Grierson's Linguistic Survey of India. Calcutta.
- Masica, Colin (1991) The Indo-Aryan languages. Cambridge Univ. Press. p 25.
- Burling, Robbins. 1970. Man's many voices. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
- Shackle, C. 1972. Punjabi. London: English Universities Press. p 240.
- "Pakistan 1998 census – Population by mother tongue" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-02-17. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
- "Indian Census".
- McDonnell, John (7 March 2000). "Punjabi Community". Parliamentary Business: Commons Debates. UK Parliament. p. Column 142WH. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
- "Punjabi is 4th most spoken language in Canada". The Times of India. 14 February 2008.
- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articlesho/62121520.cms
More reading
Punjabi phrasebook travel guide from Wikivoyage
- Bhatia, Tej (1993 and 2010) Punjabi: a cognitive-descriptive grammar. London: Routledge. Series: Descriptive grammars.
- Singh, Maya (1895) The Panjabi dictionary. Lahore: Munshi Gulab Singh & Sons.
- Ethnologue: Languages of India and Pakistan
