Punjabi dialects and languages

This article is about the general overview of the Punjabi dialects and varieties. For the language itself, see Punjabi language.

The Punjabi dialects (Punjabi: پنجابی بولیاں (Shahmukhi), ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਬੋਲੀਆਂ (Gurmukhi); romanized: Pañjābī Bōlī'ã) or Punjabi varieties (Punjabi: پنجابی قِسماں (Shahmukhi), ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਕ਼ਿਸਮਾਂ (Gurmukhi); romanized: Pañjābī Qisamã) are the dialects and varieties of the Punjabi language that are part of the Northwestern Indo-Aryan language group of the Indo-European language family widely spoken in the Punjab region of South Asia. The spoken dialects of Punjabi are mutually intelligible with neighbouring dialects and form a dialect continuum.

A map of Punjabi dialects

They have sometimes been referred to as the Greater Punjabi macrolanguage. Punjabi may also be considered as a pluricentric language with more than one standard variety; almost all standardized varieties of the language are based on the Majhi dialect (Central Punjabi) but with varying influences. Indian Standard Punjabi has more influence from the eastern dialects while standard varieties being cultivated in Pakistan are influenced by the western dialects.

Punjabi, in its various standard forms, dialects and varieties, is spoken by ethnic Punjabis, predominantly in Pakistan and India. It is also spoken by Punjabi diaspora communities around the world.

The varieties of Punjabi have a number of characteristics in common, for example the preservation of the Prakrit double consonants in stressed syllables. During the colonial-era, the classification of Punjabi varieties was a point of debate with some linguists classifying the western dialects as Northwestern and assigning the eastern ones to the Central zone alongside Hindi. In the modern-era, almost all linguists are in an agreement over its classification. Punjabi, as a whole, is classified under Northwestern branch of Indo-Aryan languages, alongside Sindhic.

Classification

Punjabi has many dialects and sometimes these dialects are grouped together as a "variety" of the language. During the colonial-era, Irish linguist George Abraham Grierson classified the language's dialects and varieties under two main groups, with dialects spoken in eastern Punjab being classified as "Eastern Punjabi" and the ones spoken in western Punjab and neighbouring areas being classified as "Western Punjabi" (Lahnda; lit. 'western'), with Majhi as the transitional dialect between both. Other linguists have presented their own theories of classifying Punjabi into groups, with some agreeing on classification into "Northern" and "Southern", instead of "Western" and "Eastern", on the basis of tones; although these have not been widely agreed upon yet.

Groups

Currently, Grierson's linguistic classification of the language is being used as the base for further research. The dialects and varieties on the basis of groups under this model is as follows:

1. Majhi group: Majhi, also known as Central Punjabi, is a dialect which forms its own group as well. It has many forms or sub-dialects spoken across the historical Majha region of Punjab. Majhi is transitional between Eastern and Western Punjabi. Apart from the groups, it is also transitional with various dialects of the language such as Dhanni, Jhangvi, Pahari, Pothwari and Shahpuri dialects, which are transitional with Majhi and Western Punjabi. It forms the base of standardized varieties of the Punjabi language, due to its intermediate linguistic nature within Punjabi.

2. Eastern group: Eastern Punjabi is a group composed of the dialects which originated in eastern areas of the Punjab region and share common features. It includes Dooabi, Malwai and Puadhi dialects; as well as the extinct Lubanki dialect.

3. Western group: Western Punjabi, also known as Lahnda (Punjabi: لہندا; lit. 'western'), is the largest group within the language. It is composed of many dialects with varieties that they are grouped under. It includes the Saraiki variety with its Derawali, Multani, Riasti and Thali dialects; the Hindko variety with its Awankari, Chachhi, Ghebi, Hazarvi, Kohati and Peshawari (Peshori) dialects; the possibly extinct Inku variety consisted of various dialects of the language spoken, predominantly, by descendants of Punjabi settlers in Afghanistan. Khetrani is also considered a "variety" of Western Punjabi which is transitional to the Sindhi language. There are multiple dialects of the language which are transitional between Western Punjabi and Majhi (Central Punjabi), these include Dhanni, Jhangvi, Pahari, Pothwari and Shahpuri dialects.

Literary varieties

The literary varieties that have developed on the basis of dialects of this area are: Majhi in the centre, Doabi and Malwai in the east, Saraiki in the southwest, and Pahari-Pothwari and Hindko in the northwest. A distinction is usually made between Eastern Punjabi in the east and Western Punjabi (Lahnda) in the west, with Majhi (Central Punjabi) being transitional between both. Western Punjabi typically subsumes the Saraiki and Hindko varieties, with Jhangvi and Shahpuri being intermediate between Majhi and Lahnda. Pothwari shares features with both Western, Central and Eastern Punjabi.

The Majhi dialect, which is also known as Central Punjabi, is transitional between Eastern and Western Punjabi. It is the most widely spoken dialect of the language and forms the basis of Punjabi's standard varieties. The standardized Punjabi varieties, developed in Pakistan tend to have more influence from the western dialects on the Majhi base, while the standardized variety of India has more influence from the eastern dialects.

Commonly recognised Eastern Punjabi dialects include Doabi, Malwai, and Puadhi. The western variety of Khetrani in the far west may be intermediate between Saraiki and Sindhi.

Geographic distribution

Pakistan

Punjabi, Hindko and Saraiki are listed separately in the census enumerations of Pakistan. According to the 2017 Census of Pakistan, there are 80,536,390 Punjabi, general, speakers; 25,324,637 Saraiki speakers and 5,065,879 Hindko speakers. Saraiki was added to the census in 1981, and Hindko was added in 2017, prior to which both were represented by Lahnda language. In areas such as Gujar Khan and Rawalpindi where Pothwari is spoken, speakers significantly selected "Punjabi" instead of "Other" in all previous census enumeration.

Azad Kashmir

In a statistical survey carried about by a proxy of the Government of Azad Kashmir, most speakers of Azad Kashmir spoke a variety of Pahari-Pothwari, while Punjabi, general, attained a plurality in the Bhimber district. Most of the Pothwari speakers in Azad Kashmir and Pothohar refer to their mother tongue, broadly, as Punjabi, instead of the local form.

India

In India, Punjabi is listed as a constitutional language and is counted in the census returns. According to the 2011 Census of India, there are 33,124,726 Punjabi speakers which includes the varieties of Bagri (1,656,588 speakers) Bilaspuri (295,805 speakers) and Bhateali (23,970 speakers). Bagri is spoken in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Bilaspuri and Bhateali are spoken in Himachal Pradesh. The status of Bagri is split between Punjabi and Rajasthani in the census returns with options available under Punjabi and Rajasthani. Gusain (1991) places Bagri as a Rajasthani dialect. Similarly, the identities of Bilaspuri and Bhateali are also split, in their case, between Punjabi and Dogri.

Lahnda languages are only enumerated in the census returns in India with 108,791 speakers listed in the 2011 census. The varieties listed under Lahnda are Bahawalpuri (29,253 speakers); Multani which is described as Hindi Multani (61,722 speakers) and unclassified (17,816 speakers). Punchi is spoken in Jammu. The language variety is listed under Lahnda as it, together with Bahwalpuri and Multani satisfies the "criterion of 10,000 or more speakers at the all India level".

Historically, Dogri was considered to be a dialect of Punjabi spoken primarily in Jammu. In the 1941 Census, Dogri was listed under Punjabi. Since 2003, Dogri is listed as an independent language in the constitution of India. According to the 2011 Census - India, there are 2,596,767 Dogri speakers. Similar to Dogri, the Kangri language spoken in Himachal Pradesh was regarded as a Punjabi dialect but since 1971, it has been reclassified under Hindi. There were 1,117,342 Kangri speakers listed in the 2011 Census- India. Despite the independent status of Dogri and reclassification of Kangri, both languages are claimed to fall within Punjabi by some writers. Others place Dogri and Kangri within the Western Pahari group. Eberle et al (2020) believe Dogri and Kangri are related to Eastern Punjabi and place these languages in a group of related languages descended from an intermediate division of Indo-Aryan languages.

See also

• Bengali dialects
• Sindhi languages
• Hindi Belt
• Bazigar language
• Baahar di boli, term used to refer to diasporic Punjabis use of the language
• Khalsa bole, coded language of Nihang Sikhs largely based on Punjabic

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