They have sometimes been referred to as the Greater Punjabi macrolanguage.[2] 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.[3]
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.[4] 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.[5] 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.
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.[6] 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.[7]
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.[8]
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.[9]
Geographic distribution
Pakistan
Punjabi, Hindko and Saraiki are listed separately in the census enumerations of Pakistan.[10] 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.[11] 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,[12] speakers significantly selected "Punjabi" instead of "Other" in all previous census enumeration.[13]
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).[16] 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.[17]
Gusain (1991) places Bagri as a Rajasthani dialect.[18] Similarly, the identities of Bilaspuri and Bhateali are also split, in their case, between Punjabi and Dogri.[19][20]
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). [21] 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".[22]
Historically, Dogri was considered to be a dialect of Punjabi spoken primarily in Jammu.[23] In the 1941 Census, Dogri was listed under Punjabi.[24] Since 2003, Dogri is listed as an independent language in the constitution of India.[25] 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.[26] 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.[27][28] Others place Dogri and Kangri within the Western Pahari group.[29] 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.[30]
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
Notes
^Some sources classify Thali as a separate independent dialect of its own within Western Punjabi, which is transitional between Saraiki and Jhangvi-Shahpuri
^Pothwari has previously been regarded as part of "Lahnda", but Shackle (1979, pp. 201) argues that it shares features with both groups. Jhangvi (Wagha 1997, p. 229) and Shahpuri (Shackle 1979, pp. 201) are transitional between Saraiki and Majhi.
^Lal, Mohan (1992). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature. Sahitya Academy. p. 4208.
^Statistical Year Book 2020(PDF). Muzaffarabad: AJ&K Bureau Of Statistics. pp. 131, 140. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
^Kli︠u︡ev, B. I. (1981). India, National and Language Problem. India: Sterling.[2]
^Census of India, 1941. (1943). India: Manager of publications [3]
^Coalition Politics and Hindu Nationalism.(2007). (n.p.): Taylor & Francis[4]
^Language Sciences. (1991). Japan: International Christian University Language Sciences Summer Institute.[5]
^Grewal, J.S. and Banga, Indu (1998) Punjab in prosperity and violence: administration, politics, and social change, 1947-1997. K.K. Publishers for Institute of Punjab Studies, Chandigarh [6]
^Jared Klein, Brian Joseph, Matthias Fritz (2017) Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics[7]
^Eberle, Ulrich J., et al. “Ethnolinguistic Diversity and Urban Agglomeration.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 117, no. 28, 2020, pp. 16250–57. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26935214. Accessed 12 Feb. 2023.
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Burling, Robbins. 1970. Man's many voices. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
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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. ISBN969-8023-13-5.
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