Punjabi (; ; , ), sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an

Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...

of the

Punjab region Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

of Pakistan and India. It has approximately 113 million native speakers. Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 million native speakers as per the 2017 census, and the 11th most widely-spoken in India, with 31.1 million native speakers, as per the 2011 census. The language is spoken among a significant overseas diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United States, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In Pakistan, Punjabi is written using the Shahmukhi alphabet, based on the

Perso-Arabic script The Persian alphabet ( fa, الفبای فارسی, Alefbâye Fârsi) is a writing system that is a version of the Arabic script used for the Persian language spoken in Iran ( Western Persian) and Afghanistan (Dari Persian) since the 7th cen ...

; in India, it is written using the

Gurmukhi alphabet Gurmukhī ( pa, ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ, , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). It is used by Punjabi Sikhs to write the language, commonly r ...

, based on the Indic scripts. Punjabi is unusual among the Indo-Aryan languages and the broader

Indo-European language family The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...

in its usage of lexical tone.

History

Etymology

The word ''Punjabi'' (sometimes spelled ''Panjabi'') has been derived from the word ''Panj-āb'',

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

for 'Five Waters', referring to the five major eastern

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the Indus River. The name of the region was introduced by the

Turko-Persian The composite Turko-Persian, Turco-Persian
''Turko-Persia in historical perspective'', Cambridge University Press, ...

conquerors of

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

and was a translation of the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

name for the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

, ''Panchanada'', which means 'Land of the Five Rivers'. ''Panj'' is cognate with

' (),

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''pénte'' (), and Lithuanian ''Penki'', all of which meaning 'five'; ''āb'' is cognate with Sanskrit ''áp'' () and with the of . The historical

, now divided between India and Pakistan, is defined physiographically by the Indus River and these five

. One of the five, the

Beas River The Beas River (Sanskrit: ; Hyphasis in Ancient Greek) is a river in north India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab. Its total length is ...

, is a tributary of another, the Sutlej.

Origin

Punjabi developed from

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

languages and later (, 'deviated' or 'non-grammatical speech') From 600 BC,

developed as the standard literary and administrative language and Prakrit languages evolved into many regional languages in different parts of India. All these languages are called Prakrit languages (Sanskrit: ) collectively. Paishachi Prakrit was one of these Prakrit languages, which was spoken in north and north-western India and Punjabi developed from this Prakrit. Later in northern India Paishachi Prakrit gave rise to Paishachi Aparbhsha, a descendant of Prakrit. Punjabi emerged as an Apabhramsha, a degenerated form of Prakrit, in the 7th century AD and became stable by the 10th century. The earliest writings in Punjabi belong to Nath Yogi era from 9th to 14th century. The language of these compositions is morphologically closer to Shauraseni Apbhramsa, though vocabulary and rhythm is surcharged with extreme colloquialism and folklore.

Arabic and Persian influences

The Arabic and modern Persian influence in the historical Punjab region began with the late first millennium

Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent The Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent mainly took place from the 13th to 17th centuries. Earlier Muslim conquests include the invasions into what is now modern-day Pakistan and the Umayyad campaigns in India in eighth century and res ...

. Many

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

words were incorporated in Punjabi. So Punjabi relies heavily on Persian and Arabic words which are used with a liberal approach to language. Many important words like , , , etc. are derived from Persian and Arabic. After the fall of the Sikh empire, Urdu was made the official language of Punjab (in Pakistani Punjab, it is still the primary official language), and influenced the language as well. In fact, the sounds of , and have been borrowed from Persian. Later, it was lexically influenced by

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

(words like ),

(words like ), Chagatai (words like ),

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

(words like ), Chinese (words like ) and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(words like ), though these influences have been minor in comparison to Persian and Arabic. Note: In more formal contexts,

hypercorrect In sociolinguistics, hypercorrection is non-standard use of language that results from the over-application of a perceived rule of language-usage prescription. A speaker or writer who produces a hypercorrection generally believes through a mis ...

Sanskritized versions of these words (ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ''pradhān'' for ਪਰਧਾਨ ''pardhān'' and ਪਰਿਵਾਰ ''parivār'' for ਪਰਵਾਰ ''parvār'') may be used.

Modern times

Punjabi is spoken in many dialects in an area from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

. The

Majhi dialect Majhi (Shahmukhi: Gurmukhi: ) is the standard dialect of Punjabi and is spoken in the Majha region of the Punjab. The two most important cities in this area are Lahore and Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur an ...

has been adopted as standard Punjabi in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and Pakistan for education, media etc. The Majhi dialect originated in the

Majha Majha (Punjabi: ਮਾਝਾ (Gurmukhi), (Shahmukhi); ''Mājhā'') is a region located in the central parts of the historical Punjab region split between India and Pakistan. It extends north from the right banks of the river Beas, and reaches ...

region of the Punjab. The Majha region consists of several eastern districts of

Pakistani Punjab Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

and in India around Amritsar,

Gurdaspur Gurdaspur is a city in the Indian state of Punjab, between the rivers Beas and Ravi. It houses the administrative headquarters of Gurdaspur District and is in the geographical centre of the district, which shares a border with Pakistan. The ...

Pathankot Pathankot is a city and the district headquarters of the Pathankot district in Punjab, India. Pathankot is the 6th most populous city of Punjab, after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. Its local government is a municipal co ...

and Tarn Taran districts. The two most important cities in this area are Lahore and Amritsar. In India, Punjabi is written in the

Gurmukhī Gurmukhī ( pa, ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ, , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). It is used by Punjabi Sikhs to write the language, commonly r ...

script in offices, schools, and media. Gurmukhi is the official standard script for Punjabi, though it is often unofficially written in the Latin scripts due to influence from

, India's two primary official languages at the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

-level. In Pakistan, Punjabi is generally written using the Shahmukhī script, which in literary standards, is identical to the

Urdu alphabet The Urdu alphabet (), is the right-to-left alphabet used for Urdu. It is a modification of the Persian script, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic script. The Urdu alphabet has up to 39 or 40 distinct letters with no distinct letter ...

, however various attempts have been made to create certain, distinct characters from a modification of the Persian Nastaʿlīq characters to represent

Punjabi phonology Punjabi (; ; , ), sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It has approximately 113 million native speakers. Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 m ...

, not already found in the

. In Pakistan, Punjabi loans technical words from

and

languages, just like

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' in Pakistan, being the native language of 80.5 million people, or approximately 39% of the country's population. Beginning with the 1981 census, speakers of Saraiki and Hindko were no longer included in the total numbers for Punjabi, which explains the apparent decrease.

India

Punjabi is the official language of the Indian state of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

, and has the status of an additional official language in

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

and

. Some of its major urban centres in northern India are Amritsar,

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...

Jalandhar Jalandhar is the third most-populous city in the Indian state of Punjab and the largest city in Doaba region. Jalandhar lies alongside the Grand Trunk Road and is a well-connected rail and road junction. Jalandhar is northwest of the state ...

Ambala Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-are ...

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the '' Qila Mubarak'' (the 'Fortunate Castle') construct ...

Bathinda Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda District. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa Region, west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth l ...

Hoshiarpur Hoshiarpur () is a city and a municipal corporation in Hoshiarpur district in the Doaba region of the Indian state of Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the fourteenth century. In 1809, it was occupied b ...

Firozpur Firozpur, also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India. After the partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who ...

and

In the 2011 census of India, million reported their language as Punjabi. The census publications group this with speakers of related "mother tongues" like Bagri and

Bhateali Bhateali, or Bhattiyali, is a Western Pahari language of northern India. The 2011 Indian Census counted 23,970 speakers, of which 15,107 were found in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. Bhateali has sometimes been counted as dialect of either ...

to arrive at the figure of million. BCNDP SIGNS

Punjabi diaspora

Punjabi is also spoken as a

minority language A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) a ...

in several other countries where Punjabi people have emigrated in large numbers, such as the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada. There were 0.67 million native Punjabi speakers in Canada in 2021, 0.3 million in the United Kingdom in 2011, 0.28 million in the United States and smaller numbers in other countries.

Major dialects

Standard Punjabi

''Standard Punjabi'' sometimes referred to as Majhi in India or simply Punjabi, is the most widespread and largest dialect of Punjabi. It first developed in the 12th century and gained prominence when Sufi poets such as

Shah Hussain Shah Hussain ( pa, ; ; 1538–1599), also known as Madhoo Lal Hussain, was a 16th-century Punjabi Muslim Sufi poet who is regarded as a pioneer of the Kafi form of Punjabi poetry. He lived during the ruling periods of Mughal emperors Akbar ...

Bulleh Shah Syed Abdullah Shah Qadri ( pa, ; ; 1680–1757), known popularly as Bulleh Shah ( pa, ; ) and Bulleya, was a Punjabi philosopher and Sufi poet during 17th-century Punjab. His ancestors had migrated from Bukhara (modern-day Uzbekistan) ...

among others began to use the Lahore/Amritsar spoken dialect with infused Persian vocabulary in their works in the Shahmukhi script. Later the Gurmukhi script was developed based on Standard Punjabi by the Sikh Gurus. Standard Punjabi is spoken by the majority of the people in

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura,

Kasur Kasur (Urdu and pa, ; also romanized as Qasūr; from pluralized Arabic word ''Qasr'' meaning "palaces" or "forts") is a city to south of Lahore, in the Pakistani province of Punjab. The city serves as the headquarters of Kasur District. Kasu ...

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

Narowal Narowal ( ur, ) is a city located on the western bank of river Ravi in the northeast of the province Punjab, Pakistan. The city is the capital of district Narowal, and a part of the Gujranwala division. It is the 94th largest city of Pakistan ...

, Gujrat, Okara,

Pakpattan Pakpattan (Punjabi and ), often referred to as Pākpattan Sharīf (; ''"Noble Pakpattan"''), is the capital city of the Pakpattan District, located in Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the 48th largest city of Pakistan by population according ...

Sahiwal Sahiwal ( Punjabi and ur, ), formerly known as Montgomery, is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 21st largest city of Pakistan by population and the administrative capital of both Sahiwal District and Sahiwal Division. Sahiwal is appro ...

Hafizabad Hafizabad (Urdu and pa, ) is a city and capital of Hafizabad District located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 31st largest city of Pakistan. It is also a Tehsil. Ancient history Hafizabad is an old city in Punjab, Pakistan. In 327 BC, duri ...

Nankana Sahib Nankana Sahib () is a city and capital of Nankana Sahib District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is named after the first Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak, who was born in the city and first began preaching here. Nankana Sahib is the mos ...

and

Mandi Bahauddin Mandi Bahauddin (Urdu and pa, ) is a city in northern Punjab, Pakistan. It is also the capital of Mandi Bahauddin District. It is the 41st largest city of Pakistan by population according to the 2017 census. It has exellent agricultural land ...

districts of Pakistan's Punjab Province. It also has a large presence in every district in the rest of Pakistani Punjab, and in all large cities in Pakistan's other provinces. In India it is spoken in Amritsar,

Tarn Taran Sahib Tarn Taran Sahib is a city in the Majha region of the state of Punjab, in northern India. It is the district headquarters and hosts the municipal council of Tarn Taran district. Gurdwara Sri Tarn Taran Sahib, a prominent Sikh shrine is loca ...

and

Districts of the State of Punjab. In

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, the Standard Punjabi dialect is not referred to as the '

', which may be considered as 'Indian terminology', rather simply as ' Standard Punjabi'. This dialect is widely used in the TV and entertainment industry, which is mainly produced in

Phonology

While a

vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, ...

distinction between short and long vowels exists, reflected in modern

Gurmukhi Gurmukhī ( pa, ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ, , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). It is used by Punjabi Sikhs to write the language, commonly ...

orthographical conventions, it is secondary to the vowel quality contrast between centralised vowels and peripheral vowels in terms of phonetic significance. The peripheral vowels have nasal analogues. Note: for the tonal stops, refer to the next section about Tone. The three retroflex consonants do not occur initially, and the nasals occur only as allophones of in clusters with velars and palatals. The well-established phoneme may be realised allophonically as the

voiceless retroflex fricative The voiceless retroflex sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is which is a Latin letter s combined with a retroflex hook ...

in learned clusters with retroflexes. The phonemic status of the fricatives varies with familiarity with Hindustani norms, more so with the Gurmukhi script, with the pairs , , , and systematically distinguished in educated speech. The retroflex lateral is most commonly analysed as an approximant as opposed to a

flap Flap may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Flap'' (film), a 1970 American film * Flap, a boss character in the arcade game ''Gaiapolis'' * Flap, a minor character in the film '' Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland'' Biology and he ...

Tone

Unusually for an Indo-Aryan language, Punjabi distinguishes lexical tones. In many words there is a choice of up to three tones, high-falling, low-rising, and level (neutral):Bailey, T.Grahame (1919), ''English-Punjabi Dictionary'', introduction.Bowden, A.L. (2012)
"Punjabi Tonemics and the Gurmukhi Script: A Preliminary Study"
Sound and Pronounciation of Gurmukhi

Level tone is found in about 75% of words and is described by some as absence of tone. There are also some words which are said to have rising tone in the first syllable and falling in the second. (Some writers describe this as a fourth tone.) However, a recent acoustic study of six Punjabi speakers in the United States found no evidence of a separate falling tone following a medial consonant. * / , ''móḍà'' (rising-falling), "shoulder" It is considered that these tones arose when voiced aspirated consonants () lost their aspiration. At the beginning of a word, they became voiceless unaspirated consonants () followed by a high-falling tone; medially or finally they became voiced unaspirated consonants (), preceded by a low-rising tone. (The development of a high-falling tone apparently did not take place in every word, but only in those which historically had a long vowel.) The presence of an (although the is now silent or very weakly pronounced except word-initially) word-finally (and sometimes medially) also often causes a rising tone before it, for example ' "tea". The

Gurmukhi script Gurmukhī ( pa, ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ, , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). It is used by Punjabi Sikhs to write the language, commonly re ...

which was developed in the 16th century has separate letters for voiced aspirated sounds, so it is thought that the change in pronunciation of the consonants and development of tones may have taken place since that time. Some other languages in Pakistan have also been found to have tonal distinctions, including

Burushaski Burushaski (; ) is a language isolate spoken by Burusho people, who reside almost entirely in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, with a few hundred speakers in northern Jammu and Kashmir, India. In Pakistan, Burushaski is spoken by people ...

Gujari Gojri (, ), also known as Gujari, Gujri, Gojari, or Gojri, is a variety of Rajasthani spoken by the Gurjars and other tribes of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In India, the language is mainly spoken in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, ...

, Hindko, Kalami, Shina, and Torwali.

Grammar

Punjabi has a canonical word order of SOV (subject–object–verb). It has

postposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

s rather than prepositions. Punjabi distinguishes two genders, two

numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

, and five cases of direct,

oblique Oblique may refer to: * an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / ) *Oblique angle, in geometry *Oblique triangle, in geometry * Oblique lattice, in geometry * Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the b ...

vocative In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed, or occasionally for the noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and numer ...

ablative In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; sometimes abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages; it is sometimes used to express motion away from something, among other uses. ...

, and locative/

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

. The ablative occurs only in the singular, in free variation with oblique case plus ablative

, and the locative/instrumental is usually confined to set

adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...

ial expressions.

Adjective In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...

s, when declinable, are marked for the gender, number, and case of the nouns they qualify. There is also a T-V distinction. Upon the

inflection In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and ...

al case is built a system of

particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from ...

s known as

s, which parallel

's prepositions. It is their use with a noun or verb that is what necessitates the noun or verb taking the

oblique case In grammar, an oblique (abbreviated ; from la, casus obliquus) or objective case ( abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case, and sometimes, the vocative. A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role ex ...

, and it is with them that the locus of grammatical function or "case-marking" then lies. The Punjabi

verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...

al system is largely structured around a combination of

aspect Aspect or Aspects may refer to: Entertainment * ''Aspect magazine'', a biannual DVD magazine showcasing new media art * Aspect Co., a Japanese video game company * Aspects (band), a hip hop group from Bristol, England * ''Aspects'' (Benny Carter ...

and tense/ mood. Like the nominal system, the Punjabi verb takes a single inflectional suffix, and is often followed by successive layers of elements like auxiliary verbs and postpositions to the right of the lexical base.

Vocabulary

Being an

, the core vocabulary of Punjabi consists of tadbhav words inherited from

. It contains many loanwords from

and

Writing systems

The Punjabi language is written in multiple scripts (a phenomenon known as synchronic digraphia). Each of the major scripts currently in use is typically associated with a particular religious group, although the association is not absolute or exclusive. In India, Punjabi Sikhs use

, a script of the

Brahmic The Brahmic scripts, also known as Indic scripts, are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India ...

family, which has official status in the state of Punjab. In Pakistan, Punjabi Muslims use

Shahmukhi Shahmukhi (, ) is a Perso-Arabic alphabet script used historically by Punjabi Muslims (primarily in present-day Pakistani Punjab) to write the Punjabi language. It is generally written in the Nastaʿlīq calligraphic hand, which is also used ...

, a variant of the

Perso-Arabic The Persian alphabet ( fa, الفبای فارسی, Alefbâye Fârsi) is a writing system that is a version of the Arabic script used for the Persian language spoken in Iran ( Western Persian) and Afghanistan (Dari Persian) since the 7th cen ...

script and closely related to the

. The

Punjabi Hindus Punjabi Hindus are adherents of Hinduism who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis. While Punjabi Hindus are mostly found in the Indian state of Punjab today, many have ancestry from the greater Punjab regi ...

in India had a preference for

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...

, another Brahmic script also used for Hindi, and in the first decades since independence raised objections to the uniform adoption of Gurmukhi in the state of Punjab, but most have now switched to Gurmukhi and so the use of Devanagari is rare. Often in literature, Pakistani Punjabi (written in Shahmukhi) is referred as Western-Punjabi (or West-Punjabi) and Indian Punjabi (written in Gurmukhi) is referred as Eastern-Punjabi (or East-Punjabi), although the underlying language is the same with a very slight shift in vocabulary towards Islamic and Sikh words respectively. Historically, various local Brahmic scripts including Laṇḍā and its descendants were also in use. The

Punjabi Braille Punjabi Braille is the braille alphabet used in India for Punjabi. It is one of the Bharati braille alphabets, and largely conforms to the letter values of the other Bharati alphabets.

is used by the visually impaired.

Sample text

This sample text was taken from the Punjabi Wikipedia article on

ਲਹੌਰ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀ ਰਾਜਧਾਨੀ ਹੈ। ਲੋਕ ਗਿਣਤੀ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ ਕਰਾਚੀ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਲਹੌਰ ਦੂਜਾ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਵੱਡਾ ਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਹੈ। ਲਹੌਰ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ ਦਾ ਸਿਆਸੀ, ਰਹਤਲੀ ਅਤੇ ਪੜ੍ਹਾਈ ਦਾ ਗੜ੍ਹ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਇਸੇ ਲਈ ਇਹਨੂੰ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ ਦਾ ਦਿਲ ਵੀ ਕਿਹਾ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ। ਲਹੌਰ ਰਾਵੀ ਦਰਿਆ ਦੇ ਕੰਢੇ 'ਤੇ ਵਸਦਾ ਹੈ। ਇਸਦੀ ਲੋਕ ਗਿਣਤੀ ਇੱਕ ਕਰੋੜ ਦੇ ਨੇੜੇ ਹੈ।

Transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...

''Lahaur Pākistānī Panjāb dī rājtā̀ni/dā dārul hakūmat ài. Lok giṇtī de nāḷ Karācī tõ bāad Lahaur dūjā sáb tõ vaḍḍā šáir ài. Lahaur Pākistān dā siāsī, rátalī ate paṛā̀ī dā gáṛ ài te ise laī ínū̃ Pākistān dā dil vī kihā jāndā ài. Lahaur Rāvī dariā de káṇḍè te vasdā ài. Isdī lok giṇtī ikk karoṛ de neṛe ài''.

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioners ...

Translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

Lahore is the capital city of Pakistani Punjab. After

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, Lahore is the second largest city. Lahore is Pakistan's political, cultural, and educational hub, and so it is also said to be the heart of

. Lahore lies on the bank of the

Ravi River The Ravi River () is a transboundary river crossing northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of five rivers associated with the Punjab region. Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the waters of the Ravi and two other rivers were ...

. Its population is close to ten million people.

Literature development

Medieval period

* Fariduddin Ganjshakar (1179–1266) is generally recognised as the first major poet of the Punjabi language.Shiv Kumar Batalvi
sikh-heritage.co.uk. Roughly from the 12th century to the 19th century, many great Sufi saints and poets preached in the Punjabi language, the most prominent being

. Punjabi Sufi poetry also developed under

(1538–1599),

Sultan Bahu Sultan Bahu ( pa, , ਸੁਲਤਾਨ ਬਾਹੂ ; also spelled Bahoo; 17 January 1630 – 1 March 1691), was a 17th-century Punjabi Sufi mystic, poet, scholar and historian. He was active in the Punjab region (present-day Pakistan) duri ...

(1630–1691), Shah Sharaf (1640–1724), Ali Haider (1690–1785),

Waris Shah Waris Shah ( pa, ; ; 1722–1798) was a Punjabi Sufi poet of the Chishti order, known for his contribution to Punjabi literature. He is primarily known as the author of ''Heer Ranjha'' . Background Waris Shah was born in Jandiala Sher Khan ...

(1722–1798), Saleh Muhammad Safoori (1747–1826), Mian Muhammad Baksh (1830–1907) and

Khwaja Ghulam Farid Khwaja Ghulam Farid (Urdu: ) or Khwaja Fareed (1845–1901) was a 19th-century Sufi poet from Punjab. He was a member of the Chishti Nizami Sufi order. He wrote poetry in several languages, and his literary heritage has been claimed by both th ...

(1845–1901). *The Sikh religion originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region and Punjabi is the predominant language spoken by Sikhs. Most portions of the

Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib ( pa, ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and Guru Maneyo Granth, eternal Guru following the lineage of the Sikh gur ...

use the Punjabi language written in

, though Punjabi is not the only language used in

Sikh scriptures The principal Sikh scripture is the Adi Granth (First Scripture), more commonly called the Guru Granth Sahib. The second most important scripture of the Sikhs is the Dasam Granth. Both of these consist of text which was written or authorised by th ...

The ''

Janamsakhis The Janamsakhis ( pa, ਜਨਮਸਾਖੀ, IAST: ''Janam-sākhī'', ''lit.'' ''birth stories''), are legendary biographies of Guru Nanak – the founder of Sikhism. Popular in the Sikh history, these texts are considered by scholars as imaginar ...

'', stories on the life and legend of

Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also referred to as ('father Nānak'), was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated w ...

(1469–1539), are early examples of Punjabi prose literature. *The Punjabi language is famous for its rich literature of ''qisse'', most of which are about love, passion, betrayal, sacrifice, social values and a common man's revolt against a larger system. The qissa of

Heer Ranjha ''Heer Ranjha'' (or ''Heer and Ranjha'') ( pnb, , ਹੀਰ ਰਾਂਝਾ ) is one of several popular tragic romances of Punjab, other important ones being "Sohni Mahiwal", "Mirza Sahiban" and " Sassi Punnhun". There are several poetic na ...

(1706–1798) is among the most popular of Punjabi qissas. Other popular stories include ''

Sohni Mahiwal Sohni Mahiwal or Suhni Mehar ( pa, , ਸੋਹਣੀ ਮਹੀਂਵਾਲ is one of the four popular tragic romances of Punjab including Sindh. In Sindh Sohni's shrine is in Shahdadpur Town of Sangar District. The others are Sassi Punnun, Mirz ...

'' by Fazal Shah, ''

Mirza Sahiban ''Mirza Sahiban'' ( pa, ਮਿਰਜ਼ਾ ਸਾਹਿਬਾਂ, , ') is one of the four popular tragic romances of the Punjab. The other three are ''Heer Ranjha'', ''Sohni Mahiwal'' and ''Sassi Punnun''. There are five other popular folklor ...

'' by Hafiz Barkhudar (1658–1707), ''

Sassui Punnhun Sassi Punnuh or Sassui Punhun ( sd, سَسُئيِ پُنهوُن) is a love story from Punjabi, Sindhi, and Balochi folklore. The story is about a faithful lover who will endure any difficulty while seeking her beloved husband who was separated ...

'' by Hashim Shah (c. 1735–c. 1843), and ''Qissa Puran Bhagat'' by

Qadaryar Qadir Yar (1802–1892), born Qadar Baksh, was a Muslim Sandhu Jatt and a poet of the Punjabi language. Born in Gujranwala, he wrote Punjabi Qissa like ''Qissa Purana Bhagat'', ''Raja Rasal''. Life Qadir Yar was born in the village Machhi ...

(1802–1892). *Heroic ballads known as ''

Vaar The var, in Punjabi poetry, is a heroic ode or ballad which generally narrates legend such as stories of Punjabi folk heroes or a historical event.''The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature (Volume One - A to Devo)''. Amaresh Datta, ed. Sahitya Akadem ...

'' enjoy a rich oral tradition in Punjabi. Famous ''Vaars'' are ''Chandi di Var'' (1666–1708), ''Nadir Shah Di Vaar'' by Najabat and the ''Jangnama'' of

Shah Mohammad Shah Mohammad ( pa, ; ; 1780–1862), was a Punjabi poet who lived during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first ...

(1780–1862).

Modern period

The Victorian novel, Elizabethan drama, free verse and

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

entered Punjabi literature through the introduction of British education during the Raj. Nanak Singh (1897–1971), Vir Singh, Ishwar Nanda,

Amrita Pritam Amrita Pritam (; 31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. A prominent figure in Punjabi literature, she is the recipient of the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award. Her body of w ...

(1919–2005),

Puran Singh Professor Puran Singh ( pa, ਪ੍ਰੋ. ਪੂਰਨ ਸਿੰਘ; 17 February 1881 – 31 March 1931) was a Punjabi poet, scientist and mystic. Born in Abbottabad, now in Pakistan, in a Sikh family, he is acclaimed as one of the founders of mo ...

(1881–1931),

Dhani Ram Chatrik Dhani Ram Chatrik (4 October 1876 – 18 December 1954) was an Indian poet and typographer. He is considered one of the pioneers of modern Punjabi poetry. He promoted Punjabi culture, language and publications through his life. In 1926, he bec ...

(1876–1957), Diwan Singh (1897–1944) and

Ustad Daman Ustad Daman ( Punjabi, ur, , (born as Chiragh Deen), Punjabi, ur, ), (3 September 1911 – 3 December 1984) was a Punjabi poet, writer and a mystic.Mohan Singh (1905–78) and Shareef Kunjahi are some legendary Punjabi writers of this period. After independence of Pakistan and India Najm Hossein Syed, Fakhar Zaman and Afzal Ahsan Randhawa, Shafqat Tanvir Mirza,

Ahmad Salim Ahmad Salim or Muhammad Salim Khawaja (born 26 January 1945 in Miana Gondal, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan) is a writer, archivist and co-founder of the South Asian Resource and Research Centre, a private archive established in 2001. He cur ...

, and Najm Hosain Syed,

Munir Niazi Munir Ahmed Niazi, ( pa, ) (9 April 1923– 26 December 2006) was an Punjabi and Urdu poet from Pakistan. He also wrote for newspapers, magazines and radio. In 1960, he established a publication institute, ''Al-Misal''. He was later asso ...

Ali Arshad Mir Ali Arshad Mir ( pa, ; January 1, 1951 – October 16, 2008) was an epic Punjabi poet and writer, sometimes described as the "Homer of Punjab". His works have been translated into languages such as Urdu and English. In the 1970s, his ''Interna ...

, Pir Hadi Abdul Mannan enriched Punjabi literature in Pakistan, whereas Jaswant Singh Kanwal (1919–2020),

(1919–2005), Jaswant Singh Rahi (1930–1996),

Shiv Kumar Batalvi Shiv Kumar Batalvi (23 July 1936 - 6 May 1973) was an Indian poet, writer and playwright of the Punjabi language. He was most known for his romantic poetry, noted for its heightened passion, pathos, separation and lover's agony, due to that he ...

(1936–1973), Surjit Patar (1944–) and Pash (1950–1988) are some of the more prominent poets and writers from India.

Status

Despite Punjabi's rich literary history, it was not until 1947 that it would be recognised as an official language. Previous governments in the area of the Punjab had favoured Persian, Hindustani, or even earlier standardised versions of local registers as the language of the court or government. After the annexation of the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...

by the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

following the

Second Anglo-Sikh War The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company that took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently ...

in 1849, the British policy of establishing a uniform language for administration was expanded into the Punjab. The British Empire employed Urdu in its administration of North-Central and Northwestern India, while in the North-East of India,

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken o ...

was used as the language of administration. Despite its lack of official sanction, the Punjabi language continued to flourish as an instrument of cultural production, with rich literary traditions continuing until modern times. The Sikh religion, with its

script, played a special role in standardising and providing education in the language via

Gurdwara A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...

s, while writers of all religions continued to produce poetry, prose, and literature in the language. In India, Punjabi is one of the 22

scheduled languages of India There is no national language in India. However, article 343(1) of the Indian constitution specifically mentions that, "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official pu ...

. It is the first official language of the Indian State of Punjab. Punjabi also has second language official status in

along with

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

. In Pakistan, no regional ethnic language has been granted official status at the national level, and as such Punjabi is not an official language at the national level, even though it is the most spoken language in Pakistan. It is, however, the official provincial language of

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

, the second largest and the most populous province of Pakistan as well as in

Capital Territory. The only two official languages in Pakistan are

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

In Pakistan

Punjabi-speakers by Pakistani District - 2017 Census

When

was created in 1947, despite Punjabi being the majority language in

West Pakistan West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was ...

and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

the majority in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

and

as whole,

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

n Muslim nationalism and because the leaders of the new nation wanted a unifying national language instead of promoting one ethnic group's language over another. Broadcasting in Punjabi language by Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation decreased on TV and radio after 1947. Article 251 of the Constitution of Pakistan declares that these two languages would be the only official languages at the national level, while provincial governments would be allowed to make provisions for the use of other languages. However, in the 1950s the constitution was amended to include the

. Eventually, Punjabi was granted status as a provincial language in Punjab Province, while the

Sindhi language Sindhi ( ; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status. It is also spoken by a further 1.7 million people in India, where it is a scheduled language, withou ...

was given official status in 1972 after 1972 Language violence in Sindh. Despite gaining official recognition at the provincial level, Punjabi is not a language of instruction for primary or secondary school students in Punjab Province (unlike Sindhi and Pashto in other provinces). Pupils in secondary schools can choose the language as an elective, while Punjabi instruction or study remains rare in higher education. One notable example is the teaching of Punjabi language and literature by the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

in Lahore which began in 1970 with the establishment of its Punjabi Department. In the cultural sphere, there are many books, plays, and songs being written or produced in the Punjabi-language in Pakistan. Until the 1970s, there were a large number of Punjabi-language films being produced by the Lollywood film industry, however since then Urdu has become a much more dominant language in film production. Additionally, television channels in Punjab Province (centred on the Lahore area) are broadcast in Urdu. The preeminence of Urdu in both broadcasting and the

Lollywood Lollywood ( ur, , translit=lâli vuḍ) refers to Pakistan's film industry based in Lahore, previously the base for both Punjabi and Urdu language film production. Lahore has been the center of Pakistani cinema since the partition of I ...

film industry is seen by critics as being detrimental to the health of the language. The use of Urdu and English as the near exclusive languages of broadcasting, the public sector, and formal education have led some to fear that Punjabi in Pakistan is being relegated to a low-status language and that it is being denied an environment where it can flourish. Several prominent educational leaders, researchers, and social commentators have echoed the opinion that the intentional promotion of Urdu and the continued denial of any official sanction or recognition of the Punjabi language amounts to a process of "Urdu-isation" that is detrimental to the health of the Punjabi language In August 2015, the Pakistan Academy of Letters, International Writer's Council (IWC) and World Punjabi Congress (WPC) organised the ''Khawaja Farid Conference'' and demanded that a Punjabi-language university should be established in

and that Punjabi language should be declared as the medium of instruction at the primary level. In September 2015, a case was filed in

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate a ...

against

Government of Punjab, Pakistan The Government of the Punjab ( ur, ), is the provincial government of the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is based in Lahore, the provincial capital. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the Constitution, in which 41 dis ...

as it did not take any step to implement the Punjabi language in the province. Additionally, several thousand Punjabis gather in

every year on

International Mother Language Day International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism. First announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999, it was formal ...

. Thinktanks, political organisations, cultural projects, and individuals also demand authorities at the national and provincial level to promote the use of the language in the public and official spheres.

In India

At the federal level, Punjabi has official status via the

Eighth Schedule to the Indian Constitution The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the official languages of the Republic of India. At the time when the Constitution was enacted, inclusion in this list meant that the language was entitled to representation on the Officia ...

, earned after the

Punjabi Suba movement The Punjabi Suba movement was a long-drawn political agitation, launched by Punjabi speaking people (mostly Sikhs) demanding the creation of a Punjabi Suba, or Punjabi-speaking state, in the post-independence Indian state of East Punjab. Led b ...

of the 1950s. At the state level, Punjabi is the sole official language of the state of Punjab, while it has secondary official status in the states of Haryana and Delhi. In 2012, it was also made additional official language of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

in areas where the population exceeds 10% of a particular block, sub-division or district. Both union and state laws specify the use of Punjabi in the field of education. The state of Punjab uses the Three Language Formula, and Punjabi is required to be either the medium of instruction, or one of the three languages learnt in all schools in Punjab. Punjabi is also a compulsory language in Haryana, and other states with a significant Punjabi speaking minority are required to offer Punjabi medium education. There are vibrant Punjabi language movie and news industries in India, however Punjabi serials have had a much smaller presence within the last few decades in television due to market forces. Despite Punjabi having far greater official recognition in India, where the Punjabi language is officially admitted in all necessary social functions, while in Pakistan it is used only in a few radio and TV programs, attitudes of the English-educated elite towards the language are ambivalent as they are in neighbouring Pakistan. There are also claims of state apathy towards the language in non-Punjabi majority areas like Haryana and Delhi.

Advocacy

Punjabi University Punjabi University is a collegiate state public university located in Patiala, Punjab, India. It was established on 30 April 1962 and is only the second university in the world to be named after a language, after Hebrew University of Israel. ...

was established on 30 April 1962, and is only the second university in the world to be named after a language, after Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Research Centre for Punjabi Language Technology, Punjabi University, Patiala is working for development of core technologies for Punjabi, Digitisation of basic materials, online Punjabi teaching, developing software for office use in Punjabi, providing common platform to Punjabi cyber community. Punjabipedia, an online encyclopaedia was also launched by Patiala university in 2014. * The Dhahan Prize was created to award literary works produced in Punjabi around the world. The Prize encourages new writing by awarding $25,000 CDN annually to one "best book of fiction" published in either of the two Punjabi scripts, Gurmukhi or Shahmukhi. Two second prizes of $5,000 CDN are also awarded, with the provision that both scripts are represented among the three winners. The Dhahan Prize is awarded by Canada India Education Society (CIES).

Governmental academies and institutes

The Punjabi Sahit academy,

, established in 1954 is supported by the

Punjab state Punjab (; ) is a state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and ...

government and works exclusively for promotion of the Punjabi language, as does the Punjabi academy in

. The Jammu and Kashmir academy of art, culture and literature in Jammu and Kashmir UT, India works for Punjabi and other regional languages like Urdu, Dogri, Gojri etc. Institutions in neighbouring states as well as in Lahore, Pakistan also advocate for the language. File:Punjabi academy ludhiana.jpeg, Punjabi Sahit Academy, Ludhiana, 1954 File:Punjabi academy delhi.jpg, Punjabi Academy, Delhi, 1981–1982 File:Jammu and Kashmir academy of art culture and literature.jpg, Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Literature File:Punjab institute of language art and culture.jpeg, Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture, Lahore, 2004

Software

*Software is available for the Punjabi language on almost all platforms. This software is mainly in the

script. Nowadays, nearly all Punjabi newspapers, magazines, journals, and periodicals are composed on computers via various Punjabi software programmes, the most widespread of which is

InPage InPage is a word processor and page layout software by Concept Software Pvt. Ltd., an Indian information technology company. It is used for languages such as Urdu, Balochi, Persian, Pashto and Arabic under Windows and Apple Mac. It was first dev ...

Desktop Publishing package.

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

has included Punjabi language support in all the new versions of Windows and both

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

Microsoft Office 2007 Microsoft Office 2007 (codenamed Office 12) is an office suite for Windows, developed and published by Microsoft. It was officially revealed on March 9, 2006 and was the 12th version of Microsoft Office. It was released to manufacturing on Novem ...

, 2010 and 2013, are available in Punjabi through the

Language Interface Pack In Microsoft terminology, a Language Interface Pack (LIP) is a skin for localizing a Windows operating system in languages such as Lithuanian, Serbian, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, and Thai. Based on Multilingual User Interface (MUI) "techno ...

support. Most

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

Desktop distributions allow the easy installation of Punjabi support and translations as well.

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

implemented the Punjabi language keyboard across

Mobile device A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physica ...

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

also provides many applications in Punjabi, like

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world. The ...

Google Translate Google Translate is a multilingual neural machine translation service developed by Google to translate text, documents and websites from one language into another. It offers a website interface, a mobile app for Android and iOS, and an API ...

and Google Punjabi Input Tools.

Gallery

File:Guru Granth Sahib By Bhai Pratap Singh Giani.jpg, Guru Granth Sahib in Gurmukhi File:Punjabi Alphabet.jpg, Punjabi Gurmukhi script File:Shahmukhi1.JPG, Punjabi Shahmukhi script File:Bhulay Shah.jpg, Bulleh Shah poetry in Punjabi (Shahmukhi script) File:Munir niazi.gif, Munir Niazi poetry in Punjabi (Shahmukhi script) File:Das Buch der Schrift (Faulmann) 138.jpg, Gurmukhi alphabet File:Punjabi language sign board at hanumangarh rajasthan india.jpeg, A sign board in Punjabi language along with Hindi at

Hanumangarh Hanumangarh is a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, situated on the banks of the river Ghaggar also identified as Ancient Sarasvati river, located about 400 km from Delhi. It is the administrative seat of Hanumangarh District. The c ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

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English to Punjabi Dictionary
{{Authority control Punjab Fusional languages Official languages of India Languages of Pakistan Languages officially written in Indic scripts Punjabi culture Subject–object–verb languages Tonal languages in non-tonal families Languages with own distinct writing systems Indo-Aryan languages Sahitya Akademi recognised languages