Doabi is a dialect of the

Punjabi language 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 ...

. The dialect is named for the region in which it was historically spoken, Doaba (also known as Bist Doab); the word

doab ''Doab'' () is a term used in South Asia Quote: "Originally and chiefly in South Asia: (the name of) a strip or narrow tract of land between two rivers; spec. (with) the area between the rivers Ganges and Jumna in northern India." for the tract ...

means "the land between two rivers" and this dialect was historically spoken in the

between 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 ...

and

Sutlej River The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the ...

. Its occurrence in parts of Pakistani Punjab owes to post-1947 migration of Muslim populace from East Punjab. The region it is now spoken includes: the Jalandhar,

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 ...

Kapurthala Kapurthala is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent buil ...

and

Nawanshahr Nawanshahr is a municipal council in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district in the Indian state of Punjab. It was previously a town that became a district in 1995. History Nawanshahr was founded by migrants from Rahon, a city located near the S ...

districts of Indian Punjab, including the areas known as the Dona and Manjki; and the

Toba Tek Singh Toba Tek Singh ( pnb, , ur, ) is a city and capital of Toba Tek Singh District in the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is surrounded by cities of Gojra, Kamalia, Rajana, Pir Mahal and Shorkot. History The city and district is named a ...

and

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 ...

districts of Pakistani Punjab. The sub dialects of Doabi include Dona and Manjki.

Analysis

The Doabi dialect in its eastern part blends with the Malwai dialect of Ludhiana district, and in its Northern side, it shares the linguistic features of Pahari. Some of the linguistic Linguistic features of the Doabi dialect that separate it from other Punjabi dialects are as below:

Consonants

* does not occur word initially

Vowels

Doabi has ten vowels. These are For example:

Other suprasegmental phonemes

Tone, stress and nasalization in Doabi are phonemic.

Tone

Three tones are used in Doabi; low, mid and high. For example;

Stress

Stress in Doabi is realized in two ways, syntagmatically and paradigmatically. Syntagmatically, stress-shift results in change of meaning. This kind of stress is often orthographically unmarked, and may shift any tone present in a word to the stressed syllable. For example: Paradigmatically, Doabi has stressed and unstressed syllables;

Some basic vocabulary items

Features

Substituting letters

Doabi's drop the letter "v" at the start of a word and use the letter "b" as in "Vada" (big) to "Bada". They also use the letter "o" elsewhere in a word instead of a "v" as in "Khvab" (dream) to "Khoaab". A distinctive feature of Doabi is the use of the "w" sound. Where "v" appears in the middle of a word in standard Punjabi, Doabis use "w" so that "hava" (wind) becomes "hawa". Also, the vowel "u" is pronounced with an "o". Accordingly, "khush" (happy) becomes "khosh" or "kuht" (to beat) becomes "koht". In Doabi, any word beginning with "i" is pronounced with "e". For example, the word "khich" (to pull) is pronounced as "khech" or the word "vich" (inside) is pronounced as "bech". Doabis do not use "z" and therefore substitute "j". This is common in the Punjabi language as "z" is not indigenous to the area.

Sentence structure

Doabi's end sentences with "aa" (present tense) and "sigey" (past —tense), instead of "han" (present tense) and "san" or "si" (past tense). "Aiddan", "Jiddan", "Kiddan" are all commonly used adverbs in Doabi as opposed to the "Aistaran/Enj," "Jistaran/Jivven," and "Kistaran/Kivven," used in Punjabi's

prestige dialect Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...

, Majhi. Present Tense: Usage of aa (sing.) and aa (plu.) Examples: Past Tense: Uninflected sī, or number- and gender-inflected sīgā/sīgī/sīge/sīgīā, in Doabi Examples:

Vocabulary

References

{{Punjabi dialects Languages of Punjab, Pakistan Languages of Punjab, India Languages of India Punjabi culture Punjabi dialects