Dhani or Dhanni (; ) is a western dialect of the

Punjabi language Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world, with approximately 150 million native sp ...

spoken in the southern region of the

Pothohar Plateau The Pothohar Plateau (, : ''Pо̄ṭhoā̀r Paṭhār''; , ''Satāh Murtafā Pо̄ṭhohār''), also spelled Pothwar, is a plateau in the Sindh Sagar Doab, Sind Sagar Doab of northern Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan, located between the Indus ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, Pakistan. It is predominantly spoken in the Chakwal and Talagang districts; as well as in the southern portions of

Attock Attock ( Punjabi, ), formerly known as Campbellpur (Punjabi, ), is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, not far from the country's capital Islamabad. It is the headquarters of the Attock District and is 36th largest city in the Punjab and 61st largest c ...

and

Jhelum Jhelum (; , ) is a city, located along the western bank of the Jhelum River, in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 21st largest city in Punjab and 31st largest in Pakistan, by population. Located in northern Punjab, it serves as the capital of the ...

districts. Its name is derived from Dhan valley, located 35 km away from

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

. It has many subdialects including Sohāī̃ (), spoken west of the

Soan River Soan River (; ), also Sawan, or Sohan, is a river in Punjab, Pakistan. It originates from the Murree Hills and joins the Indus River near Makhad. Oldest evidence of human activity in Pakistan has been found in the Soan River valley. The Soan Va ...

, in the tehsils of Fateh Jang and Pindi Gheb in

Attock District Attock District ( Punjabi/Urdu), known as Campbellpur District during British Raj, is a district, located on the Pothohar Plateau, in north western Punjab, Pakistan; created in April 1904. According to 2023 Pakistani census population of Att ...

Classification

In the 1920s G.A. Grierson in his ''

Linguistic Survey of India The Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) is a comprehensive survey of the languages of British India, describing 364 languages and dialects. The Survey was first proposed by George Abraham Grierson, a member of the Indian Civil Service and a lingu ...

'' called this group North-Western Lahnda. The glotlog code for Dhani: * dhan1272 Grierson has distinguished three forms of Lahndi: * North-Western dialects consisting of (Hindko, Sohain, Dhanni, etc.) * North-Eastern dialects (Pothowari, Chibali, Awankari, Ghebi, etc.) * Southern Dialects (Shahpuri, Jhangi, Multani, Derawali, Thali, etc.) Bahri, H. (1962). ''Lahndi Phonology, with Special Reference to Awánkárí''.

Dialect speaking areas

Chakwal district of Punjab Province of Pakistan and neighboring districts speak this dialect. *

Chakwal District Chakwal District () is a district located on the Pothohar Plateau in Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in the northwestern area of the Punjab province, bordered by Talagang to its west, Rawalpindi to its northeast, Jhelum to its east. The distr ...

* Talagang District *

Jhelum District Jhelum District () is a district, located partially on the Pothohar Plateau and in Indus Plain, in Punjab, Pakistan. Jhelum is one of the oldest districts of Punjab. It was established on 23 March 1849. Jhelum is known for providing many sold ...

(in southern parts) *

(in southern parts)

Classification

Dialect speaking areas

References

Bibliography

Further reading