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Name | Punjabi Language |
Nativename | , , Panjābī |
States | By a majority: Pakistan India
Migrant speakers in: United Kingdom Canada United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia United States |
Region | Punjab |
Speakers | 28,000,000 (Ethnologue estimate) 57,129,000 (Encarta)
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Familycolor | Indo-European |
Fam2 | Indo-Iranian |
Fam3 | Indo-Aryan |
Fam4 | Central Zone |
Script | Gurmukhi in Punjab (India), Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Sikh diaspora Shahmukhi in Punjab (Pakistan), Azad Kashmir and Sarhad |
Nation | India (Indian state of Punjab) |
Agency | No official regulation |
Iso1 | pa |
Iso2 | pan |
Iso3 | pan |
Imagecaption | The word "Punjabi" in Gurmukhi, Shahmukhi and Devanagari |
Imageheader | Script |
Imagesize | 100px |
Mapcaption | Distribution of native Punjabi speakers in India and Pakistan |
Notice | Indic |
Notice2 | IPA |
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Punjabi ( in Gurmukhi script and in Shahmukhi/Perso-Arabic script) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region (north western India and in north eastern Pakistan). For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most spoken language. Punjabi can be subdivided into two varieties, known as Eastern Punjabi and Western Punjabi.
According to the Ethnologue 2005 estimate, there are 88 million native speakers of the Punjabi language, which makes it approximately the 12th most widely spoken language in the world. According to the 2008 Census of Pakistan, there are 76,335,300 native Punjabi speakers in Pakistan and according to the 2001 Census of India, there are 29,102,477 Punjabi speakers in India.
Punjabi language has many different dialects, spoken in the different sub-regions of greater Punjab. Since the Partition of Punjab in 1947, Punjabi spoken in the two countries has deviated from each other, with Indians since partition are relying more heavily on Sanskrit vocabulary through Hindi, while Pakistani's are relying increasingly on Persian and Arabic vocabulary through Urdu. The Majhi dialect is Punjabi's prestige dialect. This dialect is considered as textbook Punjabi and is spoken in the historical region of Majha, centralizing in Lahore and Amritsar.
Along with Lahnda and Western Pahari languages, Punjabi is unusual among modern Indo-European languages because it is a tonal language.
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