Punjabi language

Punjabi is a way to talk.

Many people use it. Over 150 million people speak it.

It comes from a land with five rivers. This land is called Punjab.

People write it in different ways. In India, they use Gurmukhi. In Pakistan, they use Shahmukhi.

Some people speak it in many lands. They live in Canada and the UK. They live in the USA too.

It is a very big and special language.

It helps people share their lives.

Punjabi is a way of speaking. About 150 million people use it.

It is very common in Pakistan and India. In Pakistan, it is the most spoken language. It is the 11th most spoken in India. Many people also speak it in Canada and the UK.

The name Punjabi comes from a Persian phrase. It means "Five Waters."

This refers to five rivers in the region. The language grew from old ways of speaking. Some of the first writings are very old. They come from the 9th to 14th century.

People write Punjabi in two main ways. In India, they use the Gurmukhi script.

In Pakistan, they use the Shahmukhi script. This script is based on Arabic letters. Punjabi is also special because it uses tone. This means the pitch of a sound can change its meaning. Many words come from Persian and Arabic. Some words even come from English and Greek. The Majhi dialect is used for news and schools. It helps people learn and share stories.

Punjabi is a beautiful and lively language spoken by many people. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world. About 150 million people call Punjabi their first language.

In Pakistan, it is the most common native language. The 2023 census shows 88.9 million people speak it there. In India, it is the 11th most spoken language. About 31.1 million people speak it in India according to the 2011 census. Many people also speak Punjabi in places far away like Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Learning to speak Punjabi involves noticing interesting sounds. One special thing about Punjabi is its use of lexical tone. This means the pitch of your voice can change a word's meaning.

People write the language in two different ways depending on where they live. In India, people use the Gurmukhi script.

This script is used in schools and offices. In Pakistan, people use the Shahmukhi script. This script is based on the Perso-Arabic alphabet. It looks very similar to the Urdu alphabet used in that country.

The name Punjabi has a very cool meaning. It comes from the Persian words Panj-āb. This means "Five Waters."

This name refers to the five big rivers in the Punjab region. These rivers are tributaries of the Indus River. One of these rivers is called the Beas River. The Beas flows into another river called the Sutlej. The name was used by Turko-Persian conquerors of South Asia. They translated an older Sanskrit name that meant "Land of the Five Rivers."

Punjabi has a very long and rich history. It grew from older languages called Prakrit languages. By the 7th century AD, Punjabi emerged as an Apabhramsha. This was a specific form of the Prakrit languages. The earliest writings we know of come from the Nath Yogi-era. These writings date from the 9th to the 14th century.

A writer named Amir Khusrau called the local language "Lahauri" in the years 1317 to 1318. People call the stage between the 10th and 16th centuries "Old Punjabi."

Many different cultures have shared words with Punjabi over time. Because of history, many Persian and Arabic words are used in the language. You can find words like "dukān" or "ġazal" in Punjabi.

Even words from English, Greek, and Japanese have joined the language. For example, the word for a rickshaw comes from Japanese. Today, the Majhi dialect is used as a standard. It is used for news and teaching in both India and Pakistan. This helps people stay connected through their shared words.

Punjabi is a major Indo-Aryan language. It is spoken by approximately 150 million native speakers worldwide. This makes it one of the most widely spoken native languages on Earth.

The language is central to the identity of people in the Punjab region. This region is currently divided between Pakistan and India. Punjabi is the most widely spoken first language in Pakistan. According to the 2023 Pakistani census, it has 88.9 million native speakers. In India, it is the 11th most widely spoken language. The 2011 Indian census recorded 31.1 million native speakers.

Writing Punjabi requires different scripts depending on the country. In India, the language uses the Gurmukhi alphabet. This script is based on Indic scripts. It is the official standard in Indian schools and offices.

In Pakistan, Punjabi is written using the Shahmukhi alphabet. This script is based on the Perso-Arabic script. It is very similar to the Urdu alphabet used in Pakistan. Some writers in Pakistan try to create new characters. They modify Persian Nastaʿlīq characters to better represent Punjabi sounds.

One unique feature of Punjabi is its use of lexical tone. This is unusual among Indo-Aryan languages. It is also rare in the broader Indo-European language family.

Lexical tone means that the pitch of a speaker's voice changes the meaning of a word. Beyond tone, the language has a complex system of vowels. There is a distinction between short and long vowels. This is reflected in modern Gurmukhi writing. Speakers also distinguish between central vowels and peripheral vowels. This phonetic quality is very important for clear speech.

The name Punjabi comes from the Persian words Panj-āb. This translates to "Five Waters."

The name refers to the five major eastern tributaries of the Indus River. These rivers define the physiography of the historical Punjab region. The name was introduced by Turko-Persian conquerors. They translated the Sanskrit name Panchanada, meaning "Land of the Five Rivers." The word "Panj" is related to the English word "five." This connection exists because both come from Indo-European roots.

Punjabi has a long history of development. It evolved from Prakrit languages. These were regional languages that developed from Sanskrit. Specifically, Punjabi developed from Paishachi Prakrit. This Prakrit language was spoken in north and north-western India. Later, it gave rise to Paishachi Apabhraṃśa. Punjabi emerged as an Apabhraṃśa in the 7th century AD. It became a stable language by the 10th century.

The earliest known writings come from the Nath Yogi-era between the 9th and 14th centuries. Historians call the period from the 10th to 16th centuries "Old Punjabi." The stage from the 16th to 19th centuries is "Medieval Punjabi."

Many different languages have influenced Punjabi vocabulary over time. Muslim conquests in the late first millennium brought Arabic and Persian influences. Many Persian words, like zamīn, are used frequently. Punjabi also absorbed Arabic words like dukān and Turkic words like sōġāt.

In the second millennium, other languages added words too. Punjabi has minor influences from Portuguese, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, and English. For example, the word for rickshaw comes from Japanese. Even the sounds for certain letters were borrowed from Persian. These linguistic layers show how the region has interacted with the world.

Today, Punjabi is divided into two main varieties. These are Western Punjabi and Eastern Punjabi. Western Punjabi, or Lahnda, is spoken in much of Pakistani Punjab. It includes dialects like Saraiki and Hindko. Eastern Punjabi is spoken in Indian Punjab and parts of Haryana.

The Majhi dialect is very important. It is a transitional dialect between the two main varieties. Majhi is used as the standard for education and mass media in both countries. This helps maintain a shared standard for millions of speakers. A large diaspora also speaks Punjabi in Canada, the UK, and the USA.