The linguist George Abraham Grierson in his multivolume Linguistic Survey of India (1904–1928) considered the various dialects up to then called "Western Punjabi", spoken in North, West, and South of Lahore in what is now Punjab of Pakistan, as constituting instead a distinct language from Punjabi. (The local dialect of Lahore is the Majhi dialect of Punjabi, which has long been the basis of standard literary Punjabi.) Grierson proposed to name this putative language "Lahnda", and he dubbed as "Southern Lahnda" the coherent dialect cluster now known as Saraiki spoken in Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur division and "North Lahnda" now known as Modern Panjistani or Potwari, spoken in Rawalpindi division and most of Azad Kashmir and "Western Lahnda" now known as Hindko spoken in the regions bordering North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). While the term "Eastern Punjabi" referred to the language based on Majhi, Jhangochi, Shahpuri and Dhani (a sub-dialect of shahpuri), these dialects are mostly spoken in central districts of Pakistani Punjab. The standard Punjabi speaking territory spans the east-central districts of Punjab Province. Lahore, Faislabad, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Sialkot, Jhang, Jhelum and Gujrat. Lahore the historic capital of Punjab is the largest Punjabi speaking city in the world. Lahore has 86% native Punjabis of total population of the city. and Islamabad the Capital of Pakistan has 71% Native Punjabis of total population. Punjabi dialects are thus spoken by almost 60% of the population in Pakistan if Western Punjabi dialects (Hindko, and Saraiki) are also taken into account. The standard Punjabi dialects (Majhi, Jhangochi, Shahpuri,Pothohari and Dhani) are spoken by the 44.15% of the total population of Pakistan.
In Indo-Aryan dialectology generally, the presence of transitional dialects creates problems in assigning some dialects to one or another "language".[1][2] However, over the last century there has usually been little disagreement when it comes to defining the core region of the Punjabi language. In modern India, the states are largely designed to encompass the territories of major languages with an established written standard. Thus Indian Punjab is the Punjabi language state (in fact, the neighboring state of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, which was part of Punjab state in 1947, was split off from it because of Hindi speaking regions). Majhi, Doabi, Malwi and Pwadhi dialects spoken in whole Indian Punjab. Majha (consisting of Amritsar and Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran districts), Doaba (consisting of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawan Shahr districts) and Powadh (comprising Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, parts of Patiala), Malwa comprises Firozpur, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Patiala, etc.
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The Majhi dialect of punjabi is Punjabi's prestige dialect and spoken in the heart of Punjab where most of the Punjabi population lives. The Majhi dialect, the dialect of the historical region of Majha,[3] which spans the Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Okara, Gujranwala, Wazirabad, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat Districts of Pakistani Punjab and Amritsar, Tarn Taran Sahib, and Gurdaspur Districts of the Indian State of Punjab.
Jhangochi (جھنگوچی) dialect is spoken in Pakistani Punjab.Janngli,Jhangvi,Rachnavi,Chenavri and Changvi are alternate names of this dialect.It is the oldest and most idiosyncratic dialect of the Punjabi. It is spoken throughout a widespread area, starting from Khanewal and Jhang at both ends of Ravi and Chenab to Gujranwala district. It then runs down to Bahawalnagar and Chishtian areas, on the banks of river Sutlej. This entire area has almost the same traditions, customs and culture. The Jhangochi dialect of Punjabi has several aspects that set it apart from other Punjabi variants. This area has a great culture and heritage, especially literary heritage, as it is credited with the creation of the famous epic romance stories of Heer Ranjha and Mirza Sahiba. It is spoken in the Bar areas of Punjab, i.e., areas whose names are often suffixed with 'Bar', for example Sandal Bar, Kirana Bar, Neeli Bar, Ganji Bar and also from Khanewal to Jhang includes Faisalabad and Chiniot.
The Shahpuri dialect is named due to the town of Shahpur. This dialect has been spoken by the people of District Sargodha including Dera Chanpeer Shah, Khushab, Jhang, Mianwali, Attock, parts of Faisalabad (formerly Lyallpur), parts of Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalnagar, Chakwal, Mianwali, Sargodha, Khushab and Mandi Bahauddin districts.
The people of Pothohar speak the Pothohari dialect. However, the people of Chakwal or the Dhani area in particular do not speak Pothohari and are ethnologically not regarded as Potoharis. They speak a distinctive Chakwali or Dhanni dialect of Punjabi, which is closer to Shahpuri, a dialect spoken in the Shahpur-Salt Range area and also has a slight element of Saraiki and Pothohari.
Malwi is spoken in the eastern part of Indian Punjab. Main areas are Ludhiana, Ambala, Bathinda, Ganganagar, Malerkotla, Fazilka, Ferozepur. Malwa is the southern and central part of present day Indian Punjab. It also includes the Punjabi speaking northern areas of Haryana, viz. Ambala, Hissar, Sirsa, Kurukshetra etc. Not to be confused with the Malvi language, which shares its name.
Doabi is spoken in Indian Punjab. The word "Do Aabi" means "the land between two rivers" and this dialect is spoken between the rivers of Beas and Sutlej. It includes Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts.
Powadh or Puadh or Powadha is a region of Punjab and parts of Haryana between the Satluj and Ghaggar rivers. The part lying south, south-east and east of Rupnagar adjacent to Ambala District (Haryana) is Powadhi. The Powadh extends from that part of the Rupnagar District which lies near Satluj to beyond the Ghaggar river in the east upto Kala Amb, which is at the border of the states of Himachal pradesh and Haryana. Parts of Fatehgarh Sahib district, and parts of Patiala districts like Rajpura are also part of Powadh. The language is spoken over a large area in present Punjab as well as Haryana. In Punjab, Kharar, Kurali, Ropar, Nurpurbedi, Morinda, Pail, Rajpura and Samrala are the areas where the Puadhi language is spoken and the dialect area itself includes from Pinjore, Kalka, Ismailabad, Pehowa to Bangar area in Fatehabad district.
This dialect of Punjabi is spoken in north Pakistani Punjab. The area where Pothowari or Panjistani as stated before by mr mohmamd afzal of london uk, prof. christopher shackle and sir geroge gierson is spoken extends in the north from Muzaffarabad to as far south as Jhelum, Gujar Khan, Chakwal and Rawalpindi. [phr] 49,440 (2000 WCD). Murree Hills north of Rawalpindi (Pindiwali), and east to Bhimber. Poonchi is east of Rawalakot. Alternate names: Potwari, Pothohari, Potohari, Chibhali, Dhundi-Kairali. Dialects: Pahari (Dhundi-Kairali), Pothwari (Potwari), Chibhali, Punchhi (Poonchi), Mirpuri. Pahari means 'hill language' referring to a string of divergent dialects, some of which may be separate languages. A dialect chain with Panjabi and Hindko. Closeness to western Pahari is unknown. Lexical similarity 76% to 83% among varieties called 'Pahari', 'Potwari', and some called 'Hindko' in Mansehra, Muzaffarabad, and Jammun. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Northern zone, Western Pahari.
This language is spoken in north west Pakistani Punjab and North-West Frontier Province mainly Hindko is spoken in districts of Peshawar, Nowshera,Swabi, Kohat, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Harpur, Attock and the lower half of Neelum District.
Saraiki or Multani (also Lehndi by some) is spoken in Pakistani Punjab.It perhaps differ more than any other dialect of Punjabi. It becomes more and more different as you move down south, as the influence of Sindhi increases. Saraiki itself is Sindhi word and means northern.It is now considered as separate language, instead of merely a dialect of Punjabi.Riasati,Multani,Thalochri and Derawali are sub-dialects of Saraiki.It is mostly spoken in southern and western districts of Punjab,which comprises Multan, Lodhran, Bahawalpur, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan, southern and western parts of Khanewal,southern parts of Bahawalnagar and western parts of Khushab districts. It is also spoken by majority of population of Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (خیبر پښتونخوا) province, kachi plain of Balochistan, northern parts of Sindh, and cities of Hyderabad and Karachi.
Punjabi University, Patiala,india takes a very liberal definition of Punjabi in that it classifies Saraiki/Multani, Dogri and Pothohari/Pothwari as Punjabi. Accordingly, the University has issued the following list of dialects of Punjabi:[25]:[4]
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