Mirpur Punjabi
Mirpur Punjabi | |
---|---|
Native to | Pakistan |
Region | Azad Kashmir, Punjab region |
Native speakers | 1.04 million (2000)[1] |
Indo-European
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | pmu |
Mirpur Punjabi or Punjabi Mirpuri is a language spoken in Pakistan. It is a Lahnda dialect closely related to Punjabi.
It is essentially an extension of the Potwari language which is spoken from the an area that corresponds from Rawalpindi across the northern areas of the Punjab through to Mirpur district in modern day Azad Kashmir which was part of the Punjab until the 1846 treaty of Amritsar{the population of Mirpur are ethnic Punjabis}, and has been used to refer to the overlapping range of Western Punjabi (Lahnda) and Western Pahari languages including Potwari/Potohari/Pindiwali (Mirpuri), Hindko (Southern Mirpuri), Kangri-Dogri (Northern Mirpuri). It is given prominence by commentators due to the large numbers of people who are resident in the United Kingdom who originate from this area of Pakistan.
It is noted by some that the coinage of this term in the UK to refer to these peoples was discriminatory in origin.[citation needed] Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, the renowned poet of Punjabi, is famous poet of this dialect too.
References
- ↑ Mirpur Punjabi reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)