Majhi dialect

Not to be confused with the Majhi language of Nepal.

Majhi
ਮਾਝੀ ماجھی
Native to	Pakistan, India
Region	Majha
Ethnicity	Punjabis
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Northwestern Punjabi language Majhi
Writing system	Shahmukhi Gurmukhī
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	majh1252

Dialects of Punjabi

Majhi (Shahmukhi: ماجھی; Gurmukhi: ਮਾਝੀ; Punjabi: [mä˦d̆.d͡ʒi˨]), also known as Central Punjabi, is the most widely-spoken dialect of the Punjabi language, natively spoken in the Majha region of Punjab in present-day Pakistan and India. The dialect forms the basis of Standard Punjabi.

The native speakers of the dialect are known by the demonym 'Majhail'. The two most important cities in this area are Lahore and Amritsar because of their historic significance.

Subdialects and geographic distribution

There are various varieties of Majhi spoken across Majha. Although each city speaks slightly differently from the next, there are a few major categories of Majhi.

• Central Majhi, spoken in Kasur, Lahore, Nankana Sahib and Sheikhupura districts and nearby areas
• Eastern Majhi, spoken in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts as well as surrounding areas
• Northern Majhi, spoken in Gujranwala, Sialkot and Wazirabad districts as well as surrounding areas
• Northeastern Majhi, spoken in Narowal, Pathankot and Gurdaspur districts
• Northwestern Majhi, spoken in Gujrat, Jhelum and Bhimber (Azad Kashmir) districts

Notable features

Pronominal suffixes

One of Majhi's most noteworthy features is the usage of pronominal suffixes, which it shares with Western Punjabi.

Pronominal suffixes are auxiliary replacements of the copula which act like pronouns. They function as a particular thematic role and agree to it in person and number (as a pronoun would).

The thematic/syntactic roles a pronominal suffix can function as are:

• the direct case subject
• the ergative agent
• the possessive determiner
• the addressee

Majhi uses pronominal suffixes for the second and third persons and, unlike Western Punjabi, for both present and past tense.

Tense	Present		Past
Person	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
2nd	ī ਈ ای	jē ਜੇ جے	sāī ਸਾਈ سائی	sājē ਸਾਜੇ ساجے
3rd	sū ਸੂ سُو	ne ਨੇ نے	sāsū ਸਾਸੂ ساسُو	sāne ਸਾਨੇ سانے

Examples in perfect transitive verbs (marking the ergative agent):

Tense	Person	Number	Majhi	Standard Punjabi	Translation
present	2nd	sing.	kī kītā ī?	tē̃ kī kītā hē?	What hast thou done?
		pl.	jinnā khādhā je	jinnā tusā̃ khādhā hē	As much as you have eaten
	3rd	sing.	mēnū̃ suṇāī sū	osne mēnū̃ suṇāī hē	He/She hath told me
		pl.	pāṇī pītā ne	ehnā̃ ne pāṇī pītā hē	They have drank water
past	2nd	sing.	jēs tarhā̃ ghallīā̃ sāī	jis tarhā̃ tē̃ ghallīā̃ san	In the way thou had sent them
		pl.	cacer seātā sāje	tusā̃ cacer seātā sī	You had recognised cousin
	3rd	sing.	aṉḍe nū̃ riddhe sāsū?	esne aṉḍe nū̃ riddhe san?	Had he/she boiled the eggs?
		pl.	laṛāī kītī sāne	ehnā̃ ne laṛāī kītī sī	They had had a fight

- Alternate auxiliary verbs

First person singular ā̃ or jē (ਆਂ, ਜੇ / آں، جے) is used. E.g. mẽ karnā ʷā̃ / jē (ਮੈਂ ਕਰਨਾ ਆਂ, ਮੈਂ ਕਰਨਾ ਜੇ / میں کرنا آں، میں کرنا جے)

Third person singular ī or è (ਏ, ਵੇ, ਈ / اے، وے، ای) is used. E.g. ṓ kardā ī (ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਈ / اوہ کردا ای)

Copula

The Majhi copula does not differ from Standard Punjabi, except for in the third-person plural, where instead of han (ਹਨ / ہَن), it uses ne (ਨੇ / نے) or nẽ (ਨੇਂ / نیں).

Phrase	Majhi	Standard Punjabi
They sleep	oh sōnde nẽ ਓਹ ਸੌਂਦੇ ਨੇਂ اوہ سوندے نیں	oh sōnde han ਉਹ ਸੌਂਦੇ ਹਨ اوہ سوندے ہن

Other Features

See also: Punjabi grammar § Derivates

Nasalisation of tusī̃ (ਤੁਸੀਂ / تُسِیں) and asī̃ (ਅਸੀਂ / اَسِیں) are often not realised in Majhi, thus said as tusī (ਤੁਸੀ / تُسی) and asī (ਅਸੀ / اَسی) respectively.

In colloquial Majhi, the s sound in many words shifts to an h, such as in asī (ਅਸੀ / اَسی), sāḍā (ਸਾਡਾ / ساڈا) and pēse (ਪੈਸੇ / پیسے), being heard as ahī, hāḍā and pēhe respectively.

hē(gā) sī is used instead of sīgā.

The ēvẽ class of adverbial pronouns are used for "how" rather than ēddā̃.

- Use of -na verb ending instead of -da ending for first-person and second-person point of view

Phrase	Majhi	Standard Written Punjabi
I do	mẽ karnā ʷā̃̀ ਮੈਂ ਕਰਨਾ ਆਂ میں کرنا آں	mẽ kardā hā̃ ਮੈਂ ਕਰਦਾ ਹਾਂ میں کردا ہاں
Let's (m.) go home	asī kàr jāne ā̃̀ ਅਸੀ ਘਰ ਜਾਨੇ ਆਂ اسی گھر جانے آں	asī̃ kàr jānde hā̃ ਅਸੀਂ ਘਰ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਾਂ اسی گھر جاندے ہاں
We (f.) do	asī̃ karniyā̃ ʷā̃̀ ਅਸੀ ਕਰਨੀਆਂ ਆਂ اسی کرنِیاں واں	asī̃ kardiyā̃ hā̃ ਅਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੀਆਂ ਹਾਂ اسی کردِیاں ہاں
You (sing.) do	tū̃ karnā aĩ̀ ਤੂੰ ਕਰਨਾ ਐਂ تُوں کرنا ایں	tū̃ kardā haĩ ਤੂੰ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈਂ تُوں کردا ہیں
You (f.pl.) do	tusī karniyā̃ ò/je ਤੁਸੀ ਕਰਨੀਆਂ ਓ/ਜੇ تسی کرنِیاں او/جے	tusī̃ kardiyā̃ ho ਤੁਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੀਆਂ ਹੋ تسی کردِیاں ہو

Examples of Majhi

Sentence		IPA	Translation
Shahmukhi	Gurmukhi
تُوں لہور جاندا سیں	ਤੂੰ ਲਹੌਰ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਸੈਂ	/tũː lə̯ɔ̂ːɾᵊ d͡ʒaːndaː sɛ̃ː/	You used to go to Lahore
میں پہلوں ہی آکھدا ساں	ਮੈਂ ਪਹਿਲੋਂ ਹੀ ਆਖਦਾ ਸਾਂ	/mɛ̃ː pɛ̌ːlːõː îː aːkʰːᵊdaː sãː/	I already said it
اودݨ بھرجائی کتھے سن	ਓਦਣ ਭਰਜਾਈ ਕਿੱਥੇ ਸਨ	/oːdːəɳᵊ pə̂ɾᵊd͡ʒaːiː kɪtʰːeː sənᵊ/	Where were the sisters-in-law that day?

Subdialectal differences

Eastern Majhi

Eastern Majhi refers to the subdialect native to region of Majha east of Lahore, i.e. the Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts and surrounding areas. It is also spoken by the descendants of those who migrated out of these areas.

Eastern Majhi often uses the past-tense inflection of the verb ḍahiṇā (ਡਹਿਣਾ / ڈہݨا) to form continuous tenses, rather than pēṇā (ਪੈਣਾ/ پَیݨا) which is used by most other Majhi sub-dialects and Punjabi dialects.

Phrase	Eastern Majhi	General Majhi	Standard Punjabi
He(prox.) was doing	eh karaṇ ḍahiā sī ਏਹ ਕਰਣ ਡਹਿਆ ਸੀ اوہ کرݨ ڈہیا سی	eh kardā peā sī ਏਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਪਿਆ ਸੀ اوہ کردا پیا سی	eh kar rahiā sī ਇਹ ਕਰ ਰਿਹਾ ਸੀ اوہ کر رہیا سی
She(dist.) is doing	oh karaṇ ḍahī hē ਓਹ ਕਰਣ ਡਹੀ ਹੈ اوہ کرݨ ڈہی اے	oh kardī paī hē ਓਹ ਕਰਦੀ ਪਈ ਹੈ اوہ کردی پئی ہے	oh kar rahī hē ਉਹ ਕਰ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ اوہ کر رہی ہے

Northwestern Majhi

Northwestern Majhi refers to the subdialect spoken in the northwestern side of the Majha region in Pakistan, primarily in the districts of Gujrat, Jhelum, and Bhimber.

In these areas, word-initial 'h' is fainter and more tonal, eventually disappearing in upper Punjabi dialects like Pahari-Pothwari and Hazarewal Hindko, as well as Dogri. Words like hatth (ਹੱਥ / ہَتّھ) "hand" are said more as àtth.

Another notable difference is the use of the suffix -dā instead of -gā for indicative future tense.

Standard / Central Majhi	Northwestern Majhi	Meaning
kare gā ਕਰੇਗਾ کرے گا	kare dā ਕਰੇਦਾ کرے دا	[he] will do
khāṇ gīā̃ ਖਾਣਗੀਆਂ کھاݨ گیاں	khāṇ dīā̃ ਖਾਣਦੀਆਂ کھاݨ دیاں	[they] (f.) will eat
jāvo ge ਜਾਵੋਗੇ جاوو گے	jāvo de ਜਾਵੋਦੇ جاوو دے	[you] (pl. m.) will go
samjhā̃ gī ਸਮਝਾਂਗੀ سمجھاں گی	samjhā̃ dī ਸਮਝਾਂਦੀ سمجھاں دی	[I] (f.) will understand

See also

• Punjabi dialects
• Punjabi literature
• Jhangvi dialect
• Shahpuri dialect
• Dhanni dialect