Majhi (, , , ), also known as Central Punjabi, is a dialect of the Punjabi language. It is natively spoken in the Majha region and surrounding areas of Punjab in present-day Pakistan and India. Majhi is transitional between Eastern and Western Punjabi dialects.
The native speakers of the dialect are known by the demonym 'Majhail'.
History There is a lack of a river boundary between Amritsar and Lahore, leading to the formation of a shared, cultural zone. Later, this area expanded to include the regions of Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, and Sialkot which lay beyond the Ravi river due to Ranjit Singh forming a polity with these core territories. Further consolidation occurred with improved transport infrastructure during colonial-rule, such as the construction of bridges. During British-rule, the Majhi dialect was spoken in the areas under the erstwhile Lahore division and its six constituent districts (Lahore, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Gujranwala, and Sialkot districts). The Amritsari strand was spoken in parts of the former Kapurthala State. Due to close cultural, economic, and logistic ties during the colonial period, the local lect of Firozpur and Zira were influenced by Mahji despite not being in Majha. After the partition-related migration of Majhi-speaking refugees to various non-Majhi areas, certain cities' local vernaculars have become influenced by Majhi, such as Jalandhar (with refugees settling there from Lahore and Sialkot), Kapurthala, Kartarpur, and Nakodar. Majhi-speaking refugees from Lahore district were also settled in the then Muktsar tehsil, leading to influence on the local language.
Subdialects and geographic distribution Below is a list of several of the subdialects of Majhi. Due to limited documentation on specific regions, certain varieties and their respective districts have been omitted. Central Majhi, spoken in the Gujranwala, Lahore and Sheikhupura districts. Northeastern Majhi, spoken in the Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Narowal and Sialkot districts, as well the south of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir bordering Pakistan. Northwestern Majhi, spoken in the Gujrat and Jhelum districts, as well as southern Bhimber District in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Majhi varieties are also spoken natively in the districts of Hafizabad, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin, Nankana Sahib, Tarn Taran and Wazirabad.
General features
Personal pronouns
Majhi does not use the second-person oblique pronoun tē̃, and instead uses tū̃.
In urban Majhi, the plural oblique pronouns tusā̃ and asā̃, as well as the ablative pronouns, are sometimes lost.
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 for both present and past tense.
TensePresentPastPersonSingularPluralSingularPlural2ndī ਈje ਜੇsāī ਸਾਈsāje ਸਾਜੇ3rdsū ਸੂne ਨੇsāsū ਸਾਸੂsāne ਸਾਨੇ
Examples in perfect transitive verbs (marking the ergative agent): TensePersonNumberMajhiStandard PunjabiTranslationpresent2ndsing. kī kītā ī? tē̃ kī kītā hē? What hast thou done?pl. jinnā khādhā je jinnā tusā̃ khādhā hē As much as you have eaten3rdsing. mēnū̃ suṇāī sū os ne mēnū̃ suṇāī hē He/She hath told mepl. pāṇī pītā ne ehnā̃ ne pāṇī pītā hē They have drunk waterpast2ndsing. jēs tarhā̃ ghalliyā̃ sāī jis tarhā̃ tē̃ ghalliyā̃ san In the way thou had sent thempl. cacer syātā sāje tusā̃ cacer syātā sī You had recognised cousin3rdsing. aṉḍe nū̃ riddhe sāsū? es ne aṉḍe nū̃ riddhe san? Had he/she boiled the egg?pl. laṛāī kītī sāne ehnā̃ ne laṛāī kītī sī They had had a fight
Copula Oftentimes, a pronominal suffix will entirely overtake the regular copula (of the same person and number) in Majhi.
This is most common with the third-person plural ne (ਨੇ / ) or nẽ (ਨੇਂ / ), used instead of han. It has become so widespread that it is now regarded as a fundamental characteristic of Majhi, used to distinguish it from other dialects.
PhraseMajhiStandard PunjabiThey sleepoh sōṉde ne ਓਹ ਸੌਂਦੇ ਨੇoh sōṉde han ਉਹ ਸੌਂਦੇ ਹਨ
- Alternate auxiliary verbs
First person singular ā̃ or jē (ਆਂ, ਜੇ / ) is used. E.g. mẽ karnā ʷā̃ / jē (ਮੈਂ ਕਰਨਾ ਆਂ, ਮੈਂ ਕਰਨਾ ਜੇ / )
Third person singular ī or è (ਏ, ਵੇ, ਈ / ) is used. E.g. ṓ kardā ī (ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਈ / )
Other Features hē(gā) sī is used instead of sīgā.
Adverbial pronouns
Majhi uses the kiññ and kivẽ classes of adverbial pronouns of manner, which, at their base, are common with Western Punjabi dialects.
Adverbial pronounMajhiMalwaiDoabiPahari-PothwariHindkoSaraikiJatkilike thisēṉj, ēvẽ ਐਂਞ, ਐਵੇਂēvẽ ਐਵੇਂ ēdā̃ ਐਦਾਂ iṉj ਇੰਞ iṉjū ਇੰਞੂ hiṉj, īvẽ ਹਿੰਞ, ਈਵੇਂ iṉj ਇੰਞlike thatoṉj, ovẽ ਓਂਞ, ਓਵੇਂovẽ ਐਵੇਂ odā̃ ਐਵੇਂ uṉj ਐਵੇਂ uṉjū ਐਵੇਂ huṉj / ūvẽ ਐਵੇਂ uṉj ਐਵੇਂhow?kiṉj, kivẽ ਕਿੰਞ, ਕਿਵੇਂkivẽ ਕਿਵੇਂ kiddā̃ ਕਿੱਦਾਂ kiṉj ਕਿੰਞ kiṉjū ਕਿੰਞੂ kiṉj, kīvẽ ਕਿੰਞ, ਕੀਵੇਂ kiṉj ਕਿੰਞhowjiṉj, jivẽ ਜਿੰਞ, ਜਿਵੇਂjivẽ ਜਿਵੇਂ jiddā̃ ਜਿੱਦਾਂ jiṉj ਜਿੰਞ jiṉjū ਜਿੰਞੂ jiṉj, jīvẽ ਜਿੰਞ, ਜੀਵੇਂ jiṉj ਜਿੰਞ
- Use of -na verb ending instead of -da ending for first-person and second-person point of view PhraseMajhiStandard Written PunjabiI domẽ karnā ʷā̃̀
ਮੈਂ ਕਰਨਾ ਆਂ mẽ kardā hā̃
ਮੈਂ ਕਰਦਾ ਹਾਂ Let's (m.) go homeasī kàr jāne ā̃̀
ਅਸੀ ਘਰ ਜਾਨੇ ਆਂ asī̃ kàr jānde hā̃
ਅਸੀਂ ਘਰ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਾਂ We (f.) doasī̃ karniyā̃ ʷā̃̀
ਅਸੀ ਕਰਨੀਆਂ ਆਂ asī̃ kardiyā̃ hā̃
ਅਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੀਆਂ ਹਾਂ You (sing.) dotū̃ karnā aĩ̀
ਤੂੰ ਕਰਨਾ ਐਂ tū̃ kardā haĩ
ਤੂੰ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈਂ You (f.pl.) dotusī karniyā̃ ò/je
ਤੁਸੀ ਕਰਨੀਆਂ ਓ/ਜੇ tusī̃ kardiyā̃ ho
ਤੁਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੀਆਂ ਹੋ
Examples of Majhi SentenceTransliterationTranslationShahmukhiGurmukhi tū̃ lahaur jāndā saĩ You used to go to Lahore maĩ pahlõ hī ākhdā sā̃ I've already said it oddaṇ bharjāī kitthe san Where were the sisters-in-law that day?
Subdialectal differences
Northeastern Majhi Northeastern Majhi refers to the subdialect spoken in a belt from the Sialkot District to the Ravi river.
It has considerable Doabi influence.
Northeastern Majhi uses the past-tense inflection of the verb ḍahṇā (ਡਹਿਣਾ / ) to form continuous tenses, rather than pēṇā (ਪੈਣਾ/ ) which is used by other Majhi subdialects and Punjabi dialects. PhraseEastern MajhiGeneral MajhiStandard PunjabiHe(prox.) was doingeh karaṇ ḍahyā sī ਏਹ ਕਰਣ ਡਹਿਆ ਸੀeh kardā pyā sī ਏਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਪਿਆ ਸੀeh kar rahyā sī ਇਹ ਕਰ ਰਿਹਾ ਸੀShe(dist.) is doingoh karaṇ ḍahī hē ਓਹ ਕਰਣ ਡਹੀ ਹੈoh kardī paī hē ਓਹ ਕਰਦੀ ਪਈ ਹੈoh kar rahī hē ਉਹ ਕਰ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ
In Northeastern Majhi, on top of the copula-replacement by ne, it is also common for the second-person plural pronominal suffix je (ਜੇ / ) to overtake ho.
PhraseNortheastern MajhiGeneral MajhiYou will go hometusī̃ ghar jāṉde je ਤੁਸੀਂ ਘਰ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਜੇtusī̃ ghar jāṉde ho ਤੁਸੀਂ ਘਰ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹੋ
This variety of Majhi also tends to debuccalize all its non-initial non-geminated voiceless alveolar fricatives () into glottal fricatives (); i.e. the s sound is heard as a h. This h is distinguished from the regular phonetic h by its lack of tonality.
WordPunjabi spellingGeneral pronunciationNortheastern pronunciationTranslationtusī̃ਤੁਸੀਂ[tʊsĩ][tʊɦĩ]you (pl./honorific)asāḍāਅਸਾਡਾ[ɐ̆saˑɖˑa][ɐ̆ɦaˑɖˑa]our(s) / my/mine (honorific)paiseਪੈਸੇ[pɛˑsˑe][pɛːɦe]money
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. I.e., words like hatth (ਹੱਥ / ) "hand" are said more as àtth.
Another notable difference is the use of the suffix dā instead of gā for indicative future tense:
General MajhiNorthwestern MajhiTranslation kare gā ਕਰੇਗਾ kare dā ਕਰੇਦਾ [he] will do khāṇ giyā̃ ਖਾਣਗੀਆਂ khāṇ diyā̃ ਖਾਣਦੀਆਂ [they] (f.) will eat jāvo ge ਜਾਵੋਗੇ jāvo de ਜਾਵੋਦੇ [you] (pl. m.) will go samjhā̃ gī ਸਮਝਾਂਗੀ samjhā̃ dī ਸਮਝਾਂਦੀ [I] (f.) will understand
Northwestern Majhi also has its own past-tense copula, which declines on gender and number, unlike other Majhi subdialects, whose copula declines on person and number.
General MajhiNorthwestern MajhiTranslation tū̃ nhāyā sēṉ ਤੂੰ ਨ੍ਹਾਇਆ ਸੈਂ tū̃ nhāyā āhā ਤੂੰ ਨ੍ਹਾਇਆ ਆਹਾ You (s. m.) had bathed oh kiddhar sī? ਓਹ ਕਿੱਧਰ ਸੀ? oh kiddhar āhī? ਓਹ ਕਿੱਧਰ ਆਹੀ? Where was she? mēṉ paṉchī vekhe san ਮੈਂ ਪੰਛੀ ਵੇਖੇ ਸਨ mēṉ paṉchī vekhe āhe ਮੈਂ ਪੰਛੀ ਵੇਖੇ ਆਹੇ I had seen birds bakkriyāṉ mamyāiyāṉ san ਬੱਕਰੀਆਂ ਮਮਿਆਈਆਂ ਸਨ bakkriyāṉ mamyāiyāṉ āhiyāṉ ਬੱਕਰੀਆਂ ਮਮਿਆਈਆਂ ਆਹੀਆਂ The goats had bleated
See also
Punjabi dialects Punjabi literature Jhangvi dialect Shahpuri dialect Dhanni dialect
Notes
References