Subhamaykarjee at 19:18, 22 March 2026

2026-03-22T19:18:04Z

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{{Short description|Group of Punjabi language varieties}}
{{About|the linguistic grouping of Punjabi’s western varieties|other uses|Western Punjabi (disambiguation)}}
{{For|the scripts|Laṇḍā scripts}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox language family
| name = Lahnda
| altname = Western Punjabi
| acceptance = classification disputed
| ethnicity = [[Punjabis]]{{efn|including all [[Ethnographic group|ethnographic groups]] such as [[Hindkowans]], [[Pahari people (Kashmir)|Paharis]], and [[Saraikis]]}}
| region = {{Hlist|[[Punjab, Pakistan|West Punjab]]|[[Hazara region|Hazara]]|[[Azad Kashmir]]}}
| speakers = 118 million
| date = 2025
| ref = {{efn|Includes almost all dialects indigenous to Pakistan, including [[Majhi dialect|Majhi]]; but excludes the [[Punjabi dialects and languages#Eastern Punjabi|Eastern Punjabi dialects]] which are indigenous to India<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 January 2025|title=The 10 Most Spoken Languages In The World In 2025 |url=https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/the-10-most-spoken-languages-in-the-world|website=babbel.com}}</ref>}}
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3 = [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]
| fam4 = [[Indo-Aryan languages#Northwestern zone|Northwestern]]
| fam5 = [[Punjabi dialects|Punjabi]]
| ancestor = 
| ancestor2 = 
| child1 = [[Dhanni dialect|Dhanni]]{{efn|name='Transitional'|The dialect's status is that of being transitional between Western Punjabi and Central Punjabi.}}
| child2 = '''[[Hindko]]'''
| child3 = [[Inku]] {{extinct}}
| child4 = [[Jhangvi dialect|Jhangvi]]{{efn|name='Transitional'}}
| child5 = [[Majhi dialect|Majhi]]{{efn|Although regarded as a separate group as ''Central Punjabi'' by many, the Pakistani subdialects of Majhi are regarded by ''[[Ethnologue]]'' and others to be included in the Lahnda group.<ref name=e26>{{e26|lah}}</ref>{{sfn|Shackle|1979|p=198}}}}
| child6 = [[Pahari-Pothwari]]{{efn|name='Transitional'}}
| child7 = '''[[Saraiki language|Saraiki]]'''
| child8 = [[Shahpuri dialect|Shahpuri]]{{efn|name='Transitional'}}
| child9 = [[Thali dialect|Thali]]{{efn|name='Transitional'}}
| children = ''classification disputed''
| map =
| mapalt =
| mapcaption =
| iso2 = lah
| iso3 = lah
}}
{{Punjabis}}

'''Lahnda''' ({{langx|pa|Laehndā}}, {{IPA|pa|lɛ˦n.d̪äː|pron}}, {{lit|western}}),{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɑː|n|d|ə}};<ref>{{OED|Lahnda}}</ref> [[Shahmukhi]]: {{nq|لہندا}}, [[Gurmukhi]]: ਲਹਿੰਦਾ}} also known as '''Lahndi''' or '''Western Punjabi''',{{efn|{{langx|pa|Laehndī Panjābī}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zograph |first=G. A. |title=Languages of South Asia: A Guide |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2023 |isbn=9781000831597 |edition=Reprint |pages=52 |chapter=Chapter 3 |quote=LAHNDA – Lahnda (Lahndi) or Western Panjabi is the name given to a group of dialects spread over the northern half of Pakistan. In the north, they come into contact with the Dardic languages with which they share some common features, In the east, they turn gradually into Panjabi, and in the south into Sindhi. In the south-east there is a clearly defined boundary between Lahnda and Rajasthani, and in the west a similarly well-marked boundary between it and the Iranian languages Baluchi and Pushtu. The number of people speaking Lahnda can only be guessed at: it is probably in excess of 20 million.}}</ref>}} is a group of [[Punjabi dialects|Punjabi]] [[Variety (linguistics)|language varieties]] within the [[Northwestern Indo-Aryan languages|north-western branch]] of the [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] language family, spoken in the [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Hazara region|Hazara]], and [[Azad Kashmir]] regions of [[Pakistan]]. It is defined in the [[ISO 639]] standard as a "[[ISO 639 macrolanguage|macrolanguage]]"<ref name=e26/> or as a "series of dialects" by other authors.{{sfn|Masica|1991|pp=17–18}}{{efn|For the difficulties in assigning the labels "language" and "dialect", see {{harvtxt|Shackle|1979}} for Punjabi and {{harvtxt|Masica|1991|pp=23–27}} for [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] generally.}} Its validity as a [[Genetic relationship (linguistics)|linguistic genetic grouping]] is not certain.{{sfn|Masica|1991|p=18}} The terms "Lahnda" and "Western Punjabi" are [[exonyms]] employed by linguists, and are not used by the speakers themselves, who refer to their respective dialects or simply the language "Punjabi".{{sfn|Masica|1991|pp=17–18}}

Lahnda includes the following dialects: [[Saraiki language|Saraiki]] (spoken mostly in southern [[Pakistani Punjab]] by about 26 million people); the [[Jatki language|Jatki]] dialects (simply referred to as "Punjabi" by their ~50 million speakers,<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 April 2021 |title=Census-2017 District Wise |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/census-2017-district-wise |access-date=23 November 2024 |website=Pakistan Bureau of Statistics}}</ref> spoken in the [[Bar region]] of [[Central Punjab]]) i.e. [[Jhangvi dialect|Jhangvi]], [[Shahpuri dialect|Shahpuri]] and [[Dhani dialect|Dhanni]]; the diverse varieties of [[Hindko]] (with almost five million speakers in north-western Punjab and neighbouring regions of [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]], especially [[Hazara region|Hazara]]); [[Pahari-Pothwari|Pahari/Pothwari]] (with 3.5 million speakers predominantly on the [[Pothohar Plateau]] of northern Punjab, as well as [[Azad Kashmir]] and parts of Indian-administered [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]]); [[Khetrani language|Khetrani]] (transitional with [[Sindhi languages|Sindhi]], 20,000 speakers in [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]]); and [[Inku language|Inku]] (a possibly extinct language of Afghanistan).<ref name=e26/> ''[[Ethnologue]]'' also subsumes under Lahnda a group of varieties that it labels as "Western Punjabi" ([[ISO 639-3]] code: ''pnb'') – the [[Majhi dialect]]s transitional between Lahnda and [[Punjabi dialects#Eastern Punjabi|Eastern Punjabi]]; these are spoken by about 66 million people.<ref name=e26>{{e26|lah}}</ref>{{sfn|Shackle|1979|p=198}} ''[[Glottolog]]'', however, regards only the [[Shahpuri dialect|Shahpuri]], [[Dhanni dialect|Dhanni]] and [[Jhangvi dialect|Jatki]] dialects as "Western Punjabi" within the "Greater Panjabic" family, distinguishing it from the Lahnda varieties ("Hindko-Siraiki" and "Paharic").<ref>{{cite web | url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/west2386 | title=Glottolog 5.0 - Western Panjabi}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/hind1274 | title=Glottolog 5.0 - Hindko-Siraiki}}</ref>

==Name==
''Lahnda'' means "western" in Punjabi. It was coined by [[William St. Clair Tisdall]] (in the form ''Lahindā'') probably around 1890 and later adopted by a number of linguists — notably [[George Abraham Grierson]] — for a dialect group that had no general local name.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Grierson|first=George A.|year=1930|title=Lahndā and Lahndī|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|volume=5|issue=4|pages=883–887|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00090571|s2cid=160784067 }}</ref>{{rp|883}} This term has currency only among linguists.{{sfn|Masica|1991|p=18}}

==Development==
[[Fariduddin Ganjshakar|Baba Farid]] (c. 1188–1266), a celebrated and revered Punjabi Sufi saint of the 12th century, composed poetry in the Lahnda lect.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johar |first=Surinder Singh |title=Guru Gobind Singh : a multi-faceted personality |date=1999 |publisher=M.D. Publications |isbn=81-7533-093-7 |location=New Delhi |pages=56 |oclc=52865201}}</ref>

[[Mian Muhammad Bakhsh]] (c. 1830 – 1907) is another Punjabi poet who composed poetry in a mixture of both the Eastern and Lahnda varieties of Punjabi.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 March 2019 |title=Mian Muhammad Bakhsh – A great Punjabi Sufi Poet |url=https://nation.com.pk/30-Aug-2017/mian-muhammad-bakhsh-a-great-punjabi-sufi-poet |access-date=3 May 2023 |archive-date=22 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322044412/https://nation.com.pk/30-Aug-2017/mian-muhammad-bakhsh-a-great-punjabi-sufi-poet |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

[[Saraiki language|Saraiki]] (in the south) and [[Hindko]] (in the northwest) have been cultivated as literary standards.<ref name="Shackle 2010">{{cite book|last=Shackle|first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Shackle|chapter=Lahnda|page=635|year=2010|editor1-last=Brown|editor1-first=Keith|editor2-last=Ogilvie|editor2-first=Sarah|title=Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World|location=Oxford|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=9780080877754}}</ref> The development of the standard written Saraiki began in the 1960s.{{sfn|Rahman|1997|p=838}}{{sfn|Shackle|1977}} The national census of Pakistan has counted Saraiki speakers since 1981, and Hindko speakers from 2017, prior to which both were represented by Punjabi in general.{{sfn|Javaid|2004|p=46}}

==Classification==
Lahnda has several traits that distinguish it from other Punjabi linguistic groups, such as a future tense in ''-s-''. Like [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]], Saraiki retains breathy-voiced consonants, has developed implosives, and lacks tone. Hindko, also called ''Panjistani'' or (ambiguously) ''Pahari'', is more like [[Majhi dialect|Central Punjabi]] in this regard, though the equivalent of the low-rising tone of Central Punjabi is a high-falling tone in Peshawar Hindko.<ref name="Shackle 2010" />
[[File:Linguistic map of India, showing the areas where Indo-Aryan languages are spoken, published in the 'Imperial Gazetteer of India' (Vol. XXVI, Atlas; 1931 revised edition; plate no. 13).jpg|thumb|Lahnda depicted on a linguistic map of India, showing the areas where Indo-Aryan languages are spoken, published in the 'Imperial Gazetteer of India' (Vol. XXVI, Atlas; 1931 revised edition; plate no. 13).]]
Sindhi and Punjabi groups (including Lahnda) form a [[dialect continuum]] with no clear-cut boundaries. ''[[Ethnologue]]'' classifies the western forms of Central Punjabi and the dialects transitional between Lahnda and Central Punjabi as Lahnda, so that the Lahnda–Eastern Punjabi isogloss approximates the Pakistani–Indian border.<ref>{{e18|lah}}</ref>

== Script ==
Lahndi-speaking [[Sikhs]] employ the [[Gurmukhi]] script for recording the language rather than the Perso-Arabic-based [[Shahmukhi]] script.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smirnov |first=Yuri Andreyevich |title=The Lahndi Language |publisher=Nauka Publishing House, Central Department of Oriental Literature |year=1975 |pages=28 |quote=Lahndi-speaking Sikhs frequently use the Gurmukhi alphabet to write texts in the language.}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite journal|last = Javaid|first = Umbreen|year = 2004|url = https://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/english/Online_contents/Vol.%20XL%20No.2%20JRH%20July%202004.pdf|title = Saraiki political movement: its impact in south Punjab|journal = Journal of Research (Humanities)|volume=40|issue=2|pages=45–55|location=Lahore|publisher = Department of English Language & Literature, University of the Punjab}} (This PDF contains multiple articles from the same issue.)
* {{Cite book| last = Masica| first = Colin P.|author-link = Colin Masica| title = The Indo-Aryan languages| series = Cambridge language surveys| date = 1991| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-0-521-23420-7}}
* {{cite journal| last = Rahman| first = Tariq| author-link = Tariq Rahman| year = 1997| title = Language and Ethnicity in Pakistan| journal = Asian Survey| volume = 37| issue =9| pages = 833–839| doi=10.2307/2645700| jstor = 2645700}}
* {{cite journal| last = Shackle| first = Christopher| author-link = Christopher Shackle| title = Siraiki: A Language Movement in Pakistan| journal = Modern Asian Studies| issn = 0026-749X| volume = 11| issue = 3| pages = 379–403| date = 1977| jstor = 311504| doi=10.1017/s0026749x00014190| s2cid = 144829301}}
* {{cite journal| last = Shackle| first = Christopher| author-link = Christopher Shackle| title = Problems of classification in Pakistan Panjab| journal = Transactions of the Philological Society| date = 1979| doi = 10.1111/j.1467-968X.1979.tb00857.x| issn = 0079-1636| volume = 77| issue = 1| pages = 191–210}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=Singh Gill|first=Harjeet|year=1973|title=Linguistic Atlas Of The Punjab|publisher=Department of Anthropological Linguistics, Punjabi University, Patiala|pages=205}}
* {{cite book|last=Chandra|first=Duni|title=ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ ਦਾ ਵਿਆਕਰਣ|year=1964|publisher=Publication Bureau, Panjab University, Chandigarh|pages=290}}
* {{cite book|last=Bhardwaj|first=Mangat Rai|title=Panjabi: A Comprehensive Grammar|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|pages=487|isbn=978-1-315-76080-3}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Malik|first1=Moazzam Ali|last2=Abbas|first2=Furrakh|last3=Noreen|first3=Khadija|title=A comparative study of acoustic cues of Punjabi velar plosives in Majhi and Lehandi|journal=Hamdard Islamicus|volume=43|issue=2|year=2020|pages=1564–1571|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345953281}}
* {{cite journal|last=Hussain|first=Qandeel|title=Phonation differences in the stop laryngeal contrasts of Jangli (Indo-Aryan)|url=https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/jsal/index.php/fasal/article/view/239|journal=(Formal) Approaches to South Asian Languages|volume=1|issue=1|year=2022}}
* {{cite journal|last=Karamat|first=Nayyara|title=Phonemic Inventory of Punjabi|journal=Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing|year=2001|pages=179–188|citeseerx=10.1.1.695.1248 }}
* {{cite journal|last1=Malik|first1=Moazzam Ali|last2=Kokub|first2=Iqra|title=Segmental study of Punjabi glottal fricative /H/|url=https://clrjournal.com/ojs/index.php/clrjournal/article/view/10|year=2020|volume=2|issue=1|journal=Competitive Linguistic Research Journal|pages=1–17}}

== External links ==
* [http://llmap.org/assets/maps/LinguisticSurveyIndia/lahnpanj.jpg Map of Lahnda dialects] from [[G.A. Grierson|Grierson's]] early 20th-century [[Linguistic Survey of India]]

{{Punjabi dialects}}
{{Languages of Pakistan}}
{{Indo-Aryan languages}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Northwestern Indo-Aryan languages]]
[[Category:Punjabi dialects]]
[[Category:Punjabi language in Pakistan]]

Lahnda - Revision history

Subhamaykarjee at 19:18, 22 March 2026