Majhi dialect

 ( Punjabi Dialects ) 

Majhi (Shahmukhi: ; Gurmukhi: ਮਾਝੀ; ), also known as Central Punjabi, is the most widely-spoken Panjabi dialects of the Punjabi language, natively spoken in the Majha region and surrounding areas of Punjab region in present-day Pakistan and India.

The native speakers of the dialect are known by the demonym 'Majhail'.

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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 District and Sheikhupura districts.
• Northeastern Majhi, spoken in the Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Narowal District and Sialkot District districts.
• Northwestern Majhi, spoken in the Gujrat District and Jhelum District districts.

Majhi varieties are also spoken natively in the districts of Hafizabad, Kasur District, Mandi Bahauddin, Nankana Sahib, Tarn Taran and Wazirabad.

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General features

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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.

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

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 case agent
• the possessive determiner
• the addressee

Majhi uses pronominal suffixes for the second and third persons and for both present tense and past tense.

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

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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.

They sleep	oh sōṉde ne ਓਹ ਸੌਂਦੇ ਨੇ	oh 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 / )

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Other Features hē(gā) sī is used instead of sīgā.

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Adverbial pronouns Majhi uses the kiññ and kivẽ classes of adverbial pronouns of manner, which, at their base, are common with Lahnda.

like this	ēṉj, ēvẽ ਐਂਞ, ਐਵੇਂ	ēvẽ ਐਵੇਂ	ēdā̃ ਐਦਾਂ	iṉj ਇੰਞ	iṉjū ਇੰਞੂ	hiṉj, īvẽ ਹਿੰਞ, ਈਵੇਂ	iṉj ਇੰਞ
like that	oṉj, ovẽ ਓਂਞ, ਓਵੇਂ	ovẽ ਐਵੇਂ	odā̃ ਐਵੇਂ	uṉj ਐਵੇਂ	uṉjū ਐਵੇਂ	huṉj / ūvẽ ਐਵੇਂ	uṉj ਐਵੇਂ
how?	kiṉj, kivẽ ਕਿੰਞ, ਕਿਵੇਂ	kivẽ ਕਿਵੇਂ	kiddā̃ ਕਿੱਦਾਂ	kiṉj ਕਿੰਞ	kiṉjū ਕਿੰਞੂ	kiṉj, kīvẽ ਕਿੰਞ, ਕੀਵੇਂ	kiṉj ਕਿੰਞ
how	jiṉj, jivẽ ਜਿੰਞ, ਜਿਵੇਂ	jivẽ 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

I do	mẽ kar nā ʷā̃̀ ਮੈਂ ਕਰ ਨਾ ਆਂ	mẽ kardā hā̃ ਮੈਂ ਕਰਦਾ ਹਾਂ
Let's (m.) go home	asī kàr jā ne ā̃̀ ਅਸੀ ਘਰ ਜਾ ਨੇ ਆਂ	asī̃ kàr jānde hā̃ ਅਸੀਂ ਘਰ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਾਂ
We (f.) do	asī̃ kar niyā̃ ʷā̃̀ ਅਸੀ ਕਰ ਨੀਆਂ ਆਂ	asī̃ kardiyā̃ hā̃ ਅਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੀਆਂ ਹਾਂ
You (sing.) do	tū̃ kar nā aĩ̀ ਤੂੰ ਕਰ ਨਾ ਐਂ	tū̃ kardā haĩ ਤੂੰ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈਂ
You (f.pl.) do	tusī kar niyā̃ ò/je ਤੁਸੀ ਕਰ ਨੀਆਂ ਓ/ਜੇ	tusī̃ kardiyā̃ ho ਤੁਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੀਆਂ ਹੋ

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Examples of Majhi

	ਤੂੰ ਲਹੌਰ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਸੈਂ	tū̃ lahaur jāndā saĩ	You used to go to Lahore
	ਮੈਂ ਪਹਿਲੋਂ ਹੀ ਆਖਦਾ ਸਾਂ	maĩ pahlõ hī ākhdā sā̃	I've already said it
	ਓਦਣ ਭਰਜਾਈ ਕਿੱਥੇ ਸਨ	oddaṇ bharjāī kitthe san	Where were the sisters-in-law that day?

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Subdialectal differences

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Northeastern Majhi Northeastern Majhi refers to the subdialect spoken in a belt from the Sialkot District to the Ravi river.

It has considerable Doabi dialect 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.

He(prox.) was doing	eh karaṇ ḍahyā sī ਏਹ ਕਰਣ ਡਹਿਆ ਸੀ	eh kardā pyā sī ਏਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਪਿਆ ਸੀ	eh kar rahyā sī ਇਹ ਕਰ ਰਿਹਾ ਸੀ
She(dist.) is doing	oh karaṇ ḍahī hē ਓਹ ਕਰਣ ਡਹੀ ਹੈ	oh kardī paī hē ਓਹ ਕਰਦੀ ਪਈ ਹੈ	oh 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.

You will go home	tusī̃ ghar jāṉde je ਤੁਸੀਂ ਘਰ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਜੇ	tusī̃ 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.

tusī̃	ਤੁਸੀਂ	tʊsĩ	tʊɦĩ	you (pl./honorific)
asāḍā	ਅਸਾਡਾ	ɐ̆saˑɖˑa	ɐ̆ɦaˑɖˑa	our(s) / my/mine (honorific)
paise	ਪੈਸੇ	pɛˑsˑe	pɛːɦe	money

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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 district, Jhelum district, and Bhimber District.

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:

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.

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

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See also

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

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Notes

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