Punjabi Language - Dialects: Linguistic Classification

Dialects: Linguistic Classification

In Indo-Aryan dialectology generally, the presence of transitional dialects creates problems in assigning some dialects to one or another "language". However, over the last century there has usually been little disagreement when it comes to defining the core region of the Punjabi language. In modern India, the states are largely designed to encompass the territories of major languages with an established written standard. Thus Indian Punjab is the Punjabi language state (in fact, the neighboring state of Haryana, which was part of Punjab state in 1947, was split off from it because it is a Hindi speaking region). Some of its major urban centers are Ludhiana, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, and Patiala. In Pakistan, the Punjabi-speaking territory spans the east-central districts of Punjab Province, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faislabad, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Sialkot, Jhang, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Bahawalnagar, Multan, Jhelum' Chakwal, Mianwali and Gujrat. Lahore, the historic capital of Punjab, is the largest Punjabi speaking city in the world. 86% of the total population of Lahore are native Punjabis, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, has 71% Native Punjabis of its total population.