Majhi dialect

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 (also known as Gujrati Majhi), spoken in Gujrat, Jhelum and Bhimber (Azad Kashmir) districts

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.^[3]

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

- 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)^{[clarification needed]}

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)^{[clarification needed]}

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).

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.^{[clarification needed]}

The ēvẽ class of adverbial pronouns are used for "how" rather than ēddā̃.^{[clarification needed]}

- Use of -na verb ending instead of -da ending for habitual aspect^{[clarification needed]}

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 and Punjabi dialects.

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

In these areas, word-initial 'h' is fainter and more tonal, eventually disappearing in upper dialects like Pahari-Pothwari, Hazarewal Hindko and 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.

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