Wiktionary:About Punjabi

Dialects

The Punjabi language is split into two dialect groups: Eastern dialects and Western dialects. Standard Punjabi is based on Majhi Punjabi, which is considered intermediate between Eastern and Western dialects.

Eastern dialects

Eastern dialects typically include the dialects spoken in India, as well as the Majhi dialect or 'Central Punjabi':

• Majhi – native to the Majha region, i.e. the Lahore, Gujranwala and Gujrat divisions of Pakistani Punjab and the Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Tarn Taran districts of Indian Punjab.
• Doabi – native to the Doaba region of India. Also spoken in large numbers by the descendants of those who migrated from there, notably in Faisalabad, Pakistan.
• Malwai – native to the Malwa region of southern Indian Punjab and far-north Rajasthan.
• Puadhi – native to the Puadh region of western Indian Punjab and northern Haryana.

Western dialects

Western dialects include Lahnda dialects of Punjabi which are closely related to other Lahnda lects like Hindko, Pahari-Pothwari and Saraiki:

• Dhanni
• Jhangli – native to large areas of the Bar Region of Pakistani Punjab and places bordering it in India such as Fazilka.
• Shahpuri – native to area of the former Shahpur District of British Punjab and the Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad districts in Pakistan.

Other varieties

Dogri, Hindko, Pahari-Pothwari and Saraiki are considered separate to the Punjabi language.

Transliteration

Punjabi lemmas are only written in the ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ (gurmukhī) or شاہ مُکھی (śāh mukhī) scripts. Transliterations (or romanized lemmas) are not considered words. Gurmukhi lemmas are automatically transliterated, while vocalised Shahmukhi lemmas can provide near-accurate transliterations.

Due to orthographical differences, Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi transliteration methods are not identical (see Wiktionary:Punjabi transliteration for more information). The Gurmukhi transliteration standard is based on the IAST methodology, while the Shahmukhi transliteration based on a modified version of the Urdu ALA-LC romanization table.

The transliterations are provided by Module:Guru-translit and Module:pa-Arab-translit respectively.