The Punjabi language has a variety of dialects () which form a dialect continuum and are primarily subdivided into two groups: Eastern Punjabi in the east, and Lahnda (Western Punjabi) in the west. The dialects vary based on geographical, cultural, and historical factors.For the use of the term "Greater Panjabi", see and . Punjabi may also be considered as a pluricentric language with more than one standard variety ().Muhr, Rudoplh (2016) Pluricentric Languages and Non-Dominant Varieties Worldwide. Peter Lang
There was a historic disagreement on whether they form part of a single language group within the Indo-Aryan language family, with early classifications assigning the western dialects to the Northwestern zone and the eastern ones to the Central zone; but broadly all modern classifications agree on their forming a single group within the Northwestern zone. A number of classification schemes have been devised by individual scholars and linguistic institutions regarding the Punjabi dialects.
Classification Nearly all scholars agree that Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language, however the precise Prakrit or Apabrahmsha that Punjabi derived from is disputed. An attempt to enumerate and geographically describe the spoken areas of Punjabi dialects was undertaken by the Linguistic Survey of India, chiefly by George A. Grierson. Greierson made a distinction between what he called "Lahnda" (spoken in western Punjab, which he grouped with Sindhi) from "Punjabi proper" (spoken in central and eastern Punjab, which he grouped with Western Hindi). Grierson's demarcation of an outer and inner sub-branches of Indo-Aryan was critiqued later by Chatterjee in 1926. Cardona (1974) devised a new classification scheme of Modern (New) Indo-Aryan, placing Punjabi (incl. Lahndi) and Sindhi in a northwestern-zone.
The basis for classifying Punjabi dialects is not purely linguistic as political, social, and emotive factors play a role as well. Furthermore, the term "dialect" is defined variously in linguistics with no clear dilineation between what constitutes a dialect versus a language. Other terms used in linguistics include accents, registers, styles, varieties, and lects. The word "language" is often used to refer to standardised languages while "dialect" often refers to non-standard varieties. The words "variety" and "lect" refer to a specific form of a language or language cluster. According to Bahl, the dialect classification of Punjabi attracts socio-political controversies.
The Punjabi dialects are divided into two broad classifications: Eastern and Western (Lahnda) dialects. The Lahnda of western Punjab is often differentiated from what is termed "Punjabi proper" that is spoken in central and eastern Punjab. Lahnda is internally diverse, consisting of North-Western (Hindko, Peshawari), North-Eastern (Pothwari/Pothohari, Awankari), and Southern (Siraiki or Multani) divisions.Hussain, Qandeel, Michael Proctor, Mark Harvey, and Katherine Demuth. 2020. “Punjabi (Lyallpuri Variety).” Journal of the International Phonetic Association 50(2): 282–97. doi: 10.1017/S0025100319000021. Retrieved on 4 September 2026 from: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/punjabi-lyallpuri-variety/060E3FF5B0BF9E3226545BBA7C59D7EC The number of dialects is not in agreement and varies by source. Most Indian Punjabi scholars (such as Jodh Singh, Duni Chandra, and Mangat Bhardwaj) reject Grierson's earlier classification which excluded Lahandi varieties from Punjabi. According to Mangat Bhardwaj, Eastern Punjabi is more similar to Lahnda than it is to Hindi-Urdu. He further states: "Most native speakers of both the eastern and the western dialects of Panjabi believe that they speak the same language". Harkirat Singh takes a similar position regarding the Lahnda-Punjabi distinction.
However, Lahnda is a diverse grouping and lects once subsumed under its label have since been recognised as more distinct varieties, such as Saraiki. Meanwhile, Hindko is often also placed under the Lahnda label but the Hindko varieties are internally diverse and differ from one another. What was originally termed Northern Lahnda is now known generally as Hindko while what was formerly called Southern Lahnda is now called Saraiki. In Pakistan, Hindko and Saraiki are recognized as independent languages. In 1981 Pakistani census classified Saraiki as a separate language from Punjabi. Saraiki is spoken by around 12–20 million people. The Saraiki movement or South Punjab movement advocates for a separate identity for the language and is characterized as a political demand, coming to the forefront during elections. This linguistic separatist movement involving Saraiki arose in the 1960s, being motivated by cultural, economic, political, and literary factors. "Saraiki" was adopted as a term for the language by the movement, replacing earlier labels like Multani and Riyasati. However, a counter-push against this asserts that Saraiki is a dialect of Punjabi. Shackle states that Saraiki is linguistically intermediate between Sindhi and Punjabi. Shackle considers Hindko to be intermediary between Punjabi and Saraiki. Hindko and Pothwari may also be viewed as distinct languages.Hussain, Qandeel, (2020) “Punjabi (India and Pakistan) – Language Snapshot”, Language Documentation and Description 19, 144-153. doi: https://doi.org/10.25894/ldd71. Retrieved on 3 September 2026 from: https://www.lddjournal.org/article/id/1239/ In India, the speakers of Dogri and other Pahari languages campaigned for a separate linguistic identity. Some sources include Bagri as a dialect.
Standard Punjabi Modern Standard Punjabi, used in Indian Punjab and was initially primarily based upon Majhi and Lahnda but later bore influence from eastern dialects such as Malwai and Doabi. Pakistani Standard Punjabi, various proposals have been made for the formation of a Pakistani standard, such as by Faqeer Muhammad Faqeer (based on Gujranwali dialect) and Sardar Muhammad Khan (based on Wazirabadi dialect) Eastern Punjabi Majhi: spoken in Majha region. Doabi: originated from and spoken in Doaba region in Punjab, India; also spoken in parts of urban Punjab, Pakistan, specifically Faisalabad Malwai: spoken in Malwa region Puadhi: spoken in Puadh region Pahari: spoken in Northern parts. Rai boli: spoken in Fazilka district.
Western Punjabi Dhanni: spoken in Chakwal, Talagang and southern parts of Attock and Jhelum districts Jhangochi: spoken in Bar region, from Jhang to Pakpattan Shahpuri: spoken in Sargodha and Khushab Thalochi: spoken in the Thal region. Pahari-Pothwari: spoken in Rawalpindi and much of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Hindko Southern Hindko: Awankari: spoken in Talagang Chachi: spoken in the Chach Ghebi: spoken in Pindi Gheb Kohati: spoken in Kohat Peshawari: spoken in Peshawar, forms basis for literary Hindko Hazara Hindko: spoken in Hazara region, also known as Northern Hindko or Hazarvi Saraiki Derawali: spoken in Derajat region Multani: spoken in the region around Multan, forms basis for literary Saraiki Riasti: spoken in Rahim Yar Khan and Rajanpur districts Khetrani: spoken in Barkhan and Dera Ghazi Khan
Classification schemes
Greirson (early 20th century) George Abraham Grierson of the Linguistic Survey of India authored two works examining the eastern and western dialects of Punjabi separately, in 1916 and 1919 respectively.Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. IX: Indo-Aryan Family, Central Group, Part I: Specimens of Western Hindī and Pañjābī (Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, India, 1916) by George Abraham Grierson. Retrieved on 1 September 2026 via The Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago.Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. VIII: Indo-Aryan Family, North-Western Group, Part I: Specimens of Sindhī and Lahndā (Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, India, 1919) by George Abraham Grierson. Retrieved on 1 September 2026 via The Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago. His list of dialects includes Majhi, Doabi (incl. Ludhiani), Puadhi, Rathi, Malwai, Bhattiani, Rechna Doab dialect, Gujari, and Dogri. Grierson's classification was as follows:
Proto-Punjabi derived languages: Punjabi, including the following dialects: Majhi Ludhiani Powadhi Rathi Malwai Bhattiani Recha Doab dialect Dogri Lahnda A key factor in Grierson's classification scheme was a demarcation between Western and Eastern Punjabi varieties. Grierson categorized Eastern Punjabi as part of the central group of Indo-Aryan languages while Western Punjabi was categorized as part of the northwestern or outer group of Indo-Aryan languages. Grierson used the term "Proto-Punjabi" to describe the language that Dogri and Punjabi evolved from and notes Punjabi and Lahnda as separate linguistic phenomenons. However, this paradigm is ignored by later analyses by Gill and Gleason (1962), which Kali Charan Bahl attributes the reason being that it was un-scientific, included Dogri in the Punjabi group, and that Lahnda was placed separately from Punjabi despite no proper survey being conducted on it as per Gill and Gleason. Furthermore, Grierson's analysis was admittedly based upon vocabulary rather than other factors, such as grammar. The Linguistic Survey of India's Punjabi dialectology maps and schemes were criticized by the later Linguistic Atlas of Punjab (1973).
Padam (1954) Piara Singh Padam believed the Punjabi dialects consisted of the following six main dialects:
Potohari, spoken in the hilly part of Rawalpindi, which is bounded by Suhan to the north, the Jhelum river to the east, and Jhelum district to the south, and Attock district to the west, influenced by Pashto Multani, spoken in Multan, Jhang, Shahpur, and Mianwali, influenced by Sindhi Lahori, spoken across a wide span from Gujarat to Ludhiana to Ambala, with him believing that the influence of this dialect led Majhi, Doabi, and Malwai to no longer be as distinctive from one another Puadhi, spoken past in an area past the Sirhand canal, including much of then Ambala district adjacent to the Ghaggar, and some part of Patiala, Ludhiana, and Hisar districts, with it being influenced by Western Hindi via Bangru Bhatiani, spoken in a traditional area called Bhattiana (or Bhatti Des), comprising of some parts of Ferozepur district and the adjoining part of the north Bikaner, eventually blending with the Rajasthani border dialect Bagri. He traces the language to the Bhatti Rajputs of the region, with the Muslim Bhattis of the area being known as the Rathor/Rathore. Padam considered Rathi, a lect observed by Grierson earlier, to be a sub-dialect of Bhatiani, as he believed that those Muslims who settled in the Ghaggar Valley of Hisar (known as Rath) originated from the west of that area, with the difference being that Rathi was influenced by Bangru while Bhatiani was influenced by Bagri. Dogri, spoken in the montane area of north-east to the north-west of Punjab and the Jammu region
Gill and Gleason (1962)
The classification of Harjeet Singh Gill and Henry A. Gleason (1962) of the Punjabi dialects is as follows:
Majhi, spoken in Amritsar district Doabi, spoken in the Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts Malwai, spoken in Ludhiana district Patialvi, spoken in Patiala and Sangrur districts Dogri, spoken in Jammu district Pahari, spoken in Chamba and Mandi districts Layalpuri, spoken in Layalpur district Lahnda varieties: Multani, spoken in Multan district Hindko, spoken in Hazara district Pothohari, spoken Rawalpindi district The authors in addition to the dialects noted by Grierson included the likes of Layalpuri, Patialvi, Multani, Pothohari, Hindko, and Pahari (of Chamba and Mandi). This scheme is criticized by Bahl as of "questionable linguistic relevance".
Sardar Muhammad Khan (1964)