Standard, Major and Sub-Dialects of the Punjabi Language.

The Majhi dialect of Punjabi language is the main language of Punjab, which is also the standard dialect of the Punjabi language and the people of the Majha region are given the demonym "Majhi". The word "Majha" means the "central" or the "heartland". The Majha region is geographically located in the middle of the historical Punjab region, hence giving it the name Majha.

The Majha region of the historical Punjab region spans northward from the right banks of river Beas and extends up to river Jhelum at its northmost, making it the largest region of historic Punjab. Majha includes a considerable portion of the Bari Doab (the region between the rivers Beas and Ravi) and the Rachna Doab (the region between the rivers Ravi and Chenab), and a smaller portion of the Jech Doab region (the region between the rivers Jhelum and Chenab).

During the partition of India in 1947, the Majha region of Panjab got split into India and Pakistan. The Majha region of the Indian state of Panjab covers the area between Beas and Ravi rivers, including the area on the north of Sutlej, after the confluence of Beas and Sutlej at Harike in Tarn Taran district, extending up to the Ravi river, which is all part of the Majha region in India. Though partition split the Punjab Province (British India) into two states of West Punjab (Punjab, Pakistan) and East Punjab (Panjab, India), however, the historic Majha region is arguably still the same as before since the partition does not change the previous history of Punjab, therefore does not change the geography of the Majha region of the historical Punjab region.

The areas of Majhi, the standard dialect of the Punjabi language are composed of 4 districts of Indian Panjab i.e; Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Tarn Taran, and 16 districts of Pakistani Punjab i.e; Lahore, Kasur, Okara, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, Toba Tek Singh, Faisalabad, Chiniot, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib.

a). Majhi is encircled by the Malwi, Doabi, Dogri, Pothowari, Shahpuri, and Jhangochi dialect.

b). Pwadhi is connected to the Majhi via Malwi and Doabi dialect.

c). Hindko is connected to the Majhi via the Pothowari dialect.

d). Dhani is connected to the Majhi via Pothowari and Shahpuri dialect.

e). Thalochi is connected to the Majhi via Shahpuri and Jhangochi dialect.

f). Multani and Riyasti are connected with the Majhi via the Jhangochi dialect.

g). Derewali is connected to the Majhi via Thalochi via the Jhangochi dialect.

1. The areas of Malwi, the major dialect of the Punjabi language are connected with Majha from the southeastern side and composed of 18 districts of the Indian Panjab i,e; Ambala, Barnala, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Samrala, Ferozepur, Ganganagar, Hissar, Kurukshetra, Ludhiana, Malerkotla, Mansa, Moga, Muktsar, Patiala, Ropar, Sangrur.

2. The areas of Doabi, the major dialect of the Punjabi language are connected with Majha from the northeastern side and composed of 4 districts of the Indian Panjab i,e; Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr.

3. The areas of Jhangochi, the major dialect of the Punjabi language are connected with Majha from the south and south-west side and composed of 5 districts of Pakistani Punjab i.e; Bahawalnagar, Vehari, Lodhran, Khanewal, Jhang.

4. The areas of Shahpuri, the major dialect of the Punjabi language are connected with Majha from the western side and composed of 3 districts of Pakistani Panjab i,e; Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali.

5. The areas of Pothowari, the major dialect of the Punjabi language are connected with Majha from the northwestern side and composed of 3 districts of Pakistani Panjab i,e; Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Attock and one district of Azad Kashmir i.e; Muzaffarabad.

6. The areas of Dogri, the major dialect of the Punjabi language are adjacent to Majha from the northern side and composed of Jammu.

i). Pwadhi, the sub-dialect of the Punjabi language is spoken in 7 districts of the Indian Panjab i,e; Kharar, Kurali, Morinda, Nurpurbedi, Pail, Rajpura, Ropar and connected with the Majhi via Malwi and Doabi.

ii). Hindko, the sub-dialect of the Punjabi language is spoken in 6 districts of Pakistani Panjab i,e; Abbottabad, Attock, Balakot, Mansehra, Nowshera, Peshawar, and connected with the Majhi via Pothowari.

iii). Dhani, the sub-dialect of the Punjabi language is spoken in one district of the Pakistani Panjab i,e; Chakwal and connected with the Majhi via Pothowari and Shahpuri.

iv). Thalochi, the sub-dialect of the Punjabi language is spoken in 2 districts of the Pakistani Panjab i,e; Bhakkar, Layyah and connected with the Majhi via Shahpuri and Jhangochi.

v). Multani, the sub-dialect of the Punjabi language is spoken in 2 districts of Pakistani Panjab i,e; Multan, Muzaffargarh and connected with the Majhi via Jhangochi.

vi). Riyasti, the sub-dialect of the Punjabi language is spoken in 2 districts of the Pakistani Panjab i,e; Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and connected with the Majhi via Jhangochi.

vii). Derewali, the sub-dialect of the Punjabi language is spoken in 2 districts of the Pakistani Panjab i,e; Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and connected with the Majhi via Thalochi via Jhangochi.

Jhangochi or Rachnavi is the oldest and most idiosyncratic dialect of Punjabi. The area of the Jhangochi dialect of Punjabi is the “Bar areas of Punjab”, i.e, areas whose names are often suffixed with 'Bar', for example, Sandal Bar, Kirana Bar, Neeli Bar, Ganji Bar and has several aspects that set it apart from other Punjabi variants. This area has a great culture and heritage, especially literary heritage, as it is credited with the creation of the famous epic romance stories of Heer Ranjha and Mirza Sahiba.

Majhi, the main language and standard dialect of Punjabi language is the written standard for Punjabi in both parts of Punjab.

Note: - In Indo-Aryan dialectology generally, the presence of transitional dialects creates problems in assigning some dialects to one or another "language".

Northern dialects Hindko of Hazara/Kohati/Peshawari and are now classified as a separate language Hindko.

Jummu's Dogri is also classified as a separate language.

Similarly, Southern dialects of Western Punjabi (Multani, Derawali, and Riasti) are now also classified as a separate language Saraiki.

However, this separation is controversial and Saraiki, Hindko, and Dogri are considered as a dialect of mainstream Punjabi because These are Mutually intangible, Morphologically and Syntactically similar with Standard Punjabi and is in fact dialect of Punjabi agreed by the majority of local linguists such as Dulai, K Narinder, Gill, Harjeet Singh Gill, A Henry. Gleason (Jr), Koul, N Omkar, Siya Madhu Bala, Afzal Ahmed Cheema, Aamir Malik, Amar Nath as well as modern linguistics publications such as the US National Advisory Committee based The UCLA Language Materials Project (LMP) along with modern Foreign linguistics such as Lambert M Surhone, Mariam T Tennoe, Susan F Henssonow, Cardona, and Nataliia Ivanovna Tolstaia classifying Hindko, Saraiki, Dogri as a dialect of Punjabi.