Brief Introduction of Punjabi Language.

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 130 million people, mainly in West Punjab in Pakistan and in East Punjab in India.

There are also significant numbers of Punjabi speakers in the UK, Canada, the UAE, the USA, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

Punjabi descended from the Shauraseni language of medieval northern India and became a distinct language during the 11th century.

In India Punjabi is written with the Gurmukhi alphabet, while in Pakistan it is written with a version of the Persian alphabet known as Shahmukhi.

The written standard for Punjabi in both India and Pakistan is known as Majhi, which is named after the Majha region of Punjab.

The Gurmukhi alphabet developed from the Landa alphabet and was standardized during the 16th century by Guru Angad Dev Ji, the second Sikh guru.

Gurmukhi is the Sikh language of prayer in which the Guru Granth Sahib is written.

The second Sikh guru, Guru Angad transcribed the compositions of his predecessor, Guru Nanak, into Gurmukhi. He developed a phonetic script, derived from a 16th century script, which could be easily learned by the common person.

The words of the ancient Gurmukhi language are similar to those of modern Punjabi, but differs grammatically in that it is a poetic rather spoken language.

The Punjabi alphabet also has additional modern day characters which are not included in Gurmukhi script and which do not appear in the scriptural verses of the Guru Granth Sahib.