Punjabi grammar
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language native to the region of Punjab of Pakistan and India and spoken by the Punjabi people. This page discusses the grammar of Modern Standard Punjabi as defined by the relevant sources below (see #Further reading).
Word order
[edit]Punjabi has a canonical word order of subject–object–verb.[1] It has postpositions rather than prepositions.[2]
Transliteration
[edit]In matters of script, Punjabi uses Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi. On this grammar page Punjabi is written in "standard orientalist" transcription as outlined in Masica (1991:xv) (with one change; representing ai /ɛː/ and au /ɔː/ with ē and ō respectively). Being "primarily a system of transliteration from the Indian scripts, [and] based in turn upon Sanskrit" (cf. IAST), these are its salient features: subscript dots for retroflex consonants; macrons for etymologically, contrastively long vowels; h denoting aspirated plosives. Tildes denote nasalized vowels, while grave and acute accents denote low and high tones respectively.
Vowels and consonants are outlined in the tables below. The vowels table shows the character used in the article (ex. ī) followed by its IPA value in forward slashes (ex. /iː/). See Punjabi phonology for further clarification.
Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | ||||||
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IPA | script | IPA | script | IPA | script | IPA | script | IPA | script | |
Close | iː | ਈ اِی | uː | ਊ اُو | ||||||
Near-close | ɪ | ਇ اِ | ʊ | ਉ اُ | ||||||
Close-mid | eː | ਏ اے | oː | ਓ او | ||||||
Mid | ə | ਅ اَ | ||||||||
Open-mid | ɛː | ਐ اَے | ɔː | ਔ اَو | ||||||
Open | aː | ਆ آ |
Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Retroflex | Post-alv./ Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||
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IPA | script | IPA | script | IPA | script | IPA | script | IPA | script | IPA | script | ||
Nasal | m | ਮ م | n | ਨ ن | ɳ | ਣ ݨ | ɲ | ਞ ن٘ج | ŋ | ਙ ن٘گ | |||
Plosive/ Affricate | tenuis | p | ਪ پ | t | ਤ ت | ʈ | ਟ ٹ | t͡ʃ | ਚ چ | k | ਕ ک | ||
aspirated | pʰ | ਫ پھ | tʰ | ਥ تھ | ʈʰ | ਠ ٹھ | t͡ʃʰ | ਛ چھ | kʰ | ਖ کھ | |||
voiced | b | ਬ ب | d | ਦ د | ɖ | ਡ ڈ | d͡ʒ | ਜ ج | ɡ | ਗ گ | |||
Fricative | voiceless | (f) | (ਫ਼ ف) | s | ਸ س | ʃ | ਸ਼ ش | (x) | (ਖ਼ خ) | ||||
voiced | (z) | (ਜ਼ ز) | (ɣ) | (ਗ਼ غ) | ɦ | ਹ ہ | |||||||
Rhotic | ɾ~r | ਰ ر | ɽ | ੜ ڑ | |||||||||
Approximant | ʋ | ਵ و | l | ਲ ل | ɭ[3] | ਲ਼ لؕ | j | ਯ ی |
Morphology
[edit]Nouns
[edit]Punjabi distinguishes two genders, two numbers typically with an additional dual form for a small set of nouns, and six cases of direct, oblique, vocative, ablative, locative, and instrumental. The latter three cases are essentially now vestigial: the ablative occurs only in the singular, in free variation with oblique case plus ablative postposition, and the locative and instrumental are confined to a small set of common nouns. Numeral adjectives do also have locative plural forms, and toponymic proper nouns often have a locative singular form.[4] Nouns may be further divided into extended and unextended declensional subtypes, with the former characteristically consisting of masculines ending in unaccented -ā and feminines in -ī.
The below tables displays the suffix paradigms, as outlined in Shackle (2003:600–601). Regarding the masculine, "the [extended] case-morphemes, very similar to those of the unextended declension, are added to the obl. base -e-, which is shortened to -i- (phonetically [e̯]) before back vowels and is lost before front vowels."[5] The division between feminine unextendeds and extendeds ending in -ī looks to be now merely an etymological consideration, as there is neither a distinct oblique base nor any morphophonemic considerations.
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The next table of noun declensions shows the above suffix paradigms in action. Words, from Shackle (2003:600–601): ghṑṛā "stallion", sakhī "girlfriend", ghàr "house", gall "thing, matter (being talked about)".
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Adjectives
[edit]Adjectives may be divided into declinable and indeclinable categories. Declinable adjectives have endings that change by the gender, number, case of the noun that they qualify. Declinable adjective have endings that are similar but much simpler than nouns' endings:[6]
Sing. | Pl. | |||
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Declin. | Masc. | Dir. | -ā -ਆ -آ | -ē -ਏ -ئے |
Obl. | -ē -ਏ -ئے | -ē, -iā̃ -ਏ, -ਇਆਂ -ئے، -یاں | ||
Fem. | -ī -ਈ -ئی | -īā̃ -ਈਆਂ -ئِیاں | ||
Indeclin. |
Indeclinable adjectives are invariable and can end in either consonants or vowels (including ā and ī ). The direct masculine singular (-ā) is the citation form. Most adjectives ending in consonants are indeclinable.
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All adjectives can be used attributively, predicatively, or substantively. Those used substantively are declined as nouns rather than adjectives. Finally, additional inflections are often marked in colloquial speech: feminine singular vocative nī sóṇīē kuṛīē! "hey pretty girl!".[6]
Postpositions
[edit]The aforementioned inflectional case system goes only so far on its own but rather serves as that upon which is built a system of particles known as postpositions, which parallel English's prepositions. It is their use with a noun or verb that requires the noun or verb to take the oblique case, and they are the locus of grammatical function or "case-marking" then lies:
Transliteration | Gurmukhi | Shahmukhi | NotesMay use dē | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Used alone | dā | ਦਾ | دا | genitive marker; declines like an adjective. Example: "X dā/dī/etc. Y" means "X's Y", with dā/dī/etc. agreeing with Y. |
nū̃ | ਨੂੰ | نُوں | marks the indirect object (dative marker), or, if definite, the direct object (accusative marker). | |
nē | ਨੇ | نے | ergative case marker; applicable to subjects of transitive perfective verbs. | |
tō̃ | ਤੋਂ | توں | ablative marker, "from" | |
vall | ਵੱਲ | وَلّ | orientative marker; "towards" | |
takk, tāī̃ | ਤੱਕ, ਤਾਈਂ | تَکّ، تائِیں | terminative marker, "until, up to" | |
vikhē | ਵਿਖੇ | وِکھے | locative marker, "at (a specific location)", e.g. Hōshiārpur vikhē, "at Hoshiarpur" (a city). Often colloquially replaced with 'tē | |
May use a secondary preposition | vicc | ਵਿੱਚ | وِچّ | inessive marker, "in." Often contracted to 'c |
nāḷ | ਨਾਲ਼ | نالؕ | comitative marker, "with" | |
uttē | ਉੱਤੇ | اُتّے | superessive marker, "on" or "at." Often contracted to 'tē | |
kōḷ | ਕੋਲ਼ | کولؕ | possessive marker; "with" (as in possession) e.g. kuṛī (dē) kōḷ, "in the girl's possession." | |
bārē | ਬਾਰੇ | بارے | "about" | |
laī | ਲਈ | لَئی | benefactive marker; "for" | |
vargā | ਵਰਗਾ | وَرگا | comparative marker; "like" (in resemblance) | |
vāngū, vāng | ਵਾਂਗੂ, ਵਾਂਗ | وانگُو، وانگ | comparative marker; "like" (in manner) | |
tarh̤ā̃ (tárā̃) | ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ | طَرْحاں | comparative marker; "like" (non-specific) | |
duāḷē | ਦੁਆਲ਼ੇ | دوالؕے | "around, surrounding" ex. manjē (de) duāḷē, "around the bed." | |
binnā̃, bājhō̃ | ਬਿੰਨਾਂ, ਬਾਝੋਂ | بِنّاں، باجھوں | abessive marker; "without" | |
nēṛē | ਨੇੜੇ | نیڑے | "near" | |
lāgē | ਲਾਗੇ | لاگے | apudessive marker; "adjacent/next to" | |
vickār, gabbē | ਵਿਚਕਾਰ, ਗੱਬੇ | وِچکار، گَبّے | intrative marker, "between, middle of" | |
mājh (mā́j) | ਮਾਝ | ماجھ | "in the midst of" | |
andar | ਅੰਦਰ | اَن٘در | "inside" | |
bāhar (bā́r) | ਬਾਹਰ | باہر | "outside" |
*Notes
da becomes na in Pahari-pothwari and hindko
nu becomes kī or kū in lehnda. Kī in Pahari-pothwari and some jatki and hindko sub dialects all other lehnda dialects use kū.
Tõ is thū’n in Pahari-pothwari
Other postpositions are adverbs, following their obliqued targets either directly or with the inflected genitive linker dē; e.g. kàr (dē) vicc "in the house", kṑṛe (dē) nāḷ "with the stallion". Many such adverbs (the ones locative in nature) also possess corresponding ablative forms[7] by forming a contraction with the ablative postposition tȭ; for example:
- vicc "in" → viccȭ "from in, among", for instance, jantē (dē) viccȭ or jantē 'cȭ, "from among the people" and
- nāḷ "with"→ nāḷȭ "compared to", for instance, kṑṛē (dē) nāḷȭ, "compared to the stallion."
Pronouns
[edit]Personal
[edit]Punjabi has personal pronouns for the first and second persons, while for the third person demonstratives are used, which can be categorized deictically as near and remote. Pronouns do not distinguish gender.
The language has a T-V distinction in tū̃ and tusī̃. This latter "polite" form is also grammatically plural.
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The dative & ablative personal pronouns are analyzed as the oblique forms merging with suffixes, e.g. tusā̃ + nū̃ > tuhānū̃.[citation needed]
Unlike other pronouns, genitive pronouns essentially function in a manner similar to regular adjectives, declining in agreement with their direct objects. Moreover, koṇ and jō are colloquially replaced by kḗṛā "which?" jḗṛā "which". Indefinites include kōī (obl. kisē) "some(one)" and kújj "some(thing)". The reflexive pronoun is āp, with a genitive of āpṇā. The pronominal obl. -nā̃ also occurs in ik, iknā̃ "some", hōr, hōrnā̃ "others", sáb, sábnā̃ "all".[9]
Derivates
[edit]Based on table in Shackle (2003:604). Indefinites are extended forms of the interrogative set; e.g. kitē "somewhere", kadē "sometimes". The multiple versions under "Manner" are dialectal variations.
Interrogative | Relative | Demonstrative | |||
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Near | Remote | ||||
Date | kiddaṇ | jiddaṇ | huṇ | oddaṇ | |
Time | Regular | kad | jad | tad | |
Emphatic | kadē | jadē | huṇē | tadē | |
Ablative[a] | kadō̃ | jadō̃ | oddō̃ | ||
tadō̃ | |||||
Place | Regular | kitthē | jitthē | etthē | otthē |
Ablative | kitthō̃ | jitthō̃ | etthō̃ | ōtthō̃ | |
Direction | Regular | kíddar | jíddar | éddar | óddar |
Ablative | kíddᵃrō̃ | jíddᵃrō̃ | éddᵃrō̃ | óddᵃrō̃ | |
Manner[b] | kiddā̃ | jiddā̃ | eddā̃ | oddā̃ | |
kiñj | jiñj | eñj | oñj | ||
kiwē̃ | jiwē̃ | ewē̃ | owē̃ | ||
Reason | kiũ | jiũ | eũ | oũ | |
Quality | kío jíā | (jío) jíā | éo jíā | óo jíā | |
Quantity[c] | kinnā | jinnā | ennā | onnā | |
Size | kiḍḍā | jiḍḍā | eḍḍā | oḍḍā |
The second row in Manner are often still spelt in their archaic forms (kiññ, jiññ, eññ, and oññ) in Gurmukhi.
The demonstrative prefixes e and o vary from [ɪ~e~ɛ] and [ʊ~o~ɔ] respectively (resulting in varied spellings) depending on dialect.[citation needed]
Pronominal suffixes
[edit]Some varieties of the Majhi dialect of Punjabi (documented thus far in Lahore,[10] and the Gujrat district) have pronominal suffixes that are appended to verbs, and which replace dropped pronominal arguments.
Person | Singular | Plural |
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2 | -ī | -jē |
3 | -s(ū) | -ne |
Verbs
[edit]Overview
[edit]The Punjabi verbal system is can be described largely in terms of aspect and mood. Most Punjabi verbs do not inflect for tense—the only verb which does is the copular verb ਹੈ / ہے. Some linguists have described aspectual forms of Punjabi verbs as being inflections for tense; however, this assessment is flawed as these verb forms can be used the same way in sentences which refer to any time with respect to the situation of the speaker or writer.[11]
The copular verb has two tense forms which can be described as "remote" and "non-remote," as they indicate a metaphorical distance or closeness to the situation. "Past" and "present" can be understood as default assumptions for the times which the remote and non-remote tenses refer to respectively, however, these temporal references are not required of these tenses. Rather, time can largely be understood to exist extralinguistically in Punjabi. The remote forms of the copula, ਸੀ / سی, do not resemble the non-remote forms ਹੈ / ہے phonetically.[12] The copula does not behave like a full lexical verb in Punjabi and does not form part of serial verb constructions; rather than taking on the meaning of the existential verb 'to be' or 'to become' ਹੋਣਾ / ہونٌا, it means 'being' without any aspectual component. The copula is also not obligatory in a Punjabi clause. A full lexical verb in Punjabi on the other hand, does exhibit grammatical aspect. Due the close meaning of ਹੋਣਾ / ہونٌا and the copula, they are sometimes described as forms of the same lexeme; however, because they are directly derived from two distinct Sanskrit words and do not function alike grammatically, they are better described as two different but complementary words.[13]
Finite verbal agreement is with the nominative subject, except in the transitive perfective, where it can be with the direct object, with the erstwhile subject taking the ergative construction -ne (see postpositions above). The perfective aspect thus displays split ergativity.
Tabled below on the left are the paradigms for the major Gender and Number termination (GN), along the line of that introduced in the adjectives section. To the right are the paradigms for the Person and Number termination (PN), used by the subjunctive (which has 1st pl. -īe) and future (which has 1st pl. -ā̃).
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Copula
[edit]The Punjabi copula functions as a class of its own and does not share the properties of full lexical verbs in the language, nor does it take on the role of an auxiliary verb. Unlike these other word classes, the copula does not form a part of verb phrases, and where it is present alongside a full verb construction it generally makes a semantic distinction related to the notion of existence, rather than predicating for the act of being. For this reason, it can be said that the Punjabi copula is not wholly verbal in function.[13]
Number | Singular | Plural | ||||
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Person | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
Pronoun | mẽ | tū̃ | ḗ/ṓ | asī̃ | tusī̃ | ḗ/ṓ |
Present-tense copula | hā̃ | hẽ | he | hā̃ | hō | han |
Past-tense copula | sā̃ | sẽ | sī | sā̃ | sō | san |
Subjunctive copula | hōvā̃ | hōvẽ | hōvē | hōvā̃ | hōvō | hōṇ |
- Two infrequent inflected forms of the present-tense copula he are haō (plural second person),[14] distinguishing the standard hō for T-V distinction usage, and heṇ (plural third person). In addition, two past tense copulas, hesī and hesaṇ are used respectively with singular and plural forms of third persons.[14] These forms, like the uninflected forms he and sī, can be used with both the genders.[14]
- In the spoken language, the past tense copula sī can remain completely uninflected, and remain applicable for all three persons and both numbers.[14] Some less frequently used forms of sī are saō, sāō, and sau, used as 2nd-person plural copulas,[14] distinguishing the standard sō for T-V distinction usage.
Some non-standard major dialects such as Doabi decline the past-tense and present-tense copulas more along number and gender[14] than for number and person:
Gender Masculine Feminine Number Singular Plural Singular Plural Present-tense copula hegā hegē hegī hegīā̃ Past-tense copula sīgā sīgē sīgī sīgīā̃
Conjugations
[edit]mood | tense | singular | plural | ||||||||||
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1P – mẽ | 2P – tū̃ | 3P – é, ó | 1P – asī̃ | 2P – tusī̃ | 3P – é, ó | ||||||||
m. | f. | m. | f. | m. | f. | m. | f. | m. | f. | m. | f. | ||
indicative | present | hā̃ | hẽ | he | hā̃ | hō | han | ||||||
imperfect | sā̃ | sẽ | sī | sā̃ | sō | san | |||||||
perfect | hōiā | hōī | hōiā | hōī | hōiā | hōī | hōē | hōīā̃ | hōē | hōīā̃ | hōē | hōīā̃ | |
future | hōvā̃gā | hōvā̃gī | hōvē̃gā | hōvē̃gī | hōvēgā | hōvēgī | hōvā̃gē | hōvā̃gīā̃ | hōvōgē | hōvōgīā̃ | hōṇgē | hōṇgīā̃ | |
presumptive | all | hā̃gā | hā̃gī | hōgā | hōgī | hā̃gē | hā̃gīā̃ | hōvō̃ge | hōvō̃gīā̃ | hōgē | hōgīā̃ | ||
subjunctive | present | hā̃ | hẽ | hō | hā̃ | hōvō̃ | hō | ||||||
future | hōvā̃ | hovē̃ | hōvē | hōvā̃ | hōvō | hōṇ | |||||||
contrafactual | past | hundā | hundī | hundā | hundī | hundā | hundī | hundē | hundīā̃ | hundē | hundīā̃ | hundē | hundīā̃ |
imperative | present | — | hō | — | — | hōō | — | ||||||
future | — | hōī̃ | — | — | hōiō | — |
Forms
[edit]The sample verb is intransitive naccṇā "to dance", and the sample inflection is 3rd. masc. sing. (PN = e, GN = ā) where applicable.
Non-aspectual | Aspectual | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Non-finite |
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Finite |
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Notes
[edit]- ^ In some dialects, these ablative forms for time replace the regular ones.
- ^ The third row of Manner may have been derived from the emphatic forms of Reason.
- ^ Only Quantity is declinable.
References
[edit]- ^ Gill, Harjeet Singh and Gleason Jr, Henry A. (1969). A Reference Grammar of Panjabi. Patiala: Department of Linguistics, Punjabi University
- ^ Wals.info
- ^ ArLaam (similar to ArNoon) has been added to Unicode since Unicode 13.0.0, which can be found in Unicode Arabic Extended-A 08C7, PDF Pg 73 under "Arabic Letter for Punjabi” 08C7 : ࣇ ARABIC LETTER LAM WITH SMALL ARABIC LETTER TAH ABOVE
- ^ Shackle (2003:599)
- ^ Shackle (2003:600)
- ^ a b Shackle (2003:601)
- ^ Shackle (2003:602)
- ^ Shackle (2003:603)
- ^ Shackle (2003:604)
- ^ Butt, Miriam (2007). "The role of pronominal suffixes in Punjabi" (PDF). Architecture, rules, and preferences: 341–368.
- ^ Mangat Rai Bhardwaj (2016). "10". Panjabi: A Comprehensive Grammar. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-138-79385-9. LCCN 2015042069. OCLC 948602857. OL 35828315M. Wikidata Q112671425.
- ^ Mangat Rai Bhardwaj (2016). "10". Panjabi: A Comprehensive Grammar. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-138-79385-9. LCCN 2015042069. OCLC 948602857. OL 35828315M. Wikidata Q112671425.
- ^ a b Mangat Rai Bhardwaj (2016). "2". Panjabi: A Comprehensive Grammar. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-138-79385-9. LCCN 2015042069. OCLC 948602857. OL 35828315M. Wikidata Q112671425.
- ^ a b c d e f "Let's Learn Punjabi: Research Centre for Punjabi Language Technology, Punjabi University, Patiala". learnpunjabi.org. Punjabi University, Patiala. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- ^ Shackle (2003:607–608)
- Bhatia, Tej K. (1993). Punjabi: A Cognitive-Descriptive Grammar. London: Routledge.
Works cited
[edit]- Masica, Colin (1991), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2.
- Shackle, Christopher (2003), "Panjabi", in Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Routledge, pp. 581–621, ISBN 978-0-415-77294-5.
Further reading
[edit]- Duni Chandra (1964), ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ ਦਾ ਵਿਆਕਰਣ (in Punjabi), Chandigarh: Publication Bureau, Punjabi University, Wikidata Q112679423
- Sumeer Mittal; Navdeep Singh Sethi; Sanjeev Kumar Sharma (20 August 2014). "Part of Speech Tagging of Punjabi Language using N Gram Model". International Journal of Computer Applications. 100 (19): 19–23. doi:10.5120/17634-8229. ISSN 0975-8887. Wikidata Q113385537.
- Mangat Rai Bhardwaj (2016). Panjabi: A Comprehensive Grammar. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-79385-9. LCCN 2015042069. OCLC 948602857. OL 35828315M. Wikidata Q112671425.
- Gurinder Singh Mann; Gurdit Singh; Ami P. Shah; Anne Murphy; Gibb Schreffler (2011). Introduction to Punjabi: Grammar, Conversation and Literature (PDF). Patiala: Publication Bureau, Punjabi University. ISBN 978-81-302-0296-9. OL 30810656M. Wikidata Q112671008.
- Buta Singh Brar (2012), ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ: ਸਰੋਤ ਤੇ ਸਰੂਪ (in Punjabi), India: Waris Shah Foundation, ASIN B074DTDXZT, LCCN 2013311323, OCLC 824536318, Wikidata Q113384298
- Harjeet Singh Gill (1973), Linguistic Atlas of the Punjab, Patiala: Publication Bureau, Punjabi University, LCCN 75901385, OCLC 1223029350, Wikidata Q112690863