Doabi dialect


Doabi, also known as Bist Doabi or Jalandhari, is an eastern dialect of the Punjabi language. The dialect is named after the region in which it originated, Doaba or Bist Doab, between the Beas and Sutlej. Its occurrence in parts of Pakistani Punjab owes to post-1947 migration of Punjabi Muslim populace from East Punjab. The region it is now spoken includes: the Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Una and Nawanshahr districts of Indian Punjab, including the areas known as the Dona and Manjki; and the Toba Tek Singh and Faisalabad districts of Pakistani Punjab; and some areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The sub dialects of Doabi include Dona and Manjki.

Phonology

Consonants

Spirantisation of // and // is quite common in Punjabi, but this is less apparent in Doaba. Similarly, other Persian-borrowed phonemes are also pronounced in a more indigenous manner. are pronounced respectively. Another surprising aspect is that is almost always pronounced as.
Debuccalisation of, to in between vowels also occurs.
In the modern generation, and are pronounced as and. Except, some youngsters end up replacing and with and completely, rather than preferring the alveolar counterparts. and are also often realised as nasal and lateral flaps.
Doabi's fortition at the start of a word to as in to .
They also use elsewhere in a word instead of as in to. A distinctive feature of Doabi is the use of w. Where appears in the middle of a word in Standard Punjabi, Doabis use so that becomes.
Also, the vowel is pronounced. Accordingly, becomes or becomes. In Doabi, any word beginning with stressed is pronounced. For example, the word is pronounced as or the word is pronounced as.
The Doabi dialect in its eastern part blends with the Malwai dialect of Ludhiana District, and in its Northern side, it shares the linguistic features of Pahari. Some of the linguistic features of the Doabi dialect that separate it from other Punjabi dialects are as below:
ConsonantDoabi wordEnglish translation
‘moment’
‘fruit’
‘firewood’
‘wire’
‘round tray’
‘pulse’
‘pile’
‘correct’
‘mail’
‘imprint’
leech
‘crow’
‘open’
‘abuse’
‘peacock’
‘male’
* ‘now’
‘red’
* ‘near’
‘hear’
‘lion’
‘strength’
‘distance’
‘more’
‘disease’
* ‘pain’

* does not occur word initially

Vowels

Doabi has ten vowels. These are
For example:
VowelWordTranslation
ਅੱਖ //'eye'
ਉਠ //‘awake’
ਇੱਟ //‘brick’
ਆਸ //‘hope’
ਐਨਕ //spectacles’
ਊਠ //‘camel’
ਸ਼ੇਰ //‘lion’
ਮੋਰ //‘peacock’
//‘fear’
ਤੀਰ //‘arrow’

One of the most distinctive features of Doabi is how its short close vowels are pronounced. Phonemically, they are:
But are phonetically:
*

Nasalisation

Nasalisation in Punjabi is phonemic.

Suprasegmental Features

Tone

Three tones are used in Doabi: low, mid and high. For example;
ToneDoabi wordEnglish translation
Fallingਭਾ pà‘rate’
Neutralਪਾ pa‘put’
Risingਪਾਹ pá‘harsh’

This tonogenesis occurred from the loss of breathy voiced consonants. Word-initially, they became voiceless plosives, but remained voiced word-medially and finally. This loss of phonemes led to tone to distinguish between similar morphemes.
When the consonant is word initial, the vowel that follows has a falling tone. When the consonant is medial or word-final, it has a rising tone.
Loss of word-final also led to a rising tone in the preceding vowel.
Stress, however can change what tone on what syllable is present.

Stress

Stress in Doabi is realized in two ways, syntagmatically and paradigmatically.
Syntagmatically, stress-shift results in change of meaning. This kind of stress is often orthographically unmarked, and may shift any tone present in a word to the stressed syllable.
For example:
Doabi wordEnglish translation
ਘੜਾ /'kə̀ɽa:/‘pitcher’
ਘੜਾ /kə'ɽà:/‘to shape, sculpt, mold’

Paradigmatically, Doabi has stressed and unstressed syllables;
UnstressedDoabi wordEnglish translation
ssatt‘essence’
sirnawa‘address’

StressedDoabi wordEnglish translation
ssat‘seven’
ttpatta‘leaf’

Fortition of word-initially

Doabi's drop the letter "v" at the start of a word and use the letter "b" as in "vàdda" to "bàdda". They also use the letter "o" elsewhere in a word instead of a "v" as in "Khvab" to "Khoaab". A distinctive feature of Doabi is the use of the "w" sound. Where "v" appears in the middle of a word in standard Punjabi, Doabis use "w" so that "hava" becomes "hawa". Also, the vowel "u" is pronounced with an "o". Accordingly, "khush" becomes "khosh" or "kuht" becomes "koht". In Doabi, any word beginning with "i" is pronounced with "e". For example, the word "khich" is pronounced as "khech" or the word "vich" is pronounced as "bech".
Doabis do not use "z" and therefore substitute "j". This is common in the Punjabi language as "z" is not indigenous to the area.

Grammar

Sentence structure

Doabi's end sentences with "aa" and "sigey", instead of "han" and "san" or "si". "Aiddan", "Jiddan", "Kiddan" are all commonly used adverbs in Doabi as opposed to the "Aistaran/Enj," "Jistaran/Jivven," and "Kistaran/Kivven," used in Punjabi's prestige dialect, Majhi.
Present Tense: Usage of aa and aa
Examples:
PhraseDoabiStandard Punjabi
He is doingOh kardā ā
ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਆ
Oh kardā ɛ̀/e*
ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ/ਏ*
They are doingOh karde ā
ਉਹ ਕਰਦੇ ਆ
Oh karde han
ਉਹ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਨ
*spoken forms-

Past Tense: Uninflected sī, or number- and gender-inflected sīgā/sīgī/sīge/sīgīā, in Doabi
Examples:
PhraseDoabiStandard Punjabi
He was doingoh kardā sī/sīgā
ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੀ/ਸੀਗਾ
oh kardā sī
ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੀ
They were doingoh karde sī/sīge
ਉਹ ਕਰਦੇ ਸੀ /ਸੀਗੇ
oh karde san
ਉਹ ਕਰਦੇ ਸਨ
You were doingtũ kardā sī/sīgā
ਤੂੰ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੀ/ਸੀਗਾ
tũ kardā sɛ̃
ਤੂੰ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੈਂ
You were doingtusī̃ karde sī/sīge
ਤੁਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੇ ਸੀ/ਸੀਗੇ
tusī̃ karde so
ਤੁਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੇ ਸੋ
I was doingmɛ̃ kardā sī/sīgā
ਮੈਂ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੀ/ਸੀਗਾ
mɛ̃ kardā sã
ਮੈਂ ਕਰਦਾ ਸਾਂ
We were doingāppā karde sī/sīge
ਆਪਾਂ ਕਰਦੇ ਸੀ/ਸੀਗੇ
asī̃ karde sã
ਅਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੇ ਸਾਂ

Orthograpy

Doabi uses the Gurmukhi script.
Tone that occurs from the loss of breathy voiced consonants is shown through the following characters in orthography:
  • ੜ੍ਹ