Majhi (Shahmukhi:ماجھی;Gurmukhi:ਮਾਝੀ;Punjabi:[mä˩˥d̆.d͡ʒi]^[1]), also known asCentral Punjabi, is the most widely-spokendialect of thePunjabi language,^[2] natively spoken in theMajha region ofPunjab in present-dayPakistan andIndia.

The native speakers of the dialect are known by the demonym 'Majhail'.

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Below is a list of several of the subdialects of Majhi. Due to limited documentation on specific regions, certain varieties and their respective districts have been omitted.

• Central Majhi, spoken in theGujranwala,Lahore andSheikhupura districts.
• Northeastern Majhi, spoken in theAmritsar,Gurdaspur,Pathankot,Narowal andSialkot districts.
• Northwestern Majhi, spoken in theGujrat andJhelum districts.

Majhi varieties are also spoken natively in the districts ofHafizabad,Kasur,Mandi Bahauddin,Nankana Sahib,Tarn Taran andWazirabad, as well as parts of theBhimber district ofAzad Kashmir and parts of theJammu,Kathua andSamba districts ofJammu and Kashmir.

Majhi does not use the second-person oblique pronountē̃, and instead usestū̃.

In urban Majhi, the plural oblique pronounstusā̃ andasā̃, as well as the ablative pronouns, are sometimes lost.

One of Majhi's most noteworthy features is the usage of pronominal suffixes, which it shares withWestern Punjabi.

Pronominal suffixes are auxiliary replacements of thecopula which act likepronouns. They function as a particularthematic role and agree to it inperson andnumber (as a pronoun would).

The thematic/syntactic roles a pronominal suffix can function as are:

• thedirect casesubject
• theergativeagent
• thepossessive determiner
• theaddressee

Majhi uses pronominal suffixes for the second and third persons and for bothpresent andpast tense.^[3]

Examples inperfecttransitive verbs (marking the ergative agent):

Oftentimes, a pronominal suffix will entirely overtake the regular copula (of the same person and number) in Majhi.

This is most common with the third-person pluralne (ਨੇ /نے) ornẽ (ਨੇਂ /نیں), used instead ofhan. It has become so widespread that it is now regarded as a fundamental characteristic of Majhi, used to distinguish it from other dialects.

- Alternate auxiliary verbs^{[clarification needed]}

First person singularā̃ orjē (ਆਂ, ਜੇ /آں، جے) is used. E.g.mẽ karnāʷā̃ /jē (ਮੈਂ ਕਰਨਾਆਂ, ਮੈਂ ਕਰਨਾਜੇ /میں کرناآں، میں کرناجے)

Third person singularī orè (ਏ, ਵੇ, ਈ /اے، وے، ای) is used. E.g.ṓ kardāī (ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾਈ /اوہ کردا ای)

hē(gā) sī is used instead ofsīgā.^{[clarification needed]}

Majhi uses thekiññ andkivẽ classes of adverbial pronouns of manner, which, at their base, are common withWestern Punjabi dialects.

- Use of -na verb ending instead of -da ending for first-person and second-person point of view^{[clarification needed]}

Northeastern Majhi refers to the subdialect spoken in a belt from theSialkot District to theRavi river.

It has considerableDoabi influence.^{[citation needed]}

Northeastern Majhi uses the past-tense inflection of the verbḍahṇā (ਡਹਿਣਾ /ڈہݨا) to form continuous tenses, rather thanpēṇā (ਪੈਣਾ/پَیݨا) which is used by other Majhi subdialects and Punjabi dialects.

In Northeastern Majhi, on top of the copula-replacement byne, it is also common for the second-person plural pronominal suffixje (ਜੇ /جے) to overtakeho.

This variety of Majhi also tends todebuccalize all its non-initial non-geminatedvoiceless alveolar fricatives (/s/) intoglottal fricatives (/ɦ/); i.e. thes sound is heard as ah. Thish is distinguished from the regular phonetich by its lack of tonality.

Northwestern Majhi refers to the subdialect spoken in the northwestern side of theMajha region inPakistan, primarily in the districts ofGujrat,Jhelum, andBhimber.

In these areas, word-initial 'h' is fainter and more tonal, eventually disappearing in upper Punjabi dialects likePahari-Pothwari andHazarewal Hindko, as well asDogri. I.e., words likehatth (ਹੱਥ /ہَتّھ) "hand" are said more asàtth.

Another notable difference is the use of the suffixdā instead ofgā for indicative future tense:

Northwestern Majhi also has its own past-tense copula, which declines on gender and number, unlike other Majhi subdialects, whose copula declines on person and number.

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