The Lahndi Language

INTRODUCTION

Lahndi is a modern Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-
European family- The word "Lahndi" 1 means "the language of the
West". It is spoken in Pakistan over a vast area lying approximately
between 70° and 74° east longitude and 28° and 34° north latitude.

Commencing somewhat south of the point where the Sutlej River
merges into the Indus River the western boundary of the Lahndi
tract runs northwards along the right bank mountainous regions of the
Indus to reach its destination somewhat north of Peshawar. The
eastern boundary begins south of the town of Bahawalpur, passes
northwards through the towns of Sahiwal, Gujranwala and Jehlum and
terminates somewhat north of the city of Muzaffarabad, The area
mainly covers the bigger, western part of the Pakistani Punjab
(roughly two-thirds of die total) and the former District of Bahawalpur
situated to the south of the above district. It stands to reason that
these boundaries are rather conventional, since, for instance, the
change from Lahndi to its eastern "neighbour" Punjabi is gradual
and in the western subdialects of the latter, e.g. in Lahauri we can
detect peculiarities typical of Lahndi, West of the conventional
eastern boundary there occur forms of speech with some peculiari-
ties of Punjabi. The further west we go, the less traces we find of
Punjabi and, according to George Grierson we may consider, Lahndi
to be finally established on the Districts of Multan and Jhang.

1 We have found out the exact pronunciation of the name of the lan-
guage by asking persons whose mother tongue it is, particularly philolo-
gists. The point is that the sign h, used in the English transliteration
Lahndi (Landa) instead of a certain sign employed in Lahndi, is not
pronounced, but only indicates the rising tone of the given word which is
pronounced as Jlrtdf or IcndJL

14

The linguistic environment of Lahndi is roughly the following.
To the west of its zone Pushto and Balochi are spoken, with Sindhi
in the southwest, Rajasthani in the south, Punjabi in the east, Kash-
miri in the northeast, Shina in the north, and Kohistani in the north-
west. Pushto and Balochi are Iranian languages; Sindhi, Rajasthani
and Punjabi are Modern Indo-Aryari; Kashmiri, Shina and Kohistani
are Dardic languages.

Since the bulk of Lahndi speaking people live in the pre-parti-
tion western Punjab, British linguists termed the language Western
Punjabi, pointing, however, to the features that distinguish it con-
siderably from Punjabi. Since most of the Jats speak Lahndi, the
language is sometimes called Jatki. And in view of the fact that
Multan is the central area in which the language is a vernacular,
it is also referred to as Multani. Actually, however, the names Jatki
and Multani have a narrower meaning and in correct usage denote
only two corresponding dialects of Lahndi. In recent years the lan-
guage under consideration comes to be mostly termed in Pakistan
Seraiki or Saraiku

According to the returns of the 1931 Census /Candar, 38/,
8,566,000 people spoke Lahndi. Prior to the partition of India in the
rural areas, where the overwhelming majority of Lahndi speaking
people reside, there was a 0: 1 ratio between the Muslims, on the
one hand, and thexflindus and Sikhs, on the other. In the towns it
was 1:1 (Jukes, V). After the partition nearly all the Hindus (ex-
cept a small number of representatives of the lowest castes) and
all the Sikhs moved to India. Therefore, nearly all the Lahndi speak-
ing people in Pakistan are Muslims. There is no exact data now on
the number of people speaking the tongue, since the Census of 1961
in Pakistan deliberately did not single them out, regarding: such
people as among the 26,196,000 who spoke Punjabi. The figure
is obviously exaggerated, since many Muslim refugees from India in
their attempt to settle in Punjab, an economically more developed
area, declared themselves Punjabis, though in effect they were
not.

Estimates put the number of Lahndi speaking people in 1960
at 10 million /Chatterji, 145/. if we take into account the growth
of the population, 1973 saw over 13 million people, in the country,
whose native tongue was Lahndi. In addition, in India Lahndi is
known by at least several tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of
people* Unfortunately, no special efforts were made in that country
\ to detect Lahndi speaking population on a nationwide scale. And in

15

the areas where it was done, not all the population was covered.
For instance, the figures giveu in the Handbook by Amal Sarker
/Sarker, 48, 58 and others/ are obviously understated (for instance,
1971 for Hyderabad and Ut tar Pradesh State)* The author does not
take into account precisely the territories (such asPunjab,Delhi and
others) where most of the Lahndi speaking people reside.

Peculiarities of Lahndi are examined in works by such eminent
scholars as George Grierson /Grierson , Grierson /, G.Bailey,
A. Jukes and others. It is noteworthy tha't^ GI Bailey, comparing
Lahndi with Punjabi, points to a very great difference existing even
between the subdialects of Punjabi merging into Lahndi (the District
of Wazirabad) and Lahndi proper (he terms the latter Western Punjabi)
/Bailey, 1/.

Great attention is paid to Lahndi by India's most prominent
linguist, SoK.Chatterji. Placing Lahndi in the same row as other
modern Indian languages, he at the same time points to the peculiari-
ties of the language, and on this ground contrasts it and Sindhi to the
other languages of the group /Chatterji, 66, 83, 116, 117, 129/. Pecu-
liarities and issues concerning Lahndi as an independent language are
stressed in the works of the Punjabi linguists VaB. Arun /Aran , X,
Aran 2 , 38-65/* Duni Chandar /Chandar, 39/, B»S,Sandhu /Sandhu, 26/.

Indian and Pakistani scholars point out in their works Lahndi 's
considerable influence on a number of modern Indian languages, in-
cluding Punjabi and Urdu. Thus, die linguist Prem Prakas Singh of
Punjab writes that "Punjabis specific features stem, first and fore-
most, from Lahndi'* /Prakas, 320/ « He also speaks about Lahndi's
influence on Urdu, and in particular about the penetration into the
latter of Lahndi postpositions beginning with the sound /k/.

The Pakistani linguist Sheikh Ikram-Ul-Haq writes of the in-
fluence of Multani, the central dialect of Lahndi, on Urdu, Punjabi
and some other modem Indian languages /Haq, 47/

It sould be noted that some writers tend at times to confound
Lahndi with Punjabi. The explanation lies either in the fact that they
arc not adequately informed, or in their desire to exaggerate the im-
portance of Punjabi. This view reminds one of the erroneous posi-
tion taken by the scholars who in their turn regard Punjabi and some
other Indian languages merely as dialects of Hindi.

Lahndi despite its peculiarities, is kindred to Punjabi and
Sindhu This kinship was emphasised by Prof. Kohli who wrote:
"Lahndi and Sindhi are the sister languages which have a near rela-
tion,., with Punjabi" ./Kohli, 62/.

16

According to Grierson the substratum of Punjabi is a language
which had features common with peculiarities of modem Lahndi and
was spoken on the territory now covered by Indian and Pakistani
Punjab. However, in the process of its development this language
in the eastern areas came under such an extensive influence of one
of the dialects of Western Hindi, that the latter overlying the former
obliterated or hid many of its important peculiarities* All this is
reflected in modern Punjabi; In the western areas (mainly the greater
part of Pakistani Punjab) the language under investigation was not
subjected to the influence of Western Hindi or had little of that in-
fluence and therefore preserved its peculiarities, as seen in modern
Lahndi /Grierson , 615/ „

Despite the Hindi influence on Punjabi, the latter nevertheless
preserved a number of grammatical and lexical peculiarities As the
more archaic Lahndi, it has, for instance, many words with double
consonants.

Though Lahndi is kindred to Punjabi, it has the following basic

distinctions:

1) whereas Punjabi is mainly an analytic language, Lahndi, as
we shall attempt to show further on, reveals a considerable amount

of synthetic forms;

2) Lahndi possesses many specific phonetic features which make
it differ from Punjabi, such as the presence of special sounds, pecu-
liarities of tones (see the "Phonetics" section and other sections);

3) as distinct from Punjabi, it is typical of both Lahndi and
Sindhi to frequently use pronominal suffixes attached to a word ag-
glutinatively. In Punjabi these suffixes are found only in transitional
forms of speech coming from Lahndi and in the written literary lan-
guage of authors who know Lahndi, but write in Punjabi;

4) it is typical of Lahndi to build the future tense forms by suf-
fixing -s-, whereas Punjabi builds the same by using the suffix -g-,
not to mention a number of other distinctions ;

5) Lahndi is void cf durative forms of the predicate, typical of
Punjabi and Hindi, but possesses its own pattern expressing the
equivalent aspect of the verb;

6) in Lahndi there is a peculiar system of personal negative
verbs of being, which is not characteristic of Punjabi;

7.) in both languages there is a considerable difference between
the systems of the verb "to be", with Lahndi having two verbs of
being possessing multivarious and ramified systems;

2 584 17

8) there are peculiar forms of the verb, for instance, verbal-ad-
verbial and participial;

9) widely used in Lahndi are synthetic forms of the passive,
which is not typical of Punjabi. In the latter we rarely find synthetic
forms of the passive (formed by suffexing ~P) which are borrowed
from Lahndi* Typical of both Panjabi and Hindi is an analytic pas-
sive;

10) it is typical of the ergative voice of the main dialects of
Lahndi to use the word denoting the agent (doer) of an action without
a special postpositiono Moreover, instead of the ergative construc-
tion there frequently occurs a mononuclear sentence with a predicate
containing a pronominal suffix expressing the doer of an action..
Punjabi is characterised by using a special ergative postposition;

11) Lahndi possesses a specific declension system distinct
from that of Punjabi;

12) the presence of an internal inflexion that serves to build
forms of certain grammatical categories;

13) peculiarities of other parts of speech, for instance, of pro-
nouns, adverbs, postpositions, etc n ) ;

14) a number of syntactic peculiarities, such as, for instance,
the semi^ergative construction* specific features of the ergative
construction, the presence of special word-sentences, sentences
without a link-verb etc;

15). the specific character of much of the Lahndi vocabulary,,
A* jukes, the compiler of the biggest Lahndi dictionary, writes: "The
Western Punjabi, or Jatki language is quite a different language from
that spoken in the Eastern Punjab/ 1 Jukes observes that the linguist
H* Martin Clark, when comparing the dictionary with that of Bhai Mai
Singh, found on every page of the Lahndi dictionary, containing an
average of 36 words, only about two that coincided with Punjabi
ones /Jukes, V/.

Naturally, a specific vocabulary is characteristic primarily of
the language of rural localities, where Lahndi is less under the in-
fluence of Punjabi and Urdu, all the more that the bulk of the popula-
tion is illiterate there or semi-literate and does not read the publi-
cations in Urdu and Punjabi that come out in Lahore in the Arabic
scripts As to the urban population, part of it speaks Lahndi influenc-
ed to a certain degree by Urdu and sometimes by Punjabi;

16) all the above-mentioned peculiarities of Lahndi make the
language difficult to understand for speakers of Punjabi, as we have
ascertained in practice*

18

In. addition to the kindred ties with Punjabi and Sin dhi Lahndi
also experiences the influence of Dardic languages in the field of
grammer and vocabulary,

Lahndi is a language deep-rooted in history and closely linked
with ancient culture. This applies particularly to the language's
most significant dialect, Multani, which according to the contemporary
Pakistani linguist Sheikh Irkam-Ul-Haq is the most widely spoken
form of speech in Pakistan. Five million speakers of Multani reside
on a vast area amounting to 75,000 square miles /Haq. 44/. Multan is
the ancient cultural and economic centre of the rich Indus valley.
Four thousand years ago the Aryans coming down from the North
found this flourishing town which they called Mool-Asthan, or Mool-
Taran, which means "basic city". The richness of Indus Valley had
over the centuries attracted conquerors. These included Egyptians,
Babylonians, Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Mongols,
Afghans and English /Haq. 44/.

Lahndi has certain literary traditions. The famous Adi Granth
(the Scripture of the Sikhs) includes not only the compositions of
Sikh Gurus, but also the hymns and verses of various Hindu and
Muslim saints and poets. The Adi Granth contains sections in Per-
sian, Hindi, Punjabi and Lahndi. The ancient base of Lahndi is
revealed in the verses of the poet Sheikh Farid Shakarganj who was
bom in a village near Multan in 1173 A..D. and died in 1266 A.D* His
verses also contain borrowed Persian and Arabic words.

Prior to the dissemination of Islam (714 A.D.) the language-
predecessor of Lahndi was subjected to considerable sanskritisa-
tion. This is borne out by the family-hymns of Dutts, one of thcmost
ancient branches of Brahmins. These hymns retain ancient Lahndi
verbs, but contain many Sanskrit nouns.

With the dissemination of Islam there came a period when many
borrowings from Persian and Arabic found their way into Lahndi.

In the Middle Ages and even earlier inhabitants of the Lahndi
tract (mainly those of Multan) several times migrated in large num-
bers to Delhi. These included the armies they made up, which were
entering the city (e.g. 9th and 14th centuries). According to some
scholars, from that time on Lahndi began to exercise its influence
upon Urdu.

Of the early Works in Lahndi one should note a versified book on
the Muslim rules of bathing, shrouding and burying the dead, entitled

2-2 584 19

Masail~i-Ghusal-o-Kafan-o-Dafan written in 1137 A.D. by Nur Muham-
mad of Shergarh, and a more famous book by Hazrat Mian Abdul Ha-
kim "Yusuf and Zuleikha'Y produced in 1218 AoD. /Haq. 51/*

In 1819 the Bible was translated into Multani, and later the
Koran* The following books have been also written in the language: i
Pakki Roti, a book on religious observances, Bagh o Bahar - trans-
lation of Story of four Derveshes, Shahnamah-i-Hind, a. history of
events from the Arab conquest of Multan to the time of Emperor
Aurangzeb, and Loh Geet, a collection of Multani popular songs
compiled by Dr. Mehar Abdul Haq u

Other collections of songs, stories and tales have also been
published in Lahndi. For instance, 1954 saw the publication of }

tales in Pothohari, a dialect of Lahndi. These tales were collected
by Prof. Vanjara BedL The Lahndi folklore is very rich and varied.

Also noteworthy are the following poetical books written in
Lahndi: Khyaban-i-Khurram (of Bahawalpur), dew an-i-F arid, the work
by philologist Sheikh Ikram-Ul-Haq (Farid the Lyricist) who examines
the original divan by Farid; NijatuUMomineen by Abdul Karim, Noor
Namah by Noor Mohd, Karbala Namah by Akbar Shah, Bazar Be Khizd
by Jala, Saiful Maiuh bu Lutf AH Sayad, and versified stories of Sas^
si Punnu Mirza Sahban, Shah Bahram. In 1967 an anthology of Multani
poets by Kaifi, was under print»

The well-known book " Janam Sakhi" on the life of the Sikh Guru
(Jan) is written in Lahndi mixed with many elements of Punjabi. f

Lahndi is a research subject of a number of monographs, ar-
ticles, and dictionaries (for details see Bibliography). Particularly
noteworthy are the Persian-Multani dictionary Nisab Zaroori,. George i
Wilson's grammer and dictionary, a rather comprehensive work by
George Grierson /GriersonV> the monographs by FL Bahri on Lahndi \
phonetics and phonology /Bahri , Bahri 2 /, the dictionary by A.Jukes!
and the dictionary of the Pothohari dialect (Poth) compiled in Indian

Punjab.

Nowadays some Lahndi speaking scholars in Pakistan are trying

to create research works on their native tongue. Akhtar Waheed, who I-

died young, wrote and published a short Multani grammar /Haq, 53/.

Unfortunately, the manuscript on Multani grammar by Sadullah Khan

Mallezai /Haq 53/, has been lost, Dictionary of Seraiki has been

compiled by Bashir Ahmad Zami from Balhawalpur.

Different problems of Multani and Multani literature are being

tackled by philologist Shoikh Ikram Ul-Haq, who has been mentioned

repeatedly.

20

There are a number of periodicals in Lahndi. For instance
"Akhtar", a weekly published in Multan and the monthly Journal
Seraiki Adab published in Bahawalpur. Newspapers Al-Aziz ani
Punjnad were also published, but are now defunct.

In the districts inhabited by Lahndi speaking people there are
several cultural and research centres (for instance, the Multan Aca-
demy and the Bahawalpur Academy), which also carry out research
into literature in Lahndi, its grammar, and where research works are
published.

In view of a number of unfavourable historic conditions Lahndi
speaking peoplehave not as yet developed an extensive literature
of their own. A considerable role is also played by the fact that Urdu
is the only national language in Pakistan, and that it is actively used
in the schools.

As Pakistani scholars point out representatives of Lahndi speak-
ing intellectuals call for a more intensive development of the written
form of their mother tongue and the creation of broad foundations for
native literature. Speaking in 1962 at the first linguistic conference in
Pakistan Sheikh Ikram Ul-Haq said:

"It is an irony of fate that political re-groupings have brought
into prominence regional languages like Panjabi, Sindhi and Balochi,
and the parent language has been relegated to a comparatively secon-
dary position* The importance of Multani could be judged from the
fact that it is the most widely spoken language in West Pakistan^.
The problems of this language arise out of neglect. There has been
no attempt to collect, print and publish the various works that lie
scattered about. There has been no attempt to compile its authorita-
tive dictionary. "/Haq. 44, 52/*

During the last decade or so a certain degree of progress has
been observed in the field. This is testified by compiling a new
dictionary of Multani by B.A« Zami, the publication of an anthology
of Multani poets by Kaifi and opening in December 1966 a special
section of literature in Multani (Seraiki) in the Central library of
Bahawalpur, since, as the press pointed out, there existed in the
dialect valuable literature and historical works /Pakistan Times?
1LXII, 1966/.

According to the Pakistani press, some time back representatives
of the Lahndi (Saraiki) speaking people demanded official status for
their mother tongue and even pointed out that it was necessary to
establish a new province out of the areas inhabited by the Lahndi
(Saraiki) speaking people* Thus, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn,

2-3 584 21

September % 1969 (p 10), carried an article under the heading"Official
Status for Saraiki Demanded". The newspaper says that early in
September 1969 a Saraiki Adabi (literary) Conference was held in
Multan "attended by representatives of various Saraiki literary organi-
sations of Multan, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali, Dera
Ismail Khan, Bahawalpur, Rahimyarkhan and Bahawalnagar.,,. A re-
solution adopted at the Conference said Saraiki was an independent
language having a very rich literary heritage which needs to be given
proper recognition. It also demanded that... a new province for Saraiki
speaking people comprising Multan and Bahawalpur Division and
Districts of Mian Wala and Dera Ismail Khan be established... The
participants of the Conference demanded that Saraiki should be given
its due status at the University level along with Punjabi, Pushto,
Sindhi and Baluchi..., Mr. N ah ar Abdul Haque, a prominent philologist
has demanded the introduction of Saraiki language as medium of in-
struction at primary level 1 ',.

The central dialect of Lahndi is Multani. It is spoken over a
greater area than that of each other dialect, the number of its spear
kers being also bigger, and it serves as a vernacular in the region
which is culturally and economically most developed throughout the
Lahndi tract. Multani has influence on all other dialects, gradually
turning into the prop dialect. There can be no doubt that with the
creation of broad foundations for literature the centralising role of
Multani will become still greater.

Lahndi is represented by two groups of dialects: 1) an extensive
southern group (that of the Plains) and 2) a relatively less important
northern group (that of mountains). The conventional boundary line
between them runs along the southern foothills of the Bait Range,
though on the territory of Gujranwala and Gujrat part of the Plateau
is included in the zone of the southern dialects*

The main dialects of the southern group are as follows:

a) Multani. As has been already pointed out, this is the central,
most important and most influential dialect of Lahndi having 5 mil-
lion speakers. It is the vernacular of Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Mu-
zaffargarh and Bahawalpur. Its sphere also includes part of the ter-
ritory of Jhang, Sahiwal, Khairpur and Baluchistan;

b) Jatki is spoken in Shahpur (between the Jehlum and Chenab
rivers), Jhang, Lyallpur, Sahiwal, Gujranwala and Gujrat. Grierson
for some reason regards the dialect as the "standard proper /Grier-
son, 239/, although it plays a role of lesser importance than Multani*

Apparently the fact that the dialect had been relatively well described
by Wilson in that period of time influenced Grierson who therefore let
other factors determining the importance of the dialect escape his
attention;

c) Thali, whose speakers inhabit the Thai desert and parts of
the territory of Mianwala, Jehlum, Shahpur, Jhang, Dera Ghazi Khan
and Ban nu.

The mountainous northern dialects are spoken in the Salt Range
area and north of it. These are Pothohari, Chibhali, Poonchi, Awan-
kari, the Shahpur dialect of the Salt Range, Ghebi, Dhanni, Peshawar
Hindko, Tinauli and Dhundi-Kairali. George Grierson divides the nor-
thern dialects into two groups; 1) the north-western and 2) the north-
eastern., But such a classification seems inexpedient, since it is
i difficult to draw a dividing line between these groups of dialects.

The main differences between the northern dialects and the southern
? : are as follows;

L In the northern dialects many nouns take the termination -e
or -Tin analytic cases-

2* More typical of the north is the usage of the coordinating-
t: relational postposition (our term) naov rco~instead of <Ja(though the
1 dialects Dhanni, Tinauli and the Hindko of Peshawar use da). ^

3. More typical of the north is the participle I attaching -no

% (-na), instead of -da (the same three dialects providing the exception).

4. In some northern dialects there is a tendency to use r instead
\ of the celebral n, e.g. kor instead of kon 'who?' and intra instead of
r itna 'so numerous'.

5. Tones in the northern dialects have their peculiarities* Whe-
reas it is typical of the southern dialects to use a rising tome of
one variety (which starts in a rather low register, rises considerably
and falls a little at the end), contrasted by a level (even) tone, the
northern dialect Awankari, for instance, in addition to such a ris-

] ing tone has a second variant. Its peculiarity is to start in the middle
register, to relatively slightly rise and then to fall beneath the middle
register. Both variants phonologically combine with the level tone* A
small group of words in Awankari also has a falling tone*

6o There are differences between the northern and southern
dialects in vocabulary as welL Whereas it is more typical of the
southern dialects to use the verbs vanjun *to go' and avun *tb come ,
in the north gachna (julan) and achna respectively are rather widely
employed (although in Awankari and Ghebi vanjun and avun are used

2-4 584 23

more frequently; in the north one may more often come across bagan
*to be- able', whereas in the south they use sakkuiu The southern
dialects also see more frequent employment of the possessive pro-
nouns mera *my 9 and tera 'thy' borrowed from Punjabi, but this is
parallel with the Lahndi vernaculars manda and tanda.

However, it should be taken into account that it is impossible
to sharply delimit the dialects of both groups, since they are va-
riants of one and the same language. Frequently forms, on the whole
more typical of one group of dialects, are used in the other. Thus, in
the northern dialects Dhanni, Tinauli and the Hindko of Peshawar
there occur the postposition da and participle I in-rfa, which is more
characteristic of the southern group,, However, in one of the plays
by Sant Singh Sekhon written in the southern dialect Jatki (the Lyall-
pur area) we have come across participles both in -rfa (karendof
dasendT) and in -no (puchnT, ahnT)„ As illustrative material for this
treatise we have used the play by Sant Singh Sekhon "Siala dinaiKT
written in Jatki (spoken in Lyallpur), the modern newspaper "Akhtar" \
in Multani, texts in Lahndi collected by Grierson /Grierson /, Wil-
son /Wilson/, Dames /Dames/, Rose /Rose/, Bomford /Bomford/,
Bahri /Bahri /, small texts from different sources, etc., and also
dictionaries of Lahndi by jukes /Jukes/, Wilson /Wilson/, O'Brien
/O'Brien/, as well as the dictionary of the Pothonari dialect issued
in 1960 in the town of Patiala Punjab /Poth/.

Since it is very difficult to illustrate all the propositions of the
work solely with material' of the Multani dialect, the author resorts
at times to examples from other dialects. This material enriches our
notion of the language, sin qe apart from Multani other dialects of
Lahndi are rather widely spoken as well. In a number of places forms
of several dialects are compared. This is not only of practical im-
portance, but also provides useful material for further research.
When presenting the theoretical points which do not necessarily
require comparison and in which the general tangibly prevails over
the particular, especially in the section dealing with syntax, the
author provides illustrations from various dialects without distinctive
marks.

Dissatisfied with a number of traditional unhappy methods of
describing linguistic material, and also confronted with specific
cases which have not been described, the author offers his own solu-
tion of several issues, some additions and changes and new terms
involved by all this. This applies, first and foremost, to a new tense-
aspect system, the mutually subordinating type of connection bet-

24

, f ■ rr called "interaction", the notions and

: W een parts of the sentence calie ^ ^ semi . e rgative con-

\ terns "the qualitative-precuca ™*"^ „ f . neW system of

action", '^e semi-corre latwe «£-« rg ative-causative, pas-
-oices (including the ergaUve, ausaU J^ ^ ^
eive -causative), a new noUon o vo> ^ e ^ ^ h „

m ent of a more suitable concep egar ; ^ ^cennng

morphological (see Panfclov), a «■£» ^ intro duced where we deal
System of cases. Kew terms ^ ave be ^^ ena

wi th phenomena earlier not **>««»*>« terms, or are not denoted at

i ell. In the"

method. imde t o Prof. Hardev Bahn ol Al-

The author expresses lus ^ cons ultations and some

lah abad University for . number o v^ ^ q{ ^

ma terials granted, to the pbik J^ ^ and other .atenals,

for kindly baving -^/k f the 'Bbakra" hydroproject and to

to engineer Avtar Singh Nag* *£J\ w ta studying Lahndy.aU
ti s esteemed father for the ..«*»« s ^ ^ . g

■*. persons ^-d - *P *- • ^^ ^ M dronov
extremely grateful to hs o U a«u e>

and others for their valuable vemarK

U. A. SMIRNOV

THE LAHNDI LANGUAGE

«NAUKA» PUBLISHING HOUSE
Central Department of Oriental Literature

Mo scow 1975

4M
G 50

Translated from the Russian

by E.H. Tsipan
(an authorized translation)

Editorial Board:

V.M* Solntsev (Chairman), N.A. Dvoryankov,

N.A. Lisovskaya (Scientific Secretary),

Y*Y. Plam, G.D. Sanzheyev

The book describes the language of 13,5 million Lahndi
(Saraiki) speaking people who inhabit a rather vast territory
in Pakistan. Vft*«.Lahndi Language** considers in detail pho-
netics, morphology, syntax and other aspects of the given form
of speech, /Hie author propounds a number of his own theoreti-
cal propositions dealing with linguistics*

c 70104*12
C 013(02)-75 26W5

(CjrjiaBHaa peflaKmia BocTOTHoii jwrepaTypbi
M3flaTejibCTBa "HayKa", 1975