A Tolerated Language

Abstract

Pakistan is a place of linguistic diversity, with over sixty languages spoken. Punjabi is a centuries-old language with a variety of mutually understandable accents. It is mostly spoken in Pakistan's Punjab province and India's Punjab province on the subcontinent. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. Pakistan is a multiethnic and multilingual region, with Punjabi being the mother tongue of 39 percent of Pakistan's population. Despite being the majority's native language in Punjab, the Punjabi language has only minor articulation in the lives of its native speakers. It is not permitted in educational or government settings, and it is not used there. Where it comes to the intergenerational transmission of Punjabi language, educated parents tend to communicate with their children in Urdu rather than Punjabi. Its meaning has dwindled over time, owing primarily to the speakers' social attitudes. The Punjabi speakers have a negative, if not insulting, stance toward their mother tongue. This is particularly true in Punjab's urban areas, where people are abandoning Punjabi in favor of Urdu in their daily lives (Rahman 2002). This paper aims to explore various attitudes of Punjabi people towards Punjabi language, such as why they don't prioritize speaking Punjabi and whether they really believe it is a foul language. Punjabi is a language that belongs to a certain community. To explore this phenomenon, an online survey research was conducted.