Indo-European · ISO 639-3 pnb
Western Panjabi Language شاہ مُکھی
Western Panjabi is an Indo-European language spoken by about 113 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Perso-Arabic script.
Where Western Panjabi is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Western Panjabi
Language family
- Indo-European
- Classical Indo-European
- Indo-Iranian
- Indo-Aryan
- Middle-Modern Indo-Aryan
- Continental Indo-Aryan
- Indo-Aryan Northwestern zone
- Sindhi-Lahnda
- Greater Panjabic
- Western Panjabi
Writing system
Perso-Arabic script
Related languages
About the Western Panjabi language
Western Panjabi (شاہ مُکھی) is spoken by about 113 million people, which makes it the 14th most spoken language in the world — just behind Japanese (128 million) and ahead of Telugu (95 million). It belongs to the Indo-European language family and, more precisely, to the Greater Panjabic group within the Indo-Iranian branch.
Where is Western Panjabi spoken?
Western Panjabi is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Pakistan (113 million).
Western Panjabi is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Western Panjabi is written in the Perso-Arabic script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Panjabi, Saraiki, Northern Hindko, Pahari-Potwari, Sindhi, Hindi and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 pnb.
Frequently asked questions about Western Panjabi
How many people speak Western Panjabi?
Where is Western Panjabi spoken?
What language family does Western Panjabi belong to?
What is Western Panjabi called in Western Panjabi?
Is Western Panjabi an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.