Punjabi is the language of the Punjab - the land of five rivers - of northern India and Pakistan. Primarily written in three distinct scripts, a unique feature of the language is that, along with Lahanda and the Western Pahari dialects, it is the only modern Indo-European language spoken in South-East Asia which is tonal in nature. It is recognised as one of the several national languages of India and Pakistan, and approximately forty-five million people speak Punjabi as either a first or second language.This Descriptive Grammar accounts for the linguistic and sociolinguistic properties of Punjabi and Lahanda/Multani. It explores the standard language, giving a comprehensive account of syntax, morphology and phonology. With a descriptive, typological and cognitive examination of the language, this is a comprehensive and authoritative description of modern Punjabi . This volume will be invaluable to students and researchers of linguistic theory and practice.

Tej K. Bhatia is Associate Professor of Linguistics and South Asian Languages at Syracuse University, New York. He has published and taught extensively in the field of linguistics and South Asian languages and linguistics. Currently, he is an Acting Director of the Cognitive Science Program at Syracuse University.