Doabi dialect
Doabi is a dialect of the Punjabi language. The dialect is named for the region in which it was historically spoken, Doaba ; the word doab means "the land between two rivers" and this dialect was historically spoken in the doab between the Beas River and Sutlej River. Its occurrence in parts of Pakistani Punjab owes to of Muslim populace from East Punjab. The region it is now spoken includes: the Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr districts of Indian Punjab, including the areas known as the Dona and Manjki; and the Toba Tek Singh and Faisalabad districts of Pakistani Punjab.
The sub dialects of Doabi include Dona and Manjki.
Analysis
The Doabi dialect in its eastern part blends with the Malwai dialect of Ludhiana district, and in its Northern side, it shares the linguistic features of Pahari. Some of the linguistic Linguistic features of the Doabi dialect that separate it from other Punjabi dialects are as below:Consonants
Vowels
Doabi has ten vowels. These areFor example:
| Vowel | Word | Translation |
| ਅ | // | 'eye' |
| ਉ | // | ‘awake’ |
| ਇ | // | ‘brick’ |
| ਆ | // | ‘hope’ |
| ਐ | // | spectacles’ |
| ਊ | // | ‘camel’ |
| ਏ | // | ‘lion’ |
| ਅੋ | // | ‘peacock’ |
| ਔ | // | ‘fear’ |
| ਈ | // | ‘arrow’ |
Other suprasegmental phonemes
Tone, stress and nasalization in Doabi are phonemic.Tone
Three tones are used in Doabi; low, mid and high. For example;| Tone | Doabi word | English translation |
| Falling | ਭਾ pà | ‘rate’ |
| Neutral | ਪਾ pa | ‘put’ |
| Rising | ਪਾਹ pá | ‘harsh’ |
Stress
Stress in Doabi is realized in two ways, syntagmatically and paradigmatically.Syntagmatically, stress-shift results in change of meaning. This kind of stress is often orthographically unmarked, and may shift any tone present in a word to the stressed syllable.
For example:
| Doabi word | English translation |
| ਘੜਾ /'kə̀ɽa:/ | ‘pitcher’ |
| ਘੜਾ /kə'ɽà:/ | ‘to shape, sculpt, mold’ |
Paradigmatically, Doabi has stressed and unstressed syllables;
| Unstressed | Doabi word | English translation |
| s | satt | ‘essence’ |
| t | pata | ‘address’ |
| Stressed | Doabi word | English translation |
| s | sat | ‘seven’ |
| tt | patta | ‘leaf’ |
Some basic vocabulary items
Features
Substituting letters
Doabi's drop the letter "v" at the start of a word and use the letter "b" as in "Vada" to "Bada". They also use the letter "o" elsewhere in a word instead of a "v" as in "Khvab" to "Khoaab". A distinctive feature of Doabi is the use of the "w" sound. Where "v" appears in the middle of a word in standard Punjabi, Doabis use "w" so that "hava" becomes "hawa". Also, the vowel "u" is pronounced with an "o". Accordingly, "khush" becomes "khosh" or "kuht" becomes "koht". In Doabi, any word beginning with "i" is pronounced with "e". For example, the word "khich" is pronounced as "khech" or the word "vich" is pronounced as "bech".Doabis do not use "z" and therefore substitute "j". This is common in the Punjabi language as "z" is not indigenous to the area.
Sentence structure
Doabi's end sentences with "aa" and "sigey", instead of "han" and "san" or "si". "Aiddan", "Jiddan", "Kiddan" are all commonly used adverbs in Doabi as opposed to the ”Inj / Aistaran", "Jistaran", Kistaran" used in Punjabi's prestige dialect, Majhi.Present Tense: Usage of aa and aa
Examples:
| Phrase | Doabi | Standard Punjabi |
| He is doing | Oh kardā ā ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਆ | Oh kardā ɛ̀/e* ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ/ਏ* |
| They are doing | Oh karde ā ਉਹ ਕਰਦੇ ਆ | Oh karde han ਉਹ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਨ |
| *spoken forms | - |
Past Tense: Uninflected sī, or number- and gender-inflected sīgā/sīgī/sīge/sīgīā, in Doabi
Examples:
| Phrase | Doabi | Standard Punjabi |
| He was doing | oh kardā sī/sīgā ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੀ/ਸੀਗਾ | oh kardā sī ਉਹ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੀ |
| They were doing | oh karde sī/sīge ਉਹ ਕਰਦੇ ਸੀ /ਸੀਗੇ | oh karde san ਉਹ ਕਰਦੇ ਸਨ |
| You were doing | tũ kardā sī/sīgā ਤੂੰ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੀ/ਸੀਗਾ | tũ kardā sɛ̃ ਤੂੰ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੈਂ |
| You were doing | tusī̃ karde sī/sīge ਤੁਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੇ ਸੀ/ਸੀਗੇ | tusī̃ karde so ਤੁਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੇ ਸੋ |
| I was doing | mɛ̃ kardā sī/sīgā ਮੈਂ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੀ/ਸੀਗਾ | mɛ̃ kardā sã ਮੈਂ ਕਰਦਾ ਸਾਂ |
| We were doing | āppā karde sī/sīge ਆਪਾਂ ਕਰਦੇ ਸੀ/ਸੀਗੇ | asī̃ karde sã ਅਸੀਂ ਕਰਦੇ ਸਾਂ |