Words change with circumstances

Punjabi vocabulary does not pass unchanged from one generation to the next, but change is not the same as disappearance. Families may use different words at home, school, work and online; people can also understand words they do not use often. A University of Glasgow thesis discusses borrowing and code-switching in the speech of younger British Asian speakers alongside language shift. Its account concerns particular communities and research, not a prediction for every Punjabi speaker. Asking relatives about a word’s setting and meaning can reveal differences that a simple list of ‘old’ and ‘new’ words would miss.[1]

Borrowing is a language practice

Sociologist Hannah Bradby’s research note describes English words used in Punjabi-speaking women’s discussions of food and household routines in Britain. It shows that a borrowed word may be adapted within Punjabi speech and that familiar English words can coexist with Punjabi alternatives. The examples come from the research setting and should not be treated as a test of authentic Punjabi. Speakers select words for many reasons, including familiarity, audience and topic. Borrowing is one ordinary way multilingual communities communicate; it does not establish that a person has lost all knowledge of another language.[2]

Listening across generations

A study of Punjabi-English heritage bilinguals at Lancaster University examines how a speech sound can vary between generations. The researchers analysed speech from 14 people across four Blackburn families. This small study concerns pronunciation rather than vocabulary, so its findings should not be treated as a survey of Punjabi speakers generally. Families can compare stories, recipes or objects and record who uses a term, where they learned it and whether another form is familiar. Ask permission before sharing a recording, and keep a speaker’s own explanation alongside any translation. A small family collection can preserve variation without claiming one relative’s vocabulary represents an entire region or generation.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Farhana Alam, University of Glasgow. “Glaswasian”? A Sociophonetic Analysis of Glasgow-Asian Accent and Identity ↗Written source · Source date: 2015 · Locator: Literature review on borrowing, code-switching and shift, PDF p. 71. Accessed 2026-11-04.Glasgow thesis literature review discusses code-switching, borrowing and language shift in particular British Asian settings; it is not a survey of every family.Return to Words change with circumstances, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Hannah Bradby. Translating culture and language: a research note on multilingual settings ↗Written source · Source date: 2002-10-22 · Locator: “Language variation and change in multilingual settings”: Glasgow food and household examples. Accessed 2026-11-03.The journal article’s discussion of Glasgow Punjabi-speaking women and language borrowing was checked; examples describe this particular research setting.Return to Borrowing is a language practice, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Sam Kirkham and Maya Zara. Intergenerational transmission of laterals in Punjabi-English heritage bilinguals ↗Author-hosted prepublication research manuscript · Source date: 2024 · Locator: Author-hosted prepublication manuscript, section 3 (methods and 14-speaker sample); published chapter pp. 129–146. Accessed 2026-11-04.Author-hosted manuscript methods inspected for 14 speakers from four Blackburn families; Lancaster repository identifies the 2024 published chapter. This is pronunciation research, not a vocabulary survey.Return to Listening across generations, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-JOU-0080 · English edition · human review not performed