Three written examples

New Zealand’s Ministry for Ethnic Communities provides a Punjabi greeting table, last modified in December 2023. It labels Sat Shri Akal as a formal hello, supplies a formal question about someone’s wellbeing and includes an expression of thanks. The three written forms are retained in the source cards below, including the table’s spelling of the wellbeing question. This is a small public communication resource with specified labels. Its selection does not establish that everyone uses the same greeting in every religious, regional or personal setting. The linked recordings were not used for this written comparison.[1]

Introducing a name or a home

Wilson’s 1899 grammar supplies a different kind of evidence. Under second-person plural pronouns, its genitive examples ask a person’s name, which village is theirs and where their home is. The examples make the subject of each question explicit: a name, a village and a home are separate pieces of information. They occur in a grammatical account of Shahpur usage, rather than a modern introductory dialogue. Reading the heading with the questions also matters, because the short forms printed in these examples belong to the pronoun system Wilson is explaining on that page.[2]

A welcome depends on the expression

Elsewhere Wilson groups several expressions under interjections. His welcome entry includes jam jam ā, while a neighbouring expression with similar-looking material means waiting a little. A further note explains a plural form used to show respect for a third person, illustrated through a title for the Malik. The surrounding entries help separate welcome, delay and respectful reference. A reader should keep the complete expression and its gloss together. These dated Shahpur examples show why learning an isolated syllable from a greeting list cannot supply the full meaning or social setting of every exchange.[2]

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. New Zealand Ministry for Ethnic Communities. Greetings in Punjabi ↗Public language resource · Source date: Last modified 2023-12-13 · Locator: Selected formal salutation, wellbeing and thanks rows; written forms only. Accessed 2026-11-02.Actual written table inspected. The overbroad informal-greeting claim is excluded. No linked recording was auditioned; the whole greetings project is one work family.Return to Script form 1 ↑Return to Script form 2 ↑Return to Script form 3 ↑Return to Three written examples, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. J. Wilson; acknowledged assistance of Munshi Mahbub Alam; Punjab Government Press. Grammar and Dictionary of Western Panjabi, as Spoken in the Shahpur District, with Proverbs, Sayings and Verses ↗Historical district grammar and dictionary · Source date: 1899 imprint; preface September 1898 · Locator: Grammar printed pp.23,32/PDF41,50: second-person name/home questions; welcome and respectful-reference entries. Accessed 2026-11-02.Selected actual original pages were inspected, with page images controlling script and table alignment. This is a dated description, without a listening check or certification of current universal usage. Original attribution and finite text scope remain qualified.Return to Introducing a name or a home, paragraph 1 ↑Return to A welcome depends on the expression, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-LAN-0090 · English edition · human review not performed