Punjabi (/pʌnˈdʒɑːbi/;[3] Shahmukhi: پنجابی paṉjābī; Gurmukhi: ਪੰਜਾਬੀ pañjābī)[4] is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by over 100 million native speakers worldwide, making it the 11th most widely spoken language (2015)[5][6] in the world. It is the native language of the Punjabi peoplewho inhabit the historical Punjab region of India and Pakistan. Among the Indo-European languages it is unusual in being a tonal language.[7][8][9]
It is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan,[10] the 11th most widely spoken in India and the third-most spoken native language in the Indian Subcontinent. Punjabi is the fourth-most spoken language in the United Kingdom[11] and third-most spoken native language (after English and French) in Canada.[12][13] The language also has a significant presence in the United Arab Emirates, United States and Australia. The Punjabi language is written in the Shahmukhi and Gurmukhi scripts, making it one of the relatively few languages written in more than one script.
