The Panjabi words in the vocabulary are given in their basic form. To understand their forms used in the poem, you need to understand their gender, number, direct and oblique forms. (CP1 pp. 213-215). You also need to have a good grasp of simple and compound postpositions (CP1 pp. 219-220)
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mu<k and muka
mu<k is an intransitive verb meaning ‘to finish’ in the sense of ‘to come to a close’. muka (with stress on the final syllable) is a transitive or causative form (depending on the context of use) meaning ‘to finish’ in the sense of ‘to bring to a close’. Read CP1 pp.185-186. More information is given in Grammar Unit 2 of this book.
baq and huNgara
A bedtime story for a child is called baq. The child’s feedback hUN…hUN is called huNgara. As long as the child goes on giving huNgara, the story continues. When the huNgara stops, it is a sign that the child has gone to sleep, and the story teller stops. There is a Panjabi idiom huNgara Brna, which means ‘to give a positive response’ to a suggestion or demand, as in
suJa{ mera sI, pr [uhne cNga huNgara Bir]a.
The suggestion was mine, but he gave a good response. m<is]a wa nHer
The ‘new moon’ night of the lunar month is completely moonless. This night is known as m<is]a. The ‘full moon’ night is called puNin]A. nHer is a shorted form of hneHra or hnHer. nHer and hnHer are also used in the sense of ‘total injustice’.
Now we move on to prose in the following units, which, it is hoped, will not be ‘prosaic’!
Language
Unit 1
I
n CP1, the dialogues are short. But in real life, the dialogues and conversations are often longer than you came across there. In this unit, we present a longer dialogue. We will, of course, be dealing with vocabulary, grammar and cultural aspects of the text. In a text, some linguistic devices are used to link the sentences as the text progresses. All languages use such devices, but each language employs is its own devices in its own unique way.As we saw in Conversation Unit 6 in CP1 (pp.148-149), manipula- tion of word order in Panjabi is often combined with emphatic stress for focusing and emphasis, which are cohesive devices (among several others). Words like vI, hI and qA are also used mainly for this purpose. Read CP1 (pp.124-125) to refresh your knowledge of the use of these words to organise your speech. Omitting contextually given information from the speech also has cohesive effect.
Read the following dialogue and listen to the recording at the same time by clicking the ‘speaker’ button under the headphone symbol.
You can pause the recording in order to keep pace with your reading. Pay particular attention to how the normal order of words in altered and some words are given emphatic stress. Also, pay careful attention to the use of vI, hI and qA.
In this passage, Veena Mathur, a young Ph.D. student in University of London, is looking for a flat. She speaks to her prospective landlord Mahmud Mirza.
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veena: ]<slam ]lEkm, imrZa saihb.
mirza: va ]lEkm ]<slam, ims maQur. qusIM ]En shI vÃq ’qe phuNce ho. saDe ws
vje.
veena: mEM qA shI vkq ’qe ]azI hA, pr lgwE qusIM kaFI wer pihlA ]aze ho. mirza hA, mEM svere sahjre ]a ig]a sA. FlEt wI Jaf-pUNJ qe sFazI krnI sI.
pihla ikrazewar bfa XbIs sI. [us [u>lU we p<Te ne QA QA gNw Klair]a hoiz]a sI. pUre FlEt wa s<iq]anas kIqa hoiz]a sI. mE¥ iqNn GNte lg gze FlEt ¥ saF kriw]A. ikho ijha lgwE hux?
veena: bfa cNga lgwE.
mirza: Zra mere na ]a{.&&& ]Eh iz<ko iz<k bE>drUm hE, isNgl bE>d vaÂa. lof hove
qA izs sE>tI ¥ KolH ke vI dbl bE>d bxaiz]a ja skwE.
veena: mere lzI qA isNgl bE>d TIk hE, pr kwe kwe kozI mihman ]a skwE, ijveM mere
mA bap jA BEx Bra.
mirza: izho ijhI izk sE>tI iz<Qe ilivNg rUm ivc vI hE. izs kmre ¥ qusIM pfHn
ilKx lzI vI vrq skwe ho. izh lof qA quha¥ pzegI hI. izh bu<k-SElF ikqabA lzI, qe izh meZ pfHn ilKx qe kNip[Utr r<Kx lzI. ]Eh tElIFon hE. izNtrnE>t rUtr wI lof hove qA ]apxa XrIw lExa.
veena: ikcn ivc ku<kr gEs vaÂa hE jA ibjlI vaÂa?
mirza: gEs vaÂa. sEMtrl hIitNg vI gEs vaÂI hE. baQrUm ivc Savr Xrab ho
ig]a sI. wo car iwnA ’c nvA lgva iw]Aga. &&& qusIM lNdn yUnIvristI ’c ik<Qe jAwe ho?
veena: yUnIvristI kailj. mirza: gavr stRIt ’c? veena: hA jI.
mirza: ]EQoM sEvn isstrZ ]Ndrgra[UMd steSn qk pEwl pNj Ce imNtA wa rah hE.
[u>QoM ivktorI]a lazIn tRen lNdn yUstn ws ku imNtA ’c puca iwNwI hE. ]<goM gavr stRIt qA quha¥ pqa hI hE.
veena: cNga imrZa saihb, FlEt mE¥ psNw hE. hux qusIM ikraiz]a w<so.
mirza: qusIM izhwe bare beiFkr rho. quhade ]<ba hZUr na merI Fon ’qe g<l ho gzI
hE. qusIM ]gle sin<crvar ]a rhe ho na?
veena: hA jI.
mirza: izk hor g<l kihxI sI.&&&g<l nhIM, guZairS hE. ho ske qA izs FlEt ivc
napak janvr wa goSq na il]a[uxa.
veena: napak janvar, yanI sUr?
mirza: hA jI, pr mEM izh gNwa lFZ ]apxI Zban ’qe nhIM il]a[uxa cahuNwa.
Language
veena: hux qusIM beiFkr rho, imrZa saihb. iz<Qe kozI goSq nhIM ]azega, na
hlal, na napak. sada pUra Xanwan vEjIterI]n hE.
mirza: hor kozI g<l pu<CxI hE?
veena: jI nhIM. ikraze bare quhadI g<l ipqa jI nal ho hI gzI hE. cNga hux mE¥
izjaZq iw{.
mirza, veena: Xuwa haiFZ.
SbwavlI
Vocabulary
]En shI exactly right vkq (m) time
sahjre early in the morning Jaf pUNJ (f) brushing and scrubbing ikrazewar (m/f) tenant
XbIs nasty, evil [u>lU wa p<Ta (m) idiot
(See below) gNw (m) filth KolHxa to open mihman (m/f) guest pfHna to read ilKxa to write lof (f) need lgva[uxa to get fixed beiFkr without worry napak unholy janvr (m/f) animal goSq (m) meat, flesh sUr (m) pig
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Zban (f) tongue hlal permitted ikraiz]a (m) rent
]<ba hZUr (m) respected father izjaZq (f) permission
BaSa ]qe sNsiÁqI bare
About language and culture
XbIs and [u>lU wa p<Ta
XbIs originally meant ‘evil minded’ but is used by Panjabi-speaking Muslims generally in the sense of ‘nasty’ or ‘unpleasant’. In the Indian culture, an owl is regarded as stupid, and not wise. So [u>lU wa p<Ta (literally an ‘owlet’) means a stupid person or an idiot. There is an idiom [u>lU bxa[uxa ‘to befool someone’. In the Indian culture a ‘wise owl’ would be a serious contradiction.
lgwE
The Present Tense form of the verb ‘to be’ (CP1 p.228) often get fused with the main verb in speech. lgwE is a fusion of lgwa+hE (just as ‘isn’t’ in English is a fusion of ‘is+not). In the following units you will come across many such forms.
napak janvr wa goSq
A pig is regarded as an unholy animal by all the Muslims (as by the Jews). Some strict Muslims not even utter the Panjabi word sUr. They think that this word would make their tongue dirty.
]<ba hZUr and ipqa jI
The expressioin ipqa jI is used by Hindus and Sikhs. Muslims mostly say ]<ba or, vailw. hZUr means ‘sir’.
Language
Unit 2
Klair]a hoiz]a and kIqa hoiz]a
This grammatical construction indicates and action already done. The perfective form is followed by hoiz]a. Both these verbs agree with the object. (See CP1 units 6 and 9) and Grammar Unit 1 in this book.
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Language Unit 3
I
n the last unit, you read and heard a dialogue as in a drama. In a novel or a short story, dialogues are often mixed with a narrative. The writer does not always introduce spoken words with ‘He said, she said’ etc., but lets the reader use her/his imagination to understand who speaks what. When a printed story is read aloud, the reader often mimics the style and intonation of the character whose words she/he reads. In the recording of the following prose extract (taken from a short story), there are there voices, the narrator and two characters Daljit and Jagdish. Daljit is a young woman who stays at home to look after her baby son Pappu while her husband is at work. One day she gets bored and finds an excuse to speak to the lodger Jagdish.mkan
suirNwr wehlvI
p<pU rox l<ga sI. ikNna icr [uh p<pU nal KelwI rhI qe iPr tElIivyn la iw<qa. kozI kOimdI ]a rhI sI. [us ¥ hasa na ]aiz]a qe [uh tElIivyn bNw krke cah wa k<p bxa[ux l<gI. [uhwa iwl kIqa, jgwIS wI ic<TI we ]ave, naÂe pu<Ce,“Ba jI, cah wa k<p pI{ge?” pr [us ne izk hI k<p bxaiz]a qe izk<lI meZ ’qe bET ke pIx lgI. rotI tu<k wa veÂa ho ig]a sI. [uh pihlI ver hOsla k<D ke jgwIS we kmre ivc gzI. Saizw ic<TI ]rjEMt hove.
[uhne hOÂI ijhI wsqk iw<qI. “yEs.” ]NwroM ]avaZ ]azI.
“kozI g<l nhIM BabI jI.” jgwIS ne ic<TI Pf lzI. wljIq wI]A [uMgÂA we pote jgwIS wI]A [uMglA na Cohe qA [uh sarI wI sarI kNb gzI.
“BEx jI wI ic<TI ze?” “nhIM, mere wosq wI ze.”
“BEx jI hurA izNglEMd kwoM ]a[uxE?” “mera hale iv]ah nhIM hoiz]a.” “sOrI Ba jI, mE¥ pqa nhIM sI.”
SbwavlI
Vocabulary
ic<TI (f) letter rotI tu<k (m) meal veÂa (m) time hOMsla (m) courage Saizw perhaps hOÂI ijhI quite lightly wsqk (f) knock glqI (f) mistake [uMg (f) finger pota (m) tip Cohxa to touch kNbxa to tremble
huxA added to the name to show respect
]a[uxE (]a[uxa+hE) is coming Ba (m) brother iv]ah (m) marriage