ABSTRACT
Panjabi is the most im portant of the North-W estern group of New Indo-Aryan languages. It is the official language of the Indian state of Panjab, and the m ajor language in the Panjabi province of Pakistan. Estimates of the total num ber of Panjabi speakers vary from 40 to 70 million. It may be taken that the higher figure includes the estim ated 2 0 million speakers of the closely related and contiguous language Lahnda (see Lahnda). No statistics appear to be available for the num ber of Panjabi speakers in Pakistan.
