Malwai (Standard: ; Malwai: ) is an eastern dialect of the Punjabi language, spoken in the Malwa region of Punjab.

Distribution

India

Punjab

Major Malwai speaking centers are Ferozepur, Fazilka, Faridkot, Muktsar, Moga, Bathinda, Sangrur, Patiala, Barnala, Mansa districts and Jagraon, Raikot and Ludhiana (West) tehsils of Ludhiana district.

Haryana

Many Malwai speakers also live in Dabwali, Kalanwali and Rania tehsils of Sirsa district and kaithal district of Haryana, India; the Jakhal and Ratia tehsils of Fatehabad district of Haryana, India.

Rajasthan

The dialect is also found spoken in Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh districts of Rajasthan, India.

Pakistan

In Pakistan, it is spoken in Vehari district of Punjab by the communities migrated from Indian Punjab after Partition 1947.It is also spoken in Bahawalnagar and Nankana Sahib districts.

Characteristics

Although the characteristic distinction among the various dialects of Punjabi language lies in the speech pattern, the Malwai dialect most notably differs from the other dialects through its distinctive ** 'ū**' (ਊ) sound in all future-tense verb endings. Another notable difference is that where other Punjabi dialects have (ਲ) in Malwai many of those words are pronounced with an (ਰ) or (ਲ਼) instead. For example: Majhi dialect 1(ghaddi khalarna), 2 (banda khalota). Malwai dialect 1(ghaddi kharaona), 2 (banda kharota). The following peculiarities in vocabulary are also observed: Also, in contrast with Majhi dialect, 'ਹ' is not tonal. Exceptions are encountered when 'ਹ'/'ہ' is not followed by a schwa ending or a vowel sound, as in, ਕਹਿਣਾ, ਰਹਿ, ਘਾਹ / ۔کہنا، رہِ، گھاہ