Editing Punjabi language (section)

=== Modern times ===
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Modern Punjabi emerged in the 19th century from the Medieval Punjabi stage.<ref name="Bhatia-2013" /> Modern Punjabi has two main varieties, [[Lahnda|Western Punjabi]] and [[Punjabi language#Eastern Punjabi (Charda Punjab)|Eastern Punjabi]], which have many dialects and forms, altogether spoken by over 150 million people. The [[Majhi dialect]], which is transitional between the two main varieties, has been adopted as standard Punjabi in India and Pakistan for education and mass media. The Majhi dialect originated in the [[Majha]] region of the Punjab.

In [[India]], Punjabi is written in the [[Gurmukhī]] script in offices, schools, and media. Gurmukhi is the official standard script for Punjabi, though it is often unofficially written in the Latin scripts due to influence from [[Indian English|English]], one of India's two primary official languages at the [[Government of India|Union]]-level.

In Pakistan, Punjabi is generally written using the [[Shahmukhi alphabet|Shahmukhī]] script, which in literary standards, is identical to the [[Urdu alphabet]], however various attempts have been made to create certain, distinct characters from a modification of the Persian [[Nastaʿlīq script|Nastaʿlīq characters]] to represent [[Punjabi phonology]], not already found in the [[Urdu alphabet]]. In Pakistan, Punjabi loans technical words from [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Arabic]], just like [[Urdu]] does.