Pronouns are denoted as ‘proforms’ as they are capable of replacing lexical units. Pronouns are considered meaning bearing syntactic items because of their property of replacing lexical units in a sentence (Saxena, 2006). Though pronouns exist within a restricted set of members, they appear more frequently in a sentence. These units usually consist of one or two syllabic construction (Cormier, 2013). Apparently the pronouns give the impression of simple lexical units; however, when these pronouns are set in within a phrase or sentence structure, they go through number of morphological procedures because of their placement in different linguistic environment (Cardinaletti & Starke, 1999) and resultantly their attributes become multifaceted or complex.

Morphologically pronouns, across languages, mark some information with reference to their referent, usually number, person, and/or gender information. Generally, these units are used for division of persons in three possible ways; first, second and third person. However, in some languages just two of these distinctions are employed (Cysouw, 2003). Functions and attributes of pronouns vary across languages. interestingly, in some language numbers are marked through pronouns; contrariwise, some languages do not permit such marking at all (Cormier, 2013). Additionally, various languages agree to case and gender marking with the help of pronouns (Bhat, 2004). Pronouns are also utilized for demarcation of plurality which is different, semantically, from the plurality of the nouns (Bhat, 2004). Another significant feature of pronouns is honorific information provided by them. Although, in English language pronouns do not mark honorific information but in many other languages pronouns provide honorific information. Moreover, pronouns also help in achieving precision, avoiding redundancy and attaining clarity (Siewierska, 2004). Aforementioned multiple roles, delineated by the pronouns, make this word class a vital feature to be studied in other understudied languages.

Pakistan is considered to be a land of diverse languages and dialects; it personifies an incredible linguistic diversity. Punjabi is one of the prominent languages spoken in Pakistan specifically in Punjab province. It comprises of millions of speakers (Lothers & Lothers, 2007). Punjabi language encompasses huge number of dialects as it is often said that dialect in Punjab gets change after every half a mile (Asher, 2009). These dialects are further divided into major and minor dialects; major dialects include Majhi, Pahadi, Malwai, Potohari, Sariki, and Multani. On the other hand, Jangali/Jatki has been marked as a minority language of Pakistan which is spoken in the area of Khanewal, Jhang and its peripheral area. Jatki is a language spoken by a large tribe of Punjab region known as Jats. Owing to this nominal status of Jatkii, not many linguistic studies have been conducted on it (Lothers & Lothers, 2007); it has been considered as an ‘understudied’ language from the area of South Asia.

Research Questions

1. How does Jatki dialect uphold gender, number and case feature in pronouns?

2. What respect markers in pronouns are used in Jatki language?

Features are the building blocks of syntax. Feature is defined as an abstract relation and agreement between different components of one sentence. It includes the abstract property of words that determines their shape. As these features affect the morphology, semantics and syntax of words in a sentence, these are known as Morphosytactic Features (Adger, 2002). Morphosyntactic Features are also defined by Liu (2018). According to him, morphosyntax is the distinctive quality of words that is closely connected with syntax and carries semantic and morphological effects. More precisely, morphosyntax results in organizing grammatical features related to words. A morphological change would directly affect the semantics and syntax of words in sentences.

Morpho-syntactically, pronouns are considered complex features (Gruber, 2017) therefore they need a thorough examination for clarity and comprehension. The word ‘pronoun’ is derived from Latin word ‘pronomen’ in which pro means ‘stands for’ and nomen means ‘noun’. Hence, pronouns are used in place of nouns to avoid repetition, monotony and wordiness. “English, like other languages, resists the duplication of nouns in sentences, so it replaces duplicated nouns with what are called pronouns (William (2005)”.

However, as is often the case in linguistics, the reality is more complex. There are number of pronouns that are used to replace nouns to avoid repetition of the noun in a sentence. For instance, ‘Ayesha is an intelligent girl. She always stands first in her class.’ In this example, ‘she’ refers to its antecedent Ayesha. However, there are also cases when a pronoun does not refer to previous noun but to other objects or people. For example, in a sentence, I can drive a car, ‘I’ does not refer to any previous noun. In such cases, pronouns are not representative of nouns, rather they are used in a syntactic position where a noun phrase may take place. In such situations, pronouns express meanings that cannot be conveyed using nouns. As pronouns are used in different situations therefore there are different classes of pronouns.

Traditionally, pronouns are distributed into different classes according to their semantic and syntactic value such as personal, reciprocal possessive, demonstrative, indefinite, relative and reflexive (William, 2005). Pronouns are also explained by Alsagoff. He defines pronouns as following,

“A pronoun stands in place of a noun phrase, or part of a noun phrase, when the reference to that noun phrase is clear from the context” (Alsagoff, 2008).

Alasgoff has described eigfht different types of pronouns including indefinite, personal, possessive, interrogative, reciprocal, demonstrative, relative, and reflexive pronouns.

Pronouns are used across languages however they differ from language to language in their usage and number of types (Seah, 2013). Pronouns are a significant closed class of words (Carter and McCarthy, 2006) and how they are engaged in diverse languages is exciting to many linguists. Therefore, number of researches has been conducted to explore the distribution, kinds and functions of pronouns across languages.

Number of researches has been carried out to analyze the usage of 1st person pronoun across languages. One such study was conducted to find out the similarities and differences of usage of personal pronouns “I”, ‘we’, and ‘us’ by Canadian and Chinese writers in the introductory part of dissertation. The study reflected that Canadian use ‘I’ more frequently than Chinese. However, minimum difference is found in the usage of ‘we’ and ‘us’ in both languages (Zhang, 2012).

Moreover, Vassileva also worked on 1st person pronouns and he compared the usage of pronouns ‘I’, and ‘we’ in five different languages including English, Russian, French, German and Bulgarian. He concluded that usage of first person pronoun in English language is twice higher than any other language (Vassileva, 2000)

Another interesting research has been conducted by Andre and Rachel to examine usage of personal pronouns in different geographical boundaries including Myanmar and its adjoining regions. Two systems of personal pronouns called Grammatical one and Hierarchical one are predominantly used in different regions. The study suggests that grammatical system is used by smaller communities whereas hierarchical system is followed by the most dominant languages (Müller and Weymuth, 2017).

Additionally, another descriptive, contrastive and analytic research has been carried out to compare pronouns in English and Arabic languages. The study described pronouns as per their syntactic, semantic and pragmatic significance. The usage of pronoun is very different in both languages. ‘they’ and ‘it’ are used for non-specific things in English language but there is no fixed pronoun for non-specific things in Arabic language. Furthermore, interrogative pronouns are not found in Arabic language. The categorization of pronouns in Arabic is very different from English. In Arabic pronouns are divided as implicit and explicit, number and type (Igaab and Tarrad, 2019).

Many researches have been carried out to examine the usage of 1st person pronoun (Hyland, 2001), to investigate the function, distribution and number of 1st person pronoun (Ji, 2010), to compare how 1st person pronoun is used by native and non-native English speakers (Martnez, 2005), and to inquire the factors determining the choices between p-pronouns and d-pronouns in German (Bader, 2016). Although number of researches have been carried out to investigate the nature and function of pronouns across languages; less work is done on analysis of pronouns as morphosyntactic feature across languages and very limited studies have described the usage of pronouns in local languages of Pakistan. Hence, still there is a need to explore the function and usage of pronouns in Pakistani indigenous languages; therefore, the current study will examine the morphosyntactic features of pronouns in Jatki—a dialect of punjabi language.

Theoretical Framework

The present study employs the basic linguistic theory, a term coined by Robert M.W.Dixon (Nichols, 2007), as a guiding framework to refer to the surface structure to investigate morphosyntactic features of the pronouns in Jatki dialect. This theory permits to describe the language ‘on its own terms’ (p. 789) by donating the idiosyncrasies it has to offer (Kim, 2015).

Data Collection

For the present study, the data have been primarily extracted from elicitations from the native speakers of Jatki dialect. A total of fifteen native speakers were requested to elicit various phrases, statements and expressions in the Jatki dialect of Punjabi. Urdu language was used to ask queries as it is used for everyday communication, in Pakistan. The researcher established a positive rapport with the participants to obtain data in naturalistic and comfortable setting. With the help of a voice recorder, the elicitations were recorded digitally.

Data Analysis

For close examination of these linguistic illustrations, the word-by-word alignment rule developed by Leipzig Glossing Rules

(2015) was used. Besides, the analysis was also supported by Schmidt’s reference grammar (1999) structured for Urdu language. The researcher used the linguistics instances in the abovementioned work as elicitation cues to gather appropriate data from the participants.

The distinct usage of pronouns in Jatki dialect make it worth studying. Different forms and cases of pronouns are examined in the said dialect. The pronouns are used to mark gender difference in many cases. However, all the pronouns do not demarcate gender distinction. Moreover, the second person pronoun in Jatki provides honorific information in majority of the cases. Nevertheless, the feature of plurality is noticeable in most of the categories. Interestingly, the plural pronouns are deliberated for two or more than two individuals, however they are also used for a singular individual for speaking to them in a polite and respectful manner.

Demonstrative Pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns are used in a language to refer to a thing or a person. In English, ‘This’ is used to refer to a thing or person who is at a close distance whereas ‘that’ is sued to refer to a thing or a person who is far. Like other languages, demonstrative pronouns are also used in Jatki language. In Jatki, ‘ay’ (this) is used to refer to a thing or a person who is at a close distance. On the other hand, ‘oh’ (that) is sued to refer to a thing or a person who, in term of a distance, is far. The examples for demonstrative pronouns in Jatki language are explicated below;

Jatki dialect also observes the demonstrative pronouns in the oblique case. These forms are elucidated below in Table 1

Table 1.Nominative and Oblique case Demonstrative Pronouns in Jatki

The examples for demonstrative pronouns, in the oblique case, are explicated as follows:

In jatki dialect, the pronoun ‘inhanu’ and ‘tuhanu’ are used to exhibit respect politeness and respect towards the listener. In nominative case, the demonstrative pronouns ‘ay’ and ‘oo’ are used by the speakers to talk to younger speakers or with whom the user is less formal and friendly. moreover, the pronouns ‘inhanu’ and ‘unhanu’ are desired choices while talking in public or with whom the speaker is formal.

Personal Pronouns

The distinct use of personal pronouns in terms of nominative and oblique case are examined in Jatki dialect. The practices of these nominative and oblique case personal pronouns are tabulated below.

Nominative Personal Pronouns

The pronouns take the initial position in

terms of nominative case. The pronoun ‘main’ is used for 1^st person singular pronouns whereas ‘assan’ is used for 1^st person plural pronoun. The usage of 2^nd person pronoun, in nominative case, depends on the context in which it takes place. The word form ‘tairay’ is used in informal and friendly context; however, ‘tuhaday’ is used in more formal setting.

The instances for personal pronouns in nominative case are elucidated below:

9. Main apni phuphi nu sadina

I my paternal-aunt to calls

‘I call my paternal-aunt.’

10. Assan school wainday pay aan

We school going to are

‘We are going to school

Moreover, the illustrations below explicate that the pronoun ‘oh’ is used for all singular and plural third person pronouns; however, the listener determines the singularity or plurality of subject with the help of the context. Similarly, the same pronoun, oh, does not mark the gender difference itself rather the inflective markings in the subsequent verbs illuminate the gender of the subject, in the nominative case.

Oblique Personal Pronouns

In Jatki dialect, different word-forms are used in the case of oblique pronouns. The pronoun ‘main’ for 1^st person singular pronoun remains the same in case of both the nominative and oblique case; however, the pronoun ‘saday’ is used to demarcate 1^st person plural. Moreover, the use of ‘tainu’ and ‘tuhanu’ for 2^nd person singular subject is dependent on the context. ‘tuhaday’ is utilized for 2^nd person plural pronoun in oblique case. Furthermore, the pronoun ‘udhi’ remains the same for masculine and feminine subjects.

Possessive Personal Pronouns

The possessive personal pronouns function

as adjectives in terms of their positionality within a sentence formation; they occur before nouns. Besides, in these pronouns suffixes are attached with the base form to demarcate number and gender features.

Some instances for this classification are described below:

Honorific Levels in Personal Pronouns

‘Tu’ and ‘tussan’; two honorific levels for the second person pronouns are used in Jatki language. ‘tu’ is used to address people who are younger than speaker in age, a sub ordinate, or a close friend. It is also used in an informal situation. On the other hand, the pronoun, ‘tussan’, is used to talk to elderly people. It is also used to talk to people who are high in status and respected. The usage of ‘tussan’ show respect and honor. The illustrations for the above-mentioned honorific levels in personal pronouns are described below:

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used to refer to ‘one’s own self’. In the case of Jatki dialect, the word-form ‘aapda’ is sued as a reflexive pronoun. Two refdlexive pronouns; ‘aapda’ and ‘aapdi’ are used to mark the femininity and masculinity in Jatki dialect. However, the same word-form, ‘aapdi’ is used to demarcate possession, number (singularity and plurality) and femininity. For instance,

Additionally, the reflexive pronoun, ‘appday’, is used to refer to singular and plural masculine nouns. moreover, it is utilized to indicate masculinity and possession. For example,

Another word-form ‘ap’ is used, as a reflexive pronoun, to directly refer to self (similar to the reflexive pronouns in English: myself, yourself, herself, himself, etc.). For instance,

Interrogative Pronouns

Pronouns are also used as question markers; this entails that insertion of a pronoun in a sentence points to the interrogative force of that statement. Interrogative pronouns are also used in Jatki dialect. The details of primary interrogative pronouns, with examples, are described below.

Ki

The pronoun ‘Ki’ is used as a question marker for ‘what’.

Kaunn

The pronoun ‘kaun’ is utilized as an interrogative pronoun for ‘who’.

Kidau

The pronoun ‘kidau’ is used as a question marker for ‘where’.

Kaindyan

‘kaindyan’ is used as an interrogative pronoun for ‘whose’

Kiwain

The pronoun ‘kiwain’ is used as a question marker for ‘how’.

The current study elucidates an elaborated system for usage of pronouns in varying contexts in Jatki dialect. In most of the cases, these pronouns are dependent upon the feminine or masculine feature of the referring noun. morphologically, pronouns mark some information with reference to their referents. Thus, the aforementioned pronouns in Jatki dialect also perform number of functions within a sentence; they mark number, gender, distance, formal and informal features, and cases. They also provide honorific information in the said dialect. The present study attempted to elucidate the usage of pronouns with respect to varying contexts for a better comprehension of their mechanism in the Jatki language. Furthermore, this paper may assist linguistics scholars and language learners in understanding the efficacy of pronouns in this understudied dialect of Punjabi language. This study is restricted to the discussion of pronouns; future studies may investigate further parts of speech in this dialect for gaining a comprehensive view of the several language-dependent mechanisms functioning within the Jatki dialect in particular.