Morphosyntactic Analysis of Shahpuri Noun Phrase

Abstract

The present study aims to describe the morphosyntactic dimensions of Noun Phrases in Shahpuri. Shahpuri is a dialect of Punjabi language. This dialect is under-described. This study is a field research. A purposive sampling was adopted in this study. The data has been collected from Shahpuri native speakers residing in the Sargodha division through semi-structured interviews. The participants were from rural areas since real language exists in such areas. Ten participants were selected forinterviews from each district, and eight participants took part in Focus Group Discussion from each district to collect the data (N= 72). The results show that the Noun Phrase of Shahpuri contains multiple constructions, ranging from simple to complex structures. Moreover, the results state that some parts of speech participate in the construction of Noun Phrases. This study is an attempt to save the Shahpuri dialect from extinction. The current study will open avenues of description and documentation of the local languages of Pakistan.