Urdu Loan-Words in Pakistani English by Hafiz Ahmad Bilal , Ali Abbass Warraich , Nida Fatima , Deep Sikandar Tiwana & Talha Rasheed Bhatti
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Global Journal of HUMAN SOCIAL SCIENCE Linguistics & Education Volume 12 Issue 9 Version 1.0 June 2012 Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA) Online ISSN: 2249-460x & Print ISSN: 0975-587X Urdu Loan-Words in Pakistani English By Hafiz Ahmad Bilal , Ali Abbass Warraich , Nida Fatima , Deep Sikandar Tiwana & Talha Rasheed Bhatti University of Sargodha, Pakistan Abstract - English is considered as lingua franca around the globe. People mostly communicate across cultures in English all over the world. During the process, it is natural that many words of the local languages get their way in and become part of that particular variety of English spoken in that region. This paper aims at finding Urdu words that have become part and parcel of the English language spoken in Pakistani scenario. It is a study of Urdu loan words that got their way in English in everyday communication. For the study, the language of newspaper was chosen as it represents the language in use. English daily the Dawn was selected for the purpose as it is most circulated newspaper in Pakistan. The paper elucidates that there are a large number of Urdu words which are part of English. Keywords : Lingua Franca, Dawn Newspaper, Loan and borrow words. GJHSS-E Classification: FOR Code: 200302, 200401 Urdu Loan-Words in Pakistani English Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of: © 2012. Dr. Hafiz Ahmad Bilal , Ali Abbass Warraich , Nida Fatima , Deep Sikandar Tiwana & Talha Rasheed Bhatti. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Urdu Loan-Words in Pakistani English Hafiz Ahmad Bilalα , Ali Abbass Warraichσ , Nida Fatima ρ , Deep Sikandar TiwanaѠ ¥ & Talha Rasheed Bhatti Abstract - English is considered as lingua franca around the Unlike other Englishes spoken around the world globe. People mostly communicate across cultures in English like Australian English, American English, Indian English, all over the world. During the process, it is natural that many Singapore English, etc, a little has been done on words of the local languages get their way in and become part Pakistani variety of English to identify it as an indigenous of that particular variety of English spoken in that region. This variety of English. The one name, which stands in high paper aims at finding Urdu words that have become part and 12 0 parcel of the English language spoken in Pakistani scenario. It esteem while discussing about PE, is Dr Tariq Rehman. 2 is a study of Urdu loan words that got their way in English in He has described three phases of English in India i.e. the missionary phase (1614-1765), the phase of local everyday communication. For the study, the language of June newspaper was chosen as it represents the language in use. demand (1765-1835), and government policy following English daily the Dawn was selected for the purpose as it is TB Macauley’s Minute of 1835 (Rehman: 1990). 7 most circulated newspaper in Pakistan. The paper elucidates After Independence, English is serving as the that there are a large number of Urdu words which are part of official language of Pakistan and a large population of English. Pakistani nation speaks English. Pakistan is one of Keywords : Lingua Franca, Dawn Newspaper, Loan and those countries where English is fast spreading. borrow words. According to Boltan (2008, cited in Raza: 2008), 18 I. Introduction million, constituting 11% of total population, speak it in Pakistan making it the third largest English using Asian ostcolonial era in the subcontinent and Asia has country. Rehman (1990) has categorised Pakistani witnessed rapid emergence of many new variety of English into four sub-varieties. According to P Englishes. Efforts have been made on various him, variety A is Anglicised English which is closer to levels to prove that new verities of English are in the SBE. Variety B, which is described as acrolect, differs making in Asia. Hung (2000) proved that there exists a from SBE in the dimensions of morphology and syntax, phonology of Hong Kong English (HKE) with systematic lexis and semantics and phonology. This variety is used Volume XII Issue IX Version I features of its own, thus establishing that HKE is a by the graduates from elitist English medium schools ) D DDD E different variety of English. Deterding (2005, 2007) etc, or by those who have exposure to SBE. Variety C or ( conducted studies on the vowels of Singapore English mesolect, spoken by people belonging to middle and (SgE) to prove that a new variety is in the making. His upper middle classes of society, differs more from SBE. study proved that a standard Singaporean Variety D or basilect is used by clerks, minor officials pronunciation is emerging, a style of speech that is quite and typists. He has described the segmental and non- al Science ci independent of any external standard, and that some segmental features of the four sub-varieties and proved o S aspect of it are idiosyncratic in that they cannot be that PE has differences at lexical level due to borrowing predicted by reference to Standard British English (SBE) from the register of Islamic culture and due to concepts or any other external variety. and historical experience of Pakistani culture. uman Pakistani English (PE) is one of the widely used f H postcolonial varieties of world Englishes. PE in the II. Literature Review al o subcontinent presents a rather complex phenomenon n Robert J. Baumgardner is another highly r due to the vast linguistic diversity of the country and a u regarded figure with a few research articles on PE to his o steady rise of bilingualism and multilingualism. This credit. According to him, English is used in Pakistan by al J poses a number of challenges in defining this variety extremely influential portion of the population b and arguing for a certain phonological model or models. lo (Baumgardner: 1993). He has identified differences in G PE as compared to SBE on various levels. He observes that loan words from Urdu and other regional languages Author α : Department of English, University of Sargodha, Pakistan. are common in PE. Borrowing from the indigenous E-mail : [email protected] domains of food, clothing, government administration, Author σ : Department of English, University of Sargodha, Pakistan. E-mail : [email protected] politics, arts and music is becoming a permanent Author ρ : Department of English, University of Sargodha, Pakistan. feature of PE. Register of religion has also influenced E-mail : [email protected] not only the language but also the English grammatical Author Ѡ : Department of English, University of Sargodha, Pakistan . system (Baumgardner: 1993). E-mail: [email protected] In another article, Baumgardner et al (1993) Author ¥ : Department of English, University of Sargodha, Pakistan. E-mail : [email protected] argue that Urdu borrowings undergo a morphological © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) Urdu Loan-Words in Pakistani English restructuring according to the grammatical rules of the Celtic and Latin, then at a later stage from Scandinavian English language. PE is changing as it now functions in and French, and more recently from other languages a multilingual context of use. PE is in the process of spoken in the British colonies. This feature of English Urduization. makes it expand easily and quickly. Tallat (2002, 2003) opines that PE is changing. The multifarious forms of English spoken within She finds out that the changes in PE occur due to its the British Isles and by native speakers abroad will contact with Pakistani languages in general and Urdu in continue to reshape and restyle themselves in the future. particular. She tries to establish that PE is not one stable And they will become more and more at variance with system, analysing ‘texts’ by comparing the divergent the emerging Englishes of Europe and of the rest of the forms with SBE on one hand and Urdu sentence world. (Burchfield, 1985 cited in Bolton, 2006, p. 244). structures on the other. She concludes that the influence English has become the property of its users, of Urdu on PE is evident and that PE is a variety of native and non native. People, whose native language is 012 2 divergent lexical structures that owe their existence due not English, speak it with the influence of their native to code-switching and code-mixing. language. They borrow words from their native language In another research article, Tallat (1993) brings and use them in every day communication. A person June into focus the occurrence in PE of some lexical items who is non native English speaker can borrow words of 82 which vary in meaning from SBE usage as a result of every kind which he needs to communicate. Now the English-Urdu language contact. Borrowed into Urdu, question is “whether there are any aspects of language these loan words, when used by Pakistani bilingual which cannot be borrowed from one language into English speakers, retain their Urduized meanings which another. The answer appears to be that there are not.” are clearly distinguishable from SBE usage. (Bynon, 1977, p. 255). Kennedy (1993a), in a research article, brings These Englishes which exist in different dialects out a particular use of lexical terms in crime reporting in have their own specific pattern and style. And these Pakistan. Calling such use of lexis a crime-reporting Englishes contain a large number of loan words which register, he has tried to probe into different use of words are borrowed from native language of that dialect e.g in in Pakistani print media from that of its American Pakistani English there are many words of Urdu which counterpart.