Urdu Language Urdu Essay Example

Urdu Language Urdu Essay Example Urdu Language Urdu Paper Urdu Language Urdu Paper The term Urdu and its origin The term Urdu derives from a Turkish word ordu meaning camp or army. The Urdu language developed between the Muslim soldiers of the Mughals armies who belonged to various ethnicities like Turks, Arabs, Persians, Pathans, Balochis, Rajputs, Jats and Afghans. These soldiers lived in close contact with each other and communicated in different dialects, which slowly and gradually evolved into present day Urdu. It is for this reason that Urdu is also referred to as Lashkari Zaban or language of the army. During its development Urdu language also assumed various names like the term Urdu-e-Maullah meaning the exalted army which was given by Emperor Shah Jahan and the term Rekhta meaning scattered (with Persian words) which was coined by the scholars for Urdu poetry. History and Evolution of Urdu Language Urdu arose in the contact situation which developed from the invasions of the Indian subcontinent by Turkic dynasties from the 11th century onwards, first as Sultan Mahmud of the Ghaznavid empire conqueredPunjab in the early 11th century, then when the Ghurids invaded northern India in the 12th century, and most ecisively with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. The official language of the Ghurids, Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, and their successor states, as well as the cultured language of poetry and literature, was Persian, while the language of religion was Arabic. Most of the Sultans and nobility in the Sultanate period were Turks from Central Asia who spoke Turkic as their mother tongue. The Mughals were also Chagatai, but later adopted Persian . Muzaffar Alam asserts that Persian became the lingua franca of the empire under Akbar for various political and ocial factors due to its non-sectarian and fluid nature. However, the armies, merchants, preachers, Sufis, and later the court, also incorporated the local people and the medieval Hindu literary language, Braj Bhasha. This new contact language soon incorporated other dialects, such as Haryanvi, Panjabi, and in the 17th century Khariboli, the dialect of the new capital at Delhi. By 1800, Khariboli had become dominant. The language went by several names over the years: Hindawi or Hindi, [language] of India; Dehlavi of Delhi;Hindustani, of Hindustan; and Zaban-e-Urdu, the language of he [army] camp, from which came the current name of Urdu around the year 1800. When Wali Mohammed Wali arrived in Delhi, he established Hindustani with a light smattering of Persian words, a register called Rekhta, for poetry; previously the language of poetry had been Persian. When the Delhi S ultanate expanded south to the Deccan Plateau, they carried their literary language with them, and it was influenced there by more southerly languages, producing the Dakhini dialect of Urdu. During this time Hindustani was the language of both Hindus and Muslims. The communal nature of the language lasted until it replaced Persian as the official language in 1837 and was made coofficial along with English in the British Raj. This triggered a Hindu backlash in northwestern India, which argued that the language should be written in the native Devanagari script. This Hindi replaced traditional Urdu as the official register of Bihar in 1881, establishing a sectarian divide of Urdu for Muslims and Hindi for Hindus, a divide that was formalized with the division of India and Pakistan after independence from the British, though there are Hindu poets who ontinue to write in Urdu to this day. Although there have been attempts to purge Urdu and Hindi, respectively, of their Sanskrit and Persian words, and new vocabulary draws primarily from Persian and Arabic for Urdu and Sanskrit for Hindi, this has primarily affected academic and literary vocabulary, and both national standards remain heavily influenced by both Persian and Sanskrit. English has exert ed a heavy influence on both as a co official language. Official status Urdu is the national and one of the two official languages of Pakistan, the other eing English, and is spoken and understood throughout the country, while the state-by-state languages (languages spoken throughout various regions) are the provincial languages. It is used in education, literature, office and court business. It holds in itself a repository of the cultural and social heritage of the country. Although English is used in most elite circles, andPunjabi has a plurality of native speakers, Urdu is the lingua franca and national language in Pakistan. Urdu is also one of the officially recognised languages in India and has official language tatus in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,[32] Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and the national capital, New Delhi. In Jammu and Kashmir, section 145 of the Kashmir Constitution provides: The official language of the State shall be Urdu but the Eng lish language shall unless the Legislature by law otherwise provides, continue to be used for all the official purposes of the State for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of the Constitution. As of 2010, the English language continues to be used as an official language for more than 90% of fficial work in Kashmir. There are ongoing efforts to make Kashmiri and Dogri, spoken as mother tongues by nearly 80% of the population of Indian-administered Kashmir, as official languages alongside English. The importance of Urdu in the Muslim world is visible in the Holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, where most informational signage is written in Arabic, English and Urdu, and sometimes in other languages. Importance: Urdu is one of the most popular languages which are having a history of hundreds of years back. Urdu language got lots of preferences in various historical aspects. Urdu is considered as the language used by many ancient kings and it was the only language for communication in certain regions of ancient kingdoms. Ancient regions of Persian kingdom were the main areas of Urdu language. Years after Urdu language have been spread to India as one of the language in certain regions of India. In India Urdu language has been mostly used by the Muslim community. After that Pakistan has been divided from India and declared as an independent country for the Muslim community. As a result Urdu became the national language of Pakistan. Pakistan s considered as the birth place of Urdu poetry as Urdu is the main language of the common people in Pakistan. Urdu poetries are written in different forms by various experienced Urdu poets. Among the various forms of Urdu poetries Ghazal plays an important role which is a popular art form around all over the world. Ghazal has certain rules in its writing and one of the main rules is that Ghazal should end with the same words used for its starting and this rule is called ‘Radeef’. Gair Muraddaf Ghazals are a variety of Ghazals which doesn’t have a radeef. Ham Radeef Ghazals are those Ghazals with same radeef. Urdu Ghazal is an important form of Ghazal which is very much popular all over the world. Importance of urdu in pakistan Urdu holds the status of the national language of Pakistan. It is also the official language of the country and the post is also shared by English. It is understood all over the country and is the best medium of communication anywhere in the country. Urdu has been in the region since the 11th century. The rulers of that time urged the population to learn how to read and write Urdu. It is an Indo-Aryan language and is derived from three different languages which are Arabic, Turkish and Persian. The letters used in Urdu language are similar to the ones used in Arabic and Persian (Farsi) language. Though the letters are the same but the dialect and accent differs a lot. The word Urdu means army. In old times the armies in this region comprised of people from different nationalities. All had different languages and could not understand each other. A language was required which could be understood by all. Urdu emerged as the medium that linked all and was understood by all. According to different researches carried out, Urdu is not only spoken in Pakistan but also in many other parts of the world. It is one of the 23 official languages of India. It is widely spoken in Bangladesh and also in many gulf countries. There are also hundreds and thousands of Urdu speakers in the European countries and Americas. In Pakistan not more than 8% people have their first language as Urdu but the rest of the population speaks and understands Urdu as the second language. The estimated number of native Urdu speakers in Pakistan is 10. 5 million and all over the world the figure is 50 million approximately. In Pakistan alone the people who understand and speak Urdu as the first or econd language is 104 million approximately. Urdu is included as a compulsory subject in the schools and colleges of Pakistan. Urdu poetry and literature is taught and given prime importance alongside English in the institutions. The Urdu literature has a rich history and it has seen very eminent and world renowned poets like Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Mirza Ghalib. It is not only poetry but also a lot of Islamic litera ture and Sharia literature has also been written Urdu. It was even before many other languages that Sharia and Islamic literature was written and also translated in this language. Urdu has emerged as a binding force which has kept the people of Pakistan close to each other. National language A national language is a language (or language variant, i. e. dialect) which has some connection- de facto or de jure- with a people and perhaps by extension the territory they occupy. The term is used variously. A national language may for instance represent the national identity of a nation or country. National language may alternatively be a designation given to one or more languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country. C. M. B. Brann, with particular reference to Africa, suggests that there are four quite distinctive meanings for national language in a polity:[1] ?Territorial language (chthonolect, sometimes known as chtonolect[2]) of a particular people ?Regional language (choralect) ?Language-in-common or community language (demolect) used throughout a country ?Central language (politolect) used by government and perhaps having a symbolic value. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Urdu theurdulanguage. com/Downfall. htm http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/National_language