Arabic Loan Words in Urdu: A Linguistic Analysis

Abstract

The sociocultural contact between the Muslim soldiers speaking different languages including Arabic and the local population of Indian subcontinent resulted in the evolution of a new language known as Urdu. Consequently upon this sustained contact between the languages of the soldiers and the dialects spoken by the local population, the process of linguistic amalgamation started. Lexical borrowing from these languages into Urdu vocabulary is one of the examples of such a linguistic amalgamation. This research paper deals with the linguistic analysis of Arabic loan words in the present-day Urdu vocabulary. The data collected relate to standard Arabic and standard Urdu languages. The writers have used different sources in collecting the data for this paper. Being a descriptive analytical study, the writers of this paper analyzed the morphological aspects of Arabic loan words in Urdu focusing on the inflectional and derivational processes. The study concludes with a set of findings as regards the impact of lexical borrowing from Arabic in the vocabulary of the Urdu language.

Cuvinte-cheie: contact, limbă, cuvânt, limba arabă, limba urdu, dialect

REZUMAT

Contactul socio-cultural dintre soldaţii musulmani (care vorbeau limbi diferite, inclusiv araba) şi populaţia băştinaşă a peninsulei Industan a dus la apariţia şi dezvoltarea unei noi limbi – urdu. Aceasta a apărut, în bună parte, datorită comasării unităţilor glotice din câteva limbi. Astfel, împrumuturile în urdu a unităţilor lexicale din limbile soldaţilor musulmani au fost un mijloc de realizare a comasării în cauză. În articol, ne propunem să facem o analiză lingvistică a împrumuturilor din arabă în limba urdu curentă, din perspectivă morfologică, flexionară şi derivatologică. În analiză, utilizăm unităţi din limbile oficiale arabă şi urdu. 

LANGUAGES OF PUBLICATION

English (main text and corpus); Arabic and Urdu (corpus)

UDC: 811`373.45

REFERENCES

Beg, M. K. A. (1988). Urdu Grammar: History and Structure. Bahri Publications.

Grierson, G. A. (1967). Linguistic Survey of India (vol. 9, part 1). Motilal Banarasi Das.

Baalbaki, R. (2006). A Pocket Arabic–English Dictionary. Darel-Ilm Lil Malayin.

Kaye,  A. S. (1994). The Arabic Contributions to the English Language. Harrassowitz Verlag.

Received: January 2, 2011 | Reviewed: January 14, 2011 | Accepted for publication: January 20, 2011

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