Urdu(اردو) is an Indo-European language which originated in India, most likely in the vincinity of Delhi from where it spread to the rest of the subcontinent. It developed from the interaction between local Indian Sanskrit-derived Prakrits and the languages of the Middle East, primarily Persian and Arabic. This process took place mostly in the military camps, and the word urdu itself means "army", "horde" or "tent" in Turkish.

It soon became the language of the Mughals, distinguished linguistically from local languages by its large and extensive Arabic-Persian vocabulary superimposed on a native Hindi base of grammar, usages and vocabulary. The result was what has been considered by some to be one of the world's most beautiful languages, the "Kohinoor" ("Mountain of Light," a famed native, large and brilliant diamond) of India. It is widely spoken today in both India and Pakistan and all countries having a sizeable South Asian diaspora.

Urdu along with Hindi forming the Hindustani language is the second most popular 'first' language and second most popular 'first or second' language in the world. Urdu by itself is the twentieth most popular 'first' language in the world.

History

There are many different views on the origins of Urdu, differing in both time and geographic location.

Urdu may have originated anywhere in India: the Deccan, in the Punjab, in Maharashtra, in Bengal, in Sindh or in the neighbourhood of Delhi. These hypothesis are backed by Urdu literature having been found in these areas as far back as the period of the Delhi Sultanate. Keeping in mind the linguistic character of the areas around Delhi, it is often said that Urdu originated in or around Delhi over a period of a few centuries.

A continuous progression is seen in linguistic development from Sanskrit down to the modern languages of Northern India though there is a very strong link between the Prakritic language 'Hindvi' of the middle ages and Urdu of today. The works of Amir Khusrau are intelligible to the speakers of Urdu/Hindi even though they were written in the 14th century. It is hypothesized that Urdu is the language developed when a regular and slow stream of Arabic and Persian words were infused into the language Hindvi.

Urdu has been known by a host of names during this seven century long interval: Hindvi, Hindi (not to be confused with the modern sister-language), Rekhta, Shahjahani, Deccani, Urdu-e-Mualla, and Urdu. There is some debate as to whether all these names represent the same language, but the majority of experts agree that these are names of the language known today as Urdu.

Although the language orginiated in the neighbourhood of Delhi, it was in the Deccan that it first gained acceptance. The rulers of the Deccan were supportive of local languages, opposing the Persian influence in northern South Asia. In the Deccan, the court became the centre for the development of Urdu, and the initial poetry and literature in Urdu comes from the there. The idea of using Urdu rather than Persian as the media of poetry and literature eventually spread to the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.

After the mainstream acceptance of Urdu as a poetic language in North India, a large number of poets began writing in it. Great poets such as Mir, Sauda, Ghalib and Zauq made the language acceptable as a literary medium. The increasing quantity of poetry and literature caused the languge to become more uniform and less volatile than it had been in the past.

Classification and Related Languages

Urdu is a member of the Hindustani group of languages, which is a subgroup of the Indo Aryan group of languages, which is in turn part of the Indo European family of languages.

Urdu is related to most of the languages of northern South Asia, all of them having similar grammatical structures and even a certain common vocabulary. The Punjabi language is very similar to Urdu. Written Punjabi (in Shahmukhi script) can be understood by speakers of Urdu, with a little difficulty, but spoken Punjabi has a very different phonology (pronunciation system) and cannot be easily understood by Urdu speakers. However, the closest linked language to Urdu is Hindi.

Urdu - Hindi - Hindustani

Urdu, Hindi and the consequent Hindustani language have a very strange and complex relationship with each other. Urdu and Hindi have been called different languages on the one hand and dialects of the same language on the other. Hindustani is generally thought of as the language that encompasses both Urdu and Hindi and forms the mother language of these two languages.

The most major difference between Urdu and Hindi is that Urdu is written in the Nasta'liq font of the modified Arabic script while Hindi is written in the Devanagari script.

Urdu, Hindi and Hindustani are all segments on a long linguistic chain. At one end is a heavily Persianized language which is written in the Nasta'liq font and in a modified Arabic script. At the other end is a heavily Sanskritized language which is written in the Devanagari form. The progression from one to the other is continuous and slow. The basic grammars are the same. The words are replaced either by more Sanskritized or more Persianized forms. Urdu forms the segment of the chain more towards the Persian side and Hindi forms the segment of the chain more towards the Sanskrit side. The langugage generally spoken in the north of the Indian subcontinent is basically halfway between the two extremes and represents Hindustani.

Despite this, the casual spoken languages are similar and in some cases not even distinguishable. For example, it is said that Indian movies are made in Hindi, but the language used in many of these movies is exactly the language used by Urdu speakers in Pakistan. On the other hand, Pakistani TV dramas are said to be made in Urdu, yet the language used in many of these dramas is exactly the language used by Hindi speakers in India.

As the language gets more formal the difference between the two languages starts to become clearer. In more serious speech and writing, the Sanskritization or Arabo-Persianization will become more pronounced. The languages used in newscasts, encyclopaedia articles and courtrooms become very heavily Sanskritized or Persianized and may be nearly unintelligible to speakers from the other languages.

So Urdu speakers will find their own language in the Hindi cinema, but they will not be able to understand newscasts from Hindi channels. On the other hand, Indian Hindi speakers will find their own language in Urdu TV dramas but will not be able to understand newscasts from Urdu channels.

Speakership and geographic distribution

In Pakistan Urdu is spoken as a mother tongue by a majority of urban dwellers in such cities as Karachi and Hyderabad in the southern province of Sindh. In spite of its status as the national language, however, only 8% of Pakistanis speak Urdu as their first language with about 48% speaking Punjabi as a mother tongue. It is, however, the language of prestige and all signage, and literacy is compulsory in the Pakistani school system. As time goes by, more and more Pakistanis of Punjabi or other background are speaking Urdu as a first language. It is evident that the number of native Urdu speakers is increasing quickly in urban centers.

In India, Urdu is spoken as a mother tongue by many in the northern and central states. While, in India, Muslims might ostensibly be seen as tending to identify more with Urdu, Hindus and Sikhs naturally speak Urdu regardless of religion, especially when they have grown up in such traditional Urdu-strongholds such as Lucknow and Hyderabad. Some would contend that the brand of "Hindi" spoken in Northern India is in fact closer to Urdu than Hindi in everyday speech. Much of the Indian 'Bollywood' cinema scene, whether in dialogue or filmi songs, is dominated by Urdu, as opposed to pure Hindi, vocabulary.

Apart from the Indian subcontinent, Urdu is also spoken in urban Afghanistan. It is also spoken to some extent in the major urban centres in the Persian Gulf countries and in Saudi Arabia. Urdu is also spoken by a large number of people in the major urban centres of the UK, the USA, Canada and Australia.

Coutries with large numbers of Urdu speakers.

Official Status

Urdu is the sole official language of Pakistan. Although English is used in most elite circles and Punjabi has plurality of native speakers, Urdu is seen as the one tongue that will, in the course of time, replace even occasional use of English or Punjabi as it becomes better-known throughout the country. Urdu is one of the official languages of India, and while the government school system emphasizes Hindi, many universities, especially in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, continue to foster Urdu as a language of prestige and learning. In Jammu and Kashmir, Urdu is the state's official language.

Grammar

Urdu nouns fall into two grammatical genders : masculine and feminine. Although there is disagreement over the gender of some words, particularly words newly introduced from English which do not have genders.

In Urdu there is also the presence of either a singular or a plural state.

Politeness

A host of words are used to show respect and politeness. These words are generally used with people who are older in age or with whom you are not acquainted. For example the English word 'you' can be translated into three words in Urdu 'tu' (informal, extremely intimate, or derogatory) 'tum' (informal) and 'aap' (formal and respectful).

Vocabulary

Urdu has a vocabulary very rich in words with South Asian and Middle Eastern origins. The Urdu language is dominated by words from Arabic, Persian and Hindi. There are also a number of words from Turkish, Sanskrit, Portuguese and English. Many of the Arabic words have found a place in Urdu Language, though with slightly flavoured meanings and usabilities.

Writing System

Urdu is written in a derivative of the Persian alphabet which is itself derivative of the Arabic alphabet. It is read from right to left. Urdu is similar in appearance and letters to Arabic, Persian, and Pashto. Urdu differs in appearance from Arabic in that it uses the more complex and sinuous nastaliq script whereas Arabic tends to the more modern naskh. Nastaliq is notoriously difficult to typeset, so Urdu newspapers are made from hand-written masters. Although the styles are different, people who can read Urdu can read Arabic, as Arabic uses the same alphabet but with fewer letters. There are efforts underway to develop more practical Urdu support on computers.

Usually, bare transliterations of Urdu into Roman letters omit many subtle pronunciations which have no equivalent in English or other languages which are written with the Roman alphabet, such as a sharp exhale at the end of certain words (known as aspirations). It should be noted that a reasonable and scientific system has emerged with specific notations to signify non-English sounds, but it is only properly read by someone already familiar with Urdu or Hindi; phoneticizing script, however, does serve a valid purpose as it would allow Indians, who usually write Hindi and even Urdu in Devnagari script, to commincate with Pakistanis only familiar with nastaliq.

A list of the alphabet of Urdu along with their pronunciation is given under. A more detailed list with detailed phonetic information will be added later on.

Literature

Urdu has been used as a language for literature for a short period of time. Persian being the language of choice until recently. But even so a varied and extensive literature of the language has come up.

A large number of volumes of Islamic works are present in Urdu. Currently the most important and widely read of these are ascribed to Maulana Syed Abul A'la Maududi.

Two genres have seen a lot of development in Urdu as compared to other languages. The Daastaan is a long long story which might include multiple story lines, plots and may not have any particular focus but it had the usage of beautiful lingustic structures, it is not used any more. The Afsaana is a short story. It has come to become the primary genre of Urdu literature. The most well known Afsana writers or Afsana Nigaar in Urdu are Saadat Hasan Manto, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Munshi Premchand and Krishan Chander. Premchand, a Hindu writer, became known as a pioneer in the afsana, though some contend his were not technically the first, and showed that religion was not a bar to Urdu's grand capacity to express.

Poetry

Urdu is very well known for its beautiful Urdu poetry. Urdu was the premiere language of poetry in South Asia for two centuries and has a large and rich collection of poetry in a host of different poetic forms.

The Ghazal (غزل) is a form of poetry that was used extensively by poets all over South Asia. Generally by Muslim poets. But its beauty and grace has made it well liked by people from all faiths all over the region. Mir, Ghalib and Faiz are some of the premiere poets in the genre of Ghazal.

Except for Ghazal the poetic forms of Rubai, Masnavi, Qaseeda, Geet, Marsia, Shehr aashob, Doha, Urdu and Nauha are very well developed in Urdu. Foreign forms such as Sonnet and Haiku have also been used by Urdu poets, mainly in the modern era.

Urdu also gave birth to a new genre of poetry, the Noha (نوحہ). It usually describes the circumstances of the Martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain in the form of an elegy occasinally accompanied by lamentation.

Examples

See also

• Hindustani
• Urdu poetry
• ghazal
• List of Urdu poets
• Pakistan
• India
• Hindi
• Bollywood

External links

• ROMAN URDU (http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2003-daily/08-09-2003/oped/o5.htm)
• Ethnologue report for Urdu (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=URD)
• Introductory Urdu (Volume 1) (http://dsal.uchicago.edu/digbooks/dig_toc.html?BOOKID=PK1983.N2_1999_V1)
• Introductory Urdu (Volume 2) (http://dsal.uchicago.edu/digbooks/dig_toc.html?BOOKID=PK1983.N2_1999_V2)
• BBC News in Urdu (http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/)
• Urdu Wikipedia (http://ur.wikipedia.org)
• The New Urdu (http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2003-daily/08-09-2003/oped/o5.htm)