Assignment # 2 "Tori Soorat Kay Balihaari"

Language Preservation and Language Description

Dep: English

Submitted by:

Saima Jabeen

Reg# 2014 M/ phil Eng (ling) 017

M.phil sem 2^nd

ASSIGNMENT # 2

Draw out changes which have occurred in modern Urdu by taking an older text, identify and explain those changes as well.  

AMIR KHUSROW

Ab’ul Hasan Yamīn al-Dīn Khusrow (1253-1325 CE), better known as Amīr Khusrow (or Khusrau) Dehlawī , was an Indian musician, scholar and poet of Persian descent. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent. A Sufi mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, Amīr Khusrow was not only a notable poet but also a prolific and seminal musician. He wrote poetry primarily in Persian, but also in Hindavi. Khusro was a prolific classical poet associated with the royal courts of more than seven rulers of the Delhi Sultanate.

As Amir Khusrow was an ancient Urdu language poet of 13^th century so poems which he wrote were also in old Urdu. The poem which I took for an analysis is named as “Tori soorat kay balihaari, Nijaam”. In this poem, I will be analyzing the linguistic changes such as lexical, morphological, phonological and orthographic which occurred in Urdu language with the passage of time.

Tori Soorat Kay Balihaari

 

Tori soorat kay balihaari, Nijaam Tori soorat kay balihaari. Sab sakhiyan mein chundar meri mailee, Dekh hansain nar naari, Nijaam........ Ab ke bahar chundar meri rang de, Piya rakh lay laaj hamari, Nijaam...... Sadqa baba Ganj Shakar ka, Rakh lay laaj hamari, Nijaam........ Qutab, Farid mil aaye barati, 'Khusrau' raajdulaari, Nijaam....... Kouo saas kouo nanad say jhagday, Hamko aas tihaari, Nijaam..... Tori soorat kay balihaari, Nijaam.

Beholding your appearance, Oh Nijaam I offer myself in sacrifice. Amongst all the girls, my scarf is the most soiled, Look, the girls are laughing at me. This spring, please dye my scarf for me, Oh Nijaam, protect my honour. In the name of Ganj-e Shakar (Nizamuddin Aulia's pir), Protect my honour, Oh beloved Nijaam. Qutab and Farid have come in the wedding procession, And Khusrau is the loving bride, Oh Nijaam. Some have to fight with the mother-in-law, While some with sisters-in-law, But I have you for support, Oh Nijaam.

Analysis of poem

Lexical changes:

In this poem lot of lexical changes have been seen. This is plainly showing the development that has occurred in Urdu language from 13th century to up till now. These olds lexical items are archaic, because they had been used by Amir Khusrow and might be by poets and writers of his time. For example,

Tori:

“Tori” means “Tumhaari” in modern Urdu. This word is the part of poem’s title as well which has a great significance in itself.

Kouo:

Here in this poem, word “kouo” is used which is outdated now and no more in use. In modern urdu “kouo” means “koi”.

Tihaari:

This word is developed lexically in modern Urdu. In modern Urdu we use it like “Tumhari” instead of “tihaari”.

Morphological changes:

In this poem few morphological and syntactic changes have occurred in Urdu as well and they are:

ü  In the word “tori”, “wao” is replaced by “ha” and “alif” which a morphological change in the word

ü  “Kouo” is also changed in modern Urdu; this word “uo” is replaced by “oi” in modern Urdu version

ü  “Tahaari”, in this word morphological change which has occurred that is of in older Urdu version

ü  “meem” was not part of the word but now in modern Urdu we have “Tumhaari” instead of “Tihaari”

ü  “hamko”, in this word “a” is replaced in modern urdu with “u” and now it is written as “hum ko”

ü  “Najaam”, in this word, now in modern Urdu we use “z” instead of “j”

Syntactic changes:

In this poem, only one syntactic change is seen and that “Ab ke bahar”. Now a days in modern Urdu we write it like “es bahar” or “es dafa ki bahar”.

Phonological changes:

Because of lexical and morphological changes in words, it has also changed the sounds and pronunciation of the words as well. Few instances are

 Older Urdu                     Modern Urdu

Tori                                       Tumhaari

 Nijaam                                 nizaam

Kouo                                     koi

Hamko                                 hum ko

Tihaari                                 Aap ki or tumhaari

Archaic terms:

In this poem words like “Bilihaari”, “Piya”, “Nar Naari” , “chundar” and “sakhiyan” are used which are  now an archaic terms and they are no longer in use as well as they are not present in modern Urdu dictionaries.

Bilihaari            sadqa jana (Beholding)

Piya                    shohar (lover/ husband)

Nar Naari          mard and aurat (men and women)

Chundar            shawl/ scarf (scarf)

Sakhiyan           sahaliyan (friends)

References:  http://www.angelfire.com/sd/urdumedia/lyrics.html