Language Change: Exploring Phonological features of Old Urdu

By Maham Said
Language description and Preservation
Instructor: Sir Akhter Aziz

 

1.      Introduction

Languages change and evolve with the passage of time. Several key properties of language such as arbitrariness, systematicity, structure-dependence, displacement, specialization, and cultural transmission are defined as observable properties of language. Duality and productivity can be added to this list. As language demonstrates the key property of duality this enables productivity. In the late 1970s, Lyons defined productivity as:

“…that property of the language-system which enables native speakers to construct and understand an indefinitely large number of utterances, including utterances that they have never previously encountered.” (Lyons, 1977)

This means that language can be used to produce an infinite set of new and meaningful utterances. We can say things that no one has ever said before or state previous ideas in new ways. Such novel utterances are meaningful and readily interpretable by others. All the languages undergo change in certain linguistic ways. Change may occur on lexical, phonological or syntactic level. Modern languages are said to have evolved due to different socio-political/socio-economic reasons. Hudson quotes Trask for his claim that modern languages started out as dialects of much earlier languages, while some came about comparatively recently by the process of pidginization and creolization’. (2005 p.52) According to Trask (1994), living languages have a tendency to change over time. This change may be explained in phonetic, lexical, syntactic and semantic terms. New words, novel meanings, different pronunciations, deviant grammatical forms are continuously coming into use replacing the older ones. Certain causes of language change can be stated in term of:

• Economy:  In order to reach communicative goals, speakers often use utterances that are efficient and effective. Trade-off of cost and benefits must be inculcated in purposeful speaking.
• the principle of least effort: Phonetics reduction of speech forms occur due to speakers economy in articulation. vowel reduction, cluster reduction, lenition, and elision. A change may be accepted widely after some time (it becomes a regular sound change) and may end up treated as a standard. For instance: going to [ˈɡoʊ.ɪŋ.tʊ] → gonna [ˈɡɔnə] or [ˈɡʌnə], with examples of both vowel reduction [ʊ] → [ə] and elision [nt] → [n], [oʊ.ɪ] → [ʌ].
• Analogy: reducing word forms by likening different forms of the word to the root.
• Language contact: borrowing of words and constructions from foreign languages.
• The medium of communication.
• Cultural environment: Groups of speakers will reflect new places, situations, and objects in their language, whether they encounter different people there or not.
• Migration/Movement: Speakers will change and create languages, such as pidgins and creoles.

1.1.             Urdu Language:

Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language widely spoken in Pakistan, the northern parts of India and in Jammu & Kashmir. The language family tree of Urdu is described as: Indo-European>Indo-Iranian>Indo-Aryan>Urdu. Urdu, Hindi, Hindustani and Hindi-Urdu are some terms that are used interchangeably by linguists depending on the geographical region, context and situation. Urdu and Hindi are similar in their grammatical structure and semantics but are different in script, phonology and some of the vocabulary.

Urdu has a strong Perso-Arabic influence in its vocabulary and is written in a Perso-Arabic script from right to left; whereas Hindi has a strong influence of Sanskrit and the other native languages of India and is written in Devangari script from left to right.

1.2.            Urdu Orthography:

Urdu has a derivative Persian script which is itself a derivative of Arabic script with some addition of new letters under influence of the native languages of the region. Urdu is mostly written in Nastaleeq script which is cursive, context-sensitive and complex system of writing for Perso-Arabic scripts. Urdu is written from right to left.

1.3.            Urdu Morphology:

Urdu is an Amalgamative language (blend of root words) (Siddiqi, 1971). Despite Urdu is an Indo-European languages, its grammar is very complex and is different in many ways from the other Indo-European languages. In follows SOV order (Subject-object-verb) having relatively free word order. It shows mixed ergativity (verb that can be either transitive or intransitive, and whose subject when intransitive, corresponds to its direct object when transitive) therefore in some cases verb agrees with the object rather than subject.

1.4.            Nouns:

Urdu is a weak inflected language. The function of noun in a sentence is usually shown by postpositions. In Urdu, noun can be inflected in number and case. A noun can be singular or plural. For example:

Singular: Lerka, Kitab

Plural: Lerkey, Kitabain

1.5.            Purpose and Limitations:

The present paper aims at identifying briefly, the phonological variations between old and new Urdu. Due to time restriction and unavailability of older books, authentic old Urdu scripts could not be found for orthographic and lexical study of the terms, thus only differences in pronunciation patterns has been observed. The script chosen for the analysis is a ghazal by 16^th c.  Poet Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, who wrote in Dakhini Urdu. The second poem chosen for analysis is by Khvaja Mir Dard, 18^thc.  poet who was famous for great expression and mystical writings.

2.     Analysis of Old Urdu Literary text

 

2.1.            Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah              

Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (1580–1612 CE) was the fifth sultan of the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golkonda and founded the city of Hyderabad, in South-central India and built its architectural centerpiece, the Charminar. He was an able administrator and his reign is considered one of the high points of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. He ascended to the throne in 1580 at the age of 15 and ruled for 31 years.

Quli Qutb Shah was a scholar of Arabic, Persian and Telugu languages. He wrote poetry in Dakhini Urdu, Persian, and Telugu. His poetry has been compiled into a volume entitled ‘Kulliyat-e-Quli Qutub Shah’. Quli Qutub Shah had the distinction of being the first Saheb-e-dewan Urdu poet and is credited with introducing a new sensibility into prevailing genres of Persian/Urdu poetry.

Dakhini Urdu:

Dakhini ( دکنی‎) arose as a Muslim court language of the Deccan Plateau ca. 1300 AD in ways similar to Urdu. It is similar to Urdu in its influence from Persian with a Hindi base, but differs because of the strong influence of Arabic, Persian, Marathi, Konkani, Telugu and Kannada spoken in the states of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Dakhini, though built on a base of Khadi Boli, influenced the development of Urdu. This was achieved primarily through the continual interaction of Sufi poets, courtesans and public between the Deccan and the Mughal Courts and the Khadi Boli heartland. Noteworthy are the contributions of Wali Dakhni, a famous poet of Dakhni, who visited Delhi in 1700.

piya tuj ishq kun deti hun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deviation from Modern Urdu

Old Urdu	Pronounced as	In modern Urdu the word refer to	English Translation
Tuj	Aspirated  form as in ‘tujh’	Tujhey, tumhey	You
Kuun	Nasalised vowel sound produced with ‘oo’ after /k/ sound	Kioon –diphthong with /i/ and /u:/ sound produced	Why
haur	Pronounced with a /w/ sound as in ‘hawr’	Haar with gliding /a:/ sound produced	Failed
Tuu	Nasalized vowel /u:/ sound produced	Tum	You
Juun	Nasalized sound produced with /u:/ as in kuun and tuu	Jab	When

 

 

2.2.        Khvaja Mir Dard  (1720-1784)                                                                            

Khwaja Mir Dard, a Sufi poet and theologian of eighteenth-century Delhi, is one of the three major poets of the Delhi School - the other two being Mir Taqi Mir and Mirza Sauda - who could be called the pillars of the classical Urdu ghazal. Dard is recognised as the first mystic, who regards the phenomenal world as a veil of the eternal reality, and this life as a term of exile from our real home. He is a renowned poet in Persian and is ranked also among the “four pillars” (foundational poets) of the Urdu poetical tradition. Not only did he substantially influence Urdu poetical forms and vocabulary, he is also acknowledged as the greatest mystical poet in the language.

Dard believes the power of expression to be one of the finest gifts granted to mankind—and only to mankind—and he posits equality between possessing humanity and mastering the art of speech. Understanding this concept well and expressing it to others in a beautiful manner is, he believes, the mark of “manhood” (Adam yat).

 Tujhi ko jo yan jalwa farma na dekha

tujhi ko jo yan jalwa farma na dekha 
barabar hai duniya ko dekha na dekha 
mera guncha-e-dil hai woh dil-girifta 
k jis ko kaso ne kabhi wa na dekha 
kiya mujh ko dagon sarw-e-chiragan
kabho tu ne akar tamasha na dekha 
shab-o-roz aye "Dard" darapai hun us ke 
kaso ne jise yan samjha na dekha

Deviation from Modern Urdu

Old Urdu	Pronounced as	In modern Urdu the words refer to	English Translation
yan	Nasalized long vowel /a:/ sound is produced after/y/	Yahan. /h/ sound is produced followed by long nasalized /a:/ sound.	Here
Kaso ne	Sounds /k/ /a/ /s/ /o/ are all produced.	The word refers to modern day ‘kese ne’. /e/ sound is produced instead of /a/ /o/ sound in kaso	Anyone, anybody
Wa na	Long vowel sound ‘aa’ produced after ‘w’ sound Sounds ‘na’ produced as it is	Refers to modern ‘wahan’	Not there
Kabho	Voiced aspirated ‘bho’ sound is produced. Vowels sounds /a/ and /o/ are produced as it is. Like in ‘kaso’.	Refers to modern ‘kabhe.	Whenever
Tu ne	Contrasts with nasalized ‘tuun’ sound in the previous poem. Long vowel /u:/ sound is produced after /t/.	Refers to modern ‘tum ne’	You

 

 References:

Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Trask, L. (2005). Language Change. Ed. by Hudson, R. Taylor and Francis e-Library. Retrieved

             on April 25^th,2015 from https://books.google.com.pk/books

Ziad, H. The Nature and Art of Discourse in the Religious Writings of Khvaja Mir Dard.

            Retrieved  on  April 25^th,2015 from http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/20/10Ziad.pdf

Zahid, S. et.al. (2012). Semantic Change in Urdu: A Case Study of ‘Mashkoor’. Government

            College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan. doi:10.5539/ass.v8n2p164

             URL:  http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v8n2p164