Assignment # 2 by Shakila Naz

Assignment #2

Submitted by: Shakila Naz

An analysis of linguistic changes in Urdu language:

Historical linguistics:

Historical linguistics, also called Diachronic Linguistics,  the branch of  linguistics concerned with the study of phonological, grammatical, and semantic changes, the reconstruction of earlier stages of languages, and the discovery and application of the methods by which genetic relationships among languages can be demonstrated.

Studying Historical Linguistics faces the same issues and questions which are raised for other subjects, too: Why is focusing on the past important?

 One of the most common answers is that from the past we can understand more the present. This is generally true for Linguistics too. Only by drawing on how a language has changed over time, one can understand why this language has particular grammatical structures or phonological rules. However, this is not the only reason why Historical Linguistics is interesting.

 This subject allows one to compare different methodologies which have been used in the past and to evaluate which one provides us with more information and is the most efficient. Historical Linguistics also allows one to explore languages which do not exist anymore, such as Gothic, Old English, Latin, Sanskrit and so on. With no doubt, it is very fascinating to try to reconstruct how there languages might have sounded like, how they would have been written and used. Moreover, studying Historical Linguistics allows one to inevitably learn more about the culture, customs, religion, literature of the language studied in question and to gain a diachronic perspective of such aspects. Languages have indeed been greatly influenced by the culture of their speakers.

Introduction of the poet:

Wali Muhammad Wali (1667–1707), also known as Wali Deccani, Wali Gujarati and Wali Aurangabadi) was a classical Urdu poet from South Asia.

He is the first established poet to have composed Ghazals in Urdu Language and compiled a divan (a collection of ghazals where the entire alphabet is used at least once as the last letter to define the rhyme pattern).

Text

Sarood-e-aish gawein ham, ager wo ishwa saaz aawey

Sarood-e-aish gawein ham, ager wo ishwa saaz aawey
Bajawein tabl shadi ke, ager wo dil nawaz aawey

Khumar-e-hijer ne diya hai dard-e-ser mujkoon
Rakhoon nasha naman akhyaan mein ger wo mast-e-naaz aawey

Junoon ishq mein mujh ko'on nayin zanjeer ki hajit
Ager meri khaber lene ko'on wo zulf-e-daraz aawey

Adab ke ehtamam aage na paawey barda'an hergiz
Tere sa'ey ki pa bosi ko'on ger rang-e-ayaaz aawey

Analysis of the linguistic changes:

As Wali Muhammad was the writer of 17^th century, we can see a lot of linguistic differences between his work and the present day language. Below I have analyzed the linguistic changes in one of his piece of art.

Lexical Changes:

We can see many changes in the lexical items. These changes are explicitly showing the evolution that has occurred in Urdu language from 17th century to the present era. These   old lexical items are archaic, because they had been used in late 16^th century and early 17^th century. For example;

•       Gawein , Awey and Bajawein

 “gawein”,”bajawein” and “awey” are old lexical items for the words “gayen”, “aye”  and “bajaey” in Urdu language. These forms are no more being used in modern Urdu.

• Pawey, Koon And Mujkoon

In the same way “pawey” , “koon” and “mujkoon” are used for “paye”, “ko” and “muj ko”  respectively.

• Naman, nayin and gulaa:

Naman, nayin and gulaa are the old lexical forms for num, nehi and gul respectively in the present Urdu language.

All the above mentioned lexical items are no more in use in the present form of Urdu.  By this we can conclude, that Urdu has evolved with respect to its lexical items.

Grammatical (morphology)

 We can also observe a lot of morphological changes in the text. The changes can be seen in form of use of suffixes. The pattern of suffixes is different in every part of speech.

1)      Use of suffixes with verbs:

In the text suffix “wein” is used with verbs, for example; gawein and bajawein. But with other verbs instead of using suffixe an addition of “w” i.e. wow in Urdu has been done in the middle of the verb. For example;

“Pawey” and “awey”. The current uses for these verbs are paye and aye.

2)      Use of suffix with pronoun:

In the text suffix “noon” is used with prepositions, for example; “muj koon”.

3)      Use of suffix with noun:

With the noun given in the text suffix “alif”, is used. Which is absent in the present forms of prepositions, for example; “gulaa”.

This use of suffixes with different parts of speeches is making the modern version of Urdu different from that of the old version.

We can try to construct the modern version of the selected old text;

Sarood-e-aish gayen ham, ager wo ishwa saaz aye
Bajayen tabl shadi ke, ager wo dil nawaz aye

Khumar-e-hijer ne diya hai dard-e-ser muj ko
Rakhoon nasha num akhyaan mein ger wo mast-e-naaz aawey

Junoon ishq mein mujh ko nahe zanjeer ki hajit
Ager meri khaber lene ko wo zulf-e-daraz aye

Adab ke ehtamam aage na paye barda'an hergiz
Tere sa'ey ki pa bosi ko ger rang-e-ayaaz aye

Conclusion:

By comparing different lexical and morphological forms of both of the versions of the text of Urdu language, we can draw the conclusion that  Urdu language has changed and evolved over times  in terms of its all aspects of grammar, semantics and phonology etc. we can also try to discuss that how Urdu language has evolved.

This analysis is also allowing us to explore different words and structures of Urdu which do not exist anymore, that have been discussed in the above analysis.