Assignment # 2 Comparison of Urdu text Saba Karamat

Assignment # 2

Comparison of Urdu text

Introduction

Living languages have a tendency to change over time. This change may be explained in phonetic, syntactic and semantic terms. New words, novel meanings, different pronunciations, deviant grammatical forms are continuously coming into use replacing the older ones. (Trask, 1994)

Like other aspects of language, the meanings of words also change constantly. The scholars are interested in change in the meanings of linguistic expressions and the spread of specific forms into new meanings. The meanings of words with the passage of time may become more positive or negative, may become broader or narrower, turn more specialized or generalized and may also employ metaphor or different kinds of metonymy.

The meanings of different words in a language may perhaps be caused by the factors inside or outside the language (Campbell, 2004).

These factors cause different types of change in words’ meanings. Many researchers have proposed different mechanisms or ways of classifying these changes. As Geeraerts (2009) distinguishes between semasiological and onomasiological mechanisms. Semasiological mechanism provides existing words with new meaning and onomasiological involves changes through which a concept comes to be expressed by a new item. The new meaning of words can replace or coexist with the older one. Traugott and Dasher (2002) state that the old meanings of the words do not need to disappear. New meanings can coexist with the older ones.

The older meanings of words cause the existence of new ones following the process of expansion or omission. Briefly, lexical semantic change may occur due to the expansion in context, e.g. the term “pool” has undergone a wide increase in distribution as this term is now being used in a number of contexts. The other cause of semantic change may be omission where elimination of one word leads to change in meanings of the other words. English word “undertaker” is an example. The preferred context for the word “undertaker” was “funeral undertaker” but later “funeral” was omitted (Lehmann, 1992).

As for the source of semantic change, Auroux (2006) states that the causes of semantic change may be divided into linguistic and extra-linguistic ones. According to www.crack.ru/catalog/db/4420.doc, the change in lexical meaning of the noun “pen” was because of the extra-linguistic causes. Primarily “pen” goes back to the Latin word “penna” (a feather of a bird) when people wrote with goose pens. The name was shifted to the steel pens which were later on used for writing.

Living languages go through a changing process due to many social, economic and political circumstances.

Linguistic changes in the poem “Lakhi Babul” (Dear Father) by Ameer Khusro

Hazrat Amir Khusro (R.A) was the son of Amir Alachin a Turk from Laccheen. His actual name was Saifuddin Mahmood Shamsi. Ameer Khusro is a very popular Sufi poet, musician and a scholar. He is an iconic figure in the musical, poetic and cultural history of the Indo-Pak sub continent. The musical instruments “Sitar” and “Tabla” are said to have been invented by Ameer Khusro as well. He wrote his poetry mainly in Persian but his work has been translated in several languages all around the world. He is regarded as the “father of Qawwali” (a devotional music form of the Sufis in Pakistan and India). He is also believed to have introduced the Ghazal style of songs to the region. These music styles are still used widely all over the world these days. He is also credited with introducing Persian, Arabic and Turkish elements into classical music that is very popular in Pakistan and India. Delhi is proud of His Holiness and Hazrat Khusro. Delhi is proud of Urdu. It was in Delhi that Urdu was born, nourished and flourished. Hazrat Khusro is the father of Modern Urdu Literature.  Here is a linguistic analysis of one of his famous poems “Lakhi Babul” (Dear Father).

Theme of the poem “Lakhi Babul”

This poem is an address of a young daughter to her father who is being parted by her father after getting married. She is expressing her feelings of being not valued than her brothers. Being a daughter she cannot live with her father forever as she has to be married and go to the house of her husband. Her father’s place is not her permanent residence one day she has to leave her father’s house which is very painful to the daughter. Different expressions like “teray khoontay ki gayyan”,  “teray belay ki kaliyan” and  “teray pinjray ki chidiyan”, are used to show the weak nature of girls that they are just meant to do the household work only. The address is of complaining nature and there is a deep pain while she is expressing her feelings.

Levels of linguistic Analysis

This study is aim to analyze the poem “Lakhi Babul” by Ameer Khusro in order to find out lexical and syntactic changes over period of time. There are many lexical items in this poem which are replaced by new words.

Lexical items used in the poem	Translation in today’s Urdu	Translation in English
Kaahay ko	kyun	why
lakhi babul	piyare baap	Dear father
moray	meery.	my
mehlay	makaan	house
do-mehlay	do-manzla	Double storey
jid	jidr	Where ever
belay ki kaliyan	Bagh ki kahliyan	flower-buds of  garden,
teray pinjray ki chidiyan,	tumary pinjray k pirindy	birds from your cage,
ud jaayen	urr jaayen	fly off
Kothay talay	Chatt k nichy sy	beneath the terrace
Beeran	Veer, bhai	brothers
Dolee	Palaki	palanquin

In the very first line of the poem the words like Kaahay ko which means as kyun in today’s Urdu language, in the same line lakhi babul is replaced with piyare baap and moray with meery. In the next line mehlay is the word which is used for makaan and do-mehlay as do-manzla. Then there is one word as jid denoting jidr in Urdu language. Belay ki kaliyan, is another evidence where we can see lexical change in language as bela is used for bagh. Teray pinjray ki chidiyan, is another instance where linguistic change can be noticed, if we translate this line in conventional Urdu it would be like tumary pinjray k prindy. In the following lines the words like ud jaayen, if we translate this expression in nowadays language it would be like urr jaayen. Kothay talay, Beeran, Dolee are also the words which are used differently in Urdu nowadays.  

Discussion

Languages change with the passage of time as they are dynamic in nature. Urdu language has also undergone changes over time in its pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar as well as meanings. This study has come up with the argumentation that the meanings of words in Urdu have changed overtime.

The above changes show that languages tend to change over time. The user of a language has the authority to decide the correct meanings in language instead of the grammarian, lexicographer or the teachers. In general, the grammarians, lexicographers and the teachers are believed to have the authority to decide the correct structures, forms and meanings of words in a language. But Pakistani Urdu users including the students, general teachers and the Urdu teachers believe that it is not the grammarians, lexicographers or the teachers who decide correct forms in a language but the users of a language have this authority. They can use any new or alternative lexical item or form in a language and it will be acceptable as part of a language because each language survives on the basis of its usage.

APPENDIX

Lakhi Babul(Dear Father)

Kaahay ko biyaahi bides, ray, lakhi baabul moray,

Kaahay ko biyaahi bides……..
Bhayiyon ko diye babul mehlay do-mehlay,

Hum ko diya pardes, ray, lakhi babul……

Hum to hain babul teray khoontay ki gayyan,

Jid haankay hank jaayen, ray, lakhi babul……

Hum to hain babul teray belay ki kaliyan,

Ghar ghar maangi jaayen, ray lakhi babul……
Hum to hain babul teray pinjray ki chidiyan,
Bhor bhaye ud jaayen, ray, lakhi babul……
Taaqon bhari mainay gudiyan jo chhodeen
Choota sahelin ka saath, ray lakhi babul……
Kothay talay say palakiya jo nikli,
Beeran nay khaayi pachhad, ray, lakhi babul…..
Dolee ka parda uthakar jo dekha,
Aaya piya ka des, ray, lakhi babul moray.
Kaahay ko biyaahi bides, ray, lakhi baabul moray.

 English Translation:

Why did you part me from yourself, dear father, why?
You’ve given houses with two stories to my brothers,
And to me, a foreign land? Why dear father, why?
We (daughters) are just cows tied to your peg,
Will move on to where ever you drive us to, dear father.
We are just flower-buds of your garden,
And are asked for, in every household, dear father.
We are just birds from your cage,
Will fly off when its dawn again, dear father.
I’ve left at home, alcoves full of dolls;
And parted from my buddies too, dear father.
When my palanquin passed beneath the terrace,
My brother fainted and fell, dear father.
As I remove the curtain from the palanquin,
I see we’ve reached the beloved’s house, dear father.
Why did you part me from yourself, dear father, why?

References

Mirza, Waheed. (1962). The life and Works of Amir Khusraw. University of the Punjab, Lahore

Nadvi, Sayyid Sulaiman. (1933, July-August). Bihar Main Urdu. Nadeem, Bihar.

Akimoto, M. (2008). Rivalry among the verbs of wanting. In Maurizio Gotti, Marina Dossenna, Richard Dury(Eds.). English Historical Linguistics 2006, Volume II: Lexical and Semantic Change. (pp. 117-138). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Jalbi, J. (Ed.). (2002). Koomi angrezi urdu lughat. Alhamra Publishing Islamabad.