# Urdu: Absorption of words from local Pakistani languages



## tarkshya

As we all know, Urdu's center of gravity has shifted to Pakistan post partition. I am interested in knowing if the Urdu spoken and written in Pakistan is absorbing words from Pakistan's local languages like Pashto, Baluchi, Sindhi etc? Can somebody give a listing of such words?

Please note that I am not asking for Persian or Arabic words even if they have been incorporated recently. Persian and Arabic are traditionally considered source repository for Urdu vocabulary, so these words presumably always "belonged to" Urdu.


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## HZKhan

I haven't seen any words from Pashto and Balochi in Urdu yet, but yes some easily understood panjabi words are used by authors originating from Panjab to give their writing a local and colloquial touch. As for Sindhi, I can think of only two or three words and set phrases that have been used so far in written Urdu.
Therefore it is correct to say that lexically the contribution of local languages to Urdu is still negligible.


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## tarkshya

Are these local words/phrases used as a matter of fact in Urdu, or are they used only in specialized cases just to give an ethnic touch to the writing as you mentioned.  Can you give some examples?


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## tonyspeed

tarkshya said:


> As we all know, Urdu's center of gravity has shifted to Pakistan post partition. I am interested in knowing if the Urdu spoken and written in Pakistan is absorbing words from Pakistan's local languages like Pashto, Baluchi, Sindhi etc? Can somebody give a listing of such words?
> 
> Please note that I am not asking for Persian or Arabic words even if they have been incorporated recently. Persian and Arabic are traditionally considered source repository for Urdu vocabulary, so these words presumably always "belonged to" Urdu.



I think that probably the locals themselves may add words, but the standard has not absorbed it. On the "The Story of India" DVD, a man used Pashto numbers while speaking Urdu which stumped me for a while.


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## marrish

This can be a reference to expand: Thread: Urdu: the Karachite dialect


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## Alfaaz

tarkshya said:
			
		

> I am interested in knowing if the Urdu spoken and written in Pakistan is absorbing words from Pakistan's local languages like Pashto, Baluchi, Sindhi etc?


This could probably be viewed from two perspectives, which would result in slightly different answers:

Yes: At a local/micro/regional level, speakers might add and incorporate words from other languages.
 Authors/poets/media might include certain words to depict a certain dialect, atmosphere, culture, etc. 
Culinary and cultural terms might also be absorbed/borrowed.

No: At a national and international (Pakistan and India) level, it seems that there hasn't been much borrowing of words from regional languages in comparison to that from Sanskrit, Prakrit,  Arabic, Persian, English, etc.
Post #6 in the other forum (link provided below) presents a possible reason for this. 

Here is an interesting article by Ashfaq Ahmad related to this subject.

Words from other languages that are currently included in Urdu Lughat (online) or often used in media: 

Sindhi: سائیں (masculine)/سائن (feminine), _adaa/adii_ (_brother/sister_)
Pushto: لوبہ , پخیر راغلی
Punjabi: لارا ,لڈی ,مخول ,ماہی

Additions to the list by other forum members, references to articles on the topic and lists of words would be helpful!

Corrections of any mistakes or misconceptions would be appreciated.


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## tarkshya

The list seems to be surprisingly small. Unless no more words are forthcoming, I would think that despite being the national language of Pakistan for more than 60 years, Urdu seems to be disconnected from the soil where it is supposed to take root.


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## HZKhan

tarkshya said:


> The list seems to be surprisingly small. Unless no more words are forthcoming, I would think that despite being the national language of Pakistan for more than 60 years, Urdu seems to be disconnected from the soil where it is supposed to take root.



For the most part, that has never been the concern of Urduphones and Urdu literati. And if someone's asking for my opinion, I would not relish the inclusion of words from local languages at the expense of Arabo-Persian words.


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## tonyspeed

tarkshya said:


> The list seems to be surprisingly small. Unless no more words are forthcoming, I would think that despite being the national language of Pakistan for more than 60 years, Urdu seems to be disconnected from the soil where it is supposed to take root.



I can't remember who said this, (it was in some book or article I was reading), but the culture surrounding Urdu has a reputation for being prescriptivist in nature. This has a way of withstanding changes, especially changes not viewed as coming from the prestige languages: Arabic and Persian.


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## Cilquiestsuens

tarkshya said:


> I would think that despite being the national language of Pakistan for more than 60 years, Urdu seems to be disconnected from the soil where it is supposed to take root.



I am sure many PK Urdu speakers will enjoy this statement thoroughly, despite it being almost completely wrong.


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## mundiya

tonyspeed said:


> I can't remember who said this, (it was in some book or article I was reading), but the culture surrounding Urdu has a reputation for being prescriptivist in nature. This has a way of withstanding changes, especially changes not viewed as coming from the prestige languages: Arabic and Persian.



It was a description by SR Faruqi in an article (p. 102) you posted on the "gender of fikr" thread (see below).  Also relevant to this thread is the comment of an Urdu speaker quoted in the article (p. 103) - _'Acknowledging that the Urdu script has been kept vital in Pakistan, the writer of the post opines that: "[...] the Urdu that is spoken in Pakistan is now heavily corrupted by local dialects...." '  _

Unfortunately, no examples of the "corrupted" Urdu were given.



tonyspeed said:


> www.urdustudies.com/pdf/26/11ElenaBashir.pdf p.17 "Urdu and Lingustics: A Fraught but Evolving Relationship"
> 
> She seems to be speaking specifically about Pakistan.


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## gagun

any language should have slangs/flavors then only it will survive and it is my opinion only.


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## MSaiid101

Balochi is a Pakistani language??


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## Dib

Yes, it is spoken in Pakistan (and Iran and Afghanistan).


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## marrish

tarkshya and Pakistani Khan SaaHibaan, what I can think about is _vaDeraa_ - originally Sindhi and _chhaa'iiN_ for _tarbuuz_. The former being used all over in Urdu, I think it is also there in Urdu in India because it is a kind of a proper noun while the latter I heard from Sindhi speakers but I'm not sure if it is used by others in Urdu. Other words, also proper nouns as names of dishes like _sajjii_ = Balochi, _chaplii kabaab_ = from Pashto are common.


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## HZKhan

marrish said:


> tarkshya and Pakistani Khan SaaHibaan, what I can think about is _vaDeraa_ - originally Sindhi and _chhaa'iiN_ for _tarbuuz_.



vaDeraa is fairly common for feudalist landlords, but I haven't heard or seen the other word chhaa'iiN before.


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## marrish

marrish said:


> tarkshya and Pakistani Khan SaaHibaan, what I can think about is _vaDeraa_ - originally Sindhi and _chhaa'iiN_ for _tarbuuz_. The former being used all over in Urdu, I think it is also there in Urdu in India because it is a kind of a proper noun while the latter I heard from Sindhi speakers but I'm not sure if it is used by others in Urdu. Other words, also proper nouns as names of dishes like _sajjii_ = Balochi, _chaplii kabaab_ = from Pashto are common.





Pakistani Khan said:


> vaDeraa is fairly common for feudalist landlords, but I haven't heard or seen the other word chhaa'iiN before.


I heard chhaa'iiN from Sindhis in their Urdu. No wonder that you didn't hear it normally. It hasn't been adopted in Urdu in general in Pakistan. saa'iiN is also used but Alfaaz jii mentioned it already.


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