NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Urdu

Urdu (pronunciation (help· info), اردو, trans. Urdū, historically spelled Ordu) is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It developed under Persian and to a lesser degree Arabic and Turkic influence on apabhramshas during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire (1526–1858 AD) in South Asia.^[2] UAE redirects here; for other uses of that term, see UAE (disambiguation) The United Arab Emirates is an oil-rich country situated in the south-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia, comprising seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and a member of the European Union. ... Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ... Map of South Asia (see note) This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia. ... This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use. ... A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common proto-language. ... For other uses, see Indo-European. ... The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, which belong to the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Central Zone cricket team is a first-class cricket team that represents central India in the Duleep Trophy. ... Writing systems of the world today. ... Example of writing in the alphabet- ZabÄn-e-UrdÅ«-e-moalla Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Chalipa panel, Mir Emad. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_India. ... Andhra redirects here. ... For other uses, see Bihar (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Delhi. ... This article is about the area administered by India. ... , Madhya Pradesh (abbreviated as MP) (HindÄ«: à¤®à¤§à¥à¤¯ à¤ªà¥à¤°à¤¦à¥‡à¤¶, English: , IPA: ), often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. ... , Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: , Urdu: , IPA: , translation: Northern Province), [often referred to as U.P.], located in central-south Asia and northern India, is the most populous and fifth largest state in the Republic of India. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Fiji. ... The word Hindustani is an adjective used to denote a connection to India, or, more precisely, the historical region that encompasses Northern India, Pakistan, and nearby areas. ... The National Language Authority (Muqtadra Qaumi Zaban - Ù…Ù‚ØªØ¯Ø±Û Ù‚ÙˆÙ…ÛŒ Ø²Ø¨Ø§Ù†) (or Urdu Language Authority[1]) is an autonomous regulatory institution established in 1979 to support the advancements and promotion of Urdu which is the national language of Pakistan. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. ... The Unicode Standard, Version 5. ... Image File history File links Hi-Urdu. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, which belong to the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. ... For other uses, see Indo-European. ... Farsi redirects here. ... Arabic redirects here. ... The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are traditionally considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family. ... The term Apabhramsha refers to the dialects of North India before the rise of modern North Indian languages. ... The Delhi Sultanate (Ø¯Ù„ÛŒ Ø³Ù„Ø·Ù†Øª), or Sulthanath-e-Hind (Ø³Ù„Ø·Ù†ØªÙ ÛÙ†Ø¯) / Sulthanath-e-Dilli (Ø³Ù„Ø·Ù†ØªÙ Ø¯Ù„ÛŒ) refers to the various Muslim dynasties that ruled in India from 1210 to 1526. ... Capital Delhi / Agra Language(s) Persian (initially also Chagatai, Turkish; later also Urdu) Government Monarchy Emperor - 1526-1530 Babur - 1530â€“1539 and after restoration 1555â€“1556 Humayun - 1556â€“1605 Akbar - 1605â€“1627 Jahangir - 1628â€“1658 Shah Jahan - 1659â€“1707 Aurangzeb History - Established April 21, 1526 - Ended September 21, 1857 Area... Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ...

Urdu is a standardised register of Hindustani^[3] termed khaṛībolī, that emerged as a standard dialect.^[4] The grammatical description in this article concerns this standard Urdū. In general, the term "Urdū" can encompass dialects of Hindustani other than the standardised versions. In linguistics, a register is a subset of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. ... Hindustani redirects here. ... Khariboli (also Khadiboli, Khadi-Boli, or Khari dialect), (Hindi: à¤–à¤¡à¤¼à¥€ à¤¬à¥‹à¤²à¥€; Urdu: ÙƒÙ‡Ú‘Ù‰ Ø¨ÙˆÙ„Ù‰, khaá¹›Ä« bolÄ«; lit. ... A standard language (also standard dialect or standardized dialect) is a particular variety of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status. ...

Standard Urdu has approximately the twentieth largest population of native speakers, among all languages. It is the national language of Pakistan as well as one of the 23 official languages of India. A national language is a language (or language variant, i. ... Indian constitution recognizes 22 languages as National languages 1. ...

Urdu is often contrasted with Hindi, another standardised form of Hindustani. The main differences between the two are that Standard Urdu is conventionally written in Nastaliq calligraphy style of the Perso-Arabic script and draws vocabulary more heavily from Persian and Arabic than Hindi, while Standard Hindi is conventionally written in Devanāgarī and draws vocabulary from Sanskrit comparatively more heavily. Linguists nonetheless consider Urdu and Hindi to be two standardized forms of the same language.^[5] Hindi (DevanÄgarÄ«: or , IAST: , IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is used, along with English, for central government administrative purposes. ... Nastaliq (Ù†Ø³ØªØ¹Ù„ÙŠÙ‚) is a specific style for writing in the Arabic alphabet. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing the Arabic language, which is the language of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. ... () is an abugida script used to write several Indo-Aryan languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati,Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Marwari, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Pahari (Garhwali and Kumaoni), Santhali, Nepali, Newari, Tharu and sometimes Kashmiri and Romani. ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ...

[edit] Speakers and geographic distribution

Urdu is spoken in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UAE, Saudi-Arabia, Mauritius, Canada, Germany, USA, Iran, Afganistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Maledives, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, South Africa, Oman, Australia, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Botswana, Ireland and United Kingdom. There are between 60 and 80 million native speakers of standard Urdu (Khari Boli). According to the SIL Ethnologue (1999 data), Hindi/Urdu is the fifth most spoken language in the world. According to Comrie (1998 data^[6]), Hindi-Urdu is the second most spoken language in the world, with thirty million native speakers, after Mandarin and possibly English. Because of Urdu's similarity to Hindi, speakers of the two languages can usually understand one another, if both sides refrain from using specialized vocabulary. Indeed, linguists sometimes count them as being part of the same language diasystem. However, Urdu and Hindi are socio-politically different, and people who self-describe as being speakers of Hindi would question their being counted as native speakers of Urdu, and vice-versa. Image File history File links Zaban_urdu_mualla. ... Image File history File links Zaban_urdu_mualla. ... Nastaliq (Ù†Ø³ØªØ¹Ù„ÙŠÙ‚) is a specific style for writing in the Arabic alphabet. ... SIL International is a worldwide non-profit evangelical Christian organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document lesser-known languages in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy and aid minority language development. ... Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language. ... // The Relationship between Hindi, Urdu, and Hindustani/Hindi-Urdu Hindustani (or the Hindustani language) is a term used by linguists to describe a closely related series of languages or dialects stretching across the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. ... This article is on all of the Northern and Southwestern Chinese dialects. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Hindi (DevanÄgarÄ«: or , IAST: , IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is used, along with English, for central government administrative purposes. ... In linguistics, in the field of structural dialectology, a diasystem is a single genetic language which has two or more standard forms. ...

In Pakistan, Urdu is spoken and understood by a majority of urban dwellers in such cities as Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Abbottabad, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Multan, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Sukkur and Sargodha. Urdu is used as the official language in all provinces of Pakistan. It is also taught as a compulsory language up to high school in both the English and Urdu medium school systems. This has produced millions of Urdu speakers whose mother tongue is one of the regional languages of Pakistan such as Punjabi, Hindku, Sindhi, Pashto, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Balochi, Siraiki, and Brahui. Urdu is the lingua franca of Pakistan and is absorbing many words from regional languages of Pakistan. The regional languages are also being influenced by Urdu vocabulary. There are millions of Pakistanis whose mother tongue is not Urdu but since they have studied in Urdu medium schools they can read and write Urdu but can only speak their mother tongue. Most of the nearly five million Afghan refugees of different ethnic origins (such as Pathan, Tajik, Uzbek, Hazarvi, and Turkmen) who stayed in Pakistan for over twenty-five years have also become fluent in Urdu. A very large number of newspapers are published in Urdu in Pakistan, including the Daily Jang, Nawa-i-Waqt, Millat, among many others (see List of newspapers in Pakistan). (Sindhi: , Urdu: ) is the largest city in Pakistan and is the provincial capital of Sindh province. ... (Urdu: Ù„Ø§ÛÙˆØ±, Punjabi: Ù„ÛÙˆØ±, pronounced ) is the capital of the Punjab and is the second largest city in Pakistan after Karachi. ... (Urdu: Ø±Ø§ÙˆÙ„Ù¾Ù†ÚˆÛŒ) is a city in the Potwar Plateau near Pakistans capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. ... For other places called Islamabad, see Islamabad (disambiguation). ... Abbottabad (Urdu: Ø§ÛŒØ¨Ù¹ Ø¢Ø¨Ø§Ø¯) is the principal city of Abbottabad District in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. ... (Urdu: ÙÛŒØµÙ„ Ø¢Ø¨Ø§Ø¯) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. ... Hyderabad or HaydarÄbÄd (Urdu: ØÙŠØ¯Ø± Ø¢Ø¨Ø§Ø¯) is located in the Sindh province of Pakistan (formerly known as Neroon Kot Ù†ÙŠØ±ÙÙˆÙ† ÚªÙˆÙ½). Formerly the capital of Sindh and known as the city of perfumes, it is now a regional headquarter of the district of Hyderabad. ... Multan shown on a 1669 world map (Urdu: Ù…Ù„ØªØ§Ù†) is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. ... (Urdu: Ù¾Ø´Ø§ÙˆØ±; Pashto: Ù¾ÚšÙˆØ±) literally means City on the Frontier in Persian and is known as Pekhawar in Pashto. ... Gujranwala (Urdu: Ú¯ÙˆØ¬Ø±Ø§Ù†ÙˆØ§Ù„Û) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan with a city population of 1,132,509 (1998 census). ... Sialkot (Urdu/Punjabi: Ø³ÛŒØ§Ù„Ú©ÙˆÙ¹ ) is a city situated in the north-east of the Punjab province in Pakistan at the feet of the snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. ... Sukkur (Urdu:Ø³Ú©Ø±, Sindhi: Ø³Ú©Ú¾Ø±) is the third largest city of Sindh province, situated on the west bank of Indus River (Pakistan) in Sukkur District. ... Sargodha (Urdu: ) is the capital city of Sargodha District in Punjab province, Pakistan, it is located in northeast Pakistan, to the west-northwest of Lahore on the lower Jhelum Canal. ... Punjabi (also Panjabi; in GurmukhÄ«, PanjÄbÄ« in ShÄhmukhÄ«) is the language of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ... Hindku is a minority living in the province of kohat in the north west frontiers in Pakistan. ... SindhÄ« (Ø³Ù†ÚŒÙŠ, à¤¸à¤¿à¤¨à¥à¤§à¥€) is the language of the Sindh region of South Asia, which is now a province of Pakistan. ... Pashto (پښتو; also known as Afghan, Pushto, Pashto, Pashtoe, Pashtu, and Pukhto) is the language spoken by the ethnic Afghan otherwise known as the Pashtun people who inhabit Afghanistan and the Western provinces of Pakistan. ... Gujarati (àª—à«àªœàª°àª¾àª¤à«€ GujÇŽrÄtÄ«; also known as Gujerati, Gujarathi, Guzratee, and Guujaratee[3]) is an Indo-Aryan language descending from Sanskrit, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. ... For other uses, see Kashmiri (disambiguation) Kashmiri is a Dardic language spoken primarily in Kashmir, an Asian region now split between India, Pakistan and China. ... Balochi (also Baluchi, Baloci or Baluci) is a Northwestern Iranian language. ... Siraiki (Urdu: Ø³Ø±Ø§ÛŒÛŒÚ©ÛŒ ) is a language mostly spoken in the provinces of Sindh and the Punjab in central Pakistan by about 1. ... The Brahui (Ø¨Ø±ÙˆÛÛŒ) or Bravi (Ø¨Ø±Ø§ÙˆÙ) language, spoken by the Brahui, is mainly spoken in Balochistan, Pakistan, although it is also spoken in Afghanistan and Iran. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... The Muhajir or Mohajir Afghans are the Afghan refugees that fled Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979. ... The Pashtuns (also Pushtun, Pakhtun (Persian: Ù¾Ø®ØªÙˆÙ†) (Urdu: Ù¾Ø´ØªÙˆÙ† ), or Pathan) or ethnic Afghans[4] are an ethno-linguistic group living primarily in eastern and southern Afghanistan and in North West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Baluchistan provinces of Pakistan. ... Tajikmay refer to: Tajiks, an ethnic group living in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and China The Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan The Arabic-schooled, ethnically Persian administrative caste of the Turco-Persian society. ... Language(s) Hazaragi/Dari (Hazaragi and Dari dialects) Religion(s) Shia, some Sunni Related ethnic groups Mongol, Turkic, Iranian The Hazara are an ethnic group who reside mainly in the central region of Afghanistan, called Hazarajat or Hazaristan. ... The Daily Jang () is the largest Urdu language newspaper. ... Nawa-i-Waqt (Urdu: Ø±ÙˆØ²Ù†Ø§Ù…Û Ù†ÙˆØ§Û’ ÙˆÙ‚Øª) is an Urdu language daily newspaper in Pakistan. ... Millat (Urdu: Ø±ÙˆØ²Ù†Ø§Ù…Û Ù…Ù„Øª) is a Urdu daily newspaper in Pakistan. ... Below is a list of newspapers published in Pakistan. ...

In India, Urdu is spoken in places where there are large Muslim minorities or cities which were bases for Muslim Empires in the past. These include parts of Uttar Pradesh (namely Lucknow), Delhi, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mysore, Ajmer, and Ahmedabad.^[7] Some Indian schools teach Urdu as a first language and have their own syllabus and exams. Indian madrasahs also teach Arabic as well as Urdu. India has more than 29 daily Urdu newspapers. Newspapers such as Sahara Urdu Daily Salar, Hindustan Express, Daily Pasban, Siasat Daily, Munsif Daily and Inqilab are published and distributed in Bangalore, Mysore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai (see List of newspapers in India). , Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: , Urdu: , IPA: , translation: Northern Province), [often referred to as U.P.], located in central-south Asia and northern India, is the most populous and fifth largest state in the Republic of India. ... , Lucknow ( , Hindi: à¤²à¤–à¤¨à¤Š, Urdu: Ù„Ú©Ú¾Ù†Ø¤, ) is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India. ... For other uses, see Delhi (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Bhopal (disambiguation). ... Hyderabad or HaydarÄbÄd // ( Urdu:ØÛŒØ¯Ø± Ø¢Ø¨Ø§Ø¯), (Telugu:à°¹à±ˆà°¦à°°à°¾à°¬à°¾à°¦à±) is the capital city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. ... For other uses, see Bangalore (disambiguation). ... , For other uses, see Mysore (disambiguation). ... , Ajmer (Hindi: à¤…à¤œà¤®à¥‡à¤° ) is a city in Ajmer District in Indias Rajasthan state. ... , Ahmedabad (Gujarati: , Hindi: à¤…à¤¹à¤®à¤¦à¤¾à¤¬à¤¾à¤¦ ) is the largest city in the state of Gujarat and the seventh-largest urban agglomeration in India, with a population of almost 51 lakhs (5. ... Madrassa in the Gambia The word madrassa in the Arabic language (and other languages of the Islamic nations such as Persian, Turkish, Indonesian etc. ... Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... , Bombay redirects here. ... Below is a list of newspapers published in India. ...

Outside South Asia, it is spoken by large numbers of migrant South Asian workers in the major urban centers of the Persian Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia. Urdu is also spoken by large numbers of immigrants and their children in the major urban centers of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Norway and Australia. Map of the Persian Gulf. ...

Map of South Asia South Asia is a subregion of Asia comprising the modern states of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, . It covers about 4,480,000 km², or 10 percent of the continent, and is also known as the Indian subcontinent. ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: Ù…Ø³Ù„Ù…, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: Ù…Ø³Ù„Ù…Ø§Ù†, Turkish: MÃ¼slÃ¼man, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use. ...

[edit] Official status

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and is spoken and understood throughout the country. It shares official language status with English. It is used in education, literature, office and court business (it should be noted that in the lower courts in Pakistan, despite the proceedings taking place in Urdu, the documents are in English. In the higher courts, ie, the High Courts and the Supreme Court both the proceedings and documents are in English.), media, and in religious institutions. It holds in itself a repository of the cultural, religious and social heritage of the country.^[18] Although English is used in most elite circles, and Punjabi has a plurality of native speakers, Urdu is the lingua franca and is expected to prevail. An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ... Pakistani literature, that is, the literature of Pakistan, as a distinct literature came into being when Pakistan gained its nationhooood as a sovereign state in 1947. ... The 17th Century Badshahi Mosque built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Lahore The society of Pakistan (Urdu: Ø«Ù‚Ø§ÙØª Ù¾Ø§Ú©Ø³ØªØ§Ù†), although relatively diverse depending on which one of Pakistans provinces, has been greatly influenced by the cultures of Central Asia and the Middle East. ... Motto Ø§ØªØØ§Ø¯ØŒ ØªÙ†Ø¸ÙŠÙ…ØŒ ÙŠÙ‚ÙŠÙ† Ù…ØÚ©Ù… Ittehad, Tanzim, Yaqeen-e-Muhkam(Urdu) Unity, Discipline and Faith Anthem Qaumi Tarana Capital Islamabad Largest city Karachi Official languages Urdu (national), English (official)[1] Demonym Pakistani Government Semi-presidential republic - President Pervez Musharraf - Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Formation - Independence from the United Kingdom - Declared August 14, 1947 - Islamic... Punjabi (also Panjabi; in GurmukhÄ«, PanjÄbÄ« in ShÄhmukhÄ«) is the language of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ...

Urdu is also one of the officially recognized state languages in India^[19] and has official language status in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh, and the national capital, Delhi. While the government school system in most other states emphasizes Standard Hindi, at universities in cities such as Lucknow, Aligarh and Hyderabad, Urdu is spoken, learned, and regarded as a language of prestige. Andhra redirects here. ... For other uses, see Bihar (disambiguation). ... This article is about the area administered by India. ... , Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: , Urdu: , IPA: , translation: Northern Province), [often referred to as U.P.], located in central-south Asia and northern India, is the most populous and fifth largest state in the Republic of India. ... For other uses, see Delhi (disambiguation). ... Hindi (à¤¹à¤¿à¤¨à¥à¤¦à¥€) is a language spoken mainly in North and Central India. ... , Lucknow ( , Hindi: à¤²à¤–à¤¨à¤Š, Urdu: Ù„Ú©Ú¾Ù†Ø¤, ) is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India. ... , Aligarh (Hindi: à¤…à¤²à¥€à¤—à¤¢à¤¼, Urdu: Ø¹Ù„ÛŒ Ú¯Ú‘Ú¾) is a city in Aligarh District in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Hyderabad or HaydarÄbÄd // ( Urdu:ØÛŒØ¯Ø± Ø¢Ø¨Ø§Ø¯), (Telugu:à°¹à±ˆà°¦à°°à°¾à°¬à°¾à°¦à±) is the capital city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. ...

[edit] Classification and related languages

Urdu is a member of the Indo-Aryan family of languages (i.e., those languages descending from Sanskrit), which is in turn a branch of the Indo-Iranian group (which comprises the Indo-Aryan and the Iranian branches), which itself is a member of the Indo-European linguistic family. Urdu (along with Hindi) is considered to be a part of a dialect continuum which extends across eastern Iran, Afghanistan and modern Pakistan^[20]—right into eastern India. These idioms all have similar grammatical structures and share a large portion of their vocabulary. Punjabi, for instance, is very similar to Urdu; Punjabi written in the Shahmukhi script can be understood by speakers of Urdu with little difficulty, but spoken Punjabi has a very different phonology (pronunciation system) and can be harder to understand for Urdu speakers. The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, which belong to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. ... For other uses, see Indo-European. ... Hindi (à¤¹à¤¿à¤¨à¥à¤¦à¥€) is a language spoken mainly in North and Central India. ... A dialect continuum is a range of dialects spoken across a large geographical area, differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in mutual intelligibility as the distances become greater. ... Shahmukhi (Ø´Ø§Û Ù…Ú©Ú¾ÛŒ) is a script used to record the Punjabi language. ... Phonology (Greek phonÄ“ = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ...

[edit] Dialects

Urdu has four recognised dialects: Dakhini, Pinjari, Rekhta, and Modern Vernacular Urdu (based on the Khariboli dialect of the Delhi region). Sociolinguists also consider Urdu itself one of the four major variants of the Hindi-Urdu dialect continuum. In recent years, the Urdu spoken in Pakistan has been evolving and has acquired a particularly Pakistani flavour of its own having absorbed many of that country's indigenous words and proverbs. Many Pakistani speakers of Urdu have begun to emphasize and encourage their own unique form of Urdu to distinguish it from that spoken in India. Linguist point out that the Pakistani dialect of Urdu is gradually being pulled closer to the Iranic branch of the Indo-European family tree as well as acquiring many local words from Pakistan's several native languages and is evolving into a distinctive form from that being spoken in India.^[21] Dakkhini, also known as Deccani is a dialect of the Urdu language spoken in the Deccan region of southern India, centered on the city of Hyderabad, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. ... Rekhta is the highly Persianized form of Urdu, a language that combines Arabic, Persian, and Hindi. ... Khariboli (also Khadiboli, Khadi-Boli, or Khari dialect), (/ /; Hindi: à¤–à¤¡à¤¼à¥€ à¤¬à¥‹à¤²à¥€; Urdu: ÙƒÙ‡Ú‘Ù‰ Ø¨ÙˆÙ„Ù‰, khaá¹›Ä« bolÄ«; lit. ... Hindi (DevanÄgarÄ«: or , IAST: , IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is used, along with English, for central government administrative purposes. ...

Modern Vernacular Urdu is the form of the language that is least widespread and is spoken around Delhi, Lucknow and the Pakistani variant of the language spoken in Karachi and Lahore, it becomes increasingly divergent from the original form of Urdu as it loses some of the complicated Persian and Arabic vocabulary used in everyday terms. For other uses, see Delhi (disambiguation). ... , Lucknow ( , Hindi: à¤²à¤–à¤¨à¤Š, Urdu: Ù„Ú©Ú¾Ù†Ø¤, ) is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India. ... (Sindhi: , Urdu: ) is the largest city in Pakistan and is the provincial capital of Sindh province. ... (Urdu: Ù„Ø§ÛÙˆØ±, Punjabi: Ù„ÛÙˆØ±, pronounced ) is the capital of the Punjab and is the second largest city in Pakistan after Karachi. ...

Dakhini (also known as Dakani, Deccani, Desia, Mirgan) is spoken in Maharashtra state in India and around Hyderabad and other parts of Andhra Pradesh. It has fewer Persian and Arabic words than standard Urdu. Dakhini is widely spoken in all parts of Karnatka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Urdu is read and written as in other parts of India. A number of daily newspapers and several monthly magazines in Urdu are published in these states. Dakkhini, also known as Deccani is a dialect of the Urdu language spoken in the Deccan region of southern India, centered on the city of Hyderabad, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. ... , Maharashtra (Marathi: à¤®à¤¹à¤¾à¤°à¤¾à¤·à¥à¤Ÿà¥à¤° , IPA , translation: Great Nation) is Indias third largest state in area and second largest in population after Uttar Pradesh. ... Hyderabad or HaydarÄbÄd (Telugu: à°¹à±ˆà°¦à°°à°¾à°¬à°¾à°¦à± Urdu: ØÛŒØ¯Ø± Ø¢Ø¨Ø§Ø¯ ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. ... Andhra redirects here. ... , KarnÄtakÄ (Kannada: à²•à²¨à²¾à³¯à²Ÿà²•) (IPA: ) is one of the four southern states of India. ... Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ... Andhra redirects here. ...

In addition, Rekhta (or Rekhti), the language of Urdu poetry, is sometimes counted as a separate dialect. Rekhta is the highly Persianized form of Urdu, a language that combines Arabic, Persian, and Hindi. ...

[edit] Grammar

HindÄ«-UrdÅ« grammar (HindÄ«: à¤¹à¤¿à¤¨à¥à¤¦à¥€-à¤‰à¤°à¥à¤¦à¥‚ à¤µà¥à¤¯à¤¾à¤•à¤°à¤£ hindÄ«-urdÅ« vyÄkaraá¹‡, UrdÅ«: ÛÙ†Ø¯ÛŒ-Ø§Ø±Ø¯Ùˆ Ù‚ÙˆØ§Ø¹Ø¯, hindÄ«-urdÅ« qavÄid), also known as HindustÄnÄ« grammar, is the grammar of the HindÄ«-UrdÅ« (HindustÄnÄ«) language. ...

[edit] Levels of formality in Urdu

The order of words in Urdu is not as rigidly fixed as it is thought to be by traditional grammarians. However, usually (but not invariably) an Urdu sentence begins with a subject and ends with a verb. That is why Urdu is often called an SOV language (e.g. Subject-Object-Verb language). However, Urdu speakers or writers enjoy considerable freedom in placing words in an utterance to achieve stylistic effects, see Bhatia and Koul (2000, pp. 34–35).

Urdu in its less formalised register has been referred to as a rekhta (ریختہ, [reːxt̪aː]), meaning "rough mixture". The more formal register of Urdu is sometimes referred to as zabān-e-Urdu-e-mo'alla (زبانِ اردوِ معلہ, [zəba:n e: ʊrd̪uː eː moəllaː]), the "Language of Camp and Court". In linguistics, a register is a subset of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. ... Rekhta is the highly Persianized form of Urdu, a language that combines Arabic, Persian, and Hindi. ...

The etymology of the word used in the Urdu language for the most part decides how polite or refined your speech is. For example, Urdu speakers would distinguish between پانی pānī and آب āb, both meaning "water" for example, or between آدمی ādmi and مرد mard, meaning "man". The former in each set is used colloquially and has older Hindustani origins, while the latter is used formally and poetically, being of Persian origin. Etymologies redirects here. ... The word Hindustani is an adjective used to denote a connection to India, or, more precisely, the historical region that encompasses Northern India, Pakistan, and nearby areas. ... Farsi redirects here. ...

If a word is of Persian or Arabic origin, the level of speech is considered to be more formal and grand. Similarly, if Persian or Arabic grammar constructs, such as the izafat, are used in Urdu, the level of speech is also considered more formal and grand. If a word is inherited from Sanskrit, the level of speech is considered more colloquial and personal. Farsi redirects here. ... Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... Farsi redirects here. ... Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... The Izafat (also Izafah) (Farsi: Ø§Ø¶Ø§ÙÛ) is a Farsi language grammatical construct which links two words together. ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ...

[edit] Politeness

Urdu is supposed to be very subtle and a host of words are used to show respect and politeness. This emphasis on politeness, which is reflected in the vocabulary, is known as aadaab and to some extent as takalluf in Urdu. These words are generally used when addressing elders, or people with whom one is not acquainted. For example, the English pronoun 'you' can be translated into three words in Urdu the singular forms tu (informal, extremely intimate, or derogatory) and tum (informal and showing intimacy called "apna pun" in Urdu) and the plural form āp (formal and respectful). Similarly, verbs, for example, "come," can be translated with degrees of formality in three ways:

Example in a sher by the poet Daag Dehlvi: Sher can have a variety of meanings: Sher or Sher (Arabic: Ø´Ø¹Ø±) is the common word for poem in Arabic and Persian. ...

[edit] Vocabulary

Urdu has a vocabulary rich in words with Indian and Middle Eastern origins. The borrowings are dominated by words from Persian and Arabic. There are also a small number of borrowings from Turkish, Portuguese, and more recently English. Many of the words of Arabic origin have different nuances of meaning and usage than they do in Arabic. A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Farsi redirects here. ... Arabic redirects here. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

[edit] Most Used Words

ka (کا) along with its other variants ki,kay,ko (کی، کے، کو) is the most used word in written Urdu. It is true that like English, Urdu borrowed heavily from other languages but its most used words: nouns, pronouns, numbers, body parts and many other words are its own. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

[edit] Writing system

Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See Help:IPA for a pronunciation key. Example of writing in the alphabet- ZabÄn-e-UrdÅ«-e-moalla Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Hindustani, Hindi, and Urdu have been written in several different scripts. ... The Uddin and Begum Urdu-Hindustani Romanization scheme was proposed by the late Syed Fasih Uddin and the late Quader Unissa Begum for the Romanization of Urdu-Hindustani. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x775, 204 KB) Summary hand made urdu alphabets File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x775, 204 KB) Summary hand made urdu alphabets File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the â€œInternational Phonetic Alphabetâ€. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... The Unicode Standard, Version 5. ...

Nowadays, Urdu is generally written right-to left in an extension of the Persian alphabet, which is itself an extension of the Arabic alphabet. Urdu is associated with the Nasta’liq style of Arabic calligraphy, whereas Arabic is generally written in the modernized Naskh style. Nasta’liq is notoriously difficult to typeset, so Urdu newspapers were hand-written by masters of calligraphy, known as katib or khush-navees, until the late 1980s. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Perso-Arabic script. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing languages such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and others. ... Nastaliq (Ù†Ø³ØªØ¹Ù„ÙŠÙ‚) is a specific style for writing in the Arabic alphabet. ... Arabic redirects here. ... Naskh (Ù†Ø³Ø®, also known as Naskhi or by its Turkish name Nesih) is a specific calligraphic style for writing in the Arabic alphabet. ...

Historically, Urdu was also written in the Kaithi script. A highly-Persianized and technical form of Urdu was the lingua franca of the law courts of the British administration in Bengal, Bihar, and the North-West Provinces & Oudh. Until the late 19th century, all proceedings and court transactions in this register of Urdu was written officially in the Persian script. In 1880, Sir Ashley Eden, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal abolished the use of the Persian alphabet in the law courts of Bengal and Bihar and ordered the exclusive use of Kaithi, a popular script used for both Urdu and Hindi^[22] Kaithi's association with Urdu and Hindi was ultimately eliminated by the political contest between these languages and their scripts, in which the Persian script was definitively linked to Urdu. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... For other uses, see Bengal (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Bihar (disambiguation). ... Sir Ashley Eden (13 November 1831-8 July 1887) was an Anglo-Indian official and diplomatist, third son of Robert John Eden, 3rd Lord Auckland and bishop of Bath and Wells. ... For other uses, see Bengal (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Bihar (disambiguation). ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Hindi (DevanÄgarÄ«: or , IAST: , IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is used, along with English, for central government administrative purposes. ... Hindi (DevanÄgarÄ«: or , IAST: , IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is used, along with English, for central government administrative purposes. ...

More recently in India, Urdū speakers have adopted Devanagari for publishing Urdu periodicals and have innovated new strategies to mark Urdū in Devanagari as distinct from Hindi in Devanagari^[23] The popular Urdū monthly magazine, महकता आंचल (Mahakta Anchal), is published in Delhi in Devanagari in order to target the generation of Muslim boys and girls who do not know the Persian script. Such publishers have introduced new orthographic features into Devanagari for the purpose of representing Urdū sounds. One example is the use of अ (Devanagari a) with vowel signs to mimic contexts of ع (‘ain). To Urdū publishers, the use of Devanagari gives them a greater audience, but helps them to preserve the distinct identity of Urdū when written in Devanagari. or Ayin is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic (in abjadi order). ...

The Daily Jang was the first Urdu newspaper to be typeset digitally in Nasta’liq by computer. There are efforts underway to develop more sophisticated and user-friendly Urdu support on computers and the Internet. Nowadays, nearly all Urdu newspapers, magazines, journals, and periodicals are composed on computers via various Urdu software programs. The Daily Jang () is the largest Urdu language newspaper. ...

A list of the Urdu alphabet and pronunciation is given below. Urdu contains many historical spellings from Arabic and Persian, and therefore has many irregularities. The Arabic letters yaa and haa are split into two in Urdu: one of the yaa variants is used at the ends of words for the sound [i], and one of the haa variants is used to indicate the aspirated consonants. The retroflex consonants needed to be added as well; this was accomplished by placing a superscript ط (to'e) above the corresponding dental consonants. Several letters which represent distinct consonants in Arabic are conflated in Persian, and this has carried over to Urdu. In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. ... Sub-apical retroflex plosive In phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some languages. ... Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both, rather than with the gum ridge as in English. ...

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