Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by millions of people, primarily in South Asia.
It's known
for its rich literary tradition, poetic beauty, and its close relationship with Hindi.
1. Origins and Linguistic Family:
o Indo-European Language Family: Urdu belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch, and
within that, the Indo-Aryan sub-branch.
o Evolution: Like Hindi, it evolved from Sauraseni Prakrit and Apabhramsha. It
developed in and around Delhi in North India during the Delhi Sultanate (12th-16th
centuries) and Mughal Empire (16th-19th centuries).
o Influences: While its grammatical base is shared with Hindi, Urdu's vocabulary,
literary conventions, and script have been significantly influenced by Persian, and
through Persian, by Arabic and Turkic languages.
2. Geographic Distribution & Speakers:
o Pakistan: It is the national language and one of the two official languages (along
with English) of Pakistan. While only a small percentage of Pakistanis speak it as
their first language (around 7-8%), it's widely spoken and understood as a second
language by the vast majority and serves as a lingua franca.
o India: It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language in
several states and union territories, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana,
Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Delhi. There are significant Urdu-speaking populations
across India.
o Speakers:
Around 70 million native speakers.
When including second-language speakers, the number rises significantly,
potentially to over 170-200 million.
o Diaspora: Significant Urdu-speaking communities exist worldwide, particularly in
the UK, USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
3. Writing System (Script):
o Urdu is written in a modified form of the Perso-Arabic script, primarily in the
elegant Nastaliq ( )نستعلیقcalligraphic style.
o Right-to-Left: It is written from right to left.
o Modifications: The script includes additional letters or diacritics to represent sounds
specific to Indo-Aryan languages that are not found in Arabic or Persian (e.g., for
retroflex consonants like ٹ/ʈ/, ڈ/ɖ/, ڑ/ɽ/).
4. Key Linguistic Features:
o Phonology: Largely similar to Hindi. It includes aspirated and unaspirated
consonants, as well as retroflex consonants. It also incorporates phonemes from
Persian and Arabic like /q/ ()ق, /x/ ()خ, /ɣ/ ()غ, /z/ ()ز, /ʒ/ ()ژ, and /f/ ()ف, which are
more prevalent in formal Urdu.
o Grammar:
Word Order: Typically Subject-Object-Verb (SOV).
Postpositions: Uses postpositions instead of prepositions.
Grammatical Gender: Nouns have two grammatical genders (masculine and
feminine), which affect adjectives, pronouns, and verb agreement.
Verb Conjugation: Verbs are conjugated for tense, aspect, mood, person,
number, and gender.
No Articles: Urdu does not have articles like "a/an" or "the."
Levels of Formality: Uses different pronouns and verb forms to show respect
(e.g., tu - intimate/inferior, tum - familiar/equal, āp - formal/respectful for
"you").
o Vocabulary:
Its core grammatical structure and everyday vocabulary are shared with Hindi
(derived from Prakrit/Apabhramsha).
However, for formal, literary, technical, and religious terms, Urdu draws
heavily from Persian and Arabic.
5. Urdu and Hindi:
o Modern Standard Urdu and Modern Standard Hindi are mutually intelligible at a
colloquial, spoken level. Together, they are often referred to as Hindustani.
o The main differences are:
Script: Urdu uses Perso-Arabic (Nastaliq); Hindi uses Devanagari.
Higher Vocabulary: Formal Urdu draws on Persian and Arabic; formal
Hindi draws on Sanskrit.
o This distinction became more formalized during the British colonial period and
particularly around the partition of India.
6. Rich Literary and Cultural Tradition:
o Urdu has an exceptionally rich and celebrated literary tradition, especially in poetry (
شاعری- sha'iri).
Key poetic forms include the Ghazal ( )غزلand Nazm ()نظم.
Famous poets include Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib, Allama Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed
Faiz, Jaun Elia, and many others.
o Qawwali: A form of Sufi devotional music, with lyrics often in Urdu or Punjabi.
o Film and Media: Urdu has a significant presence in the Pakistani film industry
(Lollywood) and its vocabulary and poetic expressions are widely used in songs and
dialogues of the Indian Hindi film industry (Bollywood).
In summary, Urdu is a major South Asian language with a distinct Perso-Arabic script and a
vocabulary enriched by Persian and Arabic, renowned for its sophisticated poetry and cultural
influence. It shares a common colloquial base with Hindi, forming the Hindustani linguistic
continuum.
