Hindi/Urdu

[Linda Fink]

Way back on Dec 22 a message appeared on this list that I asked my Pakistani
daughter-in-law about. (I'm rather late reading things on my lists.) Her
first language is Urdu. I was curious if Hindi and Urdu were basically the
same. Here is her answer, my question to her, and the original post (in that
order). ...Linda Fink


>
>I think we may need to consult Britannica for this.    Hindi and Urdu
>are spoken the same way but Urdu borrows more from Persian and Arabic
>while Hindi gets more Sanskrit.   On the same lines, Urdu script is
>similar to the Arabic/Persian script and the Hindi script is derived
>from Sanskrit.     I remember learning that the two languages developed
>as more and more Muslim conquerors made their way to Central Asia.  They
>needed a way to talk to each other so a mixture of two was born.  It
>used to be called Hindustani.  I think the terms Urdu and Hindi might
>have existed in the pre-partition days but they weren't officially used
>until after Pakistan was created.   I suspect they maintained separate
>scripts because of religious reasons - as in neither party wanted to
>rewrite the religious texts in a new script.  Although I am sure that is
>only one tiny aspect of why a common script was never developed.  I've
>noticed that when Hindi and Urdu differ it is usually because the Hindi
>word came from Sanskrit and the Urdu word from Arabic/Persion.
>
>>Maybe someone would knows why we would talk about these very closely
>>related ways of speaking as "languages" and not "dialects."
>
>Because *downgrading* something to a dialect would most likely lead to a
>bloodbath.  And not upgrading a dialect to the status of a language may
>have the same effect.   Human beings are so stupid.
>
>Linda Fink wrote:
>
>>This came over my Chinook jargon list. Are Hindi and Urdu basically the same??
>>
>>Date:    Mon, 22 Dec 2003 13:46:38 -0800
>>From:    "Bruce, Colin" <Colin.Bruce at FRASERHEALTH.CA>
>>Subject: Re: FN Language
>>MIME-Version: 1.0
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>>I'd like to know how much closer.  Is it like the difference between the
>>Canadian and Australian Englishes.  I've been studying learning Gitxsan and
>>Nisgaa for a few years now and haven't found much more than a few
>>differences in word choice and accent.  I concluded that people chose to
>>call them different languages for political reasons much like Urdu and
>>Hindi.  Maybe someone would knows why we would talk about these very closely
>>related ways of speaking as "languages" and not "dialects."
>>
>>
>>
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