Transcription (Urdu, Arabic)

[Liz Ronkin]

Dear Linganth people,

I have a "uniform" transcription problem in Panjabi-ized Urdu, for which I
use a system based on the pedagogic work of CM Naim at the University of
Chicago.  I have thought that someone else working in Muslim South Asia
(since 'Muslim' lexical items are more common in English post-9/11 than
before) or an Arab studies person who romanizes might direct me to what's
convention or becoming so in anthropology.

Specifically, I've encountered words that are spelled in a certain
acceptable way in the literature in circulation (e.g. 'jihadi', and
"Quran').  These spellings are conventional (almost part or part of the
English language in many cases), but they are incorrect in my transcription
system and in others.  Sometimes it's an insider's thing to show that one
knows the "correct" Roman rendering based on symbols of an original
non-roman (in this case, Perso-Arabic) orthography, pronunciation, or both
(e.g. Panjabi for the language, rather than Punjabi, although the Province
in Pakistan *is* Punjab).  In many other places, I render (and gloss) words
in my analytic text using proper transcription in my system ... These words
are not necessarily known by people outside the orbits of South Asia or
Islamic studies, or words in my quotes of others, however they happen to be
rendered in the cited material.  The juxtaposition of two different sets of
"transcribed indigenous words", admittedly, looks odd to me.  However, an
argument in support of doing things this way is that somebody might search
my work for a mention like 'jihadi', and not think about or guess how I
might have transcribed the word.

So, strange as it is:

1. Does it make sense to have these two systems in play for spelling certain
(different sets of) words, those with and without conventional English
spellings, and
2. Should I include some mention of this in transcription notes???

Can anyone advise?  Or refer me to someone in anthropology who may have
dealt with a similar problem?

Thanks,
Maggie Ronkin
Panjabi/Punjabi may not be a great example, because I think both spellings
are "correct".  I also go to British sources for some calls in this
particular situation.
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