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Book Review of 'From Hindi to Urdu: A Social and Political History' by Tariq Rahman. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2011

Mughal, M.A.Z.

Book Review of 'From Hindi to Urdu: A Social and Political History' by Tariq Rahman. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2011 Thumbnail


Authors

M.A.Z. Mughal



Abstract

Urdu is the only national language of Pakistan. It is the official language of five states in India and is one of twenty-two scheduled languages according to the Indian Constitution. The Urdu language is also mutually intelligible to Hindi, at the spoken level. However, the relationship between Urdu and Hindi is not as simple in the history of South Asia as it would appear now (Shackle and Snell 1990). There have been a lot of political, ideological, and historical debates on the relationship between the two languages. Rahman’s well researched book From Hindi to Urdu offers such debates from a historical perspective by discussing the origin and development of the Urdu language. Although the name Urdu started to be used for the language in the eighteenth century (pp.18–54), Rahman has traced its roots centuries earlier, intertwined with the development of the Hindustani language, which later split into Hindi and Urdu. Rahman has supported his arguments in the book by using excerpts of classical texts like those of Amir Khusrau (pp.66–78) as well as personal interviews that he carried out with linguists, educationists, and historians over several years.

Citation

Mughal, M. (2013). Book Review of 'From Hindi to Urdu: A Social and Political History' by Tariq Rahman. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2011

Journal Article Type Book Review
Publication Date Jan 1, 2013
Deposit Date Jan 27, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Punjab studies
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 20
Issue 1&2
Pages 340-342
Item Discussed From Hindi to Urdu : A Social and Political History. by Rahman, Tariq;
Keywords Urdu, Hindi, South Asian Languages, History of Languages, Pakistan, India, Sociolinguistics.
Publisher URL http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/journal/v20_1_2/15-Bookreviews%2020%20No%201&2.pdf
Additional Information Issue of journal available at http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/journal/v20_1_2/index.html

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