LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Custom Search

Indigenous Language Abandonment in the Religious Domain in Murree-
A Family Report Analysis

Muhammad Gulfraz Abbasi, M.A, Ph.D. Scholar
Zafar Iqbal Khattak, M.A, Ph.D. Scholar
Mujahid Shah, M.A, M.Phil. Scholar
Sayyam Bin Saeed, M.A.

Abstract

The roots of any indigenous language lie in the heart of its respective culture. Expression of any sort becomes more fluent and powerful when it takes the route through indigenous language. However, the use of indigenous language is continuously decreasing in schools as well as in the family domain in Murree and the suburban Pahari speaking areas (Abbasi & Asif, 2010).

The present study analyses the use of Pahari in the religious domain from the interviews data gathered mostly in the home domain. The religious domain which supposedly has conservative trends also seems to abandon Pahari on religious occasions giving way to Urdu on a massive level. It transpires from the findings of the present study that Pahari, if ever used on religious occasions, is presumed to lose the rhetorical vigor leading to less powerful linguistic impact.

The study concludes that Pahari can soon be on the verge of death if the domain of religion also shifts to Urdu like other domains.

Introduction

A language which has a secure future usually occupies almost all the domains in the society including the domain of religion. As school is important in language transmission and propagation, religious institutions also play vital role in determining whether a language is important or not. This institution is more important in the sense that people generally have a great respect and regard for it and religious scholars. The language used by the religious teachers and the language use in the collective prayers hold a great influence on the individual choice of language.

Arabic is the language of the Quran and hence the language of the Muslims in this respect. Muslims hold it very dear considering it a language which has supposedly more spiritual power than other languages of the world. The holy book of the Muslims was not translated into any other language for such a long time as any other language might, in their opinion, desecrate it and it could not be able to convey complete meanings. However, there was a change in the thinking later on and the Quranic teachings spread in other languages as well.

In Pakistan, Urdu is the national language but it is the mother tongue of only 7.5 percent people (Rahman, 2005) which shows that it is learnt as a second language in Pakistan. Despite this fact, it enjoys a prestigious status and venerable significance in Pakistan. It is used excessively in all the important social domains in Pakistan. After English it occupies the most important place (Asif, 2005). English is the official language of Pakistan and is the language of power and prestige, hence the language of the elite class which receives English medium education from either the elite institutions or from foreign countries. Those who have no approach to this luxury, resort to Urdu, the second most valuable language in the country.

Priority sequence 1

English--------------Urdu--------------Indigenous language/Mother tongue

Religious domain is no exception to this. However, it is different in the sense that it has a different priority sequence. Its first priority is Arabic language.

Priority sequence 2

Arabic--------------Urdu----------------Indigenous language/Mother tongue

There are two similarities in the attitude of both these language sequences from the point of view of the elite and the religious. This is the language class system which is held in high esteem by both these groups.

Secondly, they both have the same pattern of holding the languages in their favour. Both groups have foreign languages as their first priority, be it English or Arabic in either case. Urdu is commonly held as second priority; whereas, native /regional or mother tongue is given the least priority.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Balbir Madhopuri's Changiya Rukh - A Critique of Dalit Identity and Politics | Multiple Nested Triglossic Situation in Pakistan | Problems Encountered by Arab EFL Learners | Language and Nomenclature Imbroglio among the Kukis | Indigenous Language Abandonment in the Religious Domain in Murree - A Family Report Analysis | A Comparative Study of New Woman through the Female Protagonists of Kamala Markandaya and Shashi Deshpande | A Look into the Causes of Language Choice among Female Students in Academic Setting in Pakistan | Census and the Aspects of Growth and Development of Bangla vs. Bangla-Hindi Bilingualism -With Special Focus on West Bengal | Joshi's The Foreigner - Within and Without | To Investigate the Sense of Teacher Efficacy between Male and Female Teachers of Secondary Schools of Wah Cantt. | Comparative Study of Cost Effectiveness of Formal and Non-Formal System of Primary Teacher Certificate Programme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) | Sudha Murty's Short Stories as a Motif of Values | Standard English as a 'Fiat Code' and the Dwindling Faith behind It | Effect of the Use of Motivational Techniques on the Academic Achievement of the Teachers at the Higher Education Level in Pakistan | A Critical Analysis of the Function of Mass Media Language as a Tool of Social Oppression | The Use of Films in the Teaching of English in India | A Comparative Study of Effectiveness of Concept Attainment Model and Advance Organizer Model in Teaching of English in Teacher Education Course | The Effect of Cooperative Learning on Academic Achievement of Low Achievers in English | Imagining a Borderless World: A Comparative Study of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda | Teaching English in Schools: Problems and Solutions - A Case Study from Rajasthan, India | Socio-cultural Patterns of the Tamil Brahmin Community in the Novels of R. K. Narayan | Effects of Multimedia Glosses on Aiding Vocabulary Acquisition in EFL Environment | English Language Teaching in Rural India - Issues and Suggestions | Teaching Paragraph Writing - "Bilingual" Newspapers as Tools | A Study of Teachers' Academic Qualification, Morale and Their Teaching Behaviour | Syllable Onset Clusters and Phonotactics in Pahari | Literary Criticism as a Shared Set of Measurement | Ted Hughes's Poetry - The Problem of the Evil of Self-Consciousness | Travelogue as a Literary Genre | Bim's Unfailing Strength in Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day | Impact of Education on Development of Self-Concept in Adults | An Analysis of the Lack of Primary English Language Skills among the Technical Students of Hindi Speaking States | Emergent Literacy Experiences in the Classroom - A Sample Survey in Mysore City | ICT Enabled Language Learning Using Handphones - An Experimental Study | Creative Writing in Language Classes | Business Communication: Techniques and Methods by Om P. Juneja and Aarti Mujumdar (Hyderabad: Orient BlackSwan, 2010) | Word Formation in Surjapuri | Beatrice Culleton and Her April Rain Tree - Identity Crisis of the People of Mixed Races of Colonization | A PRINT VERSION OF ALL THE PAPERS OF MARCH, 2011 ISSUE IN BOOK FORMAT. This document is better viewed if you open it online and then save it in your computer. After saving it in your computer, you can easily read all the pages from the saved document.

Custom Search