LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:3 March 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Phonological Make-up of Portuguese Loanwords Incorporated into Urdu

Mohsin Khan, Research Scholar

Abstract

A language influences another language in different ways. Ruler’s language may influence the languages of ruled and vice-versa. The languages of the external traders and preachers may influence the local languages. Thus, we can say that when two or more cultures or languages come into contact, they are bound to influence each other in various ways, i.e., whenever there is a cultural contact of any form, there is also a linguistic contact. Borrowing is one of the outcomes of this contact and when borrowing takes place, some changes in phonological contents of the original words seem to be usual.

Urdu has borrowed many words from the western cultures and languages because of the western colonization in India and Portuguese is one of them. Urdu has many loan words, which have been borrowed from Portuguese with some phonological modifications.

To be more specific, the present paper shows in detail, how lexical items, when borrowed from an alien-language into a native language (in the case of Portuguese and Urdu respectively), undergo many phonological changes and are restructured according to the morphological patterns of a borrowing language.

Keywords: Borrowing, Language contact, Phonological changes.

Introduction

In Indian linguistics, the study of loan words in a language is very useful to understand not only the history of language but also the cultural history of the speakers of that language. The study of loan words shows the amount of influence of colonial languages on the Indian languages in various fields like religion, philosophy, and cultural and social life, etc., of Indian speech communities and vice versa. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Portuguese spread in many parts of the world. In places where they sailed they often left a linguistic heritage, which endures to the present day.

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

Mohsin Khan, Research Scholar
Department of Linguistics
A.M.U. Aligarh
Uttar Pradesh
India
mohsinkhanyusufzai@gmail.com
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