Analysis of the Urduization Trend in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Novels

Abstract

The study investigated the trend of Urduization in Bapsi Sidhwa’s novels; “The Crow Eaters” (1978) and “Water” (2006), with a focus on the use of Urduized nouns in the two novels. Urduization is the process of adding words from Urdu into the English language (Ali & Ijaz, 2009). Pakistani literature in English began to make its presence felt both nationally and internationally in the 1970s. A significant feature of this literature was the language used by the Pakistani writers. The unrestrained use of local words and expressions, reflected a new confidence in the use of the English language by the Pakistani writers. Pakistani English (PE) as a non-native variety displayed the unique characteristics and features of cultural influence of the society. The borrowing of words from Urdu and the regional languages and incorporating them into structures and expressions signified the independent development of PE. A mixed method approach was employed and data was collected from a corpus of Urduized nouns, developed following the research pathway of Ahmed and Ali (2014), by creating contextualized categories of the nouns used in the two novels. Documentary evidence in the form of author interviews also formed part of the analysis. Findings showed that the extent of urduization remained the same with the author’s use of urduized words in both her novels very nearly following similar trends. Most words were added to provide contextual clarity and create interest, demonstrating a consistency in her writing style over three decades.

Keywords: Urduization; Pakistani English; Cultural influence; Contextualized categories; Writing Style

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-11-06

Publication date: April 30^th 2021