Analysis of Language Variation in Urdu by Punjabi and Pashto Speakers

Abstract

Pakistan is a diverse nation, with 77 major local languages and numerous dialects
spoken across the country. Urdu, as the national language, serves as a unifying force,
allowing communication between people from different linguistic backgrounds. Urdu,
the lingua franca of Pakistan, is spoken as second or third language by majority of the
population. Interference of local languages can be seen in their Urdu speech such as
variation in phonology and grammar. The purpose of this study is to analyze this
variation in the female speakers of two local languages: Punjabi and Pashto. This study
also investigates sociocultural and economic factors which contribute to develop these
variations. The quantitative methodology is used for this study; to find out similarities
and gaps of the segmental features of two selected languages Punjabi and Pashto, the
phonetic inventories of two said languages have been analyzed. Female speakers of the
two majorly spoken languages in Pakistan are selected. Two speakers from each of the
two languages (Punjabi, Pashto) have been selected randomly as a sample. The study
revealed that Urdu standard varieties are often seen as indicators of education,
economic status, and pleasantness, but these variations still face biased attitudes.