Balochi linguists favor dropping letters from Urdu, but opinion still divided
June 12, 2012
Baloch linguists are increasingly in favor of dropping many letters from the Urdu language and instead adopting a simpler orthography for Balochi which is spoken by more than 15 million people in southwest Asia -- Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Gulf nations --, though the opinion remains divided.
Siddik Azad Abumorad, linguist and writer, based in United Arab Emirates confirmed Tuesday that he dropped the use of 13 letters from the Urdu language in the new edition of his book Tonapen Tran.
The letters Abumorad confirmed he dropped are:
خ ث ں ف ط ظ ص ض ع غ ق ح ذ
خ ث ں ف ط ظ ص ض ع غ ق ح ذ
Abumorad said he tried to deviate from the prevailing orthography in his published book. "But I have been using some of the Urdu letters, afore-mentioned, in my book," Abumorad said in response to an email.
"However, after a careful consideration and deliberations with Dr. Carina Jahani and inviting her and one of our poet friends for a face to face discussion, it was decided that we should drop these letters. We are no more writing these letters in our writings," Abumorad added.
Prof. Carina Jahani, Balochi language scholar at Uppsala University in Sweden, argues in favor of a simpler orthography for Balochi.
"I think they (Urdu letters) certainly can be used, and there is no firm decision on how to spell Arabic/Persian loanwords, but it makes it easier to limit the use of these letters considerably," she said in response to an email query.
"If the word "pekr" or thought is spelled with f (fekr) because that is the way it is spelled in Arabic, there may be a tendency also to spell words like pád (leg) as fád. There will be confusion and every time a "p" is used the writer must choose if it should be spelled with "p" or "f." Just like the Arabic letters complicate Persian spelling a whole lot," Prof. Jahani said.
"We must remember that reading and writing Balochi is not something the children learn at school," Prof. Jahani said.
"I think it is indeed true that we need to work towards a reform of Sayad's suggestions, but not reject them, just build further on them," says Prof. Jahani.
"I think it is fully possible to express thoughts without using the extra Arabic letters," Prof. Jahani said.
Even well-lettered Balochi writers use different spellings for proper names. For example Dr. G.M. Lalzad, Balochi producer who worked for All India Balochi service for more than a quarter century writes Afghanistan as ۔ اوگانستان
However, Balochi producer based in Oslo, Norway, Hafeez Hassanabadi uses a different spelling افغانستان.
The first-ever comprehensive Balochi dictionary called Sayad Ganj, based on the works of Sayad Zahoor Shah Hashmi, Balochi linguist and scholar from Eastern Balochistan (Pakistan) was published more than 11 years ago and there have been no reprints as yet.
"Sayad Zahoor Shah confused Balochi writers by using spoken language in writing and deleting all Arabic characters from Balochi alphabet," says Waja Saeed Ameeri, a Gulf-based Balochi linguist, who was based in Baghdad most of his life as a Baloch activist from Iran.
For example قانون is the word Arabs used for law, which according to Ameeri has also been used by Persians and Urdu-speaking people in India and Pakistan.
However, Sayad Hashmi came up with a different spelling that matches how most Balch pronounce the word, that is کانود
"Qaanoon (law) قانون is a borrowed word from Arabic, used in Persian, Urdu and Balochi. Kaanood کانود is a corrupt form of qaanoon used by illiterate people," Ameeri says.
A noted Balochi linguist in Germany has an explanation.
"qa:nu:n is the Persian form of the word. Since all words of Persian can be borrowed into Balochi (and a large number are), there is in my opinion no problem with using this form of the word," says Prof. Agnes Korn, Ph.D., of the University of Frankfurt. "The form ka:nu:d کانود shows a replacement of the q by k, owing to the fact that q is not part of the basic sound system of Balochi," she adds.
"It is not clear to me why the form also has a "d" instead of "n" (قانون) . However, obviously this is a process called "dissimilation", by which similar sounds are made un-similar in order to facilitate pronunciation," says Prof. Korn. "This is a very common process in all languages, and one characteristic of it is that it happens only sporadically," she said.
"I have seen the form ka:nu:d in various sources, so obviously this is a form (one of the forms) that speakers of Balochi are using. This means that it is perfectly fine to use it," says Prof. Korn.
She said originally قانون is a Greek word (kanon), and in borrowed words, funny changes happen specifically frequently.
Prof. Korn said Sayad Ganj is not only a dictionary (and an admirable one, too!), it is also a book advocating a certain form of Balochi. It applies a purist approach, deciding that Balochi does not have sounds like f, x, etc.
"This is historically correct for the Western and Southern dialects, but not for the Eastern ones. However, it not true that all speakers of Balochi would replace "f" by "p" in European words like "film", or in Arabic loanwords," explains Prof. Korn.
Prof. Korn has a different view than Prof. Carina. "I think a script is a tool for expressing oneself in writing, so it is not wise to impose limitations on possibilities of expression.
More important than any particular orthography is that people use Balochi in writing at all."
More important than any particular orthography is that people use Balochi in writing at all."
Prof. Jahani says the Kurdish script has got rid of all "extra" letters, and they still express all sorts of thoughts, so this argument is not linguistically valid. "It just takes some time to get used to the words spelled in another way than Persian and Urdu, but I think it is the best way ahead for Balochi," said Prof. Jahani, adding "You can spell the word ayd ‘holiday’ as it sounds or as in Arabic, it is still the same word."
Prof. Jahani agreed that an international conference will be needed in the near future.
"The only important thing is that it should not turn out like all the previous conferences that have been held, a lot of opinions, no firm agreements and no definite way ahead," Prof Jahani emphasized.
"The only important thing is that it should not turn out like all the previous conferences that have been held, a lot of opinions, no firm agreements and no definite way ahead," Prof Jahani emphasized.
"I think it is time to start working towards producing good literature in a readable form, and then much of the orthographic disputes will get settled when people get used to reading Balochi," she said.
Bahrain-based Fatema al-Balooshi said she is delighted to hear of this work to standardize the Balouchi writing, especially for the one who live out of Balochistan and are not educated in the Balochi language.
Even in English language confusion persists whether to spell Balochistan, with an "o" or Baluchistan, with an "u."
Ms. Balooshi comes up with a third way, that includes both "o" and "u."
" I think Balouch, Balouchies, Balouchistan sound better and look prettier," she said during a web discussion.
" I think Balouch, Balouchies, Balouchistan sound better and look prettier," she said during a web discussion.
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