Morphological Integration of Urdu Loan Words in Pakistani English

Abstract

Pakistani English is a unique variety of English language concerning Syntax, Morphology, Phonology, Spelling, and Vocabulary. The one linguistic feature which makes the study of Pakistani English more interesting is the vocabulary because Pakistani English uses many loan words from Urdu language and other regional languages, which have become part and parcel of Pakistani English and the speakers don’t feel awkward while using these words. Many studies are concerned with Pakistani English vocabulary but a few deal with morphology. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate how Urdu language loan words morphologically integrate into Pakistani English. Moreover, this paper also looks into the factors which influence this morphological integration. This is a qualitative study and a list of 50 loan words is prepared for this study. These words are selected from the Dawn newspaper because it is the most disseminated English-language newspaper in Pakistan. Some words are taken from Novels and Novellas of Pakistani English fiction writers besides this some Urdu loan words are taken from Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th edition revised in the year 2006. The result of this study will help in understanding and illuminating the morphological integration processes used in loan words in Pakistani English. It is hoped that this paper will generate sufficient interest in encouraging more new studies on other features of Pakistani English.

Keywords: Pakistani English, loan words, Urdu language, Morphology & integration