Urdu:

Cultures and Communities

Historical Background
Urdu developed as a lingua franca in South Asia in the 16th
and 17th centuries around the major Indo-Muslim cities of
Delhi and Hyderabad.
Hindi and Urdu have common conversational vocabulary
and syntax.
Urdu is written in Nastaliq script (a Perso-Arabic script) that
goes from right to left and borrows its high vocabulary
from Arabic and Persian.
Even though the colloquial varieties of Hindi and Urdu are
similar, their formal and literary varieties are mutually
incomprehensible due to different sources of vocabulary,
cultural references, and religiously marked language.

Sociolinguistic and Pragmatic

Issues
The historical development of Urdu as a
lingua franca had/has implications for who
self-identifies as an Urdu speaker/heritage
learner
Colonial and Post-Colonial language
policies in both India and Pakistan
Ethnic, regional, gender, religious, and
class considerations

Where are Urdu Speakers Today?

India
Pakistan
Post 1947 large migration of Urdu speakers to Karachi/Lahore

United Kingdom and other Former British Colonies

England-London, Bradford, and Manchester, 1950s Canada-Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary, 1970s-

United States-most Metro areas

NYC, NJ, LA, Chicago, Houston, NC, Seattle, Atlanta

Persian Gulf Countries

(since the 1970s SAs provided skilled labor, managers, and
merchants in the wake of the oil boom)

Major Stages of
South Asian Migration
Early 20th Century- Punjabi farm workers to
California- Lodi, CA
1960s to1980s-Professionals, engineers,
academics, doctors, etc., from upper-middle
classes of urban centers of SA
1990s-Less well educated, more entrepreneurial
class migrants from a wider cross-section of
South Asian regions and classes
1990s-present-Highly skilled MBAs, Software
and IT industry professionals imported or trained
in the US

Urdu Heritage Communities

in the US
Major metro centers around the country have Urdu
speaking populations.
Most do not live in urban enclaves, except in the
case of Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn,
Queens, and Devon Avenue in Chicago.
Urdu speakers are ethnically diverse
UP, Hyderabadi, Mohajir, Punjabi,
Most Urdu speakers will identify themselves as
Muslim, on a varying scale or observance of
practices

Urdu Speakers Attitudes Toward

Heritage Language Preservation
While there are many Urdu speakers who claim the
language as an ethnic identity, such as Mohajirs coming
from Karachi, Hyderabad, or Lucknow, many also claim
other ethnic and linguistic identities-Punjabi, Sindhi,
Pathan, etc.,
An Urdu heritage student may be a Pathan, who speaks
Pashto with his/her parents and Urdu with family friends
Uncles/Aunties
English as the colonial and post-colonial language of
preference in home countries detracts from the value of
studying Urdu beyond the home

Where is Urdu taught in the US?

Higher Ed-most major Universities

around the country teach Urdu or Hindi/Urdu
Most of these are major universities, Ivies,
some state schools, very few community
colleges (De Anza College)
Community and State colleges are where
we have the largest pop of Heritage
students

K-12
Schools
Not taught in Public schools
One Charter school in Chicago area has taught it at the HS level
since 2000

Community
Not many secular settings except one in CA, Urdu
Writers Association
Masjid-complicated by most parents desire to ensure
children learn to read sacred language-classical Arabic
(situation is very similar to Jewish Hebrew Schools)
Most efforts are private small group classes done in the
home, with materials imported from Pakistan or India

Next Steps
Creating awareness and advocacy in
communities for maintaining Urdu
competency-where do we want to see
Urdu language capacity in 5 years?
Highlight the real world benefits to specific
groups who could be potential advocate
partners with higher ed and k-12
Urdu materials for k-12 instruction for US
students