The question of Pakistani languages in relation to Urdu needs to be de-politicised said Dr Nomanul Haq, Professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He was addressing a seminar on "trailing the twilight of the UN year of languages: a conceptual plea in the political marketplace" organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), here on Monday.
He said that the battle of preservation and promotion of languages is not a battle between Urdu and other languages; rather it is a battle against commercial and capitalistic hegemonies. While urging cultural, historical and linguistic approaches to the issue of Pakistani and world languages, Dr Nomanul Haq criticised the dominant trends promoted by social scientists and western generalistic reports.
"These trends undermine both Urdu and country's other languages; these languages are mutually supportive, not combatants" he underlined, adding that there are no essential hierarchies between languages, all languages are equally beautiful and rich, and all modes of speech are equally legitimised. The differences that are found are historical contingencies.
"It is not possible to de-politicise languages as languages keep changing all the time and have a strong relation with politics and society," he observed. On standardisation of languages, Dr Tariq elaborated that it was a modern phenomenon as it started in 18th century and gained momentum in late 19th century especially with regards to Arabic and Persian while terming the process as "linguistic imperialism."
He said that there were two traditions in grammar and linguistic development known as prescriptivism and descriptivism. Prescriptivism deals with the literary aspects of languages while descriptivism relates to what people actually speak in their daily life adding that languages are supposed to be descriptive now a days, he added.