Introduction

Every language (Even Pashto) has taken absorbed words jorgan terminology from different languages through a process and that process is called the Borrowing process. What exactly is that process is that a kind of cultural process. So borrowing is we can say that taking over or copying of one word from one language and paste it to another language.

So it is a kind of cultural defusion where words from different languages are absorbed in a specific language.

For example, the word tea is used in the English language but if we check the origin of the word tea so it is taken from the Chinese language. Also, algebra is taken from Arabic, Yogurt is from Turkish, Pajamas from Hindi, Lettuce from Latin, Virgin from Norman French, cigarette from modern French, ski from Norwegian, and ombudsman from the Swedish language. And these words had become a permanent part of the English Language.

Now the natural question arises that why borrowing takes place or in other words what is the motivation for borrowing.

So simply the borrowing takes place when there is a need felt in the society or in the community about the lack of something or some words for that method. That may be in other words when a particular community accepts the culture of the other community along with the culture they accept various terminology available connected with them.

So first and for most the need that why a particular word is needed in that language. Probably in the language, it is not originally available the borrowed word is taken. Or it is because using the word of other language is more prestigious than the one available in the native language or in the source language.

In fact, in our Pakistani context, we see these to a great extent. Virtually every language has borrowed from the other language.

In fact, the Pakistani languages in the earlier times for that matter borrowed extensively from English. Even in present days, we see that lots of words borrowed from Arabic and English language to Pashto particularly due to need or due to force for that matter.

In present days also every language has borrowed words from the English language.

In fact, the unfortunate situation is that the situation has come to such a state that even though the local vocabulary is available, local words are available for those concepts still people prefer to use the borrowed one here in a way it is a prestigious motive associated with the borrowed words that is happening.

Literature Review

As for as the literature review is concerned, I studied different sources to enhance my understanding.

(Aimun Noor, Museerah Nisar, and Dr. Uzma Anjum from air university Islamabad in 2020) explore the topic about “Lexical Borrowing in Urdu and Pashto: A Comparative

Study”.

(Phonemic Inventory of Pashto by Madiha Ijaz) were present the phonemic inventory of the yousafzai dialect which is commonly spoken in Peshawar and their surroundings.

(Sulaiman Khan, Habib Ullah Khan and Shah Nazir) explore the Offline Pashto Characters Dataset for OCR Systems.

So they have explored the topic from a different perspective but not from mine which I am going to explore. Therefore the precise and limited exploration of lexical borrowing in the Pashto language from the Urdu language is needed and it allows students to make further exploration based on it.

Research Question

In this research project, I am going to analyze and explain borrowing in Pashto from the Urdu language.

Data collection

I collect data from different articles especially from Wikipedia and many more. I also analyze different research articles in which some of them I mentioned above. Besides that, I had also conversations with 5 people belonging to the Pashtun community and the same amount of people belonging to the Urdu community. As a result, I found lots of words that is borrowed from the Urdu language to the Pashtu language.

Data Analysis

Well, Pashto is not a pure language. It has borrowed lots of words and had subjected to different cultural changes. It constantly changes and evolves. Based on my research, I found some of the words which are borrowed from the Urdu language to the Pashto language. Some of them are partially assimilated in which the borrowed words are changed according to the borrowing words, some are completely assimilated in which the borrowed words are translated into the borrowing words and some are unassimilated borrowed words.

The following are the borrowed words from the Urdu language to Pashto language are given below.

Urdu Words	Borrowed to Pashtu	Meaning in English
1.Roti	Rotai	Bread
2.Nazar	Nazar	Sight
3.Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi
4. Mobile	Mobail	Mobile
5. Saabon	Saboon	Soap
6. tasweer	Tasweer	Picture
7. Election	Election	Election
8. Light	Lait	Light
9. istree	istree	iron
10. Almari	Almarai	Closet

These are some of the words used by two different languages along with meanings in English.

Now the first word is Roti which is used by the people of Urdu speakers and the word Rotai is used by the people of Pashto speakers. The meaning of both of the words is the same which is Bread in English but the word rotai is partially assimilated.

The 2^nd word is Nazar which is used by the people of Urdu speakers and the same case with the Pashto speakers and it is unassimilated. The meaning of both of the words is the same in English which is Sight.

The 3^rd word is Wi-Fi used by the people Urdu speakers as well Pashto speakers. The meaning of both of the words is the same which is Wi-Fi and it is unassimilated.

The Fourth word is Mobile used by the people of Urdu speakers and the word Mobail is used by the people of Pashto speakers. The meaning of both the words is Mobile too and it is partially assimilated.

The fifth word is Saabon used by the people of Urdu speakers and the word saboon is used by the people of Pashto speakers. The meaning of both words is Soap and it is partially assimilated.

The 6^th word is tasweer used by the people of Urdu speaker as well as Pashto speakers. The meaning of both the words is Cable in English.

The 7^th word is Election used by the people of Urdu speaker as well as Pashto speaker. The meaning of both Words is Election in English and it is unassimilated. 

The 8^th word is Light used by the people of Urdu speaker and the word lait is used by the people of Pashto speaker. The meaning of both the words is Light in English and it is partially assimilated.

The 9^th word is Istree used by the people of Urdu speaker as well as Pashto speaker and it is unassimilated.

The last word is Almari used by the people of Urdu speakers and the word Almarai is used by the people of Pashto speakers. The meaning of both the words is Closet and it is partially assimilated.

Now there are also some other factors that affect the way of pronouncing the words. For Example, the word light is pronounced by the Urdu speaker as well as the Pashto speaker but in Pashto, some of the uneducated people pronounce the word light as lait.

Conclusion

Although there are lots of words that are borrowed from the Urdu language to the Pashto language. As we know that the Pashto language is older than the Urdu language but still we borrowed a lot of words from the Urdu language is because of need or for prestige as I talk about already which is shown above and are explained.

Reference:

•  Book of R.A Hudson Sociolinguistics
• Read some research articles as I mention above
• Although it is experimental data. So no help is taken by any site.