A comparative analysis ofcolour lexicalization patterns in urdu and hindi

Abstract

[eng] The aim of this Corpus-based study is to compare and contrast colour lexicalization patterns in two Indo-Iranian languages, Hindi and Urdu. Both languages derive from the same ancestor language, Sanskrit and are so similar that they are practically indistinguishable. However, despite their similarities, previous researches have shown that significant differences can be observed in technical terms and high-level vocabulary. This study analyses colour lexicalization in an attempt to explore whether Hindi and Urdu might also exhibit significant lexical differences in basic vocabulary. In order to conduct this study, I have analysed in a corpus twelve colour terms whose counterparts have already been analysed by Drocco and Risato’s work on colour lexicalization in modern Hindi (2019). Results show that most of the differences between Hindi and Urdu colour lexicalization patterns are related to what Drocco and Risato (2019) call “approximation”, colour words that are formed either by suffixation or reduplication and that are used to indicate inexactness or uniqueness. This could be due to the fact that many “approximation type” colour terms combine colour words from different origins, mainly Hindi and Persian words.

[spa] El propósito de mi trabajo es observar la diferencia entre dos lenguas Indo-Europeas, Hindi y Urdu que comparten la misma lengua materna; Sanskrit. La similitud de las dos lenguas es tanta que a veces son prácticamente indistinguibles, aunque la diferencia se puede percibir en el registro más culto de las lenguas. Para poder confirmar esta hipótesis, doce colores de Hindi han sido elegidos de un trabajo escrito por Drocco y Risato sobre la lexicalización de términos de colores en Hindi moderno (2019). Una vez escogidos los colores, el siguiente paso ha sido examinar los en un corpus basado en Urdu. Los resultados encontrados demuestran que la mayoría de las diferencias se encuentran en “approximation type” lexicalización (Drocco and Risato, 2019). Los resultados demuestran que la mayoría de las diferencias se perciben en “approximation type lexicalization”.