The competing status of Urdu and English after declaration of Urdu as official langauge in Pakistan

Abstract

The current research aims at exploring the status of Urdu and English in Pakistan. There has always been a rift between Urdu and English in order to stay dominant language in the spheres of power like education, law and bureaucracy in Pakistan. There were many steps taken to replace English practically and the latest of the plans was initiated in 2015 to replace Urdu with English as an official language. This necessitated the current research to re-assess the role of Urdu and English in this phase of transition. The data for the current research was collected by using interview protocol. A sample of 60 participants selected through purposive sample took part in the collection of data. The interview protocol comprised questions on the aspects like the importance of the language, the academic value of the language and the future of that language. The study concludes that the people understand the role of Urdu in the context of nation-wide connection while English is source of connecting with the world. English enjoys better academic value as well as better future prospects in comparison with Urdu.</p

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