Construction Approach to Compounding in Urdu Language

Abstract

Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language. It is mostly spoken in India and Pakistan. Urdu language withholds multilingual influences which make it a lexically diverse language. Morphological richness is an undeniable fact about it which allows Urdu literates to bring versatility, and enhanced expression in their writings. Compounding is an integral process in morphology for construction of new words. In compounding new words are generated by combining pr-exixting words.  Language experts have been exploring numerous languages through compounding yet Urdu language still remains underexplored. This research aims to explore word formation processes in Urdu language with the help of construction approach. The research deals specifically with exocentric and endocentric compounding processes to explore Urdu’s linguistic development. The research has adopted the philosophy of constructivism. The exploratory descriptive research design has been incorporated in this research. A qualitative study has been done with the use of the inductive approach. The data to study has been taken from online Urdu dictionaries Rekhta, and Feroz-ul-Lughat Urdu. The analysis of the paper has been done using deconstruction which reveals the common patterns of exocentric and endocentric compounds in Urdu and their semantic properties. For example “Kitab Khana” , Book Store is and endocentric compound as its meaning is derived from its head word “Khana”, Store. “Sar Phira”, crazy man is and exocentric compound as the meaning of the compound is entirely different from the words that make it.   These findings can contribute to lexicography of Urdu language to form new words using the existing ones. The construction approach will help developing a unique way of comprehension of Urdu language.

Keywords: Compounding, Endocentric, Exocentric, Morphology, Constructivism