Statistical Approach to the Debate on Urdu and Hindi (Student Paper)
Stanislav Martynyuk · Minds at UW (University of Wisconsin) · 2003
Statistical Approach to the Debate onUrdu and Hindi R debate on the relationship between Urdu and Hindi has mostly addressed cultural and cognitive differences.These differences have been observed on different cognitive verbal and non-verbal tasks and conclusions on the variability in language use and comprehension have been drawn from their results.In this paper, a different approach is presented.The pilot study which is described below examines statistical lexical distribution in electronic media speech.Tools for comparison of lexical data were developed to compile frequency lists for Urdu and Hindi.The lists were analyzed using a cross validation approach based on word frequencies.On the basis of these measurements, statistical analysis is able to establish the percentage difference between frequent words used in the two languages.The results are discussed in detail including correlation and principal components analysis.The paper concludes that there are interesting differences across the two languages on the measures studied and further research in this area is warranted.A number of papers published in previous issues of the AUS addressed the emergence of Urdu and Hindi.In his article entitled "Some Notes on Hindi and Urdu" (No. ), Ralph Russell agrees that the one language, two scripts approach to the issue is far from being true and natural.He analyzes several publications on Urdu and Hindi and the vocabulary presented in those publications.Russell concludes that Urdu and Hindi are two separate languages and he suggests that they be treated as such "despite their almost completely common structure and less completely common stock of everyday words" (p.).In his paper entitled "Urdu in India" (No. ), David Matthews says that the relationship between Urdu and Hindi is "extremely complex, and in arguments deal- • T A U S ing with the sensitive issue of language the case is usually grossly oversimplified."He adds:At the most basic level Hindi and Urdu, leaving aside their scripts, are virtually identical languages and serve admirably, as they always have done, as a valuable link between all South Asian communities wherever they may reside.At certain levels they are very different from each other and deserve separate treatment and study.(p.)