URDU 1 LANGUAGE PRACTICE 1A

The study and knowledge of urdu is very important in the geo-political and economic context of contemporary South Asia. Beyond its relevance for the millions of native urdu speakers in South Asia (urdu is the national language of Pakistan and recognized as one of the offical languages of the Republic of India), urdu adequately completes the knowledge pertaining to the hindi language. Its study and knowledge are thus important means of an autonomous undertanding and enquiry of South Asian culture and is a precious asset for the study of written and oral sources pertaining to the rich and multi-layered culture of that part of the world.
The course offers a practical approach to the study of urdu through reading, writing and translation exercises enhanced by elements of grammatical and logical analysis of its specific morpho-syntactic elements.

The course offers students the opportunity of approaching study of phonological, morphological and syntactical elements pertaining to the urdu language.
During classes:
- time will be dedicated to the learning and practice of the urdu writing system known as nasta'liq, based on the letters of the ararb-persian alphabet with the addition of some specific grapghical signs characteristic of the Indian languages, i.e. retroflex and aspirated sounds;
- students will acquire a basic vocabulary;
- students will learn to distinguish the peculiar Indian ingredients of urdu and those pertainng to the arabic and persian cultural world;
-emphasis will be given to outline the common elements with hindi and the factors leading to urdu's gradual seperation feom that langauge.

There is no prerequisite for the course.

Notions of grammar and sentence structure (syntax), based on the chapters in the textbook Grammatica Urdu, Hoepli, see bibliography):
-the writing system: main features and characteristics: vowels and consonants, their phonetic value and their graphical aspect, use and purpose of special signs;
-nouns and adjectives: use and main characteristics; use of Persian affixes;
the personal pronoun: basic morphology and the use of the verb 'hona' (to be);
-the verb: verb stem and infinite mode, present and imperfect indicative and the use of the progressive tense;
-simple and composed postpositions and their relation to Persian and Arabic prepositions;
-the oblique case of personal nouns: general characteristics and particular features;
-how to contract the verb 'to have';
-verbal tenses derived from the past participle and the ergative construction;
-some verbs derived from the past participle and the ergative construction;
-indefinite pronouns and adjectives;

-Dahnhardt T., Graziani, I. (2014): Grammatica della Lingua Urdu, Milano, Ulrico Hoepli editore. ISBN 978-88-203-5970-6
-Platts, John T. : A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi and English, edizioni varie.

Additional material will be provided during classes.

Oral assessment of reading, translation, grammatical and logical analysis of morphological and syntactic elements.

Frontal classes complemented by individual study.

Italian

oral