CULTURE-SPECIFIC VOCABULARY: A STUDY OF URDU NOUNS IN PAKISTANI ENGLISH

Sažetak

The bilingual speakers quite often feel that the linguistic resources of one language are insufficient to carry the content of their desired expression and they feel that the expression can be best described in terms of their native language. This is mainly due to socio-cultural differences between the two language communities. This study investigates Urdu nouns in Pakistani English in the 2.1 million words corpus of written Pakistani English. Urdu nouns in Pakistani English are used deliberately and purposefully by the speakers and it is interesting to note that this tendency to use Urdu words persists even if their substitutes are available in English. The researcher has studied these items regarding their use by placing them in different categories i.e. religious items, socio-cultural items, items having exact English equivalents and items evoking specific meaning. This research shows how Pakistani English as a non-native variety of English is bound in socio-cultural make up of the community.