So I finally decided (was forced) to apply for the new computerized ID card (in Pakistan) after getting my bank account application refused because they dont entertain old ID cards anymore. I kinda liked my teenage photograph on that old card.
And during the application process, the interviewer was asking me questions, and typing up my answers. My name, fathers name etc, then my permanent address (which is in punjab), and then my maadri zaban. And before I could respond to that, she goes, “punjabi”, and types that in. I said “no, its urdu”, and she stared at me as if I was nuts. She said ‘urdu? address to punjab ka hai’. I said urdu is my maadri zuban…so just write down urdu…which she grudgingly did. I think I read her lips when she said “mohajir wannabe”.
I always thought it was a forgone conclusion that anyone living in Pakistan and born to Pakistani parents would grow up knowing urdu, even though their medium of conversation may be punjabi, sindhi, balochi or pushto. To me, maadri zuban would be defined as one that is common to the entire country…something I can use no matter which corner of the country Im in. So why do they have this seemingly anda tamatar question in all these passport/ID card applications and forms?
When I'm asked about my maadri zaban (mother tongue), I always say "Punjabi" no matter where I am. To me, Urdu is the cherished national language and my lineage didn't account for it until now, after the formation of Pakistan. All of my ancestors, that i have known/heard about were Punjabi. I don't think maadri necessarily means a regional language, at least not now in the era of globalization. In Pakistan, my family is primarily settled in Sindh and when I'm asked about my ethnicity, people always assume that I'm Sindhi. When I tell them I'm punjabi, it's somehow incomprehensible to them. Why? I don't honestly know.
i thought it was a simple criteria of just the language u have been brought up with...could be anythin dependin on the family...like sehar said, she's been brought up speakin punjabi, and that 2 in sindh, so her maadri zubaan is punjabi...i've been brought up speakin urdu, eventhough both my parents are punjabi and they were brought up speakin punjabi...so for them their maadri zubaan was punjabi, for my siblings and i it has been urdu...
To me, maadri zuban would be defined as one that is common to the entire country...
Maadri zuban is the native language which may or may not be the national language. The word "maadri" gives it the inherent meaning that the language that you learn growing up from your household/parents.
I always assumed your ma bohlee was your native language, not the national language..however some feel if you migrated completety with your family in another country forever and the language of that country is different language then this new language is your native language
^Mother tongue is the language a person learn first. If you are a Punjabi but you've grown up speaking Urdu only then your mother tongue would be Urdu, and not Punjabi.
Mines would be Urdu, at home we speak Urdu but in Pakistan grandparents speak Hindko/Pukhto and to be honest with you I don’t like either of them languages I’m too posh and sophisticated for them, both are so ‘jaahil’ and ungraceful.
I understand Hindko though because it’s so similar to Urdu, but it still sounds very harsh and the same with Pakistani Pukhto, Pashto is okay though.
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*Originally posted by Zakiii: *
so ‘jaahil’ and ungraceful.
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excuse me??? Urdu is one of the most elegant and sophisticated languages spoken in that region. however, if your idea of of a sophisticated language is Geoffery Boycott's English, then I understand. Urdu is definitely not sophisticated enough for you.
My situation is very similar to DM's. parents waghera speak Punjabi but with us they always spoke Urdu. so, my maadri zubaan would be Urdu. it is the language I can speak and write fluently in.
waisay, for people who're listing Punjabi as their maadri zubaan. can you folks write in it as well? shouldnt being able to write (apart from being able to read) in a language be a criterion for maadri language as well?
A language not need be written to be maadri. If that was the case then pre-literate societies would not have had a maadri zaban, let alone a language. Even today, there are many languages in many parts of the world that aren't written but only spoken and are maadri. Even according to linguists, a language need not be written for it to be "mother tongue".
Anyhow, just to clarify, Punjabi was the first language I learned in childhood and a language that I still converse in very fluently.
My Uncle and Aunt are Punjabi and their kids are born in US. Kids don't speak Urdu or Punjabi. Instead they only speak English. Their maadri zubaan is English.
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*Originally posted by Zakiii: *
both are so ‘jaahil’ and ungraceful.
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No matter what you say about Pashto, it is dear to the people who speak this language. And at least unlike Urdu, Pashto is not thoroughly depended on Persian and Arabic loan words. What is Urdu? One can't even greet somebody in this language if you remove all foreign words from it.
A language not need be written to be maadri. If that was the case then pre-literate societies would not have had a maadri zaban, let alone a language. Even today, there are many languages in many parts of the world that aren't written but only spoken and are maadri. Even according to linguists, a language need not be written for it to be "mother tongue".
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well Pakistan isn't exactly a pre-literate society anymore is it? the comparison is not very fair, IMO.
But your point about linguists' definition of maadri zubaan makes sense. :)
Well okay, but taking a lot of Pakistan's rural population into account, I personally know of many people who cannot read or write, but only converse in a language. That language thereby being their mother tongue. Would u say because they can't read or write it, that language isn't their mother tongue? I think not. Btw, I'm not arguing, just elaborating on the pre-literate part because a lot of Pakistan's population is "pre-literate" with no schooling in any language.
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*Originally posted by Roman: *
Here is an illustration:
My Uncle and Aunt are Punjabi and their kids are born in US. Kids don't speak Urdu or Punjabi. Instead they only speak English. Their maadri zubaan is English.
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Right....and that proves that your maadri language would not necessarily be the one in which you converse with your parents. Your cousins maadri zaban is definitely english, since they have been born and raised in a society that speaks english as a common/national language. Many places in the US , eg Miami, are filled with south americans, and regardless of how much they promote spanish there, english will always be the primary language, and hence the maadri zuban of everyone who is born and raised while in miami.
Problem with PAkistan is, people take some sort of pride in proclaiming their ethnicity, which I figure is an inherited trait. zaat, zuban, gaoon, qabila etc are more popular than mulk and qaum. Funny to see the concept of domiciles still in existence.
Your cousins maadri zaban is definitely english, since they have been born and raised in a society that speaks english as a common/national language
No, their maadri zubaan is English because that's was the only language they learned growing up and that's the only language they speak to converse in the household and with parents.
With my other uncle's family, all of the kids speak Urdu primarily in the household and English in general outside. They learned Urdu from their parents so in their case their maadri zubaan is Urdu, not English.
Again, maader or maadri is taken from the word "mother" and it has the inherent meaning that the language you learn from your mother growing up (at familial level it'd basically be mother and father, of course). When you're a toddler and start speaking few words here and there, you basically use the word from the language that your mother and father speak to you and that's the FIRST language you learn.
It's like with my neices and nephews. Their parents are Punjabi. The parents speak Punjabi amongst themselves but kids only speak Urdu becasue that's what they were taught to speak by the parents. The kids' maadri language would be Urdu. Now, that's a different story that Urdu also happens to be national language of Paksitan and is an irrelevent point.
