From a Lingua Franca to a Communal Language: The Islamicization of Urdu in British India

Abstract

The Urdu language, alternatively known as Hindustani, enjoyed the status of a lingua franca in the Indian subcontinent due to the fact that it was a common medium of expression used by Indians regardless of their faith. However, around the mid-nineteenth century, mutations on the Indian scene were to pose a challenge to this status which rendered this language an exclusively Islamic one. Therefore, this paper seeks to highlight the process of this transition—that is, from a common language used by all to a communal one—as well as the motivating forces behind such a change which, ultimately, led to the fragmentation of the country by the mid-twentieth century