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Linguistic tinkering in regional media

Last Updated 17 August 2016, 21:20 IST

Communication is a process in which communicators use media to disseminate message widely, rapidly, and continuously to arouse intended meanings in large and diverse audiences in attempts to influence them in a verity of ways. It has been observed that print media prefer elements that require least efforts to write.

Hindi/Urdu print media devise code system in such a way that frequently used items become simpler. This trend is not very much noticeable in oral communication network. Words with high frequency are perceived and memorized faster and more accurately than unfamiliar words. Hindi/Urdu newspapers in India, to some extent, are obsessed with politics, crime, violence and sensational stories. Education and development gets scant coverage, Rural reporting have been accorded low priority.

The quality of reporting, editing, designing and printing is simply below standard. Most of Urdu dailies use highly literary and ornamental language which is often beyond the comprehension and understanding of the average reader. That is why the circulation of Urdu dailies is restricted to urban localities. The newspapers generally serve the needs of urban elite. Even the newspapers that are published from the small towns do not fulfill the needs and aspirations of rural populace.

In recent years there has been a gradual rise in the number of Hindi/Urdu dailies. The problems of language press call for immediate identification and analysis. This would pave the way for the future advancement of the language press. The growth of Hindi/Urdu dailies in recent decades shows a healthy trend but still has a long way to go far as the quality of the coverage is concerned. Today most of the Urban-based newspapers use modern technology for printing. The advent of modern printing technology gave birth to attractive page layout and new concepts in editing practices made their mark. However, there is much to be done to improve the quality of content as each newspaper has its own tone in conveying the messages in different region.

Hindi/Urdu dailies used practical force to generate a unique style of expression which is characterized by a search for the best alternative expression rather than stale and oft repeated expressions. Practical force generally used by the news editors to highlight the consequences that a language manipulators wants to bring about. The style used in Hindi/Urdu dailies  are fascinating areas to study the process underlying the formation of new expressions which are intended to bring modern knowledge within the reach of speech community.

A recent study indicates that the Hindi/Urdu dailies employing the practical force becoming more and more acceptable among readers. The freshness of style and coined expressions with which the news are conveyed are the reasons of the popularity. Many of these kinds of expressions have been stabilized and standardized in formal use. Therefore, these newspapers provide a rich data on how a language develops new registers in the normal course of its use in areas and roles in which the speech community have not employed it before. The Hindi/Urdu dailies have taken the lead in employing the practical force as opposed to the literary style which enjoys the patronage of the writers, commentators and scholars. In order to efficiently serve their role as an effective media, these papers have no alternative but to adopt a new innovative, simpler and effective style of expressions.

Linguistic Mechanism:
The language of Hindi/Urdu newspaper has employed different linguistic mechanism of practical force to make their language simpler, effective and highly communicative.  A common mechanism though not a frequently favoured one is straight borrowing from English. The words like reservation, secular, commission, conference, security camp etc, are some of the commonly used English lexicon in Hindi/Urdu dailies. The editors of these newspapers prefer these words because of their brevity of form and wider currency and acceptability.

The expressions such as kala bazaar for black market, kala dhan for black money, kala din for black day are the few examples of calquing which creates new words or expressions by imitating another language. These examples are cases of literal translation of idiomatic phrases in English which have become more expressive in Hindi/Urdu. The association of back with evil has resulted in a number of Hindi/Urdu expressions. Loan creation is another linguistic mechanism which coines expressions which are stimulated not by cultural innovations but by the needs to match the existing concepts of the language of Hindi/Urdu dailies in a new context. Expressions such as dahshat gard for terrorism, taraqqi pasand for progressive, inquilab pasand for revolutionary,  maslehat prast for opportunist etc. The equivalence of these examples is primarily established through the newspaper usage. This has been a slow but steady process for building newspaper register in Hindi/Urdu.

The mechanism of shortening of certain forms of language to reduce the time and effort both in speech and writing have now becomes integral part of media expressions. Abbreviation is used as one of the most effective mechanism of practical force. Hindi/Urdu dailies have a tendency to use English abbreviations to communicate their message. Abbreviated English forms like OSD, UNO, ITPO, CBI, NOC etc. are commonly used in Hindi/Urdu dailies. In the similar fashion Acronym another most productive linguistic mechanism of practical force where words are formed with the combination of initial letters or syllables. Hindi/Urdu dailies have directly borrowed these acronyms from English.

These linguistic mechanisms do not allow any deviation in meaning from the social context in which the message is communicated. The process of innovation must have a balance between high literary expressions and commonly understood colloquial expressions so as a common reader or a semi literate person may also be able to comprehend the intended meaning. Subtle interplay of linguistic and extra linguistic considerations vis-à-vis target audience that is crucial for comprehensibility must be addressed by the editors of Hindi/Urdu dailies. It has been seen that in recent years there has been an increase in the readership of Hindi/Urdu newspapers in urban as well as in rural areas. It appears that the popularity enjoyed by these newspapers is no small measure due to the quality of expressions in the use of language and style that they have evolved over the year. It would be rewarding to make a sample operational survey of the language and style used in these newspapers to see if there is any correlation between the degree of comprehensibility and readability of a news item by semi literal population of Hindi/Urdu speech community.

M J WARSI teaches at the Washington University in St. Louis, USA. He may be reached at: mwarsi@wustl.edu

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(Published 17 August 2016, 18:42 IST)

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