IT is generally believed that globalisation relates only to economic issues. However, the fact is that it has an equally extensive socio-cultural agenda, and that agenda includes the domination of the English language at the cost of elimination or marginalisation of local languages.

The book under review, Lasaniyat aur Tanqeed, is a collection of articles on literary and linguistic topics written by Dr Nasir Abbas Naiyar of the department of Urdu at the University of the Punjab. One of the articles included in this book, Gobalisation aur Urdu Zaban, discusses the impact of globalisation on the Urdu language.

The author maintains that, to achieve cultural uniformity, English is being made to replace the national languages of many countries. He quotes a UNESCO publication which reveals that out of 6,000 languages of the world, 5,000 are in danger of becoming extinct.

The author admits that languages have died in the past as well. But that happened due to historical factors, while today languages are being 'killed' to achieve political and commercial goals.

The author rightly believes that a particular language carries a distinct view of the world and, therefore, with the extinction of a language, a distinct world view is lost which is indeed a cultural and human tragedy.

Lamenting the introduction of English words and phrases into Urdu, Dr Naiyar explains that Urdu has been absorbing, through a natural process, English words that did not have proper equivalent in them.

At present a deliberate attempt is being made to mutilate Urdu by using English words and terms even where suitable equivalents are readily available.

He criticises the role of Pakistan Television (PTV) and Radio Pakistan, which used to employ the most authentic language in the past and were the standard bearers of our national identity and culture but today have succumbed to the influence of globalisation to earn higher profits.

While discussing Urdu's losing fight against English the author has made an interesting observation. He asks why elderly literary figures who had once distinguished themselves by writing in Urdu are these days contributing regular
columns and articles in English?

His answer is that they do so because they believe that by writing in English, the language of authority, they can achieve a new distinction and a higher social status. He also points out that in advertisements multinational companies often use the roman script for slogans in Urdu. He views this too as an effort to undermine the status of Urdu and its script.

Another related topic is colonialism as globalisation has often been described as a 'package of economic interests and socio-political ideologies seeking to re-enact colonialism.'

The author has discussed colonialism in his article entitled Nauabadiyati Surat-i-Hal. After discussing the psychology of the colonised people and the coloniser nation, he asserts that in every era and in every society, there live people who might be categorised as colonised or as 'free self'.

He then adds that those possessing the 'free self' mindset acquire the knowledge of the culture of the coloniser but not at the cost of alienation from their own culture.

Other articles in the collection discuss literary topics such as structuralism, post-modernism, an analysis of the work of Firaq, criticism and linguistics.

Unfortunately, though the author has strongly criticised the use of English words in Urdu texts and conversation in his article referring to globalisation, he has himself employed plenty of English words in most of his articles.

On the one hand he uses unfamiliar Urdu words such as lamukhtatim (never-ending), while on the other he has freely employed English terminology — for example modernity, process and glorification — for which suitable Urdu equivalents already exist.

Lasaniyat Aur Tanqeed
(LINGUISTICS)
By Dr Nasir Abbas Naiyar,
Poorab Academy, Islamabad
ISBN 969-8917-61-6
295pp. Rs350