My copy of Kim in the Oxford World's Calssic edition has a note on Urdu (p
291) which refers to information given by Brigadier Alec Mason in vol 1 p
131 of Harbord's. I notes that there is a manual of urdu for officers in the
society's library catalogue.
MXR
----- Message d'origine -----
De : Liz Breuilly <[log in to unmask]>
À : Kipling Mailbase <[log in to unmask]>
Envoyé : jeudi 25 novembre 1999 22:44
Objet : Urdu, Hindi etc.
> The Encarta Dictionary is earning its keep! The three languages
> mentioned are virtually the same:
> Hindi: an official language of India that developed form a literary form
> of Hindustani and is widely used as a lingua franca in many parts of
> the world....
> Hindustani: a group of Indian languages and dialects that includes all
> forms of both Urdu and Hindi.
> Urdu: the official language of Pakistan, spoken also in Bangladesh and
> in parts of India. It ... is closely related to Hindi.
> -------
> Obviously, usage has changed since Kipling's day, with political
> changes, but my understanding is that Urdu is mainly used by Muslims,
> uses a script derived from Arabic and has Arabic loan-words. I think
> Kipling uses the three words almost interchangeably.
>
> I have a very vague recollection of reading one study of Kipling which
> indicated that his knowledge of 'the vernacular', in whatever local
> variant, was considerably less than he liked to make out. I can't
> remember which writer, or what the evidence was. Anyone recognise the
> reference?
> Liz
>
>
> "m.jefferson" wrote:
>
> > This brings me to the question: what language or languages of the
> > sub-continent did RK speak ?He has Kim speaking excellent
> > Urdu,thinking in Hindi, dreaming in Hindustani, and speaking his
> > mother-tongue with a Eurasian accent. Most of the vernacular words
> > used in Kim are Urdu.RegardsMichael Jefferson
>
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