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Thanks Liz, I had just been wondering about the differences between Urdu, Hindi, Hindustani etc. In William the Conqueror RK says that she speaks fluent Urdu and rough Punjabi (which adds another language to the panoply) I also have a - clear- recollection to have read that RK's knowledge of the "vernacular", as he refers to it most of the time was not up to what he would have liked it to be. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find out where. 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 > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%