An Orthographic Analysis of Sound Changing Rules in the Urdu Language

The current study aims to determine the sound-changing rules in the Urdu language and their underlying causes. For this purpose, words that exhibited distinct pronunciations as compared to their written forms were selected for the study. A list of 500 words was prepared from the Urdu dictionary "Feeroz-ul-Lughat," and twenty (20) proficient Urdu language speakers were selected to articulate these chosen words. The study’s analysis was divided into three stages, namely recording, transcribing, and examining the speakers' pronunciations to identify the sound changing patterns; consulting the dictionary for standard transcriptions; and phonetically and orthographically transcribing and examining the selected words. The findings revealed various contextual occurrences in which phonological changes had occurred. Additionally, after a thorough examination, the evidence supporting or contradicting the existing sound-changing rules was explored through the selected words from the Urdu language. Markedly, this study aims to enhance the understanding of the phonological dynamics in spoken Urdu expressions as well as the major factors contributing to sound changes in the Urdu language.