‘Languages of Northern Pakistan — Essays in memory of Carla Radloff’
Editors: Joan L. G. Baart, Henrik Liljegren, and Thomas E. Payne
Publishers: Oxford University Press, Pakistan
‘Farzand-e-Urdu — Syed Ruhul Amin’
Compiler: Dr. Shabbir Ahmad Qadri – Publisher: Izzat Aademy, Gujrat
Carla Faye Radloff (1949-2012), a famed American linguist, in whose memory the anthology of essays titled ‘Languages of Northern Pakistan’ has been compiled and published, was a career member of SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) International.
Her association with Western Asia dates back to 1982 whereafter in 1986, she switched over to SIL International. ‘Carla made invaluable contributions to dialect survey and the study of bilingualism and language use in Pakistan, to the methodology of sociolinguistic survey in general, and also to the linguistic study and documentation of the Shina language of Gilgit, Pakistan.’ She worked as SIL’s team leader in northern Pakistan from 1999 to 2006.
The second book titled ‘Farzand-e-Urdu’ is an anthology of complimentary essays authored
by academics and scholars of Urdu language and literature to highlight the services of well-
known litterateur and Urdu enthusiast Syed Ruhul Amin, to the cause of Urdu as a (1) literary language, (2) lingua franca, and (3) national language.
‘Languages of Northern Pakistan’
‘This book is a unique collection of papers on the languages and cultures in the northern
areas of Pakistan and the surrounding regions. In a single volume the editors have compiled the work of a variety of national and international scholars, long concerned with the linguistic aspects of the many languages discussed here.’
The three editors of the book happen to be linguists and researchers of good fame. Dr. Tariq Rahman has written the foreword to the book highlighting its important features. According to him ‘most of the chapters (in this volume) are by scholars and about the subjects to which Carla dedicated her working life — the languages of northern Pakistan’.
In the preface to the book, the editors have referred to the abounding cultural and linguistic diversity in the mountainous northern areas of Pakistan and the adjoining regions in Kashmir and northeastern Afghanistan.
The imminent threat of modernization has tended to endanger the organic vitality, so to say, of these cultures and languages. Hence, the imperative need for ‘documenting and describing’ them. Thus, the volume is intended to present ‘a cross section of current ongoing work focusing on languages of northern Pakistan’.
The book contains twenty articles related to the syntactical mechanics, usages, and linguistics of Burushaski, Kalasha, Ormuri, Wakhi, Domaaki, Gojri, Urdu, Shina, and Neelam Valley languages/dialects. Authors of these articles include names like Gregory D. S. Anderson, Paul Arsenault, Alexei Kochetov, Joan L. G. Baart, Jeremy Hawbaker, Elena Bashir, Peter E. Hook, Fazal Amin Beg, John Mock, Mir Ali Wakhani, Georg Buddruss, Almuth Degener, Jan Heegard, Nabaig, Wayne E. Losey, Beate Lubberger, Carla F. Radloff, Thomas E. Payne, Tariq Rahman, Khawaja A. Rehman, Ruth Laila Schmidt, Hugh van Skyhawk, Richard F. Strand, Bertil Tikkanen, and Claus Peter Zoller.
‘Farzand-e-Urdu’
The book comprises an anthology of articles and reviews pertaining to the person and work
of Syed Nurul Amin, a famed Urdu scholar, column writer, and enthusiast. Dr. Shabbir Ahmad Qadri, himself a distinguished litterateur, has compiled the work which includes a teeming variety of essays, reviews, commentaries, letters, profiles and dialogues relating to its illustrious protagonist.
Mahmood Sham, Dr. Saeed Ahmad, Muhammad Najmul Uroos Faruqui and Dr. Shabbir
Ahmad Qadri have added introductory notes to the volume explaining its raison d’etre etc.
Dr. Jamil Jalibi, Dr. Muhammad Ali Siddiqui, Dr. Farman Fatehpuri, Iftikhar Arif, Dr. Waheed
Qureshi, Dr. Syed Moinur Rahman, Dr. Moinuddin Aqeel, Prof. Sharif Kunjahi, Dr. Rashid
Amjad, Prof. Fateh Muhammad Malik, Dr. Tahir Taunsvi, Dr. Anwaar Ahmad, Dr. Aslam
Adeeb, Dr. Syed Shahid Hassan Rizvi, Dr. Saeed Murtaza Zaidi, Dr. Syed Shabihul Hassan, Dr. Rubina Tareen, Dr. Abdul Karim Khalid, Dr. Aqeela Bashir, Dr. Rabia Sarfaraz, Dr. Abdul Aziz Malik, Prof. Majid Mushtaq, Prof. Kalim Ehsan Butt, Farrukh Zahra Gilani, Prof. Munirul Haq Ka’abi. Dr. M. Fakhrul Haq Noori, Dr. Sadaf Naqvi, Dr. Salim Akhtar, Justice (R) Dr. Javed Iqbal, Syed Afsar Sajid, Dr. Najeeb Jamal, Dr. Riazul Haq Tariq, Riaz Mufti Advocte, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Shahid, Sa’adia Raashid, Malik Nawaz Ahmad Awan, Khalid Yazdani, Rauf Zafar, Khalid Mehmood Saqib, Tariq Sultanpuri, Shahzad Beg et al, are some noted contributors to the volume.
In their write-ups, commentaries, interviews, and reviews, they have soulfully lauded the works and achievements of Syed Ruhul Amin as a zealous but committed advocate of Urdu as a national language.
