From a Literary Language to an Oral Tongue: A Linguistic Overview of the Dakhni Language

Abstract

Dakhni Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Deccan region of India, especially in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. This variety of Urdu, which developed in the Deccan from the 13th century, is the result of the contact between Urdu and the Dravidian tongues spoken in South India. It flourished as a literary vehicle during the 14th and 15th centuries and, after the conquest of Deccan by the Mughals in 1687, it saw a rapid decline that restricted it to the oral form. The proposed paper seeks to trace the history and development of Dakhni from its birth to its decline, paying closer attention to the social, political and linguistic choices that influenced the use of Dakhni in South India. In particular, the research looks at its origin, its literary production and, finally, at the social and political factors which led to its decline in the late 17th century. Moreover, the paper also gives a brief outline of Dakhni and its main linguistic features, stressing the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian influence on the language.