A Quantitative Analysis of Language Crisis and National Identity in Naya Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan is linguistically and culturally a diverse nation. Urdu is the national language, but still not the official language of Pakistan. English continues to be the official language, the language of elites, the language of opportunities, and much more. Therefore, the division of Urdu and English has never been so neat, and it still appears to be so. This research paper is another effort to shed light on the persisting crisis of language and national identity, perpetuated by the vague division of Urdu and English in the socio-political and academic sectors of Naya Pakistan. In order to revisit this issue, a quantitative research was conducted through a questionnaire. The sample population was 50 students from the University of the Punjab, Lahore. The study shows the immovable existence of linguistic and cultural crises in the country. It is this crisis, which is affecting the youth‟s competency in Urdu language as well. Moreover, the study finds a desire for linguistic conformity through a “monolithic linguistic” pattern (Haque, 1983, p. 6) in order to preserve the ideological beliefs of the indigenous languages in Naya Pakistan. But, in order to do this, there is a need to accept the multilingualism of our society and establish concrete roles of Urdu as the national and official language and English, along with regional languages, as a subject. In this way, polarization of indigenous languages can be reduced, as they will have their own space in terms of being spoken as mother tongue and taught as subjects in academia.