AN ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE SHIFT AND LEXICAL BORROWINGS IN SARAIKI PRINT MEDIA

Abstract

The study examines the processes of language shift and lexical borrowing in the context of Saraiki

language which is a common language spoken in the south part of Punjab. The term lexical

borrowing is a process of incorporation of words of other languages into Saraiki. This leads to

increase in vocabulary of Saraiki, from other languages such as Urdu, Sindhi, Persian, Arabic and

English. And this lexical borrowing enriches the language, but this also cause many challenges for

its linguistic identity and purity. Language shift is a process in which a one speaking community

shifts their language to other dominant languages, this also a great act among the Saraiki speaking

community. There are many factors such as urbanization, migration and some social economic

factors which cause a language shift to other dominant languages is like Urdu and English. This

threatens the culture of Saraiki speaking community and their identity. This study explores these

trends through questionnaire and analysis of newspaper written in Saraiki language which is

basically a newspaper of Multan City named as Jhoke. The findings explored the reasons, behind

this language shift and lexical borrowings and how they maintain their cultures originally and

linguistic identity by some language policies and preservation efforts at the national level.