Hyderabadi ( ur, ) is a variety of Dakhini Urdu, spoken in areas of the former

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and ...

, corresponding to the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 35 ...

, the

Marathwada Marathwada () is a proposed state and geographical region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was formed during the Nizam's rule and was part of the then Hyderabad State. The region coincides with the Aurangabad division of Maharashtra. I ...

region of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

. It is natively spoken by the Hyderabadi Muslims and their diaspora. It contains loan words from Indian languages like Marathi,

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and foreign languages like

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, Turkic and Persian. Hyderabadi is considered to be a northern variety of Dakhini.

History

Distinctive features

Hyderabadi is mutually intelligible with most Hindi/Urdu speakers but has distinctive features from interaction with local Indian Languages such as Marathi, Telugu, Kannada.

Phonology

The letter ق ( qāf) is pronounced as an unvoiced velar

fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in ...

/x/ with the same pronunciation as خ ( khe) whereas in Standard Hindustani dialects the ق is pronounced as a velar plosive /k/ with the same pronunciation as ک (

kāf Kaph (also spelled kaf) is the eleventh letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician kāp , Hebrew kāf , Aramaic kāp , Syriac kāp̄ , and Arabic kāf (in abjadi order). The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek kappa (Κ), L ...

). For example, the word 'qabar' (grave) is pronounced as 'khabar' (news).

Lexical features

Distinct vocabulary unique to Hyderabadis: *Āra'en آرئیں - (is) coming; "Ā rahe hain" "آرہے ہیں" in standard Urdu *Čindiyān kardiya چِندیاں کر دیا - Nailed it *Čupke to bī / čupkaič چُپکے تو بی / چُپکَیچ - No reason *Hona ہونا - to want, instead of "čāhna" چاہنا in Orthodox Urdu (instead of "mujhē woh čāhi'ē" "مجھے وہ چاہیے" in Orthodox Urdu, Hyderabadi Urdu would use "mērēku woh hona." "میرے کو وہ ہونا") *Hao ہَؤ - for yes, instead of "Hān" "ہاں". *Hallu ہلُّو - Slow *Haula ہَولا - foolish, crazy person *Hota ki nai ki ہوتا کی نئیں کی - May or may not happen *Jāndo جاندو - let it go *Jāra'un جارؤں - I am leaving *Jāra'en جارئیں - (is) going; جارہے ہیں "jā rahe hain" in standard Urdu *Kačča(i) (ی)کچا- wet; in standard Urdu, wet would be گیلا "gīla". کچا "kacha" in standard Urdu means "raw". *Kaīkū کئيکو - why; کیوں "kyūn" or کس لئے "kis li'ē" in standard Urdu. *Kaīkū ki کئيکو کی - wonder why, who knows why *Katey کَتے - it is often used when a person mentions something told by someone else. It could be translated as "it seems". Usage: "Kal unay bahar jaara katey" means "It seems he is going outside tomorrow". * Kxayāli pulāo خیالی پُلاؤ - Wishful thinking *Kunjī کنجی - keys; in standard Urdu, keys would be chābī چابی. *Kya toh bī hora کیا تو بی ہو را - what the hell is happening *Lāiṭ liyo لائٹ لِیو - take it easy *Mērēku میرے کو - my, instead of "mujhe" مجھے or "mujhko" مجھکو in standard Urdu *Miyān میاں - fellow (i.e. "Chalo miyan "چلو میاں" means "Let's go, man.") *Nakko نکو - an alternate (and informal) negative, generally indicating "no", "no thanks" or "don't". It can be (and is often) used in place of نہیں "nahīn", نہ "nā" and مت "mat" (from traditional Urdu) are used where نکو "nakko" is inappropriate for the context or in polite situations. * Parsūn پرسُوں - literally it means the day before yesterday or the day after tomorrow but it is widely used for any time in recent past. *Phugat پُھگٹ - for free *Poṭṭī پوٹی - derogatory term for girl *Poṭṭā پوٹا - derogatory term for boy *Paintābē پَینتابے - socks; in standard Urdu it would be مَوزے "mauzē". *Tumārē ku تمارے کو - you, instead of tumhen تمہیں or tumko تمکو in standard Urdu *Tērē ku تیرے کو (informal slang) - you, instead of tujhe or tujhko in standard Urdu *Uney اُنے - he/she, instead of woh in standard Urdu. * Zyāda nakko kar زیادہ نکو کر - don't act over smart * The word اِچ "ič" is often added after a noun or verb to express the confidence of the action. In standard Urdu, ہی "hī" would be used. For example: "Biryāni'ič lāraun mēn" "بریانی اِچ لا رَؤں میں". In standard Urdu this would be "Biryāni hī lā rahā hūn main" "بریانی ہی لا رہا ہوں میں". * The Urdu word ہے "hai" (be) is often dropped. For example, Urdu "Mujhē mālūm hai" "مجھے معلوم ہے" (I know it) would be "Mērē ku mālum" "میرے کو معلُم". * Aisich اَیسِچ - No reason/without any reason (casually) as in "ایسچ کرا" "I did it without any reason"

Peculiar features

The suffix ''"ān"'' is often used to mark plurality. The letter 'n' is an almost silent nasal stop. For example, ''Log'' لوگ (people) would become ''Logān'' لوگاں, ''Bāt'' بات (talk) would become ''Bātān'' باتاں, ''Ādmi'' آدمی (men) pronounced as ''Admi'' ادمی would become ''Admiyān'' ادمیاں, etc. in the Hyderabadi dialect. While talking, many long a's (as in "father") are pronounced "uh" as in "hut." For example, instead of ''"ādmi"'' آدمی (man) or ''"rāsta"'' راستہ (path) in Orthodox Urdu, Hyderabadi would use ''"admi"'' ادمی and ''"rasta"'' رستہ. Similarly ''"bhūl"'' بھول (to forget), ''"ṭūṭ"'' ٹوٹ (to break) and ''"čūṛi'ān"'' چوڑیاں (bangles) is ''"bhul"'' بُھل, ''"ṭuṭ"'' ٹُٹ and ''"čuṛiyān"'' چُڑیاں in Hyderabadi.

Popularity and usage

In the early sixties, film star

Mehmood Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''. Siam Mahmud *Mahmood (singer) (born 19 ...

popularized another dialect in Indian films, Dakhni slang, which originates from former Mysore State. A very famous Guinness record holder drama /stage comedy written in Dakhani is Adrak Ke Punjey. Many Urdu poets also write in the Hyderabadi dialect of Dakhani, including

Pagal Adilabadi Ahmed Shareef ( ur, احمد شريف ), (19 May 1941 – 2007), popularly known as Pagal Adilabadi ( ur, احمد شريف پاگل عادل آبادى), was an Urdu poet from Adilabad, India. He wrote ''mazahiya shayari'' or humorous poetry in ...

Khamakha Hyderabadi Khamakha Hyderabadi (1929–2017) was an Urdu language poet from Hyderabad in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. He was known for his poems and was a regular at Mazahiya Mushairas. He wrote in his native Dakhni dialect The term dialect ...

and Nukko Hyderabadi (of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

). Hyderabadi gained sudden prominence and recognition in 2006 after the success of the comedy film The Angrez that adopted the dialect. The film's success sparked several other Hyderabadi dialect films including: Kal ka Nawaab, Hyderabad Nawaabs, Aadab Hyderabad, Gullu Dada, Gullu Dada returns, Berozgaar,

Hungama In Dubai ''Hungama in Dubai'' is a 2007 Hindi comedy film directed by Masood Ali and starring Aziz Naser, Dheer Charan Srivastav, and Mast Ali in part of a series of movies based on the Hyderabadi lingo theme that followed ''The Angrez'' and '' Hyder ...

, Daawat-e-Ishq.

References

{{Central Indo-Aryan languages Urdu in India Dialects of Urdu Languages of Telangana Culture of Hyderabad, India