Karachi University | Burushaski Research Academy

The proposal of Burushaski-Urdu Dictionary was discussed with Karachi University after this friendship and trust was established between the two bodies. Dr. Moinuddin Aqeel, Director BCCT suggested to involve Urdu Dictionary Board in the Project. Dr. Rauf, the Head of the Board, who was fascinated with the idea and then number of joint meetings of all three institutions brought clarity and strength to the project. Urdu Dictionary Board was established in 1958, immediately after the independence of Pakistan. Among other important tasks the most significant accomplishment of the Board is completion and publishing of 20 volumes of a new elaborate Urdu-Urdu Dictionary. This is the first of its kind of any institution working on Urdu language in Pakistan or India. All the giants of Urdu literature like Josh Malih Abadi, etc. have been part of this grand Board.

The collection of 60,000 words by the Burushaski Research Academy and the increasing interest of national Academic Institutions in Burushaski language have highlighted the need of a Burushaski-Urdu Dictionary. Karachi University and Urdu Dictionary Board endorsed the research idea of the Academy. To achieve this target the Academy is closely working with Karachi University and the Urdu Dictionary Board. Both these institutions have shown great interest in the Project. To advance the Project the Urdu Dictionary Board offered its technical help in guiding the Academy in the intricacies of compiling a dictionary while Karachi University agreed to publish that.

It is important to preserve the ethical and cultural ethos hidden in the expression of any language through publications like grammar, proverbs, stories, poetry and dictionary. The Academy embarked on the journey of preparing a dictionary after having published certain books on grammar to preserve and promote Burushaski language and literature. This project was conceptualized by the first poet of the language and a scholar Nasiruddin Hunzai, who identified eight categories e.g. agriculture, games, old and new professions, life style, animals, local celebrations etc. Data was collected under these headings in three phases. In the first phase key informants were interviewed for collection of actual spoken words with their appropriate meaning. The second phase consisted of writing explanation of those words into Urdu. The final phase is to put these words in alphabetical order to form a pre dictionary format. It was then reviewed and finalized. The literature was simultaneously searched to compare and augment the meaning and the expression. The expert opinion was also taken into account to validate the language words, its expression and meaning in Urdu.