Sabahat Siddiq English 1103-006 11-18-13

Speech Community Essay

At the beginning of my speech community inquiry process, had much difficulty beginning this process because couldn!t decide "hich speech community should focus on# $his "as mainly because "asn!t truly grasping the conceptual idea of speech communities and ho" they can be more than %ust a specific "ay of communicating# $hey define a person and gi&e meaning to "ho you are as a person# t "as after this reali'ation that "as finally able to begin my inquiry process# n class, "e did many brainstorming "riting acti&ities about speech communities in our dayboo(s and these acti&ities opened my mind about "hich speech communities am a part of and ho" they impact my life# specifically remember ma(ing a concept map and a chart# $he

different speech communities that "rote about in the concept map and the chart made "ere the )rdu speech community, my religious* slamic speech community, and the speech community of my nati&e country +,a(istan-# After ma(ing those &isuals, became a"are of something# reali'ed that these .speech communities/ "ere related to one another and "ere part

of a .bigger idea/# $hese speech communities "ere actually a part of the ,a(istani community as a "hole# $he 0i(i 1eader2s 3uide made online allo"ed me to analy'e fi&e unique and ma%or components of the ,a(istani community# $he 0i(i 1eader2s 3uide "as a big help in ans"ering the questions that formed about the ,a(istani speech community because it required me to thoroughly analy'e those fi&e components by hunting do"n online articles, blogs, "ebsites and &ideos related to them# $he reali'ation that came after the dayboo( acti&ities that did brought up imperati&e questions in my mind# 4an the .,a(istani community/ be considered a speech community and if

Sabahat Siddiq English 1103-006 11-18-13 so, ho" does it qualify as a speech community5 $his led me into a further analysis of the characteristics that ma(e up the ,a(istani community and their impact on the community and on my life# formally began my inquiry process by in&estigating an important speech characteristic of the ,a(istani community, )rdu# )rdu is the .official/ language of the ,a(istani community, e&en though there are other languages that are spo(en in ,a(istan# t is my mother tongue and it "as the first language that learned ho" to spea( fluently in# n my house, the language that my family ultimately spea(s in is )rdu so you can imagine ho" significant it is for my day-to-day communication in my house# t "as easy for me to consider )rdu to be a speech characteristic of the ,a(istani community because it gi&es the community its o"n distinct language for communication# After )rdu, began to e6plore religion and its impact on the ,a(istani community# 4an religion help define the ,a(istani community as a speech community5 7f course it does# Any religion pro&ides its follo"ers "ith a guide on ho" to progress through the %ourney that is (no"n as life# $hat .guide/ comes "ith its special rules and instructions that are specific to the follo"ers of that religion# $he most obser&ed religion in the ,a(istani community is slam# 0hat ma(es slam unique is that it technically has an .official/ language, "hich is Arabic# $his is because our daily prayers, (no"n as salah, and the sacred boo( of slam, the 8oly 9ur!an, are read in Arabic# slam connects the ,a(istani speech community "ith the Arabic speech community because they share Arabic as a common lin( bet"een them# 3i&en that Arabic is a speech characteristic of slam, and since slam is lin(ed closely to the ,a(istani community, then by default, Arabic is also a ma%or speech characteristic of the ,a(istani community#

Sabahat Siddiq English 1103-006 11-18-13 :ational and religious + slamic- festi&als and holidays are important elements of the ,a(istani community# $hey are emblematic days of celebration# $he most important national holiday of the ,a(istani community is ndependence ;ay, "hich is on August 1<# 1eligious holidays are &ery significant to the ,a(istani community because of their symbolic meaning# $he t"o main religious holidays are Eid-ul-=itr and Eid-ul-Adha# $hese holidays bring in specific speciali'ed &ocabulary to the ,a(istani community as does any other religious factor# $he speciali'ed &ocabulary of these holidays consists of and is associated to "ords in the )rdu and the Arabic language, such as Ramadan, roza, qurbaani, Eid namaaz, the Kaabah, and Hajj# 1amadan is the ninth month of slamic lunar calendar# t ends right before Eid-ul-=itr, "hich lasts for three days and starts on the first day of the tenth month of the slamic calendar, Sha""al# n the month of 1amadan, >uslims (eep fasts or ro'as, "hich is the )rdu "ord for fasts# Eid-ul-Adha is on the tenth day of the t"elfth and last month of the slamic calendar, ;hul-8i%%ah, and this holiday also lasts for three days# 7n this holiday, >uslims perform qurbaani, "hich is an Arabic deri&ed )rdu "ord that literally means, .An act performed to see( Allah2s pleasure/# t is used to refer to the ritual slaughtering of certain animals for the sa(e of Allah, 3od "hom >uslims belie&e in# Eid namaa' is salah, or prayer, performed specifically on both of the Eid holidays# $he ?aabah is the most sacred site in slam and all salah is performed in the direction to"ards the ?aabah# $he ?aabah is located in >ecca, Saudi Arabia# >uslims are obligated to perform 8a%%, a pilgrimage to the city of >ecca in Saudi Arabia, at least once in their lifetime if they are physically, mentally and financially able to# $erms li(e these become an important speech characteristic for the ,a(istani community and also assist in defining the ,a(istani community into a speech community#

Sabahat Siddiq English 1103-006 11-18-13 Speciali'ed &ocabulary not only comes into play for holidays and festi&als, but later reali'ed that they are an element of another (ey aspect of the ,a(istani community, "hich is the sport cric(et# 4ric(et is by far the most popular sport played in ,a(istan and is my fa&orite sport to "atch# "as first introduced to cric(et as a child, primarily by my t"o older brothers, both of

"hom are cric(et lo&ers# )sually outside our >osque, place of "orship for >uslims, in 3astonia, many men "ould get together to play cric(et in their leisure time# >y brothers "ould almost al"ays participate# :o" they don!t play cric(et as often, but they still "atch cric(et matches online and cheer for the ,a(istani team# At first, did not understand the ob%ecti&e of the sport and the terms that "ere used in the sport# felt as if "as being left out of the social

aspects of the ,a(istani community because of my limited (no"ledge about cric(et# As "as e6posed more and more to this sport o&er the years, finally understood the &ocabulary that "as used and the conte6t that each term "as used under# Some of the important terms learned about "ere runs, a four, a six, pitch, and a century# A run is the basic unit of scoring in cric(et# A four is a shot in "hich the ball reaches the boundary after touching the ground# t automatically gi&es the batting team four runs# A si6 is a shot in "hich the ball passes o&er or touches the boundary "ithout ha&ing bounced or rolled on the ground# t automatically gi&es the batting team si6 runs# $he pitch is the @@-yard rectangular surface in the center of the field# t!s the area "here most of the playing action ta(es place# A century refers to a batsman scoring at least 100 runs in an inning "ithout getting out# Scoring a century is considered to be a big accomplishment for batsmen# Aearning these terms led me to the reali'ation of ho" important it is to comprehend the &ocabulary of the different features of the ,a(istani community because "ithout this understanding, am e6cluded from important speech characteristics of the ,a(istani speech community all together#

Sabahat Siddiq English 1103-006 11-18-13 n the final stage of my inquiry process, considered the coo(ing*cuisine aspect of the ,a(istani community# didn!t thin( that food could be a speech characteristic but food, in

reality, can tell a lot about any culture or community and the members of that community# ,a(istani cuisine is &ery distinct from the cuisine that is typically found in other countries, such as America# $here are certain ingredients that are utili'ed more regularly in daily coo(ing, the main one and probably the most important being spices# 0ithout spices, gi&en the term masala in the ,a(istani community, basically e&ery ,a(istani dish "ould be incomplete# (no" for a

fact that if my mom left out spices in her recipes, my family "ould loo( at her li(e she is cra'y and "ould most li(ely not consume "hat she made# Aside from spices, special terminology is used for coo(ing utensils and coo(ing procedures# Since speciali'ed terminology and &ocabulary is identified as a speech characteristic, then ,a(istani cuisine can be considered to be a component of the ,a(istani speech community# At the end of my speech community inquiry process, disco&ered the ans"er to the question that initiated my inquiry# $he ,a(istani community is indeed a speech community and this reali'ation struc( me after thoroughly e6plored the ma%or aspects of the ,a(istani community# $hese aspects define this community as a speech community and ma(e me an acti&e member of the ,a(istani speech community#