Editing Urdu (section)

== Writing system {{Anchor|Writing system}} ==
{{Main|Urdu alphabet|Urdu braille}}
{{further|Hindustani orthography}}
[[File:Urdu-alphabet-en-hi-final.svg|thumb|The [[Urdu alphabet]], with transliterations in the Devanagari and Roman scripts]]
[[File:Double-Headed Eagle Stupa at Sirkap 06.jpg|thumb|An English-Urdu bilingual sign at the archaeological site of [[Sirkap]], near [[Taxila]].  The Urdu says: (right to left) {{unq|دو سَروں والے عقاب کی شبيہ والا مندر}}, dō sarōñ wālé u'qāb kī shabīh wāla mandir.  "The temple with the image of the eagle with two heads."]]

Urdu is written right-to left in an extension of the [[Persian alphabet]], which is itself an extension of the [[Arabic alphabet]]. Urdu is associated with the [[Nastaʿlīq script|Nastaʿlīq style]] of [[Persian calligraphy]], whereas Arabic is generally written in the ''[[Naskh (script)|Naskh]]'' or ''[[Ruq`ah script|Ruq'ah]]'' styles. Because of its thousands of [[ligature (typography)|ligature]]s, ''Nasta’liq'' is notoriously difficult to typeset, so Urdu newspapers were hand-written by masters of calligraphy, known as ''kātib'' or ''<u>kh</u>ush-nawīs'', until the late 1980s. One handwritten Urdu newspaper, ''[[The Musalman]]'', is still published daily in [[Chennai]].<ref>[http://globalvoices.org/2012/03/26/india-the-last-handwritten-newspaper-in-the-world/ India: The Last Handwritten Newspaper in the World · Global Voices] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001230028/https://globalvoices.org/2012/03/26/india-the-last-handwritten-newspaper-in-the-world/|date=1 October 2015}}. Globalvoices.org (26 March 2012). Retrieved on 12 July 2013.</ref> [[InPage]], a widely used [[desktop publishing]] tool for Urdu, has over 20,000 ligatures in its Nastaʿliq [[computer font]]s. Many people sometimes write Urdu using the [[Latin script]], a practice commonly known as [[Roman Urdu]]. Despite its widespread informal use, particularly on digital platforms, it has never been adopted for official purposes and has faced opposition from intellectuals who fear it may contribute to the decline or marginalization of the traditional Urdu script.

A highly Persianised and technical form of Urdu was the ''lingua franca'' of the law courts of the British administration in Bengal and the North-West Provinces & Oudh. Until the late 19th century, all proceedings and court transactions in this register of Urdu were written officially in the Persian script. In 1880, [[Ashley Eden|Sir Ashley Eden]], the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal in colonial India abolished the use of the Persian alphabet in the law courts of Bengal and ordered the exclusive use of [[Kaithi]], a popular script used for both Urdu and Hindi; in the [[Bihar Province]], the court language was Urdu written in the Kaithi script.<ref name="Pandey2007">{{cite web |last1=Pandey |first1=Anshuman |title=Proposal to Encode the Kaithi Script in ISO/IEC 10646 |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2007/07418-kaithi.pdf |publisher=[[Unicode]] |access-date=16 October 2020 |language=en |date=13 December 2007|quote=Kaithi was used for writing Urdu in the law courts of Bihar when it replaced Perso-Arabic as the official script during the 1880s. The majority of extant legal documents from Bihar from the British period are in Urdu written in Kaithi. There is a substantial number of such manuscripts, specimens of which are given in Figure 21, Figure 22, and Figure 23.}}</ref><ref name="King1999">{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Christopher Rolland |title=One Language, Two Scripts: The Hindi Movement in Nineteenth Century North India |date=1999 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-565112-6 |page=67 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ashraf |first1=Ali |title=The Muslim Elite |date=1982 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors |page=80 |language=en |quote=The court language however was Urdu in 'Kaithi' script in spite of the use of English as the official language.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Varma |first1=K. K. |last2=Lal |first2=Manohar |title=Social Realities in Bihar |date=1997 |publisher=Novelty & Company |language=en |quote=The language of learning and administration in Bihar before the East India Company was Persian, and later it was replaced by English. The court language, however, continued to be Urdu written in Kaithi script.|page=347}}</ref> Kaithi's association with Urdu and Hindi was ultimately eliminated by the political contest between these languages and their scripts, in which the Persian script was definitively linked to Urdu.<ref>{{cite news |last1=ghose |first1=sagarika |title=Urdu Bharti: नौकरी के लिए भटक रहे हैं 4 हजार उर्दू शिक्षक, कोर्ट कोर्ट खेल रही है सरकार.. |url=https://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/education/education-news/4-thousand-urdu-bharti-candidates-did-not-get-joining-after-court-order/articleshow/76753747.cms |access-date=13 September 2020 |work=Navbharat Times |language=hi}}</ref>

More recently in India,{{when|date=February 2024}} Urdu speakers have adopted [[Devanagari]] for publishing Urdu periodicals and have innovated new strategies to mark Urdu in Devanagari as distinct from Hindi in Devanagari.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} Such publishers have introduced new orthographic features into Devanagari for the purpose of representing the Perso-Arabic etymology of Urdu words. One example is the use of अ (Devanagari ''a'') with vowel signs to mimic contexts of {{Nastaliq|ع}} (''[[Ayin|‘ain]]''), in violation of Hindi orthographic rules. For Urdu publishers, the use of Devanagari gives them a greater audience, whereas the orthographic changes help them preserve a distinct identity of Urdu.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ahmad |first=Rizwan |year=2011 |title=Urdu in Devanagari: Shifting orthographic practices and Muslim identity in Delhi |journal=Language in Society |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=259–284 |doi=10.1017/S0047404511000182 |url=https://www.academia.edu/4049639 |jstor=23011824 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|hdl=10576/10736 |s2cid=55975387 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Some poets from [[Bengal]], namely [[Qazi Nazrul Islam]], have historically used the [[Bengali script]] to write Urdu poetry like ''Prem Nagar Ka Thikana Karle'' and ''Mera Beti Ki Khela'', as well as bilingual Bengali-Urdu poems like ''Alga Koro Go Khõpar Bãdhon'', ''Juboker Chholona'' and ''Mera Dil Betab Kiya''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sovyota.com/?p=2360|language=bn|title=বিদ্রোহী কবি নজরুল; একটি বুলেট কিংবা কবিতার উপাখ্যান|date=1 June 2014|access-date=9 October 2021|archive-date=26 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326033721/https://sovyota.com/?p=2360|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=নজরুল নির্দেশিকা|language=bn|year=1969|author=Islam, Rafiqul}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=বাংলা সাহিত্যে নজরুল|trans-title=Nazrul in Bengali literature|language=bn|author=Khan, Azahar Uddin|year=1956|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.301836/page/n21/mode/2up}}</ref> [[Dhakaiya Urdu]] is a colloquial non-standard dialect of Urdu which was typically not written. However, organisations seeking to preserve the dialect have begun transcribing the dialect in the [[Bengali script]].{{NoteTag|Organisations like Dhakaiya Sobbasi Jaban and Dhakaiya Movement, among others, consistently write Dhakaiya Urdu using the Bengali script.}}<ref name=book>{{cite book|title=বাংলা-ঢাকাইয়া সোব্বাসী ডিক্সেনারি (বাংলা - ঢাকাইয়া সোব্বাসী অভিধান)|language=bn|editor1=Muhammad Shahabuddin Sabu|editor2=Nazir Uddin|publisher=Takiya Mohammad Publications|year=2021|location=[[Bangla Bazar]], Dhaka}}</ref><ref name=samakal>{{cite news|date=17 January 2021|title=বাংলা-ঢাকাইয়া সোব্বাসী অভিধানের মোড়ক উন্মোচন|language=bn|url=https://samakal.com/todays-print-edition/tp-khobor/article/210178300/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%87%E0%A7%9F%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%80-%E0%A6%85%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A7%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%8B%E0%A7%9C%E0%A6%95-%E0%A6%89%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%9A%E0%A6%A8|website=[[Samakal]]|trans-title=Unveiling of 'Bangla-Dhakaiya Sobbasi' Dictionary|access-date=14 February 2021|archive-date=14 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414050551/https://samakal.com/todays-print-edition/tp-khobor/article/210178300/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%87%E0%A7%9F%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%80-%E0%A6%85%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A7%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%8B%E0%A7%9C%E0%A6%95-%E0%A6%89%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%9A%E0%A6%A8|url-status=dead}}</ref>