A Corpus Based Quantitative Survey of the English Elements in the Basic Vocabulary of Urdu Language
María Isabel Maldonado García

Abstract
This research is one of a series of articles on the topic of the etymological components of the basic vocabulary of Urdu language and their density within the language. The Sanskrit, Prakrit Persian and Arabic elements were previously analyzed. Urdu belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. It has its origins in Sanskrit then it developed into the Prakrits and later was influenced by Persian and Arabic due to historical events. During the 1400s a digraphia phenomenon occurred causing the split of Hindi and Urdu. With the British invasion of India, the English language element entered the equation through language contact. Here, we research the lexical elements of English and the historical background. The research, first one of its kind, is based the etymological analysis of one thousand word corpus of the basic vocabulary of Urdu, through which the precise percentage of English vocabulary in Urdu language will be obtained.

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