Pakistan – Language on the Move

Linguistic landscapes

Sacred Font, Profane Purpose

*** Yasser S. Khan and Rizwan Ahmad *** The offending dress (Image credit: BBC) Recently, a woman in Lahore was accused of blasphemy for wearing a dress printed with Arabic…

Rizwan AhmadApril 23, 2024

Linguistic landscapes

Finding Pakistan in Global Britain

Man wearing shalwar kameez in Tooting A friend of mine wanted me to accompany them to give my verdict about the Pakistani food in Tooting, London. They are non-Pakistani and…

Alia AmirApril 2, 2024

Multilingual families Next Gen Literacies

What if I lose my language? What if I have lost my language?

Alia Amir's grandfather with his three daughters, ca. 1950 (Copyright: Alia Amir) I admire people, who, on the move, maintain and transfer their heritage languages to the next generations. By…

Alia AmirJanuary 24, 2024

Covid-19

Mismatched public health communication costs lives in Pakistan

Editor’s note: The language challenges of the COVID-19 crisis have held much of our attention this year. Here on Language on the Move, we have been running a series devoted to language…

Kinza Afraz AbbasiDecember 11, 2020

Language and globalization

Language policy for China-Pakistan cooperation

(Image credit: Farooqi & Aftab, 2018) Editor's note: As Confucius Institutes are closing in western countries, as Jeffrey Gil analysed recently, Chinese language learning continues to expand across the global…

Kashif RazaJuly 20, 2020

Language and globalization

Why being in one place matters for transnational language use

Welcome message to the Aga Khan IV inscribed into the mountain, Pasu, Upper Hunza, Pakistan Transnationalism is a notion that is both presumed to be clear whilst also recognised as…

Brook BolanderOctober 9, 2019

Language and law

Forgotten and invisible? The legal protection of refugees with disabilities

Before starting my PhD in sociolinguistics at Macquarie University, I had the great privilege of being involved in a research project that was run out of Sydney Law School at…

Laura Smith-KhanSeptember 11, 2017

English as a global language

Language work in the internet café

A locutorio shop front in Barcelona (Source: El Periodico) There is now a well-established body of work exploring the language work provided by service workers in call centres and tourist…

Ingrid PillerSeptember 22, 2014

Intercultural communication

Inventing languages

Excerpt from "The Haunted Lotus" by Australian-Hazara artist Khadim Ali (Source: Milani Gallery) An objection that is commonly raised against Esperanto and other auxiliary languages is that they are “invented.”…

Ingrid PillerFebruary 13, 2014

News

Social meanings of language policy in Pakistan

Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development presents global research seminar about language-in-education policy in Pakistan The Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development presents a global research seminar: Topic:…

Lg_on_the_moveMarch 21, 2013

Language and migration

Home is where I’m alienated*

Pakistani flour mill workers recovering from a near-fatal lung infection due to poor occupational health and safety conditions, West Ham Hospital, 1960s (Source: Qureshi 2012, p. 7) To be transnational…

Ingrid PillerJuly 24, 2012

English as a global language

Italy in Karachi

Pompei Restaurant, Karachi (Source: fcpakistan.com) A few days ago I had an Alice-in-Wonderland experience. Having lived all my life in Karachi, I had until then never heard of the Pompei…