1Research Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
*Email: simpleton80.praveen@gmail.com
*Author would like to thank Prof. Kavita Rastogi (Lucknow University) for the help and discussion about the different areas of Lucknow and information on different varieties of Hindi-Urdu spoken. Thanks are due also to Dr. Rajesh Kumar for drawing the author's attention towards the differences found between the ‘microlects’ spoken by people with differences in backgrounds and geographies despite the appearance of a unified existence. The author alone is responsible for errors in the paper.
Language, we might safely say is the oldest construct of mankind and being the oldest construct it also remains the surest way to know someone or even know a group/society. It is indeed the case that there are other aspects of our lives as human beings that reveal our identities: aspects such as religion, clothing, rituals/festivals, etc. to name a few. Nonetheless, it is felt that none of these aforementioned aspects is as revealing of us as is language. This paper not only wishes to bring to light the issues of identity associated with a group of people using a certain language/dialect and living in Old Lucknow (esp. areas Raja Bazar, Asharfabaad and Chowk) but also highlights the issue of perceived exclusion and neglect by them because they feel that the language/dialect they speak isn't getting enough recognition. Despite the perceived distance, what has come to be neglected is slowly beginning to negotiate the status of being exclusive once again.
Dialect, Excluded, Exclusive, Language, Rituals
