A study of deceptive cognates between Arabic and Urdu languages and its impact upon teaching Arabic to Urdu speakers: Arabic Letter “Alif” as a Model

Abstract

This research addresses a critical challenge of the complexities introduced by deceptive cognates for Arabic language learners. Deceptive cognates are words that appear similar in form or sound but differ significantly in meaning or usage, often causing confusion and hindering the learning process. These linguistic discrepancies can result in comprehension, communication, and application errors, posing a significant obstacle for learners at all levels. We chose to investigate this issue between Arabic and Urdu because of the abundance of Arabic loanwords in Urdu, even though this topic has been thoroughly examined in foreign languages. Yet, it is still rare in the Arabic language. In addition to identifying partial false friends in Arabic and Urdu, the study attempted to ascertain the semantic shifts that frequent words in Urdu had experienced. In addition to helping to facilitate the task of teaching Arabic to Urdu speakers and Araic to Urdu speakers, this research is anticipated to close a gap in the fields of interlinguistic studies and contrastive analysis of the Arabic and Urdu languages.This research will form a starting point and a basis for other research that expands the scope of research in the contrastive analysis of Arabic and Urdu languages at all language levels.