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{{Short description|Urdu sociolect spoken by women}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Begamati zuban
| altname = Women's sociolect of Hindustani
| nativename = {{Ubl|{{lang|ur|{{unq|بیگماتی زبان}}}}|{{lang|hin|{{unq|बेगमती भाषा}}}}}}
| states = [[India]]
| region = [[Delhi]], [[Lucknow]]
| ethnicity = Delhiite, Lucknowite women
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3 = [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]
| fam4 = [[Central Indo-Aryan languages|Central Indo-Aryan]]
| fam5 = [[Western Hindi languages|Western Hindi]]
| fam6 = [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]
| fam7 =
| script = {{Ubl|[[Devanagari script]] ([[Hindi alphabet]])|[[Arabic script|Perso-Arabic script]] ([[Urdu alphabet]])}}
| extinct = Yes
}}

'''''Begamati zuban''''' or '''''Begamati bhasha''''' ({{lang|ur|بیگماتی زبان}}; {{Lang|hi|बेगमती भाषा}}; also written as '''''begamati zubān'', ''begamati'' ''zabān, begmati bhāsha''''') is a [[sociolect]] of [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] spoken by the noblewomen ([[begum]]s) residing in seclusion ([[purdah]]) in royal forts and palaces in [[Delhi]] and some other Hindustani-speaking towns in [[India]], primarily in the 19th century but not completely dying out until the 1970s.<ref name="Minault2">{{cite journal |last=Minault |first=Gail |author-link=Gail Minault |date=1984 |title=Begamati Zuban: Women's Language and Culture in Nineteenth-Century Delhi |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23001655 |journal=India International Centre Quarterly |language=en |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=168|jstor=23001655 }}</ref> One of the main ways we know about the sociolect is through its representation in 19th century novels. It is not fully preserved, and what we know of it today is largely the result of its former documentation.<ref name=":0" />

== Characteristics ==
The sociolect is described by historian [[Gail Minault|Gail Minaut]] as "earthy, graphic and colourful",<ref name="Minault2" />{{rp|156–7}} which stands in contrast to women's language in cultures such as Japan, where women may speak [[Gender differences in Japanese|less bluntly than men in Japanese]],<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jorden |first1=Eleanor Harz |title=Japanese, the spoken language |last2=Noda |first2=Mari |date=1987 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-03831-6 |series=Yale language series |location=New Haven}}</ref> or the United States, where women traditionally use more euphemisms, deference and superlatives in American English.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lakoff |first=Robin |author-link=Robin Lakoff |date=April 1973 |title=Language and woman's place |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0047404500000051/type/journal_article |journal=Language in Society |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=45–79 |doi=10.1017/S0047404500000051 |issn=0047-4045}}</ref> This is because women living in [[purdah]] were separate from other society so their sociolect was developed to speak with each other, not with men, and because the women were not highly educated and so did not learn "the flowery and polite phrases of Persianised Urdu".<ref name="Minault2" />{{rp||page=157}}

Variations of ''begamati zabān'' were spoken in [[Lucknow]], Hyberabad and other Urdu-speaking towns, but it is the Delhi version that was described in most sources.<ref name="Minault2" />{{rp||page=157}} {{ill|Rais Ahmad Jafri|ur|رئیس احمد جعفری}} describes the Lucknow version differently to the descriptions of the Delhi version discussed by [[Gail Minault|Gail Minaut]]. "The Begamati language of Lucknow is renowned for its sweetness and charm. Naturally, such a refined and polished language could only be found within the royal palaces. The letters written by the begums of [[Wajid Ali Shah]] are among the finest examples of this elevated form of Urdu."<ref>{{cite book
| last = Jafri
| first = Rais Ahmad
| title = واجد علی شاہ اور ان کا عہد
| trans-title = Wajid Ali Shah and His Era
| url = https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/wajid-ali-shah-aur-unka-ahd-rais-ahmad-jafri-ebooks?lang=ur#660
| publisher = Kitab Manzil
| year = 1957
| location = Lucknow
| page = 661
| language = ur
| author-link = :ur:رئیس احمد جعفری
}}</ref>

''Begamati zuban'' has many terms for endearment and blessings, according to Minhaut, who describes the women calling each other names like ''bua'' or ''vari'' (my dear/dearest), or ''bhina'' (younger sister) as well as terms usually kept for men, such as ''bela'' (son).<ref name="Minault2" />{{rp||page=158–9}} Blessings would also often include a woman's husband and children, as in ''kaleja thanda rahe'' or ''pet thanda rahe'' which roughly mean "may your children be happy/have long lives/never disappoint you."<ref name="Minault2" />{{rp||page=159}} Minhaut interprets this as a form of deference to the women's utter dependency on their men and children, and notes that while the women might tell each other to drop dead but would never wish each other's husbands or children dead.<ref name="Minault2" />{{rp||page=159}}

Writing was taboo for these women, but some books were still written for them in their sociolect. For example, the male author Sayyid Ahmad Dehlavi (1846–1918) wrote several educational books for women in ''begamati zuban'', on child rearing, on having a good relationship with your husband, on time management and similar subjects.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}} Writers like [[Ismat Chughtai]] (1911–1991) also included the sociolect in their work.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Venkatesh |first=Karthik |date=28 October 2017 |title=Other tongues: the stunning lingual diversity of India |url=https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/z0svnlK5dNq6mXuCwtkIFO/Other-tongues-the-stunning-lingual-diversity-of-India.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250603015048/https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/z0svnlK5dNq6mXuCwtkIFO/Other-tongues-the-stunning-lingual-diversity-of-India.html |archive-date=3 June 2025 |access-date=27 June 2025 |work=mint |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

== History ==
Indian women, traditionally, observed strict [[purdah]] (seclusion), and this practice was a key factor in creating a linguistic distinction between [[standard Urdu]] and Begamati Urdu. The language of the begums clearly reflected their confined social environment. In the early periods, many of them were unfamiliar with formal grammar, as their lives were spent within a highly restricted domestic sphere. Their speech remained limited to the boundaries of forts and mansions, shielded from external influences, particularly those of the male world. In [[North India]], the begums of the [[Red Fort|Qila-e-Mualla]] (Imperial Fort) enforced strict rules of seclusion upon their daughters, to the extent that they were protected even from the shadows of unrelated men. Royal residences included women's quarters ([[Zenana|zanana]]), where the women spent every moment of their lives. All social rituals like [[wedding]]s, [[funeral]]s, and other ceremonies were conducted within these enclosures. Young unmarried girls were even veiled from elder women outside their immediate family, in order to preserve their reputations. As the saying goes: "A [[palanquin]] came from her parental home, and another left from her husband's home," implying that a girl lived in seclusion all her life. These cultural and social factors contributed to the development of a distinct variety of Urdu spoken by the begums, linguistically distant from the formal standard language. <ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Hasan |first=Muhiuddin |title=دلّی کی بیگماتی زبان |publisher=Nai Awaz, Jamia Nagar |year=1976 |location=New Delhi |pages=17–18 |language=ur |trans-title=The Begamati Language of Delhi |chapter=بیگمات کی زبان کا پس منظر |trans-chapter=Background of the Language of the Begums |chapter-url=https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/dilli-ke-begmati-zaban-muhiuddin-hasan-ebooks?lang=ur#17}}</ref>

== Decline ==
The gradual disappearance of Begamati Urdu was already being observed as early as 1976. In his book ''Dilli ki Begamati Zaban'', Muhiuddin Hasan noted that although the dialect had not yet vanished entirely, the distinctions that once defined it were rapidly fading. According to him, the original residents of the [[Red Fort|Qila-e-Mualla]] (Imperial Fort), who were the true custodians of this speech, had gradually migrated, while people from other regions began settling in [[Delhi]]. The social custom of [[purdah]], once integral to the lives of the [[begum]]s, also declined with time. As a result, the unique features of Begamati language began to erode, with increasing influence from Punjabi accents in local speech.<ref name=":1" />

Sania, a researcher at [[Jamia Millia Islamia]], further explains that social reformers such as [[Deputy Nazir Ahmad]] and [[Altaf Hussain Hali]] regarded the language as inappropriate or unrefined, which contributed to its decline. She adds "With the spread of girls’ education, the languages spoken in schools gradually replaced Begamati language. Even so, traces of Begamati language still survive in everyday conversation particularly in idioms related to the kitchen and women's domestic lives."<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Qasmi |first=Suhail Akhtar |date=10 November 2024 |title=دہلی میں بولی جانے والی بیگماتی زبان کیوں ختم ہوئی؟ |trans-title=Why did Begamati language spoken in Delhi die out? |url=https://www.independenturdu.com/node/176821 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241209100947/https://www.independenturdu.com/node/176821 |archive-date=9 December 2024 |access-date=2 February 2025 |website=[[The Independent|Independent Urdu]] |language=ur}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Nyōbō kotoba]] - a type of language used by Japanese court ladies in the [[Muromachi period]]
* [[Language and gender]]

== References ==

{{reflist}}

{{Urdu topics}}

[[Category:Sociolects]]
[[Category:Dialects of Urdu]]
[[Category:Gender in language]]

Begamati zuban - Revision history

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