Articles
Sound changes, script literacy, and the nuqta files — the essays that ship inside the Zubane app, here in full so they are easy to share.
Why Did F Replace Ph in Modern Hindi-Urdu?
A sound that did not exist in the subcontinent is quietly taking over. Tracing the merger from the 1800s to your group chat.
The Script Shaped the Sound
Zubane's working hypothesis: Nastaliq protects distinctions that Devanagari's optional dot lets slip.
Devanagari vs Nastaliq: Precision Meets Poetry
One script is an engineer, the other a poet. You should learn to read both.
Lafz, Alfaaz, Lafzon, Alfaazon
How Arabic broken plurals live inside Hindi-Urdu, and what alfaazon says about you.
Zubaan vs Zabaan
Two vowels, one word, and the story behind this project's name.
Kh, Gh, and Qaaf: Three Guests Who Stayed
Three consonants that arrived with Persian and Arabic and never left.
Karna vs Karni
Mujhe baat karni hai, or karna hai? A century-old argument over one vowel, with Delhi and Lucknow on opposite sides.
Kis Baat Ko Le Kar
A construction blamed on TV soaps turns out to have Lucknow grandfathers. On le kar, kar ke, and the much-maligned le kar ke.
Baahar vs Baahir
A cricket forum stopped talking cricket to argue about one vowel. Seven years later, everyone was still right.
Sabzi Accha Hai
What a Karachi housekeeper's grammar taught a language forum about Bihar, Banaras, and who gets called over-educated.
