Hindi languages

Infobox Language family
name=Hindi
altname=
region=South Asia
familycolor=Indo-European
fam2=Indo-Iranian
fam3=Indo-Aryan
child1= Western Hindi
child2= Eastern Hindi
child3= Bihari
child4= Pahari
child5= Rajasthani


map_caption=
The Hindi belt
Hindi (in the broad sense) is a dialect continuum of the Indic language family in the northern plains of India, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati and Marathi; on the southeast by Oriya; on the east by Bengali; and on the north by Nepali. As defined by the 1991 Indian census, Hindi covers a number of Central, East-Central, Eastern, and Northern Zone languages, including the Bihari languages, the Rajasthani languages, and the Pahari languages excepting Dogri and NepaliFact|date=April 2008. Since the dialects form a continuum, there are no sharp boundaries, and they are conventionally divided more simply into a Western and an Eastern groupFact|date=April 2008.

"Hindi" in the narrow sense one of the official languages of India is a standardized register of one of the Central Zone dialects variously called Khari boli, Hindustani, or Urdu. See Standard Hindi.

Demographics

Area

The Hindi languages predominate in the Indian states and union territories of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.Harv|Shapiro|2003|p=251]

Distinctive non-standard varieties of Hindi are spoken in large, urban areas outside of the Hindi belt. Most notable of these are those spoken in Mumbai, Calcutta, and Hyderabad. Overseas forms of Hindi are found in Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Recent immigration to the west, e.g. Europe, UK, USA etc. has resulted in the establishment of Hindi-speaking communities there as well.

Number of speakers

According to the 1991 census of India (which encompasses all the dialects of Hindi, including those that might be considered separate languages by some linguists—e.g., Bhojpuri), Hindi is the mother tongue of about 337 million Indians, or about 40% of India's population that year. According to SIL International's Ethnologue, [ [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=hin SIL International's report on Hindi in its Ethnologue] ] about 180 million people in India regard standard ("Khari Boli") Hindi as their mother tongue, and another 300 million use it as a second language. Outside India, Hindi speakers number around 8 million in Nepal, 890,000 in South Africa, 685,000 in Mauritius, 317,000 in the U.S., [ [http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf Language Use and English-Speaking Ability: 2000 - Census 2000 Brief] Issued October 2003. Retrieved 24 August 2006.] 233,000 in Yemen, 147,000 in Uganda, 30,000 in Germany, 20,000 in New Zealand and 5,000 in Singapore, while the UK and UAE also have notable populations of Hindi speakers. Hence, according to the "SIL ethnologue" (1999 data), a combination of Hindi and Urdu languages makes it the fifth most spoken language in the world.

According to "Comrie" (1998 data), [ [http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm Most Widely Spoken Languages ] ] Hindi is the second most spoken language in the world, with 333 million native speakers.

The 337 million number of the 1991 census includes the following:
*Central zone
**Western Hindi (West Central zone)
***180 M: Khariboli (Standard Hindi+Urdu)
***13 M: Haryanvi
***6 M: Kanauji
**Eastern Hindi (East Central zone)
***20 M: Awadhi
*** 11 M: Chhattisgarhi
**5 M: Rajasthani
*Bihari (Eastern zone)
**45 M: Maithili (since gained independent status)
**26 M: Bhojpuri
**11 M: Magadhi
**2 M: Sadri
*7 M: Pahari (Northern zone) (excludes Dogri and Nepali)
** 2.7M: Kumaoni or Kumauni, spoken in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand
** 3.1M: Garhwali, spoken in Garhwal region of Uttarakhand
** Kullu Pahari
** Potwari, spoken on the Pothohar Plateau, Pakistan, Mirpur
** Kangri

From 1991 to 2008, the population of India has grown by about 36% (from 838 to 1,198 million), so that the number of current speakers may be expected to be roughly a third higher than those given above.

Dialects

If there can be considered a census within the dialectology of Hindi proper, it is that it can be split into two sets of dialects: "Western" and "Eastern Hindi". This analysis excludes varieties sometimes claimed for Hindi, such as Bihari, Rajasthani, and Pahari. [Harv|Shapiro|2003|p=251-252] Thus Hindi proper includes [Harv|Shapiro|2003|p=252] —

#Western Hindi (of which "Sauraseni" is the immediate precursorHarv|Shapiro|2003|p=277] ):
#*"Braj", spoken in western Uttar Pradesh and adjacent districts of Rajasthan and Hariyana.
#*"Haryanvi" or "Bangaru", spoken in the states of Haryana and Delhi.
#*"Bundeli" or Bundelkhandi, spoken in west-central Madhya Pradesh.
#*"Kannauji", spoken in west-central Uttar Pradesh.
#*"Kauravi" or "Vernacular Hindustani", spoken to the north and northeast of Delhi.
#*"Khari boli", the standard dialect, generally identified with the grammatical core of Kauravi (vernacular Hindustani), but displaying features of other dialects and adjacent languages, as well as non-Indic languages such as Persian. It is forms the basis of the standard registers of "Modern Standard Hindi" and "Urdu".
#Eastern Hindi (of which "Ardhamagadhi" is the immediate precursor)
#*"Awadhi", spoken in north and north-central Uttar Pradesh.
#*"Bagheli", spoken in north-central Madhya Pradesh and central Uttar Pradesh.
#*"Chattisgarhi", spoken in southeast Madhya Pradesh and northern and central Chattisgarh.

Non-Hindi regions in the Indian subcontinent

*Urdu is the official language of Pakistan, and is spoken by 7% of the population.
*Bambaiya Hindi, the dialect of the city of Bombay (Mumbai); it is based on Khariboli dialect, but heavily influenced by Marathi and Gujarati. Technically it is a pidgin, i.e., neither is it a mother language of any people nor is it used in formal settings by the educated and upper social strata. However, it is often used in the movies of Hindi cinema (Bollywood) because Mumbai is the base of the Bollywood film industry.
*Dakhni - a form of Urdu spoken in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
*Kalkatiya Hindi, another Khariboli-based pidgin spoken in the city of Calcutta (Kolkata), Shillong, etc., heavily influenced by Bhojpuri and Bengali.
*Arunachal HindiFact|date=December 2007 is a regional dialect and is an amalmagation of Hindi and the various tribal dialects of the state of Arunachal pradesh. Words such as 'Yamtar', meaning "pickle" are spoken instead of 'achaar' and so on.

Outside the Indian subcontinent

*Mauritian Hindi, spoken in Mauritius, based on Bhojpuri and influenced by French.
*Sarnami, a form of Bhojpuri with Awadhi influence spoken by Surinamers of Indian descent.
*Fiji Hindi, derived form of Awadhi, Bhojpuri and including many English and native Fijian words, is spoken by Fijians of Indian descent.
*Trinidad Hindi, based on Bhojpuri, and spoken in Trinidad and Tobago by people of Indian descent.
*South African Hindi, based on Bhojpuri, and spoken in South Africa by people of Indian descent.

See also

* History of Hindi
* Languages of India and Official languages of India
* List of Indian languages by total speakers
* List of Central Indo-Aryan languages

References

Notes

Bibliography

*Harvard reference
last= Gordon
first= Raymond G., Jr. (ed.)
year= 2005
chapter= [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=hin Hindi]
title= Ethnologue: Languages of the World
place= Dallas
publisher= SIL International
edition= 15th.
*Grierson, G. A. "Linguistic Survey of India" Vol I-XI, Calcutta, 1928, ISBN 81-85395-27-6
*Harvard reference
last= Masica
first= Colin
authorlink= Colin Masica
year= 1991
title= The Indo-Aryan Languages
place= Cambridge
publisher= Cambridge University Press
isbn= 9780521299442
url= http://books.google.com/books?id=J3RSHWePhXwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=indo-aryan+languages.
*Harvard reference
last=Shapiro
first=Michael C.
year=2003
chapter=Hindi
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jPR2OlbTbdkC&pg=PA250&dq=indo-aryan&sig=cUNurxJKkTLfKf8uiMd7pWX2RC0
editor1-last= Cardona
editor1-first= George
editor2-last= Jain
editor2-first= Dhanesh
title=The Indo-Aryan Languages
publisher=Routledge
isbn=9780415772945
pages=250-285.

Hindi News

* [http://www.pratahkal.com Hindi News]
* [http://in.jagran.yahoo.com Jagran News]

External links

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90984 Western Hindi language tree]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=91840 East Central Indo-Aryan languages]