Hindi
Indo-Aryan language spoken in India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Modern Standard Hindi (आधुनिक मानक हिन्दी), or simply Hindi (हिन्दी), historically known as Hindavi (हिन्दवी) or Rekhta (रेख़्ता),[6] is an Indo-Aryan language. It is the biggest language in India and one of the official languages. Nearly half the people in India speak Hindi. The Devanāgarī script is used to write Hindi. Previously Hindi was known as Hindui.
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Hindi is an official language in nine states (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand), and three union territories (Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Chandigarh), and an additional official language in the state of West Bengal.[7][8] Hindi is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India.[9]
Modern Standard Hindi and standard Urdu are very similar languages and can be understood by speakers of both, except for differences in script and formal words. Both languages come from the same historical language, Shauraseni Prakrit. Hindi is spoken in different parts of India, sometimes in simpler forms like Bazaar Hindustani or Haflong Hindi. Caribbean Hindustani is spoken in Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana.[10][11][12][13]
Hindi is one of the most widely spoken languages globally. It ranks fourth as a first language, following Mandarin, Spanish, and English. When combined with Urdu, which is mutually intelligible, it becomes the third most-spoken language, trailing only Mandarin and English. According to Ethnologue's 2022 report, Hindi is also the third most-spoken language when counting both first and second language speakers..[14]
Hindi is the fastest-growing language of India, followed by Kashmiri, Meitei, Gujarati and Bengali, according to the 2011 census of India.[15]
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Terminology
The word "Hindi" originally referred to the people living in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It comes from the Classical Persian term هندی (Hindī), which means "of or belonging to Hind (India)." Over time, it evolved to describe the language spoken by these people.[16]
Another name Hindavī (ہندوی/हिन्दवी) (from Persian هندوی 'of or belonging to the Indian people') was often used in the past, for example, by Amir Khusrau in his poetry.[17][18]
The terms Hindi and Hindu trace back to Old Persian, which derived these names from the Sanskrit name Sindhu (सिन्धु), referring to the Indus River. The Greek cognates of the same terms are Indus (for the river) and India (for the land of the river).[19][20]
The term Modern Standard Hindi is commonly used to specifically refer to the modern literary Hindi language, as opposed to colloquial and regional varieties that are also referred to as Hindi in a wider sense.[21]
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History
Middle Indo-Aryan to Hindi
Hindi, like other Indo-Aryan languages, traces its roots back to early forms of Vedic Sanskrit. Over time, it evolved through Shauraseni Prakrit and Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa, the latter deriving from the Sanskrit word apabhraṃśa, meaning "corrupt" or "deviated from the classical form." This stage of linguistic transformation emerged around the 7th century CE, shaping the Hindi we know today.[22]
The sound changes that characterised the transition from Middle Indo-Aryan to Hindi are:[23]
- Compensatory lengthening of vowels preceding geminate consonants, sometimes with spontaneous nasalisation: Skt. hasta "hand" > Pkt. hattha > hāth
- Loss of all word-final vowels: rātri "night" > rattī > rāt
- Formation of nasalised long vowels from nasal consonants (-VNC- > -V̄̃C-): bandha "bond" > bā̃dh
- Loss of unaccented or unstressed short vowels (reflected in schwa deletion): susthira "firm" > sutthira > suthrā
- Collapsing of adjacent vowels (including separated by a hiatus: apara "other" > avara > aur
- Final -m to -ṽ: grāma "village" > gāma > gāṽ
- Intervocalic -ḍ- to -ṛ- or -l-: taḍāga "pond" > talāv, naḍa "reed" > nal.
- v > b: vivāha "marriage" > byāh
Hindustani
During the Delhi Sultanate period in medieval India, Old Hindi, which had a Sanskrit and Prakrit base, absorbed many Persian loanwords due to the interaction between Hindu and Muslim cultures. This led to the development of Hindustani, which blends elements from both traditions. Hindi gained importance when Shah Jahan made it the official language of the imperial court. Later, Emperor Aurangzeb is recorded to have spoken Hindvi, an earlier form of Hindi. During the Indian Independence movement, Hindustani became a symbol of national unity, as it was widely spoken across the northern Indian subcontinent. Even today, this influence is seen in Bollywood films and songs, which often feature Hindustani vocabulary, making it a common cultural thread across India and beyond.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]
Standard Hindi is based on the language that was spoken in the Ganges-Yamuna Doab (Delhi, Meerut and Saharanpur) called Khariboli;[22][32] the vernacular of Delhi and the surrounding region came to replace earlier prestige languages such as Awadhi and Braj. Standard Hindi was developed by supplanting foreign loanwords from the Hindustani language and replacing them with Sanskrit words, though Standard Hindi does continue to possess several Persian loanwords.[33][34][35] Modern Hindi became a literary language in the 19th century. Earliest examples could be found as Prēm Sāgar by Lallu Lal, Batiyāl Pachīsī of Sadal Misra, and Rānī Kētakī Kī Kahānī of Insha Allah Khan which were published in Devanagari script during the early 19th century.[36]
John Gilchrist was principally known for his study of the Hindustani language, which was adopted as the lingua franca of northern India (including what is now present-day Pakistan) by British colonists and indigenous people. He compiled and authored An English-Hindustani Dictionary, A Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language, The Oriental Linguist, and many more. His lexicon of Hindustani was published in the Perso-Arabic script, Nāgarī script, and in Roman transliteration. In the late 19th century, a movement to further develop Hindi as a standardised form of Hindustani separate from Urdu took form.[37] In 1881, Bihar accepted Hindi as its sole official language, replacing Urdu, and thus became the first state of India to adopt Hindi.[38] However, in 2014, Urdu was accorded second official language status in the state.[39]
Independent India
On 14 September 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India officially adopted Hindi in the Devanagari script as the official language of the Republic of India. Before this, Hindustani in the Perso-Arabic script was used during the British Indian Empire. Many influential figures worked hard to promote Hindi across India, including Beohar Rajendra Simha, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupt, and Seth Govind Das. They even debated the issue in Parliament to push for its adoption. Interestingly, the decision was made on Beohar Rajendra Simha's 50th birthday, marking the success of their efforts. Since then, Hindi Day is celebrated on 14 September every year to honor this milestone. It’s a day dedicated to recognizing the importance of the Hindi language and its cultural significance in India.[40]
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Geographical distribution
Hindi is the lingua franca of northern India (which contains the Hindi Belt), as well as an official language of the Government of India, along with English.[41]
In Northeast India a pidgin known as Haflong Hindi has developed as a lingua franca for the people living in Haflong, Assam who speak other languages natively.[42] In Arunachal Pradesh, Hindi emerged as a lingua franca among locals who speak over 50 dialects natively.[43]
Hindi is quite easy to understand for many Pakistanis, who speak Urdu, which, like Hindi, is a standard register of the Hindustani language; additionally, Indian media are widely viewed in Pakistan.[44]
A sizeable population in Afghanistan, especially in Kabul, can also speak and understand Hindi-Urdu due to the popularity and influence of Bollywood films, songs and actors in the region.[45][46]
Hindi has a significant presence beyond India, especially among **Madheshis** in **Nepal**, who have ancestral roots in North India but migrated over centuries. Additionally, Hindi is widely spoken by the **Indian diaspora**, particularly those from the **Hindi Belt** of India. A large number of North Indians have settled in places like the **United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, South Africa, Fiji, and Mauritius**. In these countries, Hindi continues to thrive within **Hindustani-speaking communities**, where it is often spoken at home and in cultural gatherings.
Outside India, Hindi speakers are 8 million in Nepal; 863,077 in the United States of America;[47][48] 450,170 in Mauritius; 380,000 in Fiji;[49] 250,292 in South Africa; 150,000 in Suriname;[50] 100,000 in Uganda; 45,800 in the United Kingdom;[51] 20,000 in New Zealand; 20,000 in Germany; 26,000 in Trinidad and Tobago;[50] 3,000 in Singapore.
Phonology
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Gallery
Basic fact table of Hindi
Brahmi script - Hindi Language- Speaking in Hindi
References
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