Hindustani (/ hindustɑːniː /; हिन्दुस्तानी, ہندوستانی), also known as "Hindi-Urdu," is a term used by linguists to describe several closely related idioms in the northern, central and northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. It encompasses two standardized registers in the form of the official languages of Hindi and Urdu, as well as several nonstandard dialects.
| Hindustani(Hindi-Urdu) | |
|---|---|
| हिन्दुस्तानी, ہندوستانی Hindustānī | |
| Native to | India, Pakistan, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname |
| Region | South Asia, Oceania, Caribbean |
Native speakers | 541 million native, 904 million total |
Indo-European
| |
| Devanagari script, Persian alphabet | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Fiji, India (called Hindi), Pakistan (called Urdu) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | hi,ur |
| ISO 639-2 | hin,urd |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:hin – Hindiurd – Urduhif – Fijian Hindustanihns – Caribbean Hindustani |
- See also: Hindustani classical music.
The term has had a complex history, holding different meanings to different people. In Bollywood, for example, the intentionally neutral language of Indian film is often referred to as Hindustani.
History of the name
Originally the term Hindustānī (of Hindustān) was the name given by the Turco-Persian Mogul conquerors of India to Khariboli, the local form of Hindi at their capital, Delhi, and nearby cities. As a contact language between the two cultures, Hindustani absorbed large numbers of Persian, Arabic, and Turkic words, and with further Mughal conquest it spread as a lingua franca across northern India. It remained the primary lingua franca of India for the next four centuries, although it varied significantly in vocabulary depending on the local language, and it achieved the status of a literary language, along with Persian, in the Muslim courts. In time it came to be called Urdu (zabān-e-urdū "language of the army/camp" in Persian), and as the highly Persianized court language, rexta, or "mixed".
When the British conquered India in the late 1800's, they used the words 'Hindustani' and 'Urdu' interchangeably. They developed it as the language of administration of British India, further preparing it to be the official language of modern India and Pakistan.
With the partition of India in 1947, the new states of Pakistan and India chose Persianized and Sanskritized registers of Hindustani as their national languages. These they called "Urdu" and "Hindi" respectively. Since this time, the term "Urdu" has ceased to mean the lingua franca, although nonstandard Hindustani dialects are often still considered dialects of Urdu.
In recent times the word has been used for the intentionally neutral language of Bollywood film, which is popular in both India and Pakistan.
Urdu
Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and an officially recongnized regional language of India. It is also an official language in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, National Capital Territory of Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh. The word "Urdu" derives from the more formal phrase zabān-e-urdū-e-mo'alla, a Turco-Persian phrase referring the "language of the camp". (The word has the same root as the English word "horde", a word that owes its existence to the armies of the Mongol ancestors of the Mughals.) The language began as the common speech of soldiers serving Mughal lords. The term became transferred to the court language of the Mughal aristocracy, whose dialect was based on the upper-class dialect of Delhi. Urdu's historical development was centered on the Urdu poets of the Mughal courts of north Indian metropolises such as Delhi, Lucknow, Lahore, and Agra. Urdu is written using a modified form of the Arabic script.
Hindi
Standard Hindi, the official language of India, is based on the Khariboli dialect of the Delhi region and differs from Urdu in that it is usually written in the indigenous Devanagari script of India and exhibits less Persian influence than Urdu. Many scholars today employ a Sanskritized form of Hindi developed primarily in Varanasi, the Hindu holy city, which is based on the Eastern Hindi dialect of that region.
Note that, the term "Hindustani" has largely fallen out of common usage in modern India, except to refer to a style of Indian classical music prevalent in northern India. The term used to refer to the language is "Hindi", regardless of the mix of Persian or Sanskrit words used by the speaker. One could conceive of a wide spectrum of dialects, with the highly Persianized Urdu at one end of the spectrum and a heavily Sanskrit based dialect, spoken in the region around Varanasi, at the other end of the spectrum. In common usage in India, the term "Hindi" includes all dialects, except the Urdu end of the spectrum. Thus, the different meanings of the word "Hindi" include, among others:
- standardized Hindi as taught in schools throughout India,
- formal or official Hindi advocated by Purushottam Das Tandon and as instituted by the post-independence Indian government, heavily influenced by Sanskrit,
- the vernacular dialects of Hindustani/Hindi-Urdu as spoken throughout India,
- the neutralized form of the language used in popular television and films, or
- the more formal neutralized form of the language used in broadcast and print news reports.
Bazaar Hindustani
In a specific sense, "Hindustani" may be used to refer to the dialects and varieties used in common speech, in contrast with the standardized Hindi and Urdu. This meaning is reflected in the use of the term "bazaar Hindustani," in other words, the language of the street or the marketplace, as opposed to the perceived refinement of formal Hindi, Urdu, or even Sanskrit. Thus, the Webster's New World Dictionary defines the term Hindustani as the principal dialect of Hindi/Urdu, used as a trade language throughout north India and Pakistan.
Variants of Hindustani
Hindustani has four commonly named varieties:
Hindi and Urdu
While grammatically, Urdu and Hindi are considered dialects of a single language (or diasystem), they differ (in formal tongue) vastly in vocabulary; wherein Urdu draws heavily on Persian and Arabic, Hindi draws heavily on Sanskrit and to a lesser extent Prakrit.
The associated dialects of Urdu and Hindi are known as "Hindustani". It is perhaps the lingua franca of the west and north of the Indian subcontinent, though it is understood fairly well in other regions also, especially in the urban areas. A common vernacular sharing characteristics with Urdu, Sanskritized Hindi, and regional Hindi, Hindustani is more commonly used as a vernacular than highly Arabicized/Persianized Urdu or highly Sanskritized Hindi.
This can be seen in the popular culture of Bollywood or, more generally, the vernacular of Pakistanis and Indians which, while utilizing a good deal of Hindi verbiage, is interspersed with large amounts of Urdu, hence making the language of Bollywood movies sound as much Urdu as it is Hindi. Minor subtleties in region will also affect the 'brand' of Hindustani, sometimes pushing the Hindustani closer towards Urdu or towards Hindi. One might reasonably assume that the language spoken in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (known for its beautiful usage of Urdu) and Benares (a holy city for Hindus and thus using highly Sanskritized Hindi) is somewhat different. A humorous way of putting it would be that the Lucknow lehejaa (accent in Urdu) is of a different shade than the Benares ucchaaran (pronunciation in Hindi).
Hindustani, if both Hindi and Urdu are counted, is the third or second most widely spoken language in the world after Mandarin and possibly English.
Hindustani outside South Asia
Besides being the lingua franca of South Asia, Hindustani is spoken among people of the South Asian diaspora and their descendants.
In Fiji, Hindustani has official status under Fiji's Constitution. Fijian Hindustani descends from one of the eastern forms of Hindustani, called Awadhi. It has developed some unique features that differentiate it from the Awadhi spoken on the Indian subcontinent, although not to the extent of hindering mutual understanding. It is spoken by nearly the entire Indo-Fijian community, 38.1% of Fiji's entire population, regardless of ancestry.
Hindustani speakers have a significant number of speakers in Caribbean countries such as Suriname, Guyana, and Trinidad & Tobago. The formal name of the language spoken in this region is generally called Caribbean Hindustani, although the Caribbean countries may add an adjective in front of the language name (i.e. Sarnami Hindustani) even though most individuals commonly refer to it as just Hindustani. One major country in which Hindustani is spoken is Suriname. Sarnami Hindustani is the second most spoken language in Suriname after Dutch. This is due to the emigration of East Indians (known locally as Hindustanis in Suriname) from the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh located in North India. Ethnic Indians form 37% of the population in Suriname, the largest ethnic group there. Hence, Hindustani is spoken frequently in Suriname and Indian culture plays a major role there in general. Hindustani is also spoken among ethnic Indians of Guyana and is popular there as South Asians make up around 45% of Guyana's total population.
Hindustani also has a significant number of speakers in North America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East due to immigration by the people of India and Pakistan to these countries.
Grammar
Main article: Hindustani grammar
Despite Hindustani and English both being Indo-European languages, Hindustani grammar can be very complex and is different in many ways from what English speakers are used to. Most notably, Hindustani is a subject-object-verb language, meaning that verbs usually fall at the end of the sentence rather than before the object (as in English). Hindustani also shows mixed ergativity so that, in some cases, verbs agree with the object of a sentence rather than the subject. Unlike English, Hindustani has no definite article (the). The numeral ek might be used as the indefinite singular article (a/an) if this needs to be stressed.
In addition, Hindustani uses postpositions (so called because they are placed after nouns) where English uses prepositions. Other differences include gender, honorifics, interrogatives, use of cases, and different tenses. While being complicated, Hindustani grammar is fairly regular, with irregularities being relatively limited. Despite differences in vocabulary and writing, Hindi grammar is nearly identical with Urdū. As a result, a Hindustani Grammar article is appropriate for both Hindi and Urdu. The concept of punctuation having been entirely unknown before the advent of the Europeans, Hindustani punctuation uses western conventions for commas, exclamation points, and question marks. Periods are sometimes used to end a sentence, though the traditional "full stop" (a vertical line) is more generally used.
Genders
In Hindustani, there are only two genders for nouns. All male human beings and male animals (or those animals and plants which are perceived to be "masculine") are masculine. All female human beings and female animals (or those animals and plants which are perceived to be "feminine") are feminine. Things, inanimate articles and abstract nouns are also either masculine or feminine according to convention, which must be memorised by non-Hindustani speakers if they wish to learn correct Hindustabi. While this is similar to Sanskrit and most other Indo-European languages such as French, it is a very challenging learning requirement for many people in south India who are native speakers of languages which do not feature such inflecton, but are expected by the government to learn Hindi. It is also a challenge for those who are used to only the English language, which although an Indo-European language, has nearly dropped all of its gender inflection.
The ending of a word, if a vowel, usually helps in this gender classification. Among tatsam words, the masculine words of Sanskrit remain masculine in Hindustani, and same is the case for the feminine. Sanskrit neuter nouns usually become masculine in Hindustani. Among the tadbhav words, if a word end in long /αː/, it is normally masculine. If a word ends in /iː/ or /in/, it is normally feminine. The gender of words borrowed from Arabic and Persian is determined either by phonology (usually the last vowel in the word) or by the gender of the nearest Hindustani equivalent. The gender assignment of Hindustani words directly borrowed from English (which are numerous) is also usually determined by the gender of the nearest Hindustani "synonym" or by the ending. Most adjectives ending in a vowel are inflected to agree with the gender of the noun: /meriː beʈiː/ 'my daughter' vs. /merαː beʈαː/ 'my son'.
Interrogatives
Besides the standard interrogative terms of who (कौन کؤن kaun), what (क्या کیا kyaa), why (कयों کیوں kyõ), when (कब کب kab), where (कहाँ کہاںkahã), how and what type (कैसा کیسا kaisaa), how many (कितना کِتنا kitnaa), etc, the Hindi word kyaa (क्या) can be used as a generic interrogative often placed at the beginning of a sentence to turn a statement into a Yes/No question. This makes it clear when a question is being asked. Questions can also be formed simply by modifying intonation, exactly as some questions are in English.
Pronouns
Hindi has pronouns in the first, second and third person for one gender only. Thus, unlike English, there is no difference between he or she. More strictly speaking, the third person of the pronoun is actually the same as the demonstrative pronoun (this / that). The verb, upon conjugation, usually indicates the difference in the gender. The pronouns have additional cases of accusative and genitive. There may also be multiple ways of inflecting the pronoun, which are given in parentheses. Note that for the second person of the pronoun (you), Hindi has three levels of honorifics:
- आप آپ (/αːp/): Formal and respectable form for you. Has no difference between the singular and the plural. Used in all formal settings and speaking to persons who are senior in job or age. Plural could be stressed by saying आप लोग آپ لوگ (/αːp log/ you people) or आप सब آپ سب (/αːp səb/) you all).
- तुम تُم (/tum/): Informal form of you. Has no difference between the singular and the plural. Used in all informal settings and speaking to persons who are junior in job or age. Plural could be stressed by saying तुम लोग تُم لوگ (/tum log/ you people) or तुम सब تُم سب (/tum səb/) you all).
- तू تُو (/tuː/): Extremely informal form of you, as thou. Strictly singular, its plural form being /tum/. Except for very close friends or poetic language involving God, it could be perceived as offensive in India and Pakistan.
Imperatives (requests and commands) correspond in form to the level of honorific being used, and the verb inflects to show the level of respect and politeness desired. Because imperatives can already include politeness, the word "kripayā", which can be translated as "please", is much less common than in spoken English; it is generally only used in writing or announcements, and its use in common speech is usually intended as mockery.
Word order
The standard word order in Hindustani is, in general, Subject Object Verb, but where different emphasis or more complex structure is needed, this rule is very easily set aside (provided that the nouns/pronouns are always followed by their postpositions or case markers). More specifically, the standard order is 1. Subject 2. Adverbs (in their standard order) 3. Indirect object and any of its adjectives 4. Direct object and any of its adjectives 5. Negation term or interrogative, if any, and finally the 6. Verb and any auxiliary verbs. (Snell, p93) The standard order can be modified in various ways to impart emphasis on particular parts of the sentence. Negation is formed by adding the word नहीं نہیں (nahī̃, "no"), in the appropriate place in the sentence, or by utilizing न ن (na) or मत مت(mat) in some cases. Note that in Hindi, the adjectives precede the nouns they qualify. The auxiliaries always follow the main verb. Also, Hindustani speakers or writers enjoy considerable freedom in placing words to achieve stylistic and other socio-psychological effects, though not as much freedom as in heavily inflected languages. [1]
Tense and aspect of Hindustani verbs
Hindi verbal structure is focused on aspect with distinctions based on tense usually shown through use of the verb honā (to be) as an auxiliary. There are three aspects: habitual (imperfect), progressive (also known as continuous) and perfective. Verbs in each aspect are marked for tense in almost all cases with the proper inflected form of honā. Hindi has four simple tenses, present, past, future (presumptive), and subjunctive (referred to as a mood by many linguists). Verbs are conjugated not only to show the number and person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) of their subject, but also its gender. Additionally, Hindustani has imperative and conditional moods.
Case
Hindustani is a weakly inflected language for case; the relationship of a noun in a sentence is usually shown by postpositions (i.e., prepositions that follow the noun). Hindustani has three cases for nouns. The Direct case is used for nouns not followed by any postpositions, typically for the subject case. The Oblique case is used for any nouns that is followed by a postposition. Adjectives modifying nouns in the oblique case will inflect that same way. Some nouns have a separate Vocative case. Hindustani has two numbers: singular and plural—but they may not be shown distinctly in all declinations.
See also
alphabetically arranged
Bibliography
- Asher, R. E. (1994). Hindi. In Asher (Ed.) (pp. 1547-1549).
- Asher, R. E. (Ed.). (1994). The Encyclopedia of language and linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-0803-5943-4.
- Bailey, Thomas G. (1950). Teach yourself Hindustani. London: English Universities Press.
- Chatterji, Suniti K. (1960). Indo-Aryan and Hindi (rev. 2nd ed.). Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay.
- Dua, Hans R. (1992). Hindi-Urdu as a pluricentric language. In M. G. Clyne (Ed.), Pluricentric languages: Differing norms in different nations. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-1101-2855-1.
- Dua, Hans R. (1994a). Hindustani. In Asher (Ed.) (pp. 1554).
- Dua, Hans R. (1994b). Urdu. In Asher (Ed.) (pp. 4863-4864).
- Rai, Amrit. (1984). A house divided: The origin and development of Hindi-Hindustani. Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-1956-1643-X.
External links
- Hindi, Urdu, Hindustani, khaRî bolî
- Hindi-Urdu FAQ
- Hindustani as an anxiety between Hindi-Urdu Commitment
- History of Hindustani
- World's Largest Hindi-Urdu-English Dictionary
- Hindi-Urdu-Pashtu-English Word list: Comparative list of 210 words in English, Hindi/Urdu, and Pashtu/Pashto/Pukhtu
- Hindi/Urdu-English-Kalasha-Khowar-Nuristani-Pashtu Comparative Word List
- Ethnologue Report for Hindustani
- GRN Report for Hindustani
- Vinay's Hindi/Urdu Poetry Page
- Hindustani Poetry
- Hindi-Urdu online resources
- UK INDIA: Learn to read Hindi, Urdu, and many other Indian languages
- Hindi Wiktionary
- Urdu Wiktionary
- Hindi-Urdu Wikitravel Hindi-Urdu Phrasebook
- ^ Bhatia 1996: 32-33.