Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...

Indo-Caribbeans Indo-Caribbeans or Indian-Caribbeans are Indian people in the Caribbean who are descendants of the Jahaji Indian indentured laborers brought by the British, Dutch, and French during the colonial era from the mid-19th century to the early 20th c ...

Awadhi Awadhi (; ), also known as Audhi (), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern India and Nepal. It is primarily spoken in the Awadh region of present-day Uttar Pradesh, India. The name ''Awadh'' is connected to Ayodhya, the ancient city ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

Awadh Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...

Awadhi Awadhi (; ), also known as Audhi (), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern India and Nepal. It is primarily spoken in the Awadh region of present-day Uttar Pradesh, India. The name ''Awadh'' is connected to Ayodhya, the ancient city ...

Eastern Hindi The Central Indo-Aryan languages or Hindi languages are a group of related language varieties Spoken across North India and Central India. These language varieties form the central part of the Indo-Aryan language family, itself a part of the ...

Standard Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

films, music, and other media from India. It also has a minor influence from

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

and other

Dravidian languages The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant ...

. The language has also borrowed many words from

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

in Suriname and Guyana, and English and French in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. Many words unique to Caribbean Hindustani have been created to cater for the new environment that Indo-Caribbeans now live in. After the introduction of Standard Hindustani to the Caribbean, Caribbean Hindustani was seen by many Indo-Caribbeans as a broken version of Hindi, however due to later academic research it was seen as deriving from Bhojpuri, Awadhi, and other dialects and was in fact not a broken language, but its own unique language mainly deriving from the Bhojpuri and Awadhi dialects, and not the

Khariboli Kauravi ( hi, कौरवी, ur, ), also known as Khaṛībolī is a set of Western Hindi varieties of Shauraseni Prakrit mainly spoken in Northwestern Uttar Pradesh. Standard Hindi and Urdu are based on Khariboli, specifically on its De ...

dialect like Standard Hindi and Urdu did, thus the difference.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
Caribbean Hindustani is spoken as a vernacular by Indo-Caribbeans, independent of their religious background. When written, the

Devanagari script Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...

is used by

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, while some

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

tend to use the

Perso-Arabic script The Persian alphabet ( fa, الفبای فارسی, Alefbâye Fârsi) is a writing system that is a version of the Arabic script used for the Persian language spoken in Iran ( Western Persian) and Afghanistan (Dari Persian) since the 7th cen ...

in the Nastaliq

calligraphic hand Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

following the

Urdu alphabet The Urdu alphabet (), is the right-to-left alphabet used for Urdu. It is a modification of the Persian script, which is itself a derivative of the Arabic script. The Urdu alphabet has up to 39 or 40 distinct letters with no distinct letter ...

; historically, the

Kaithi Kaithi (), also called Kayathi () or Kayasthi (), is a historical Brahmic script that was used widely in parts of Northern and Eastern India, primarily in the present-day states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar. In particular, it was us ...

script was also used. However, due to the decline in the language these scripts are not widely used and most often the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern I ...

is used due to familiarity and easiness.

Chutney music Chutney music is a fusion genre of Indian folk music, specifically Bhojpuri folk music, with local Caribbean calypso and soca music, and later on Bollywood music. This genre of music that developed in Trinidad and Tobago is popular in Trinida ...

,

chutney soca In Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname, chutney soca music is a crossover style of music incorporating soca and calypso elements and English, Hindustani, and Hinglish lyrics, chutney music, with Western instruments such as the guitar, pi ...

,

chutney parang Chutney parang or parang chutney is a style of music that is a cross between Venezuela, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago's traditional Christmas music, parang and Indo-Trinidadian chutney music. It is sung in English, Hindustani, and Spanish Sp ...

,

baithak gana {{unreferenced, date=June 2014 Baithak Gana is a form of music originating in Suriname by the Indian community. Baithak is a social gathering. It is a mix of Bhojpuri folk songs with other Caribbean influences. It is similar to Chutney music that ...

,

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, classical music, some Hindu religious songs, some Muslim religious songs, and even some Indian Christian religious songs are sung in Caribbean Hindustani, sometimes being mixed with

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

in the Anglophone Caribbean or

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

in Suriname and the

Dutch Caribbean The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the territories, colonies, and countries, former and current, of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean Sea. They are in the north and south-wes ...

.

Guyanese Hindustani

The Caribbean Hindustani of Guyana is known as Guyanese Hindustani, Guyanese Bhojpuri or ''Aili Gaili''. It is spoken by some members in a community of 300,000 Indo-Guyanese, mostly by the older generation. The Nickerian-Berbician Hindustani dialect of Guyanese Hindustani and Sarnami is spoken in

East Berbice-Corentyne East Berbice-Corentyne (Region 6) is one of ten regions in Guyana covering the whole of the east of the country. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north, the Nickerie District and Sipaliwini District of Suriname to the east, Brazil to the so ...

in Guyana and the neighboring district of Nickerie in Suriname.

Trinidadian Hindustani

The variant that is spoken in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

is known as ''Trinidadian Hindustani'', ''Trinidadian Bhojpuri'', ''Trinidadian Hindi'', ''Indian'', ''Plantation Hindustani'', or ''Gaon ke Bolee (Village Speech)''. A majority of the early

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

indentured immigrants spoke the Bhojpuri and

Awadhi Awadhi (; ), also known as Audhi (), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern India and Nepal. It is primarily spoken in the Awadh region of present-day Uttar Pradesh, India. The name ''Awadh'' is connected to Ayodhya, the ancient city ...

dialects, which later formed into Trinidadian Hindustani. In 1935, Indian movies began showing to audiences in Trinidad. Most of the Indian movies were in the Standard Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) dialect and this modified Trinidadian Hindustani slightly by adding Standard

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

, but rather as a

heritage language A heritage language is a minority language (either immigrant or indigenous) learned by its speakers at home as children, and difficult to be fully developed because of insufficient input from the social environment. The speakers grow up with a ...

, as they favored English as a way out. Around the mid to late 1960s the ''lingua franca'' of Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians switched from Trinidadian Hindustani to a sort of ''Hindinized'' version of English. Today Hindustani survives on through Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian musical forms such as, Bhajan, Indian classical music,

Indian folk music Indian folk music is diverse because of India's vast cultural diversity. It is sung in various languages and dialects throughout the length and breadth of this vast nation and exported to different parts of the world owing to migration. Tamang S ...

,

Filmi Filmi ("of films") music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Indian cinema. In cinema, music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playba ...

,

Pichakaree Pichakaree (or pichakaaree) is an Indo-Trinidadian form of music, which originated in Trinidad and Tobago. It is named after the long syringe-like tubes used to spray abir during Phagwah celebrations. Description Pichakaree songs are generally ...

,

Chutney A chutney is a spread in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion or mint dipping sa ...

,

Chutney soca In Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname, chutney soca music is a crossover style of music incorporating soca and calypso elements and English, Hindustani, and Hinglish lyrics, chutney music, with Western instruments such as the guitar, pi ...

, and

Chutney parang Chutney parang or parang chutney is a style of music that is a cross between Venezuela, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago's traditional Christmas music, parang and Indo-Trinidadian chutney music. It is sung in English, Hindustani, and Spanish Sp ...

. As of 2003, there are about 15,633 Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians who speak Trinidadian Hindustani and as of 2011, there are about 10,000 who speak Standard Hindi. Many Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians today speak a type of Hinglish that consists of Trinidadian and Tobagonian English that is heavily laced with Trinidadian Hindustani vocabulary and phrases and many Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians can recite phrases or prayers in Hindustani today. There are many places in Trinidad and Tobago that have names of Hindustani origin. Some phrases and vocabulary have even made their way into the mainstream English and English Creole dialect of the country. World Hindi Day is celebrated each year on 10 January with events organized by the National Council of Indian Culture, Hindi Nidhi Foundation, Indian High Commission, Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Cultural Co-operation, and the

Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), , colloquially known as the Maha Sabha, is the largest and most influential Hindu organization in Trinidad and Tobago. It operates 150 mandirs, over 50 schools, and has its own radio station, Radio Jaagri ...

.

Sarnami Hindustani

''Sarnami'' or ''Sarnami Hindoestani'' or ''Sarnami Hindustani'' meaning ''Surinamese Hindustani'' is the third-most spoken language in Suriname after Dutch and

Sranan Tongo Sranan Tongo (also Sranantongo "Surinamese tongue," Sranan, Surinaams, Surinamese, Surinamese Creole) is an English-based creole language that is spoken as a ''lingua franca'' by approximately 550,000 people in Suriname. Developed originally amo ...

(the two '' lingua francas''). It developed as a fusion of Bihari and

Eastern Hindi The Central Indo-Aryan languages or Hindi languages are a group of related language varieties Spoken across North India and Central India. These language varieties form the central part of the Indo-Aryan language family, itself a part of the ...

languages, specifically Bhojpuri,

Awadhi Awadhi (; ), also known as Audhi (), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern India and Nepal. It is primarily spoken in the Awadh region of present-day Uttar Pradesh, India. The name ''Awadh'' is connected to Ayodhya, the ancient city ...

, and – to a lesser degree –

Magahi The Magahi language (), also known as Magadhi (), is a language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India, and in the Terai of Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name derives. ...

. Most scholars agree that Bhojpuri is the main contributor in the formation of Sarnami. It is mainly spoken by and within Suriname's

Indo-Surinamese Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese or Hindustani Surinamese are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Suriname with ancestry from India and the wider subcontinent. Their ancestors were Indian indentured workers brought by the Dutch and t ...

(ca. 27% of the population) community and therefore it is not considered to be a third lingua franca. While Sarnami is mostly a language of informal daily communication, the traditional prestige language of the community is Standard

Hindi–Urdu Hindustani (; Devanagari: , * * * * ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the ''lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the langua ...

in either of its literary variants: Hindi (Modern Standard Hindi) for Hindus, and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Jamaican Patois Jamaican Patois (; locally rendered Patwah and called Jamaican Creole by linguists) is an English-based creole language with West African influences, spoken primarily in Jamaica and among the Jamaican diaspora. A majority of the non-English ...

is used informally and Jamaican Standard English or the '' Queen's English'' is seen as more prestigious. ''

Baithak Gana {{unreferenced, date=June 2014 Baithak Gana is a form of music originating in Suriname by the Indian community. Baithak is a social gathering. It is a mix of Bhojpuri folk songs with other Caribbean influences. It is similar to Chutney music that ...

'' is the most famous genre of music sung in Sarnami Hindustani.

Nickerian-Berbician Hindustani

Nickerian-Berbician Hindustani, also called Nickerian Sarnami or Berbician Hindustani, is a unique dialect of Sarnami and Guyanese Bhojpuri-Hindustani that developed in the district of Nickerie in Suriname and the neighboring county of Berbice (present-day

East Berbice-Corentyne East Berbice-Corentyne (Region 6) is one of ten regions in Guyana covering the whole of the east of the country. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north, the Nickerie District and Sipaliwini District of Suriname to the east, Brazil to the so ...

) in Guyana during the colonial times in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Even though Suriname's Nickerie and Guyana's Berbice are in different countries separated by the

Courantyne River The Courantyne/Corentyne/Corantijn River is a river in northern South America in Suriname and Guyana. It is the longest river in the country and creates the border between Suriname and the East Berbice-Corentyne region of Guyana. Its tributarie ...

, the groups of descendants of Indian indentured laborers that settled in both areas existed as one

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

community and marriage between Indians from Nickerie to Indians in Berbice and vice versa often occurred. The difference in colonial and post-colonial independent history in the two districts led to the Indians in Nickerie in Suriname being able to preserve the dialect, while in Berbice in Guyana it largely died out, however many words and phrases from the dialect were incorporated into the Guyanese English Creole of Berbice. Today the remaining speakers of Guyanese Hindustani are mostly speakers of the Nickerian-Berbician dialect due to the influx of Nickerians in Berbice. Nickerian-Berbician Hindustani is mostly mutually intelligible with the Sarnami spoken in the rest of Suriname, although there are many words from Guyanese English Creole,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, and

Berbice Creole Dutch Berbice Creole Dutch (also known as Berbice Dutch) is a now extinct Dutch creole language, once spoken in Berbice, a region along the Berbice River in Guyana. It had a lexicon largely based on Dutch and Eastern Ijo varieties from southern N ...

. Nickerian-Berbician Hindustani is also mutually intelligible with the Guyanese Hindustani spoken in the rest Guyana, however unlike Suriname, Indians in Guyana have mostly adopted Guyanese English Creole as their first language and it is spoken mostly by the elderly,

Hindu priest A Hindu priest, used irrespective of gender, may refer to either of the following: * A Pujari (IAST: Pūjārī) or an Archaka is a Hindu temple priest. * A Purohita (IAST: Purōhita) officiates and performs rituals and ceremonies, and is usua ...

s, and immigrants from Suriname.

Research and promotional efforts

Early research on the language has been conducted by Motilall Rajvanshi Marhe from Suriname, Peggy Mohan and Kumar Mahabir from Trinidad and Tobago, and Surendra Kumar Gambhir in Guyana. Attempts to preserve the language are being made by Caribbean Hindustani Inc. led by Visham Bhimull, Sarnami Bol Inc. led by Rajsingh Ramanjulu in Suriname, Karen Dass in Trinidad and Tobago, and Harry Hergash in Canada who is originally from Guyana.

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{Hindi topics Indian diaspora Languages of Trinidad and Tobago Indo-Caribbean culture Fusional languages Bihari languages Bhojpuri language Languages of Guyana Languages of Suriname Languages of Jamaica Hindi languages

Guyanese Hindustani

Trinidadian Hindustani

Sarnami Hindustani

Nickerian-Berbician Hindustani

Research and promotional efforts

See also

Footnotes

References

External links