Hindi Language: History and Development

• Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in India.
• It is the official language of the Government of India, along with English.
• Hindi is also the lingua franca of the Hindi Belt.
• As a linguistic variety, it is mutually intelligible with Urdu.
• Modern Standard Hindi is a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language.

Origin and History

• The ancestor of Hindi is considered to be early forms of Vedic Sanskrit.
• Vedic Sanskrit gradually evolved into Classical Sanskrit.
• Prakrit languages evolved from Sanskrit.
• From the Prakrits emerged Apabhramsa languages.
• One of the Apabhramsa languages was Shauraseni Apabhramsa, from which early forms of Hindi developed.

Development of Khari Boli

• Khari Boli is considered the base dialect of Modern Standard Hindi.
• Amir Khusrau was one of the earliest known poets who wrote in Khari Boli.
• The standardization of Hindi occurred primarily in the 19th and 20th centuries.
• This standardization involved promoting Khari Boli as the standard form.
• Bharatendu Harishchandra played a key role in popularizing Khari Boli in literature.

Modern Standard Hindi

• Modern Standard Hindi is characterized by its formal grammar and vocabulary.
• It draws vocabulary heavily from Sanskrit.
• This distinguishes it from other Hindustani varieties, like Urdu, which derive vocabulary from Persian and Arabic.
• Hindi is used in education, literature, media, and government.

Dialects

• Hindi is considered to encompass several dialects.
• These dialects include Awadhi, Braj Bhasha, Bundeli, Bagheli, and Bhojpuri.
• However, in some contexts, these dialects are considered separate languages.

Geographical Distribution

• Hindi is spoken across North and Central India, forming a "Hindi Belt".
• Significant Hindi-speaking populations are also found in other parts of India.
• Outside India, Hindi is spoken by diaspora communities in countries like Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, and the United States.

Official Status

• Hindi is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India.
• It is the official language of the central government.
• Several states in India have Hindi as one of their official languages.

Writing System

• Hindi is written in the Devanagari script.
• Devanagari is an abugida, meaning each consonant has an inherent vowel.
• Diacritics are used to represent other vowels and modifications.
• The script is written from left to right.

Grammar

• Hindi grammar is largely based on Sanskrit grammar.
• It follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order.
• Hindi is an agglutinative language, meaning prefixes and suffixes are attached to words to modify their meaning.
• Nouns in Hindi are inflected for gender (masculine and feminine) and number (singular and plural).
• Verbs are conjugated based on tense, aspect, mood, gender, and number.

Vocabulary

• The vocabulary of Hindi is primarily derived from Sanskrit.
• Tatsam words are Sanskrit words adopted directly into Hindi.
• Tadbhav words are Sanskrit words that have undergone changes over time.
• Hindi also contains loanwords from Persian, Arabic, English, and other languages.

Influence of Persian and Arabic

• During the medieval period, Persian was the court language in India.
• This led to significant borrowing of Persian and Arabic words into Hindi.
• Urdu emerged as a distinct variety of Hindustani with a greater influence of Persian and Arabic.

Hindi Cinema

• Hindi cinema, also known as Bollywood, is a major cultural force.
• Bollywood movies are produced in Mumbai and are primarily in Hindi.
• Hindi songs from Bollywood films are very popular both in India and abroad.

Hindi Literature

• Hindi literature has a rich history.
• Early works include religious and devotional poetry.
• Modern Hindi literature includes novels, short stories, plays, and essays.
• Premchand is considered one of the greatest Hindi novelists.

Challenges and Future

• Hindi faces challenges related to standardization and promotion.
• The promotion of Hindi as the sole official language of India has been controversial.
• There is ongoing debate about the role of Hindi in education and government.
• Despite these challenges, Hindi continues to be a major language in India and the world.

Relationship with Urdu

• Hindi and Urdu are mutually intelligible varieties of the Hindustani language.
• The main differences lie in vocabulary and script.
• Hindi draws vocabulary from Sanskrit.
• Urdu draws vocabulary from Persian and Arabic.
• Hindi is written in Devanagari, while Urdu is written in Perso-Arabic script.
• Some linguists consider Hindi and Urdu to be two registers of the same language.

Learning Hindi

• Hindi is a popular language to learn for those interested in Indian culture and history.
• Many resources are available for learning Hindi, including textbooks, online courses, and language exchange partners.
• Knowledge of Hindi can be useful for traveling in India, understanding Bollywood films, and engaging with Indian literature.

Hindi in Technology

• Support for Hindi is increasing in technology.
• Hindi keyboards and fonts are available for computers and mobile devices.
• Machine translation tools are being developed for Hindi.
• Speech recognition technology for Hindi is also advancing.

Grammatical Features

• Hindi is a head-final language.
• Modifiers typically precede the words they modify.
• Postpositions are used instead of prepositions.
• Relative clauses precede the main clause.

Verb Conjugation Details

• Hindi verbs are conjugated according to tense, aspect, and mood.
• Tense indicates the time of the action (past, present, future).
• Aspect indicates the completion or continuation of the action.
• Mood indicates the speaker's attitude towards the action.
• Verbs also agree in gender and number with the subject.

Noun Declension Details

• Hindi nouns are declined according to gender and number.
• There are two genders: masculine and feminine.
• There are two numbers: singular and plural.
• Noun declension affects the form of the noun and any adjectives that modify it.

Explore the history and development of the Hindi language, an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in India and the official language of the Government of India. The ancestor of Hindi is considered to be early forms of Vedic Sanskrit. Learn about the development of Khari Boli.