Hindi Language: Origin and History

Study Notes

Hindi's roots can be traced back to the ancient Indo-Aryan language Sanskrit.
The development of Hindi occurred through various stages of Prakrit and Apabhramsa languages.
Khari Boli, a dialect of Delhi, formed the base for modern standard Hindi.
During the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire, Hindi absorbed Persian, Arabic, and Turkic words, leading to the development of Hindustani.
In the 19th century, efforts were made to standardize Hindi, promoting it as a distinct language from Urdu, with an emphasis on Sanskritization.
Bharatendu Harishchandra played a vital role in modernizing Hindi literature and prose.

Hindi is primarily spoken in the "Hindi Belt" of India.
States include: Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan.
Hindi is also spoken by a significant population in other parts of India, such as Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Gujarat.
Outside India, Hindi speakers are found in countries like Nepal, Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, and the United States, due to migration.

Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language.
It is closely related to other Indo-Aryan languages like Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, and Marathi.
Hindi grammar is largely based on Sanskrit grammar.
It exhibits subject-object-verb (SOV) word order.
Hindi is a synthetic language, using suffixes and inflections to indicate grammatical relations.
It features gender and number agreement.

Hindi vocabulary has its base in Sanskrit and Prakrit.
It has borrowed words from Persian, Arabic, Turkic, and English.
Sanskritization has led to the incorporation of many Sanskrit terms into modern Hindi.
The process of "De-Persianization" sought to replace Persian and Arabic loanwords with Sanskrit equivalents.

Hindi is written in the Devanagari script.
Devanagari is an abugida, where each consonant has an inherent vowel.
Vowels can be written as independent letters or as diacritics modifying consonants.
The script is written from left to right.
Devanagari is also used for writing other languages like Sanskrit, Marathi, and Nepali.

Hindi literature has a rich history spanning several centuries.
Early Hindi literature includes religious and devotional poetry.
The Bhakti movement significantly influenced Hindi literature with poets.
Modern Hindi literature emerged in the 19th century.
Prominent Hindi writers include Premchand, Jaishankar Prasad, Mahadevi Varma, and Harivansh Rai Bachchan.

Hindi has influenced other languages and cultures in India and abroad.
Many Hindi words have been adopted into English.
Hindustani cinema (Bollywood) has played a significant role in popularizing Hindi music and language.
Hindi is taught as a second language in many schools and universities around the world.
The Indian government promotes the spread and use of Hindi through various initiatives and institutions.