| Caribbean Hindustani | |
|---|---|
| कैरेबियाई हिंदुस्तानी(Devanagari script) 𑂍𑂶𑂩𑂵𑂥𑂱𑂨𑂰𑂆⸱𑂯𑂱𑂁𑂠𑂳𑂮𑂹𑂞𑂰𑂢𑂲(Kaithi script) کَیریبئائی ہندوستانی(Perso-Arabic script) | |
 Caribbean Hindustani written in the Latin, Devanagari, Kaithi, and Perso-Arabic (Nastaliq calligraphy) scripts | |
| Region | Caribbean |
| Ethnicity | |
Native speakers | 150,000 in Suriname (2018)[1] ~1,600 in Trinidad and Tobago (in 2003) 299,400 in all countries (2006–2019)[1] |
Early forms | |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | hns |
| Glottolog | cari1275 |
Caribbean Hindustani (Devanagari:कैरेबियाई हिंदुस्तानी;Kaithi: 𑂍𑂶𑂩𑂵𑂥𑂱𑂨𑂰𑂆⸱𑂯𑂱𑂁𑂠𑂳𑂮𑂹𑂞𑂰𑂢𑂲;Perso-Arabic:کَیریبیائی ہندوستانی) is anIndo-Aryan language spoken byIndo-Caribbean people and the Indo-Caribbean diaspora. It is akoiné language mainly based on theBhojpuri andAwadhi languages.[1] These were the most-spoken languages by the Indians who came as immigrants to theCaribbean fromIndia asindentured laborers. It is closely related toFiji Hindi and the Bhojpuri-Hindustani spoken inMauritius andSouth Africa.
Because a majority of people came from theBhojpur region inBihar,Uttar Pradesh andJharkhand, and theAwadh region in Uttar Pradesh, Caribbean Hindustani is most influenced byBhojpuri,Awadhi and otherEastern Hindi-Bihari dialects.Hindustani (Standard Hindi-Standard Urdu) has also influenced the language due to the arrival ofBollywood films, music, and other media from India. It also has a minor influence fromTamil and otherSouth Asian languages.[5] The language has also borrowed many words fromDutch andEnglish inSuriname andGuyana, and English andFrench inTrinidad and Tobago. Many words unique to Caribbean Hindustani have been created to cater for the new environment that Indo-Caribbean people now live in. After the introduction of Standard Hindustani to the Caribbean, Caribbean Hindustani was seen by many Indo-Caribbean people 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 theKhariboli dialect like Standard Hindi and Urdu did, thus the difference.[6]
Caribbean Hindustani is spoken as a vernacular by Indo-Caribbean people, independent of their religious background, though Hindus tend to incorporate moreSanskrit derived vocabulary and Muslims tend to incorporate morePersian,Arabic, andTurkic derived vocabulary, similar to the Standard Hindi-Urdu divide of theHindustani language. When written, theDevanagari script is used byHindus, while someMuslims tend to use thePerso-Arabic script in theNastaliqcalligraphic hand following theUrdu alphabet; historically, theKaithi script was also used.[4] However, due to the decline in the language these scripts are not widely used and most often theLatin script is used due to familiarity and easiness.
Chutney music,chutney soca,chutney parang,baithak gana,folk music,classical music, someHindu religious songs, someMuslim religious songs, and even some IndianChristian religious songs are sung in Caribbean Hindustani, sometimes being mixed withEnglish in theAnglophone Caribbean orDutch inSuriname and theDutch Caribbean.
The Caribbean Hindustani ofGuyana is known asGuyanese Hindustani,Guyanese Bhojpuri,Puraniya Hindi, orAili Gaili. It is spoken by some members in a community of 300,000 Indo-Guyanese, mostly by the older generation,Hindu priests, andimams.[7] TheNickerian-Berbician Hindustani dialect of Guyanese Hindustani and Sarnami is spoken inEast Berbice-Corentyne in Guyana and the neighboring district ofNickerie in Suriname.[8]
The variant that is spoken inTrinidad and Tobago is known asTrinidadian Hindustani,Trinidadian Bhojpuri,Trinidadian Hindi,Indian,Plantation Hindustani, orGaon ke Bolee (Village Speech).[9] A majority of the earlyIndian indentured immigrants spoke theBhojpuri andAwadhi dialects, which later formed into Trinidadian Hindustani. In 1935, Indian movies began showing to audiences in Trinidad. Most of the Indian movies were in theStandard Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) dialect and this modified Trinidadian Hindustani slightly by adding StandardHindi andUrdu phrases and vocabulary to Trinidadian Hindustani. Indian movies also revitalized Hindustani among Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians.[10] The British colonial government and estate owners had disdain and contempt for Hindustani and Indian languages in Trinidad. Due to this, many Indians saw it as a broken language keeping them in poverty and bound to the cane fields, and did not pass it on as afirst language, but rather as aheritage language, as they favored English as a way out.[11] Around the mid to late 1960s thelingua franca of Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians switched from Trinidadian Hindustani to a sort ofHindinized version of English. Today Hindustani survives on throughIndo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian musical forms such as,Bhajan,Indian classical music,Indian folk music,Filmi,Pichakaree,Chutney,Chutney soca, andChutney parang. As of 2003,[update] there were about 15,600 Trinidadians who spoke Trinidadian Hindustani, 90 % of them as a second language.[12] As of 2011,[update] there were about 10,000 who spoke Standard Hindi. Many Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians today speak a type ofHinglish 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.[1][13][14][15][9][12]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 theSanatan Dharma Maha Sabha.[16]
Sarnami orSarnami Hindoestani orSarnami Hindustani meaningSurinamese Hindustani is the third-most spoken language in Suriname after Dutch andSranan Tongo (the twolingua francas).[17]It developed as a fusion ofBihari andEastern Hindi languages, specificallyBhojpuri,Awadhi, and – to a lesser degree –Magahi. Most scholars agree that Bhojpuri is the main contributor in the formation of Sarnami.[18] It is mainly spoken by and within Suriname'sIndo-Surinamese (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 StandardHindi–Urdu in either of its literary variants:Hindi (Modern Standard Hindi) for Hindus, andUrdu for Muslims. This is similar to howJamaican Patois is used informally andJamaican Standard English or theQueen's English is seen as more prestigious.[18]Baithak Gana is the most famous genre of music sung in Sarnami 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 ofNickerie inSuriname and the neighboring county ofBerbice (present-dayEast Berbice-Corentyne) inGuyana 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 theCourantyne River, the groups of descendants of Indian indentured laborers that settled in both areas existed as oneIndian community and intermarriage 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 theGuyanese English Creole of Berbice.[19] 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 andEnglish. Nickerian-Berbician Hindustani is also mutually intelligible with the Guyanese Hindustani spoken in the rest of 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 priests, and Indian immigrants from Suriname.[8][20]
Early research on the language has been conducted by Motilall Rajvanshi Marhe from Suriname, Peggy Mohan and Noor Kumar Mahabir from Trinidad and Tobago, and Surendra Kumar Gambhir in Guyana.[21][22][23][24][6] 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,[25] Karen Dass in Trinidad and Tobago, and Harry Hergash in Canada who is originally from Guyana.[26][27][28][29][30][31]
