Hindi - The Language of a Nation
| With over 500 million speakers, Hindi is the second-most spoken language after Chinese. Hindi has undergone considerable revolutions before it was adopted as the "Rajyabhasha" of India. This article will encapsulate the journey Hindi has undergone over the ages to its present form. |
| As per the theory of the Indo-Aryan linguistic classification system, Hindi resides in the Central Zone of languages. As per a 1991 census report, Hindi was proclaimed by over 77 % of the Indian population as the "one language across the nation". |
| Hindi's origins as a distinct identity can be traced back to the period in history commonly referred to as the Middle Indo-Aryan Period. This Period, spanning between 600 BC and 1000 AD, represents a vital period of development in most present-day Indian languages. This period is divided into stages, demarcated along lines such as the Emperor Asoka's Ear, the age of the Prakrits and the birth of the Apabhramsa dialects in the 6th century AD. It represents a key period of linguistic development in histoy, tracing the paths taken by emergent languages between the Old Indo-Aryan Era of Sanskrit and the Modern Indo-Aryan Era of Hindi and other Indian languages. |
| The Hindi language consists of 11 vowels and 35 consonants and is written in Devanagari script. Hindi is equipped with a rich consonant system, with about 38 distinct consonant units of sounds. However, the number of phonemes, as these units of sound are called, cannot be accurately determined, owing to the large number of dialects that exist, which employ many derivative forms of the consonant repertoire. However, the traditional core of the consonant system is directly inherited from Sanskrit with an additional seven sounds conjectured to have originated from Persian and Arabic. |
| Hindi also employs a large number of modifying sounds. The "anuswara" is employed as a dot above the vowel to produce a deprecated sound. The "visarga" (denoted by a ":") is also exclusively employed with vowels. However, though used in conjunction with vowels, the "visarga" and "anuswara" are both considered to be consonants. Nasalized sounds are represented by a "chandra bindu" sign above a vowel. The "ardha chandra bindu" sign is also employed with vowels to indicate the ‘o' sound in English. The "khutma" is a sound used with great frequency with consonants. Usually represented as a dot above a consonant, it is believed that the "khutma" was introduced due to the influence of the Urdu, Persian and Arabic languages in predominantly Hindi-speaking regions. |
| Hindi, the official language of India, is based on the Khariboli dialect of the Delhi region. A more scholarly, Sankritized form of Hindi was believed to have developed primarily in Varanasi, the Hindu holy city and is believed to have been based on the Eastern Hindi dialect of that region. The term "Hindi" can thus be an ambiguous term at times. |
| Hindi' present texture is heavily influenced by the Sankritization approach endorsed by the Indian Government after the Partition of 1947. Hindi, in its original form prior to Independence, shared a considerable degree of verbal similarity with Urdu. Hindi and Urdu were often referred together as a single entity titled "Hindustani", along with several other languages like Awadhi, Bagheli, Bihari (and its dialects), Rajasthani (and its dialects) and Chhatisgarhi. However, the approach advocated in virtually every educational institution and medium of public information, employs a Sanskrit-oriented language developed by Indian scholars along the lines of the Varanasi dialect. |
| Hindi owes much of its current mutual intelligibility with Urdu and many other languages in the Central Zone to the Indian film industry. The wildly popular films produced at Bombay, the cinematic capital of India, find enormous appeal across borders and also serve as a grassroots-level unifying bond between India and Pakistan, where Hindi films have made, and continue to make, a tremendous impact in the entertainment industry. |
| However, despite its leading status as the second-most spoken language in the world. Hindi is not employed at concurrent levels over the Internet and in basic home computing utilities. But, emphasis in this regard has returned with an increased vigour in recent times. With the proper guidance, support and governance, Hindi may soon ascend to become a true language of the world in every respect. | |
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