Desi ( / ˈ d eɪ s i / or / ˈ d ɛ s i / DAY -see or DESS -ee ; Hindustani : देसी ( Devanagari ) , دیسی ( Perso-Arabic ) , Hindustani: [deːsiː] ) also Deshi , is a loose term used to describe the peoples , cultures , and products of the Indian subcontinent and their diaspora , derived from Sanskrit देश ( deśá ), meaning 'land' or 'country'. Desi traces its origin to the people from the South Asian republics of Bangladesh , India , and Pakistan , and may also sometimes include people from Myanmar , Bhutan , Afghanistan , Maldives , Nepal , and Sri Lanka .
81-572: The ethnonym belongs in the endonymic category (i.e., it is a self-appellation). Desi ( देसी / دیسی desī ) is a Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) word, meaning 'national', ultimately from Sanskrit deśīya , derived from deśa ( देश ) 'region, province, country'. The first known usage of the Sanskrit word is found in the Natya Shastra (~200 BCE), where it defines the regional varieties of folk performing arts , as opposed to
162-513: A basic ethnic and cultural unity.” (the boundaries of colonial India include the modern-day republics of independent India, as well as what is now Pakistan and Bangladesh.) In the United States , as in other countries, some diaspora desis are creating a "fusion" culture, in which foods, fashions, music, and the like from many areas of South Asia are "fused" both with each other and with elements from Western culture. For example, Urban Desi
243-571: A composite Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb . The language was also known as Rekhta , or 'mixed', which implies that the Sanskritic and Prakritic vocabulary base of Old Hindi was mixed with Persian loanwords. Written in the Perso-Arabic , Devanagari , and occasionally Kaithi or Gurmukhi scripts, it remained the primary lingua franca of northern India for the next four centuries, although it varied significantly in vocabulary depending on
324-416: A compound word related to origin or usage. A polito-ethnonym indicates that name originated from the political affiliation, like when the polysemic term Austrians is sometimes used more specifically for native, German speaking inhabitants of Austria , who have their own endonyms. A topo-ethnonym refers to the ethnonym derived from a toponym (name of a geographical locality, placename), like when
405-635: A continuation and reinforcement of Persian by Central Asian Turkic rulers in the Indian Subcontinent, since Persian was also patronized by the earlier Turko-Afghan Delhi Sultanate who laid the basis for the introduction and use of Persian in the subcontinent. Hindustani began to take shape as a Persianised vernacular during the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526 AD) and Mughal Empire (1526–1858 AD) in South Asia . Hindustani retained
486-509: A greater evolution; older terms such as colored carried negative connotations and have been replaced by modern-day equivalents such as Black or African American . Other ethnonyms such as Negro have a different status. The term was considered acceptable in its use by activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s, but other activists took a different perspective. In discussing an address in 1960 by Elijah Muhammad , it
567-422: A homogenous identity and fail to acknowledge the pluralistic nature of South Asian communities. Alternatives like "South Asian" or "Brown" have been proposed, but they also have their limitations and can be perceived as misleading or exclusive. While some individuals find the term "South Asian" inclusive and encompassing, others feel it does not fully capture their specific backgrounds. The complexity and diversity of
648-504: A literature of 500 years, with prose, poetry, religion and philosophy. One could conceive of a wide spectrum of dialects and registers, with the highly Persianised Urdu at one end of the spectrum and a heavily Sanskritised variety spoken in the region around Varanasi , at the other end. In common usage in India, the term Hindi includes all these dialects except those at the Urdu spectrum. Thus,
729-469: A native breed of chicken. This word is also usually restricted to Sanskrit-derived (Indo-Aryan) languages. Heritage varieties of vegetables and other produce can also be qualified as "desi". "Desi diet" refers to a diet and food choices followed by Indians around the world. Desi daru refers to "country liquor", such as fenny , toddy and arrack . It is differentiated from Indian-made foreign liquor such as Indian-made whisky , rum , or vodka . In
810-590: A new inclusive identity of South Asians in the US, who participate as 'public consumers and producers of a distinctive, widely circulating cultural and linguistic forms'." To this end, channels such as MTV Desi have recognized "the transnational nature of Desi youth culture, writers, producers, and VJs" and have shared "a range of topics relating to life in South Asia and the South Asian diaspora worldwide". "Desi"
891-408: A short period. The term Hindustani was given to that language. The Perso-Arabic script form of this language underwent a standardisation process and further Persianisation during this period (18th century) and came to be known as Urdu, a name derived from Persian: Zabān-e Urdū-e Mualla ('language of the court') or Zabān-e Urdū ( زبان اردو , 'language of the camp'). The etymology of the word Urdu
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#1732772764293972-619: A standardised literary register of the Hindustani arose in the 19th century. While the first literary works (mostly translations of earlier works) in Sanskritised Hindustani were already written in the early 19th century as part of a literary project that included both Hindu and Muslim writers (e.g. Lallu Lal , Insha Allah Khan ), the call for a distinct Sanskritised standard of Hindustani written in Devanagari under
1053-489: A substantial number of loanwords from Persian and Arabic (via Persian). Hindustani contains around 5,500 words of Persian and Arabic origin. There are also quite a few words borrowed from English, as well as some words from other European languages such as Portuguese and Dutch . Hindustani also borrowed Persian prefixes to create new words. Persian affixes became so assimilated that they were used with original Khari Boli words as well. Historically, Hindustani
1134-533: Is a name applied to a given ethnic group . Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used by the ethnic group itself). For example, the dominant ethnic group of Germany is the Germans. The ethnonym Germans is a Latin -derived exonym used in the English language, but
1215-649: Is a genre of music formed by the fusion of traditional South Asian music and Western urban music . The growing demand of popular programming for South Asians caused MTV to launch the desi-targeted television channel MTV Desi . In the United Kingdom , desi communities have continued the fusion culture which first emerged during the 89 year rule of the British Raj in colonial India , influencing British music, art, fashion and food. There are now dedicated radio stations catering to British-South Asians such as
1296-417: Is also called Hindi–Urdu . Colloquial registers of the language fall on a spectrum between these standards. In modern times, a third variety of Hindustani with significant English influences has also appeared, which is sometimes called Hinglish or Urdish . The concept of a Hindustani language as a "unifying language" or "fusion language" that could transcend communal and religious divisions across
1377-696: Is an Indo-Aryan language , deriving its base from the Western Hindi dialect of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab ( Delhi , Meerut and Saharanpur ) known as Khariboli —the contemporary form being classed under the umbrella of Old Hindi . Although the Mughals were of Timurid ( Gurkānī ) Turco-Mongol descent, they were Persianised , and Persian had gradually become the state language of the Mughal empire after Babur . Mughal patronage led to
1458-530: Is characterized by a symmetrical ten-vowel system, where vowels are distinguished by length, with long vowels typically being tense and short vowels lax. The language also includes nasalized vowels, as well as a wide array of consonants, including aspirated and murmured sounds. Hindustani maintains a four-way phonation distinction among plosives, unlike the two-way distinction in English. Hindi–Urdu's core vocabulary has an Indic base, being derived from Prakrit , which in turn derives from Sanskrit , as well as
1539-558: Is derived from Prakrit (a descendant of Sanskrit ), with substantial loanwords from Persian and Arabic (via Persian). It is often written in the Devanagari script or the Arabic-derived Urdu script in the case of Hindi and Urdu respectively, with romanisation increasingly employed in modern times as a neutral script. As of 2023, Hindi and Urdu together constitute the 3rd-most-spoken language in
1620-477: Is generally only required for religious and literary texts. Scholars trace the language's first written poetry, in the form of Old Hindi , to the Delhi Sultanate era around the twelfth and thirteenth century. During the period of the Delhi Sultanate , which covered most of today's India, eastern Pakistan, southern Nepal and Bangladesh and which resulted in the contact of Hindu and Muslim cultures ,
1701-596: Is instead recognised by its standard forms, Hindi and Urdu. Hindi is declared by Article 343(1), Part 17 of the Indian Constitution as the "official language ( राजभाषा , rājabhāṣā ) of the Union." (In this context, "Union" means the Federal Government and not the entire country —India has 23 official languages .) At the same time, however, the definitive text of federal laws is officially
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#17327727642931782-462: Is more commonly used as a vernacular than highly Sanskritised Hindi or highly Persianised Urdu. This can be seen in the popular culture of Bollywood or, more generally, the vernacular of North Indians and Pakistanis, which generally employs a lexicon common to both Hindi and Urdu speakers. Minor subtleties in region will also affect the 'brand' of Hindustani, sometimes pushing the Hindustani closer to Urdu or to Hindi. One might reasonably assume that
1863-484: Is not the main language, in order to facilitate communication across language barriers. It is characterized by loanwords from local languages. Amir Khusro c. 1300 referred to this language of his writings as Dehlavi ( देहलवी / دہلوی , 'of Delhi') or Hindavi ( हिन्दवी / ہندوی ). During this period, Hindustani was used by Sufis in promulgating their message across the Indian subcontinent . After
1944-439: Is of Chagatai origin, Ordū ('camp'), cognate with English horde , and known in local translation as Lashkari Zabān ( لشکری زبان ), which is shortened to Lashkari ( لشکری ). This is all due to its origin as the common speech of the Mughal army. As a literary language, Urdu took shape in courtly, elite settings. Along with English, it became an official language of northern parts of British India in 1837. Hindi as
2025-519: Is primarily the language of the Upper Gangetic Doab, and is also the lingua franca of India, capable of being written in both Persian and Dēva-nāgarī characters, and without purism, avoiding alike the excessive use of either Persian or Sanskrit words when employed for literature. The name 'Urdū' can then be confined to that special variety of Hindōstānī in which Persian words are of frequent occurrence, and which hence can only be written in
2106-412: Is sometimes perceived as offensive among some South Asian expatriates, as they claim that it erases the diversity of cultural identities within the South Asian community , and that it primarily identifies the dominant North Indian community while excluding other South Asian groups. Some resist the label, citing historical Indian imperialism and cultural hegemony. They believe that terms like "Desi" impose
2187-538: Is treated with just as much respect as Shuddh Hindi. Besides being the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan in South Asia, Hindustani is also spoken by many in the South Asian diaspora and their descendants around the world, including North America (e.g., in Canada, Hindustani is one of the fastest growing languages), Europe , and the Middle East . Hindustani phonology, shared by both Hindi and Urdu,
2268-458: Is used to refer to something "from the country" and with time its usage shifted towards referring to people, cultures, and products of a specific region; for example, desi food, desi calendars, and desi dress. Desi contrasts with the Hindustani language word vilāyati (Anglicised as " Blighty ") meaning 'foreign', which more specifically came to mean 'European', and 'British; English' during
2349-530: Is widely used in professional literature to discriminate semantics of the terms. In onomastic studies, there are several terms that are related to ethnonyms, like the term ethnotoponym , that designates a specific toponym (placename) that is formed from an ethnonym. Many names of regions and countries are ethnotoponyms . Hindustani language Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in North India and Pakistan , and functioning as
2430-505: The BBC Asian Network . In Canada, desis have established sizable ethnic enclaves in areas such as Brampton , Ontario (suburban Toronto ) and Surrey, British Columbia (suburban Vancouver ). The Natya Shastra refers to the regional varieties of folk dance and music elements as desi , and states that these are meant as pure entertainment for common people, while the pan-Indian margi elements are to spiritually enlighten
2511-518: The Deccan , for instance, Hindustani blended with Telugu and came to be called Dakhani . In Dakhani, aspirated consonants were replaced with their unaspirated counterparts; for instance, dekh 'see' became dek , ghula 'dissolved' became gula , kuch 'some' became kuc , and samajh 'understand' became samaj . When the British colonised the Indian subcontinent from the late 18th through to
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2592-609: The Sanskrit and Prakrit base of Old Hindi became enriched with loanwords from Persian , evolving into the present form of Hindustani. The Hindustani vernacular became an expression of Indian national unity during the Indian Independence movement , and continues to be spoken as the common language of the people of the northern Indian subcontinent , which is reflected in the Hindustani vocabulary of Bollywood films and songs. The language's core vocabulary
2673-574: The grammar , as well as the core Sanskritic and Prakritic vocabulary , of the local Indian language of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab called Khariboli . However, as an emerging common dialect, Hindustani absorbed large numbers of Persian, Arabic, and Turkic loanwords, and as Mughal conquests grew it spread as a lingua franca across much of northern India; this was a result of the contact of Hindu and Muslim cultures in Hindustan that created
2754-453: The lingua franca of the region. It is also spoken by the Deccani people . Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers , known as Hindi (written in Devanagari script and influenced by Sanskrit ) and Urdu (written in Perso-Arabic script and influenced by Persian and Arabic ) which serve as official languages of India and Pakistan, respectively. Thus, it
2835-518: The polysemic term Montenegrins , which was originally used for the inhabitants of the geographical area of the Black Mountain ( Montenegro ), acquired an additional ethnonymic use, designating modern ethnic Montenegrins , who have their own distinct endonyms. Classical geographers frequently used topo-ethnonyms (ethnonyms formed from toponyms) as substitute for ethnonyms in general descriptions, or for unknown endonyms. Compound terminology
2916-583: The 13th-14th century works of Amīr Khusrau Dehlavī , often called the "father of Urdu literature " while Walī Deccani is seen as the progenitor of Urdu poetry . The term bazaar Hindustani , in other words, the 'street talk' or literally 'marketplace Hindustani', also known as Colloquial Hindi or Simplified Urdu , has arisen to denote a colloquial register of the language that uses vocabulary common to both Hindi and Urdu while eschewing high-register and specialized Arabic or Sanskrit derived words. It has emerged in various South Asian cities where Hindustani
2997-405: The 18th century, towards the end of the Mughal period, with the fragmentation of the empire and the elite system, a variant of Hindustani, one of the successors of apabhraṃśa vernaculars at Delhi, and nearby cities, came to gradually replace Persian as the lingua franca among the educated elite upper class particularly in northern India, though Persian still retained much of its pre-eminence for
3078-501: The Advancement of Colored People. In such contexts, ethnonyms are susceptible to the phenomenon of the euphemism treadmill . In English, ethnonyms are generally formulated through suffixation; most ethnonyms for toponyms ending in -a are formed by adding -n : Bulgaria, Bulgarian ; Estonia, Estonian . In English, in many cases, the name for the dominant language of a group is identical to their English-language ethnonym;
3159-520: The BBC Asian Network in cultural significance as well as in the number of young [South] Asian listeners, plays all the current [South] Asian hits, which allows one to browse online by artist and by genre, listing them under categories such as 'desi beats', ' Bollywood ', and 'hip hop'. Among teenagers who have ancestral roots in the Indian subcontinent, the term Desi is "embraced to elucidate
3240-551: The Constitution of India and is an official language of the Indian states of Jharkhand , Bihar , Telangana , Uttar Pradesh , West Bengal , and also the Union Territories of Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. Although the government school system in most other states emphasises Standard Hindi, at universities in cities such as Lucknow , Aligarh and Hyderabad , Urdu is spoken and learnt, and Saaf or Khaalis Urdu
3321-452: The English text and proceedings in the higher appellate courts must be conducted in English. At the state level, Hindi is one of the official languages in 10 of the 29 Indian states and three Union Territories , respectively: Bihar , Chhattisgarh , Haryana , Himachal Pradesh , Jharkhand , Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan , Uttarakhand , Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal ; Andaman and Nicobar Islands , Dadra and Nagar Haveli , and Delhi. In
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3402-505: The French speak French, the Germans speak German. This is sometimes erroneously overgeneralized; it may be assumed that people from India speak "Indian", despite there being no language in India which is called by that name. Generally, any group of people may have numerous ethnonyms, associated with the political affiliation with a state or a province, with geographical landmark, with the language, or another distinct feature. Ethnonym may be
3483-407: The Germans call themselves Deutsche , an endonym. The German people are identified by a variety of exonyms across Europe, such as Allemands ( French ), tedeschi ( Italian ), tyskar ( Swedish ) and Niemcy ( Polish ). As a sub-field of anthroponymy , the study of ethnonyms is called ethnonymy or ethnonymics. Ethnonyms should not be confused with demonyms , which designate all
3564-488: The Hindustani spoken in Lucknow , Uttar Pradesh (known for its usage of Urdu) and Varanasi (a holy city for Hindus and thus using highly Sanskritised Hindi) is somewhat different. Standard Hindi, one of the 22 officially recognized languages of India and the official language of the Union, is usually written in the indigenous Devanagari script of India and exhibits less Persian and Arabic influence than Urdu. It has
3645-560: The Latin script. This adaptation is called Roman Urdu or Romanised Hindi, depending upon the register used. Since Urdu and Hindi are mutually intelligible when spoken, Romanised Hindi and Roman Urdu (unlike Devanagari Hindi and Urdu in the Urdu alphabet) are mostly mutually intelligible as well. An example of colloquial Hindustani: The following is a sample text, Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , in
3726-600: The Persian character, and, similarly, 'Hindī' can be confined to the form of Hindōstānī in which Sanskrit words abound, and which hence can only be written in the Dēva-nāgarī character. Before 1947, Hindustani was officially recognised by the British Raj. In the post-independence period however, the term Hindustani has lost currency and is not given any official recognition by the Indian or Pakistani governments. The language
3807-671: The UK, the term 'desi' is commonly used to describe British [South] Asian forms of cultural production such as music, literature, and television programming. For example, shows such as Desi DNA , featured on the BBC and BBC Asian Network, cover all areas of current British [South] Asian popular culture such as film, music, and the visual arts, including fashion and style. Club nights that feature [South] Asian music such as bhangra and [South Asian] hip hop, as previously mentioned, are often billed as 'desi' nights. The Internet radio station DesiHits.com, rivaling
3888-973: The United Kingdom, the term Desi pub is used to describe a pub which is owned or managed by an Indian landlord, or which serves Punjabi food. They developed during the 1960s and 1970s at a time when some British pubs enforced color bars to prevent Indians and other immigrants from drinking there. Desi pubs are especially common in the Black Country and surrounding areas of the West Midlands. As well as drinking places, they also act as community hubs and meeting places for people from different backgrounds and are considered to be an example of successful integration of Indian immigrants into British culture. Ethnonym An ethnonym (from Ancient Greek ἔθνος ( éthnos ) 'nation' and ὄνομα ( ónoma ) 'name')
3969-522: The Urdu alphabet, to the extent that these standards are partly defined by their script. However, in popular publications in India, Urdu is also written in Devanagari, with slight variations to establish a Devanagari Urdu alphabet alongside the Devanagari Hindi alphabet. Because of anglicisation in South Asia and the international use of the Latin script , Hindustani is occasionally written in
4050-484: The advent of the Mughals in the subcontinent, Hindustani acquired more Persian loanwords. Rekhta ('mixture'), Hindi ('Indian'), Hindustani, Hindvi, Lahori , and Dakni (amongst others) became popular names for the same language until the 18th century. The name Urdu (from Zabān-i-Ordu , or Orda ) appeared around 1780. It is believed to have been coined by the poet Mashafi . In local literature and speech, it
4131-517: The audience. The medieval developments of the classical Indian dance and music led to the introduction of desi gharanas, in addition to the classical gharanas codified in Natya Shastra . The desi gharanas further developed into the present-day adavus . There is raga in Indian classical music known as "Desi". In regions of South Asia, desi in the context of food, implies "native" or "traditional". For example, "Desi chicken" may refer to
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#17327727642934212-470: The classical, pan-Indian margi . Thus, svadeśa (Sanskrit: स्वदेश ) refers to one's own country or homeland, while paradeśa ( Sanskrit : परदेश ) refers to another's country or a foreign land. The word Desi is widely used by South Asians , as well those of the South Asian diaspora , to describe themselves; those of South Asian origin, especially Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, use
4293-417: The diaspora necessitate recognizing multiple identities and resisting the tendency to homogenize or erase particular communities. Among non-diasporic South Asians, the term Desi is sometimes used to indicate that a person is rural, unexposed to foreign/modern culture, and more deeply steeped in native South Asian culture. The word "Desi" comes from the Sanskrit word "Desh" meaning "country". The word "Desi"
4374-509: The different meanings of the word Hindi include, among others: Urdu is the national language and state language of Pakistan and one of the 22 officially recognised languages of India . It is written, except in some parts of India, in the Nastaliq style of the Urdu alphabet , an extended Perso-Arabic script incorporating Indic phonemes. It is heavily influenced by Persian vocabulary and
4455-490: The formation of words in which the first element of the compound was from Khari Boli and the second from Persian , such as rajmahal 'palace' ( raja 'royal, king' + mahal 'house, place') and rangmahal 'fashion house' ( rang 'colour, dye' + mahal 'house, place'). As Muslim rule expanded, Hindustani speakers traveled to distant parts of India as administrators, soldiers, merchants, and artisans. As it reached new areas, Hindustani further hybridized with local languages. In
4536-466: The intensiveness of Hindi in the curriculum varies. Urdu is the national language ( قومی زبان , qaumi zabān ) of Pakistan, where it shares official language status with English . Although English is spoken by many, and Punjabi is the native language of the majority of the population, Urdu is the lingua franca . In India, Urdu is one of the languages recognised in the Eighth Schedule to
4617-429: The late 19th century, they used the words 'Hindustani', 'Hindi', and 'Urdu' interchangeably. They developed it as the language of administration of British India , further preparing it to be the official language of modern India and Pakistan. However, with independence, use of the word 'Hindustani' declined, being largely replaced by 'Hindi' and 'Urdu', or 'Hindi–Urdu' when either of those was too specific. More recently,
4698-555: The liberal use of English or Hinglish in scripts and soundtrack lyrics. Film titles are often screened in three scripts: Latin, Devanagari and occasionally Perso-Arabic. The use of Urdu or Hindi in films depends on the film's context: historical films set in the Delhi Sultanate or Mughal Empire are almost entirely in Urdu, whereas films based on Hindu mythology or ancient India make heavy use of Hindi with Sanskrit vocabulary. In recent years, boycotts have been launched against Bollywood films by Hindu nationalists partially on
4779-519: The local language. Alongside Persian, it achieved the status of a literary language in Muslim courts and was also used for literary purposes in various other settings such as Sufi , Nirgun Sant , Krishna Bhakta circles, and Rajput Hindu courts. Its majors centres of development included the Mughal courts of Delhi, Lucknow , Agra and Lahore as well as the Rajput courts of Amber and Jaipur . In
4860-527: The magnitude and importance of separate language. It is linguistic result of Muslim rule of eleventh & twelfth centuries and is spoken (except in rural Bengal ) by many Hindus in North India and by Musalman population in all parts of India." Next to English it was the official language of British Indian Empire , was commonly written in Arabic or Persian characters, and was spoken by approximately 100,000,000 people. The process of hybridization also led to
4941-508: The name of Hindi became increasingly politicised in the course of the century and gained pace around 1880 in an effort to displace Urdu's official position. John Fletcher Hurst in his book published in 1891 mentioned that the Hindustani or camp language of the Mughal Empire 's courts at Delhi was not regarded by philologists as a distinct language but only as a dialect of Hindi with admixture of Persian. He continued: "But it has all
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#17327727642935022-509: The people of a geographic territory, regardless of ethnic or linguistic divisions within its population. Numerous ethnonyms can apply to the same ethnic or racial group, with various levels of recognition, acceptance and use. The State Library of South Australia contemplated this issue when considering Library of Congress headings for literature pertaining to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people . Some 20 different ethnonyms were considered as potential Library of Congress headings, but it
5103-421: The remaining states, Hindi is not an official language. In states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka , studying Hindi is not compulsory in the state curriculum. However, an option to take the same as second or third language does exist. In many other states, studying Hindi is usually compulsory in the school curriculum as a third language (the first two languages being the state's official language and English), though
5184-448: The result that Hindustani commonly, but mistakenly, came to be seen as a "mixture" of Hindi and Urdu. Grierson , in his highly influential Linguistic Survey of India , proposed that the names Hindustani, Urdu, and Hindi be separated in use for different varieties of the Hindustani language, rather than as the overlapping synonyms they frequently were: We may now define the three main varieties of Hindōstānī as follows:—Hindōstānī
5265-540: The same and derive from a Prakritic base, and both have Persian/Arabic influence. The standardised registers Hindi and Urdu are collectively known as Hindi–Urdu . Hindustani is the lingua franca of the north and west of the Indian subcontinent , though it is understood fairly well in other regions also, especially in the urban areas. This has led it to be characterised as a continuum that ranges between Hindi and Urdu. A common vernacular sharing characteristics with Sanskritised Hindi, regional Hindi and Urdu, Hindustani
5346-467: The spoken level, Hindi and Urdu are considered registers of a single language, Hindustani or Hindi–Urdu, as they share a common grammar and core vocabulary, they differ in literary and formal vocabulary; where literary Hindi draws heavily on Sanskrit and to a lesser extent Prakrit , literary Urdu draws heavily on Persian and Arabic loanwords. The grammar and base vocabulary (most pronouns, verbs, adpositions, etc.) of both Hindi and Urdu, however, are
5427-459: The subcontinent was endorsed by Mahatma Gandhi , as it was not seen to be associated with either the Hindu or Muslim communities as was the case with Hindi and Urdu respectively, and it was also considered a simpler language for people to learn. The conversion from Hindi to Urdu (or vice versa) is generally achieved by merely transliterating between the two scripts . Translation, on the other hand,
5508-473: The subcontinent. As increasing numbers of students from the subcontinent arrived in the US and UK, their countries of origin were colloquially referred to as deś . For example, all things Indian including Indian expatriates were referred to as "desi". Frank Anthony , an Anglo-Indian Christian leader who helped write the Constitution of India stated that unlike Europe, “[colonial] India had achieved
5589-593: The term "as a means of asserting or reclaiming a sense of pride" in being South Asian, "particularly in the face of racism, discrimination, and stigmatization" of minorities in various parts of the world. With regard to usage of the word Desi , Helen Kim writes: Desiness imagines a more conhesive, pan-South Asian American community that goes beyond nation, class, and religion. Instead, a 'desi' South Asian American community comes together over its shared experiences of being positioned as non-White 'others', often cutting across differences in caste, class, religion, and gender. In
5670-560: The thirteenth century during the Delhi Sultanate period in North India, used these forms (which was the lingua franca of the period) in his writings and referred to it as Hindavi ( Persian : ھندوی , lit. 'of Hind or India '). By the end of the century, the military exploits of Alauddin Khalji , introduced the language in the Deccan region, which led to the development of its southern dialect Deccani , which
5751-535: The time of the British Raj in colonial India . The Bengali word is a loan of Indian Persian vilāyatī ( ولایاتی ), from vilāyat ( ولایت ) meaning 'Iran' and later 'Europe' or 'Britain', ultimately from Arabic wilāyah ولاية meaning 'state, province'. After the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 , the United States dramatically increased immigration from
5832-831: The two official registers of Hindustani, Hindi and Urdu. Because this is a formal legal text, differences in vocabulary are most pronounced. अनुच्छेद १ — सभी मनुष्यों को गौरव और अधिकारों के विषय में जन्मजात स्वतन्त्रता और समानता प्राप्त हैं। उन्हें बुद्धि और अन्तरात्मा की देन प्राप्त है और परस्पर उन्हें भाईचारे के भाव से बर्ताव करना चाहिए। :دفعہ ١: تمام اِنسان آزاد اور حُقوق و عِزت کے اعتبار سے برابر پَیدا ہُوئے ہَیں۔ انہیں ضمِیر اور عقل ودِیعت ہوئی ہَیں۔ اِس لئے انہیں ایک دُوسرے کے ساتھ بھائی چارے کا سُلُوک کرنا چاہئے۔ The predominant Indian film industry Bollywood , located in Mumbai , Maharashtra uses Standard Hindi, colloquial Hindustani, Bombay Hindi , Urdu , Awadhi , Rajasthani , Bhojpuri , and Braj Bhasha , along with Punjabi and with
5913-455: The word 'Hindustani' has been used for the colloquial language of Bollywood films, which are popular in both India and Pakistan and which cannot be unambiguously identified as either Hindi or Urdu. British rule over India also introduced some English words into Hindustani, with these influences increasing with the later spread of English as a world language. This has created a new variant of Hindustani known as Hinglish or Urdish . At
5994-433: The world after English and Mandarin , with 843 million native and second-language speakers, according to Ethnologue , though this includes millions who self-reported their language as 'Hindi' on the Indian census but speak a number of other Hindi languages than Hindustani. The total number of Hindi–Urdu speakers was reported to be over 300 million in 1995, making Hindustani the third- or fourth-most spoken language in
6075-556: The world. Early forms of present-day Hindustani developed from the Middle Indo-Aryan apabhraṃśa vernaculars of present-day North India in the 7th–13th centuries. Hindustani emerged as a contact language around the Ganges-Yamuna Doab ( Delhi , Meerut and Saharanpur ), a result of the increasing linguistic diversity that occurred during the Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent . Amir Khusrow , who lived in
6156-615: Was also known as the Lashkari Zabān (military language) or Lashkari . Mashafi was the first person to simply modify the name Zabān-i-Ordu to Urdu . During the British Raj , the term Hindustani was used by British officials. In 1796, John Borthwick Gilchrist published "A Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language". Upon partition , India and Pakistan established national standards that they called Hindi and Urdu, respectively, and attempted to make distinct, with
6237-519: Was historically also known as Rekhta . As Dakhini (or Deccani) where it also draws words from local languages, it survives and enjoys a rich history in the Deccan and other parts of South India , with the prestige dialect being Hyderabadi Urdu spoken in and around the capital of the Nizams and the Deccan Sultanates . Earliest forms of the language's literature may be traced back to
6318-937: Was promoted by Muslim rulers in the Deccan. The Delhi Sultanate, which comprised several Turkic and Afghan dynasties that ruled much of the subcontinent from Delhi, was succeeded by the Mughal Empire in 1526 and preceded by the Ghorid dynasty and Ghaznavid Empire before that. Ancestors of the language were known as Hindui , Hindavi , Zabān-e Hind ( transl. 'Language of India' ), Zabān-e Hindustan ( transl. 'Language of Hindustan' ), Hindustan ki boli ( transl. 'Language of Hindustan' ), Rekhta , and Hindi. Its regional dialects became known as Zabān-e Dakhani in southern India, Zabān-e Gujari ( transl. 'Language of Gujars' ) in Gujarat, and as Zabān-e Dehlavi or Urdu around Delhi. It
6399-482: Was recommended that only a fraction of them be employed for the purposes of cataloguing. Ethnonyms can change in character over time; while originally socially acceptable, they may come to be considered offensive . For instance, the term gypsy has been used to refer to the Romani . Other examples include Vandal , Bushman , Barbarian , and Philistine . The ethnonyms applied to African Americans have demonstrated
6480-508: Was stated "to the Muslims, terms like Negro and colored are labels created by white people to negate the past greatness of the black race". Four decades later, a similar difference of opinion remains. In 2006, one commentator suggested that the term Negro is outdated or offensive in many quarters; similarly, the word "colored" still appears in the name of the NAACP , or National Association for
6561-760: Was written in the Kaithi , Devanagari, and Urdu alphabets. Kaithi and Devanagari are two of the Brahmic scripts native to India, whereas the Urdu alphabet is a derivation of the Perso-Arabic script written in Nastaʿlīq , which is the preferred calligraphic style for Urdu. Today, Hindustani continues to be written in the Urdu alphabet in Pakistan. In India, the Hindi register is officially written in Devanagari, and Urdu in
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