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The number of languages is stunning. Does anyone know if the number of languages is just the officially named languages or if it includes creoles? The language I speak is a creole of two languages and doesnt have a name or writing system really, and I'm curious to know how that is counted.
The number of languages is stunning. Does anyone know if the number of languages is just the officially named languages or if it includes creoles? The language I speak is a creole of two languages and doesnt have a name or writing system really, and I'm curious to know how that is counted.
I'd consider "Mumbai Hindi" a creole. It's nominally a dialect of Hindi/Urdu but it has a lot of Marathi mixed in, among other languages.
A Creole specifically occurs when two languages (usually unrelated) suddenly mix together, usually with a _greatly_ simplified (but consistent) grammar from the parent languages. It's not just the result of heavy borrowing.
I don't believe that's happened for Mumbai Hindi.
Hindi and Urdu, by any reasonable linguistic definition are not separate languages. The official standards for both Hindi and Urdu, are both based on the form of the huge dialect continuum that spans North India and Pakistan, as spoken in Delhi. The only difference is that Urdu uses Persian and Arabic as inspiration/source for high vocabulary, whereas Hindi uses Sanskrit as a source for high vocabulary. And they use different scripts. But on the street level, the language is identical, not merely mutually intelligible.
Many of the languages traditionally clubbed by the Indian government as Hindi are much farther away from standard Hindi than Urdu.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd consider "Mumbai Hindi" a creole. It's nominally a dialect of Hindi/Urdu but it has a lot of Marathi mixed in, among other languages.
Mumbai Hindi is not a creole by any definition of linguistics. It is actually a dialect of Hindustani with Marathi and other languages mixed in. A Creole specifically occurs when two languages (usually unrelated) suddenly mix together, usually with a _greatly_ simplified (but consistent) grammar from the parent languages. It's not just the result of heavy borrowing. I don't believe that's happened for Mumbai Hindi.
It's amazing how most Indians believe that Hindi is the national language of India, when there's no such as a national language in India. There are two official languages for union government communication - Hindi and English. I've also noticed that a lot of non Indians find it funny that most Indians here in bay area companies communicate among themselves in heavily accented English instead of The Indian language.
Also called "Indian" by some non-Indians, as in: "sorry, I don't speak Indian" :)
A bit like saying "chai tea", mentioned in the recent thread about the history of tea.
It's amazing how most Indians believe that Hindi is the national language of India, when there's no such as a national language in India. There are two official languages for union government communication - Hindi and English. I've also noticed that a lot of non Indians find it funny that most Indians here in bay area companies communicate among themselves in heavily accented English instead of The Indian language.
>in heavily accented English instead of The Indian language. Also called "Indian" by some non-Indians, as in: "sorry, I don't speak Indian" :) A bit like saying "chai tea", mentioned in the recent thread about the history of tea. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20015505 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20009037
The number of languages is stunning. Does anyone know if the number of languages is just the officially named languages or if it includes creoles? The language I speak is a creole of two languages and doesnt have a name or writing system really, and I'm curious to know how that is counted.
True.
From the article:
>According to the Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. However, figures from other sources vary, primarily due to differences in definition of the terms "language" and "dialect". The 2001 Census recorded 30 languages which were spoken by more than a million native speakers and 122 which were spoken by more than 10,000 people.
When I was in high school, for instance, Hindi was one subject. Our teacher told us that there are a few major versions, like Khari Boli and Braj Bhasha and maybe Awadhi was another one (don't remember). For example, we read poetry of Tulsidas and Surdas, which were, IIRC, composed in one of the first two languages, each. Good poetry, BTW.
Tulsidas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsidas
Yes, Awadhi was one:
Awadhi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awadhi_language
Surdas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surdas
Braj Bhasa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braj_Bhasa
It's amazing how most Indians believe that Hindi is the national language of India, when there's no such as a national language in India. There are two official languages for union government communication - Hindi and English. I've also noticed that a lot of non Indians find it funny that most Indians here in bay area companies communicate among themselves in heavily accented English instead of The Indian language.
I don't live in the Bay area but when I meet another Indian abroad, I still initiate conversation with them in English because it's not fair to assume that they'd speak the languages that I speak.
It's a miracle that India manages to function as one country.