View source for Social:Hindi

{{Short description|Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2023}}

{{Infobox language
| name             = Hindi
| altname          = Modern Standard Hindi
| nativename       = <!--In Devanagari-->{{lang|hi|{{Script|Deva|हिन्दी}}}} • <!--Romanization-->{{transliteration|hi|ISO|Hindī}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA-hi|ˈɦɪndiː|}}
| states           = {{wipe|India}}
| ethnicity        = Indian
| region           = Western Uttar Pradesh, [[Place:Delhi|Delhi]]
| speakers_label   = Total speakers
| speakers         = [[Social:First language|L1]]: {{sigfig|344.650870|2}} million speakers of Hindi and various related languages who reported their language as 'Hindi' <!--The figures for Hindi in the Census of India are self-reported, not independently confirmed. Perhaps 100 million speakers of closely related languages like Haryanvi, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Braj Bhasha, Chhattisgarhi, Garhwali, which do not have a separate literary tradition, consider their language to be "Hindi", whereas another 200 million report themselves as speaking one of those languages rather than Hindi. Since the census is unable to determine who is who, all of these languages are lumped together as the group "6 HINDI", with 528M speakers in the published census results.-->
| date             = 2011 census
| speakers2        = L2: {{sigfig|264.803900|2}} million (2020)<ref>{{e26|hin}}</ref>
| ref = <ref>{{cite web |title=Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength - 2011 |url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/Language-2011/Statement-1.pdf |publisher=Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India |date=29 June 2018}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Social:Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3             = [[Social:Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]
| fam4             = [[Social:Central Indo-Aryan languages|Central]]
| fam5             = Western Hindi languages<ref name=ELL2/>
| fam6             = [[Social:Hindustani language|Hindustani]]<ref name=ELL2>{{ELL2|Hindustani}}</ref>
| ancestor         = [[Social:Shauraseni Prakrit|Shauraseni Prakrit]]
| ancestor2        = [[Social:Shauraseni Prakrit|Shauraseni]] [[Social:Apabhraṃśa|Apabhraṃśa]]
| ancestor3        = [[Social:Old Hindi|Old Hindi]]
| ancestor4        = [[Social:Hindustani language|Hindustani]]
| ancestor5        = [[Social:Kauravi dialect|Kauravi]]
| script           = {{unbulleted list
|Devanagari (official)
|[[Social:Kaithi|Kaithi]] (historical)
|[[Social:Mahajani|Mahajani]] (historical)
|Laṇḍā (historical)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gangopadhyay|first=Avik|title=Glimpses of Indian Languages|publisher=Evincepub publishing|year=2020|isbn=9789390197828|pages=43}}</ref>
|Latin (Hinglish, unofficial<ref name="Palakodety">{{Citation |last1=Palakodety |first1=Shriphani |title=Low Resource Machine Translation |date=2021 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5625-5_5 |work=Low Resource Social Media Text Mining |pages=7–9 |place=Singapore |publisher=Springer Singapore |isbn=978-981-16-5624-8 |access-date=24 September 2022 |last2=KhudaBukhsh |first2=Ashiqur R. |last3=Jayachandran |first3=Guha|series=SpringerBriefs in Computer Science |doi=10.1007/978-981-16-5625-5_5 |s2cid=244313560 }}</ref>)
|Devanagari Braille
}}
| nation           = {{flagcountry|India}}<!-- This parameter is for the places where it is the official language. -->{{efn|In the Constitution as one of the official languages of the Union, and by some states as official languages, including Bihar,<ref name="Bihar_official_language">{{cite web|url=http://csd.bih.nic.in/Act&rule/Act1english.pdf|title=The Bihar Official Language Act, 1950|date=1950|website=Cabinet Secretariat Department, Government of Bihar|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413072041/http://csd.bih.nic.in/Act%26rule/Act1english.pdf|archive-date=13 April 2015|access-date=9 April 2015}}</ref><ref name="Hindi_as_official_language">–{{cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/how-languagesintersect-in-india/story-g3nzNwFppYV7XvCumRzlYL.html|title=How languages intersect in India|publisher=Hindustan Times|date=22 November 2018}}<br />–{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/static/iframes/language_probability_interactive/index.html|title=How many Indians can you talk to?|website=www.hindustantimes.com|access-date=22 December 2019}}<br />–{{cite web|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/perspective/hindi-and-north-south-divide-696931.html|title=Hindi and the North-South divide|date=9 October 2018}}<br />–{{Cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2018/07/indias-evolving-linguistic-landscape/|title=India's Evolving Linguistic Landscape|first=Akhilesh|last=Pillalamarri|website=thediplomat.com|access-date=22 December 2019}}</ref> Chhattisgarh,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/12800/1/the_chhattisgarh_official_language_act%2c_1957_no._5_of_1958%2c_date_24.01.1958.pdf |title=The Chhattisgarh Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2007 |publisher=indiacode.nic.in |year=2008 |access-date=25 December 2022 }}</ref><ref name="Hindi_as_official_language" /> Haryana,<ref name="Haryana_official_language">{{cite web |url=http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf |title=Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 50th report (July 2012 to June 2013) |publisher=Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India |access-date=4 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708012438/http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf |archive-date=8 July 2016 |url-status=dead| page = 11}}</ref><ref name="Hindi_as_official_language" /> Jharkhand,<ref name="Jharkhand_official_language">{{cite web |url = http://www.nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM52ndReport.pdf |title = Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 52nd report (July 2014 to June 2015) |pages = 43–44 |publisher = Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India |access-date = 16 February 2016 |df = dmy-all |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161115133948/http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM52ndReport.pdf |archive-date = 15 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="Hindi_as_official_language" /> Madhya Pradesh,<ref name="Madhya_Pradesh_official_language">{{cite web |url=http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM47thReport.pdf |title=Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 47th report (July 2008 to June 2010) |pages=122–126 |publisher=Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India |access-date=16 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513161847/http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM47thReport.pdf |archive-date=13 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Hindi_as_official_language" /> Rajasthan,<ref name="Rajasthan_official_language">{{cite web |url = http://www.nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM52ndReport.pdf |title = Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 52nd report (July 2014 to June 2015) |pages = 34–35 |publisher = Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India |access-date = 16 February 2016 |df = dmy-all |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171228171523/http://www.nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM52ndReport.pdf |archive-date = 28 December 2017}}</ref><ref name="Hindi_as_official_language" /> Uttar Pradesh,<ref name="Uttar_Pradesh_official_language">{{cite web |url = http://www.nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM52ndReport.pdf |title = Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 52nd report (July 2014 to June 2015) |pages = 49–53 |publisher = Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India |access-date = 16 February 2016 |df = dmy-all |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161115133948/http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM52ndReport.pdf |archive-date = 15 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="Hindi_as_official_language" /> Himachal Pradesh,<ref name="Himachal_Pradesh_official_language">{{cite web |url = http://www.nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM52ndReport.pdf |title = Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 52nd report (July 2014 to June 2015) |pages = 33–34 |publisher = Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India |access-date = 16 February 2016 |df = dmy-all |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171228171523/http://www.nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM52ndReport.pdf |archive-date = 28 December 2017}}</ref><ref name="Hindi_as_official_language" /> Uttarakhand<ref name="Hindi_as_official_language" />}}
| minority         = {{flagcountry|South Africa}}{{efn|As protected language}}<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|title=Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 – Chapter 1: Founding Provisions|url=http://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/chapter-1-founding-provisions|website=www.gov.za|access-date=6 December 2014}}</ref><br />{{flagcountry|United Arab Emirates}}{{efn|As third official court language}}<ref name="thehindu.com">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/abu-dhabi-includes-hindi-as-third-official-court-language/article26229023.ece|title=Abu Dhabi includes Hindi as third official court language|newspaper=The Hindu|date=10 February 2019|via=www.thehindu.com}}</ref>
| agency           = [[Organization:Central Hindi Directorate|Central Hindi Directorate]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hindinideshalaya.nic.in/english/aboutus/aboutus.html |title=Central Hindi Directorate: Introduction |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504043836/http://hindinideshalaya.nic.in/english/aboutus/aboutus.html |archive-date=4 May 2012 |access-date=18 February 2014 }}</ref>
| dia1             = See [[Social:Central Indo-Aryan languages|Hindi languages]]
| iso1             = hi
| iso2             = hin
| iso3             = hin
| linglist         = hin-hin
| lingua           = 59-AAF-qf
| image            = Hindi.svg
| imagescale       = 1.2
| imagecaption     = The word "Hindi" in Devanagari script
| map              = Hindi 2011 Indian Census by district.svg
| mapcaption       = Distribution of L1 self-reported speakers of Hindi in India as per the 2011 Census
| notice           = Indic
| sign             = Signed Hindi
| glotto           = hind1269
| glottorefname    = Hindi
}}
'''Modern Standard Hindi''' (Hindi: {{lang|hi|{{Script|Deva|आधुनिक मानक हिन्दी}}}}, {{transliteration|hi|ISO|Ādhunik Mānak Hindī}}),<ref>Singh, Rajendra, and Rama Kant Agnihotri. Hindi morphology: A word-based description. Vol. 9. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1997.</ref> commonly referred to as '''Hindi''' (Hindi: {{lang|hi|{{Script|Deva|हिन्दी}}}},{{efn|Also written as {{lang|hi|हिंदी}}}} {{transliteration|hi|ISO|Hindī}}), is an [[Social:Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan language]] spoken chiefly in North India, and serves as the ''lingua franca'' of the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been described as a [[Social:Standard language|standardised]] and [[Social:Sanskrit#Influence on other languages|Sanskritised]] [[Social:Register (sociolinguistics)|register]]<ref name="Constitution of India">{{cite web |title=The Constitution of India |url=http://lawmin.nic.in/olwing/coi/coi-english/coi-indexenglish.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402064301/http://lawmin.nic.in/olwing/coi/coi-english/coi-indexenglish.htm |archive-date=2 April 2012 |access-date=21 March 2012 |website=lawmin.nic.in}}</ref> of the [[Social:Hindustani language|Hindustani language]], which itself is based primarily on the [[Social:Old Hindi|Khariboli]] dialect of [[Place:Delhi|Delhi]] and neighbouring areas of North India.<ref name="NCSU-Hindustani">{{Cite web|url = http://sasw.chass.ncsu.edu/fl/faculty/taj/hindi/abturdu.htm|title = About Hindi-Urdu|publisher = [[Organization:North Carolina State University|North Carolina State University]]|access-date = 9 August 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090815023328/http://sasw.chass.ncsu.edu/fl/faculty/taj/hindi/abturdu.htm|archive-date = 15 August 2009|df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Basu2017">{{cite book |last1=Basu |first1=Manisha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E7gtDQAAQBAJ |title=The Rhetoric of Hindutva |date=2017 |publisher={{wipe|Cambridge University Press}} |isbn=978-1-107-14987-8 |language=en |quote=Urdu, like Hindi, was a standardized register of the Hindustani language deriving from the Delhi dialect and emerged in the eighteenth century under the rule of the late Mughals.}}</ref><ref name="PeterDass2019">{{cite book |last1=Peter-Dass |first1=Rakesh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hxmvDwAAQBAJ |title=Hindi Christian Literature in Contemporary India |date=2019 |publisher=[[Company:Routledge|Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-00-070224-8 |language=en |quote=Two forms of the same language, Nagarai Hindi and Persianized Hindi (Urdu) had identical grammar, shared common words and roots, and employed different scripts.}}</ref> Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, is one of the two official languages of the Government of India, along with English.<ref name="rajbhasha.nic.in">{{cite web|url=http://rajbhasha.nic.in/en/constitutional-provisions|title=Constitutional Provisions: Official Language Related Part-17 of The Constitution Of India|publisher=Department of Official Language, Government of India|access-date=15 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113064233/http://rajbhasha.nic.in/en/constitutional-provisions|archive-date=13 January 2017}}</ref> It is an official language in nine states and three union territories and an additional official language in three other states.<ref name="fulllangdatacensus 2011">{{cite web |last=Kawoosa |first=Vijdan Mohammad |date=22 November 2018 |title=How languages intersect in India |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/how-languagesintersect-in-india/story-g3nzNwFppYV7XvCumRzlYL.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221015014438/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/how-languagesintersect-in-india/story-g3nzNwFppYV7XvCumRzlYL.html |archive-date=15 October 2022 |publisher=Hindustan Times}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=How many Indians can you talk to? |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/static/iframes/language_probability_interactive/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216113014/https://www.hindustantimes.com/static/iframes/language_probability_interactive/index.html |archive-date=16 December 2019 |access-date=22 December 2019 |website=Hindustan Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Saravanan |first=Depak |date=9 October 2018 |title=Hindi and the North-South divide |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/perspective/hindi-and-north-south-divide-696931.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123052133/https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/perspective/hindi-and-north-south-divide-696931.html |archive-date=23 November 2022 |website=Deccan Herald}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Pillalamarri |first=Akhilesh |title=India's Evolving Linguistic Landscape |url=https://thediplomat.com/2018/07/indias-evolving-linguistic-landscape/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601181209/https://thediplomat.com/2018/07/indias-evolving-linguistic-landscape/ |archive-date=1 June 2019 |access-date=22 December 2019 |website=The Diplomat}}</ref> Hindi is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India.<ref>{{cite web |title=PART A Languages specified in the Eighth Schedule (Scheduled Languages) |url=http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029190612/http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.htm |archive-date=29 October 2013 |website=Census of India}}</ref>

Hindi is the ''lingua franca'' of the Hindi Belt. It is also spoken, to a lesser extent, in other parts of India (usually in a simplified or pidginised variety such as Bazaar Hindustani or Haflong Hindi).<ref name="fulllangdatacensus 2011"/><ref name=":0" /> Outside India, several other languages are recognised officially as "Hindi" but do not refer to the Standard Hindi language described here and instead descend from other nearby languages, such as Awadhi language and Bhojpuri language. Such languages include Fiji Hindi, which has an official status in Fiji,<ref>{{cite web |date=14 September 2018 |title=How Hindi travelled to these five countries from India |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/research/hindi-diwas-2018-hindi-travelled-to-these-five-countries-from-india/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229020952/https://indianexpress.com/article/research/hindi-diwas-2018-hindi-travelled-to-these-five-countries-from-india/ |archive-date=29 December 2022 |website=The Indian Express}}</ref> and [[Social:Caribbean Hindustani|Caribbean Hindustani]], which is spoken in Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=Sequence of events with reference to official language of the Union |url=http://rajbhasha.nic.in/IIContent.aspx?t=enevents8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110802071514/http://rajbhasha.nic.in/IIContent.aspx?t=enevents |archive-date=2 August 2011 |website=Department of Official Language}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=रिपब्लिक ऑफ फीजी का संविधान (Constitution of the Republic of Fiji, the Hindi version) |url=http://www.fiji.gov.fj/getattachment/5912a2ce-0260-4df5-98b9-955360cd3aad/Click-here-to-download-the-Fiji-Constitution-(Hind.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101180254/http://www.fiji.gov.fj/getattachment/5912a2ce-0260-4df5-98b9-955360cd3aad/Click-here-to-download-the-Fiji-Constitution-(Hind.aspx |archive-date=1 November 2013 |website=Fiji Government}}</ref><ref name="uniw">{{cite web|url=http://uwispace.sta.uwi.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2139/41235/Caribbean%20Heritage%20Ferreira%202012.pdf?sequence=1|title=Caribbean Languages and Caribbean Linguistics|format=PDF|access-date=16 July 2016|publisher=University of the West Indies Press|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220080555/http://uwispace.sta.uwi.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2139/41235/Caribbean%20Heritage%20Ferreira%202012.pdf?sequence=1|archive-date=20 December 2016}}</ref><ref name="Mau">{{cite journal|title=The cultural significance of Hindi in Mauritius|date=8 May 2007|author=Richard K. Barz|journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies|doi=10.1080/00856408008722995|volume=3|pages=1–13}}</ref> Apart from the script and formal vocabulary, standard Hindi is [[Social:Mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]] with standard [[Social:Urdu|Urdu]], another recognised register of Hindustani as both share a common colloquial base.<ref name="GubeGao2019">{{cite book |last1=Gube |first1=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkWHDwAAQBAJ |title=Education, Ethnicity and Equity in the Multilingual Asian Context |last2=Gao |first2=Fang |date=2019 |publisher=[[Company:Springer Publishing|Springer Publishing]] |isbn=978-981-13-3125-1 |language=en |quote=The national language of India and Pakistan 'Standard Urdu' is mutually intelligible with 'Standard Hindi' because both languages share the same Indic base and are all but indistinguishable in phonology and grammar (Lust et al. 2000).}}</ref>

Hindi is the fourth most-spoken first language in the world, after Mandarin, Spanish and English.<ref name="Nationalencyklopedin">Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in ''[[Nationalencyklopedin]]''. Asterisks mark the [http://www.ne.se/spr%C3%A5k/v%C3%A4rldens-100-st%C3%B6rsta-spr%C3%A5k-2010 2010 estimates] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111051518/http://www.ne.se/spr%C3%A5k/v%C3%A4rldens-100-st%C3%B6rsta-spr%C3%A5k-2010 |date=11 November 2012 }} for the top dozen languages.</ref> If counted together with the mutually intelligible Urdu, it is the third most-spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and English.<ref name="Gambhir1995">{{cite book |last1=Gambhir |first1=Vijay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mB7TQc_OpdcC |title=The Teaching and Acquisition of South Asian Languages |date=1995 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3328-5 |language=en |quote=The position of Hindi-Urdu among the languages of the world is anomalous. The number of its proficient speakers, over three hundred million, places it in third of fourth place after Mandarin, English, and perhaps Spanish.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/language-linguistics-and-literary-terms/language-and-linguistics/hindustani|title=Hindustani|publisher=Columbia University Press|via=encyclopedia.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729004822/http://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/language-linguistics-and-literary-terms/language-and-linguistics/hindustani|archive-date=29 July 2017}}</ref> According to reports of ''Ethnologue'' (2022, 25th edition) Hindi is the third most-spoken language in the world including first and second language speakers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What are the top 200 most spoken languages? |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/insights/ethnologue200/ |access-date=31 March 2023 |website=Ethnologue (Free All) |language=en}}</ref>

Hindi is the fastest growing language of India, followed by [[Social:Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]] in the second place, with [[Social:Meitei language|Meitei]] (officially called Manipuri) as well as [[Social:Gujarati language|Gujarati]], in the third place, and [[Social:Bengali language|Bengali]] in the fourth place, according to the 2011 census of India.<ref>—{{Cite news |last=R |first=Aishwaryaa |date=6 June 2019 |title=What census data reveals about use of Indian languages |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/india/what-census-data-reveals-about-use-of-indian-languages-738340.html |work=Deccan Herald |access-date=16 November 2023}}<br />—{{Cite news |last=Pallapothu |first=Sravan |date=28 June 2018 |title=Hindi Added 100Mn Speakers In A Decade; Kashmiri 2nd Fast Growing Language |url=https://www.indiaspend.com/hindi-added-100mn-speakers-in-a-decade-kashmiri-2nd-fast-growing-language-93096/ |website=Indiaspend.com |access-date=16 November 2023}}<br />—{{Cite news |last=IndiaSpend |date=2 July 2018 |title=Hindi fastest growing language in India, finds 100 million new speakers |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/hindi-fastest-growing-language-in-india-finds-100-million-new-speakers-118070200029_1.html |work=Business Standard |access-date=16 November 2023}}<br />—{{cite magazine |last1=Mishra |first1=Mayank |last2=Aggarwal |first2=Piyush |date=11 April 2022 |title=Hindi grew rapidly in non-Hindi states even without official mandate |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/diu/story/hindi-grows-in-non-hindi-states-without-official-mandate-1936196-2022-04-11 |magazine=India Today |access-date=16 November 2023}}</ref>

==Terminology==
The term ''Hindī'' originally was used to refer to inhabitants of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It was borrowed from [[Social:Persian language#Classical Persian|Classical Persian]]  {{lang|fa|هندی}} ''Hindī'' (Iranian Persian pronunciation: ''Hendi''), meaning "of or belonging to ''Hind'' (India)" (hence, "Indian").<ref>{{cite book|last1=Steingass|first1=Francis Joseph|title=A comprehensive Persian-English dictionary|date=1892|publisher=Routledge & K. Paul|location=London|page=1514|url=http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.7:1:6823.steingass|access-date=13 February 2018|archive-date=21 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621060529/http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.7:1:6823.steingass|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Another name ''Hindavī'' ({{lang|hi|हिन्दवी}}) or ''Hinduī'' ({{lang|hi|हिन्दुई}}) (from {{lang-fa|هندوی}} "of or belonging to the Hindu/Indian people") was often used in the past, for example by Amir Khusrau in his poetry.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Khan|first1=Rajak|title=Indo-Persian Literature and Amir Khusro|url=http://vle.du.ac.in/mod/book/print.php?id=11660|publisher=Delhi University|access-date=17 February 2018}}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yexgmTQIYhUC|title=In the Bazaar of Love: The Selected Poetry of Amir Khusrau|first=Paul E.|last=Losensky|date=15 July 2013|publisher=Penguin UK|via=Google Books|isbn=9788184755220}}</ref>

The terms ''"Hindi"'' and ''"Hindu"'' trace back to Old Persian which derived these names from the [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]] name ''Sindhu'' ({{lang|sa|सिन्धु}}), referring to the Indus River. The Greek cognates of the same terms are "''Indus''" (for the river) and "''India''" (for the land of the river).<ref name="Bose2006">{{cite book|author=Mihir Bose|title=The Magic of Indian Cricket: Cricket and Society in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gyAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|date=18 April 2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-24924-4|pages=1–3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/india|title=India|publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref>

The term ''Modern Standard Hindi'' is commonly used to specifically refer the modern literary Hindi language, as opposed to colloquial and regional varieties that are also referred to as ''Hindi'' in a wider sense.<ref name="kachru"/>

==History==

===Middle Indo-Aryan to Hindi===
Like other Indo-Aryan languages, Hindi is a direct descendant of an early form of [[Social:Vedic Sanskrit|Vedic Sanskrit]], through [[Social:Shauraseni Prakrit|Shauraseni Prakrit]] and [[Social:Apabhraṃśa|Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa]] (from Sanskrit ''apabhraṃśa'' "corrupt"), which emerged in the 7th century CE.<ref name="de">{{cite web|url=http://hindinideshalaya.nic.in/english/hindi_orgin/briefhistory.html|work=Central Hindi Directorate|title=Brief History of Hindi|access-date=21 March 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306085510/http://hindinideshalaya.nic.in/english/hindi_orgin/briefhistory.html|archive-date=6 March 2014}}</ref>

The sound changes that characterised the transition from Middle Indo-Aryan to Hindi are:<ref>Masica, pp. 187–211</ref>
* Compensatory lengthening of vowels preceding geminate consonants, sometimes with spontaneous nasalisation: Skt. ''hasta'' "hand" > Pkt. ''hattha'' > ''hāth''
* Loss of all word-final vowels: ''rātri'' "night" > ''rattī'' > ''rāt''
* Formation of nasalised long vowels from nasal consonants (-VNC- > -V̄̃C-): ''bandha'' "bond" > ''bā̃dh''
* Loss of unaccented or unstressed short vowels (reflected in schwa deletion): ''susthira'' "firm" > ''sutthira'' > ''suthrā''
* Collapsing of adjacent vowels (including separated by a hiatus: ''apara'' "other" > ''avara'' > ''aur''
* Final ''-m'' to ''-ṽ'': ''grāma'' "village" > ''gāma'' > ''gāṽ''
* Intervocalic ''-ḍ-'' to ''-ṛ-'' or ''-l-'': ''taḍāga'' "pond" > ''talāv'', ''naḍa'' "reed" > ''nal''.
* ''v'' > ''b'': ''vivāha'' "marriage" > ''byāh''

===Hindustani===
During the period of [[History:Delhi Sultanate|Delhi Sultanate]], which covered most of today's north India, eastern Pakistan, southern Nepal and Bangladesh<ref>Chapman, Graham. "Religious vs. regional determinism: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as inheritors of empire." Shared space: Divided space. Essays on conflict and territorial organization (1990): 106–134.</ref> and which resulted in the contact of Hindu and Muslim cultures, the [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]] and [[Social:Prakrit|Prakrit]] base of Old Hindi became enriched with loanwords from [[Social:Persian language|Persian]], evolving into the present form of Hindustani.<ref name="Rekhta2020">{{cite web |title=Women of the Indian Sub-Continent: Makings of a Culture – Rekhta Foundation |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/women-of-the-indian-sub-continent-makings-of-a-culture-rekhta-foundation/dwJy7qboNi3fIg?hl=en |publisher=Google Arts & Culture |access-date=25 February 2020 |language=en |quote=The "Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb" is one such instance of the composite culture that marks various regions of the country.  Prevalent in the North, particularly in the central plains, it is born of the union between the Hindu and Muslim cultures. Most of the temples were lined along the Ganges and the Khanqah (Sufi school of thought) were situated along the Yamuna river (also called Jamuna). Thus, it came to be known as the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, with the word "tehzeeb" meaning culture. More than communal harmony, its most beautiful by-product was "Hindustani" which later gave us the Hindi and Urdu languages.}}</ref><ref name="MatthewsShackleHusain1985">{{cite book |last1=Matthews |first1=David John |last2=Shackle |first2=C. |last3=Husain |first3=Shahanara |title=Urdu literature |date=1985 |publisher=Urdu Markaz; Third World Foundation for Social and Economic Studies |isbn=978-0-907962-30-4 |language=en |quote=But with the establishment of Muslim rule in Delhi, it was the Old Hindi of this area which came to form the major partner with Persian. This variety of Hindi is called Khari Boli, 'the upright speech'.}}</ref><ref name="Dhulipala2000">{{cite book |last1=Dhulipala |first1=Venkat |title=The Politics of Secularism: Medieval Indian Historiography and the Sufis |date=2000 |publisher=[[Organization:University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin–Madison]] |page=27 |language=en |quote=Persian became the court language, and many Persian words crept into popular usage. The composite culture of northern India, known as the Ganga Jamuni tehzeeb was a product of the interaction between Hindu society and Islam.}}</ref><ref name="IJSW1943">{{cite book |title=Indian Journal of Social Work, Volume 4 |date=1943 |publisher=Tata Institute of Social Sciences |page=264 |language=en |quote=... more words of Sanskrit origin but 75% of the vocabulary is common. It is also admitted that while this language is known as Hindustani, ... Muslims call it Urdu and the Hindus call it Hindi. ... Urdu is a national language evolved through years of Hindu and Muslim cultural contact and, as stated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, is essentially an Indian language and has no place outside.}}</ref><ref name="Mody2008">{{cite book |last1=Mody |first1=Sujata Sudhakar |title=Literature, Language, and Nation Formation: The Story of a Modern Hindi Journal 1900–1920 |date=2008 |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |page=7 |language=en |quote=...Hindustani, Rekhta, and Urdu as later names of the old Hindi (a.k.a. Hindavi).}}</ref><ref name="Kesavan1997">{{cite book |last1=Kesavan |first1=B. S. |title=History Of Printing And Publishing In India |date=1997 |publisher=National Book Trust, India |isbn=978-81-237-2120-0 |page=31 |language=en |quote=It might be useful to recall here that Old Hindi or Hindavi, which was a naturally Persian- mixed language in the largest measure, has played this role before, as we have seen, for five or six centuries.}}</ref> The Hindustani vernacular became an expression of Indian national unity during the Indian Independence movement,<ref name="Hock1991">{{cite book |author1=Hans Henrich Hock |title=Principles of Historical Linguistics |date=1991 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-012962-5 |page=475 |language=en |quote=During the time of British rule, Hindi (in its religiously neutral, 'Hindustani' variety) increasingly came to be the symbol of national unity over against the English of the foreign oppressor. And Hindustani was learned widely throughout India, even in Bengal and the Dravidian south. ... Independence had been accompanied by the division of former British India into two countries, Pakistan and India. The former had been established as a Muslim state and had made Urdu, the Muslim variety of Hindi–Urdu or Hindustani, its national language.|author1-link=Hans Henrich Hock }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3RSHWePhXwC&q=masica|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|last=Masica|first=Colin P.|date=1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-29944-2|pages=430 (Appendix I)|language=en|quote=Hindustani - term referring to common colloquial base of HINDI and URDU and to its function as lingua franca over much of India, much in vogue during Independence movement as expression of national unity; after Partition in 1947 and subsequent linguistic polarization it fell into disfavor; census of 1951 registered an enormous decline (86–98 per cent) in no. of persons declaring it their mother tongue (the majority of HINDI speakers and many URDU speakers had done so in previous censuses); trend continued in subsequent censuses: only 11,053 returned it in 1971...mostly from S India; [see Khubchandani 1983: 90–1].}}</ref> and continues to be spoken as the common language of the people of the northern Indian subcontinent,<ref name="Ashmore1961">{{cite book |last1=Ashmore |first1=Harry S. |title=Encyclopaedia Britannica: a new survey of universal knowledge, Volume 11 |date=1961 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |page=579 |language=en |quote=The everyday speech of well over 50,000,000 persons of all communities in the north of India and in West Pakistan is the expression of a common language, Hindustani.}}</ref> which is reflected in the Hindustani vocabulary of Bollywood films and songs.<ref name="Tunstall2008">{{cite book |last1=Tunstall |first1=Jeremy |title=The media were American: U.S. mass media in decline |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-518146-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mediawereamerica0000tuns/page/160 160] |language=en |quote=The Hindi film industry used the most popular street level version of Hindi, namely Hindustani, which included a lot of Urdu and Persian words. |url=https://archive.org/details/mediawereamerica0000tuns/page/160 }}</ref><ref name="Hiro2015">{{cite book |last1=Hiro |first1=Dilip |title=The Longest August: The Unflinching Rivalry Between India and Pakistan |date=2015 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=978-1-56858-503-1 |page=398 |language=en|quote=Spoken Hindi is akin to spoken Urdu, and that language is often called Hindustani. Bollywood's screenplays are written in Hindustani.}}</ref>

Standard Hindi is based on the Delhi dialect,<ref name="de"/> the vernacular of [[Place:Delhi|Delhi]] and the surrounding region, which came to replace earlier prestige languages such as Awadhi and Braj. It has come out from the extraction of [[Social:Persian language|Persian]] and [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]] words from [[Social:Kauravi dialect|Khariboli]]. Earliest examples could be found as ''Prēm Sāgar'' by Lallu Lal, ''Batiyāl Pachīsī'' of Sadal Misra and ''Rānī Kētakī Kī Kahānī'' of Insha Allah Khan which were published in Devanagari script during early of the 19th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=RAHMAN |first=TARIQ |title=From Hindi to Urdu A Social and Political History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |location=Karachi, Pakistan. |pages=41 |language=en}}</ref>

Major Hindustani writers continued to refer to their tongue as '''Hindi''' or '''Hindavi''' till the early of 19th century.<ref>{{cite web
 | title       = A Historical Perspective of Urdu National Council for Promotion of …
 | url         = https://www.urducouncil.nic.in/council/historical-perspective-urdu
 | date        = 15 October 2022
| archiveurl  = https://archive.today/20221015162121/https://www.urducouncil.nic.in/council/historical-perspective-urdu
 | archivedate = 15 October 2022 }}</ref>

As Mirza Galib says in his Qādir Nāma written in Nastaliq script:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Read full qadir nama by Mirza Ghalib |url=https://www.rekhta.org/qadir_nama/qaadir-naama-e-gaalib-mirza-ghalib-qadir-nama |access-date=16 August 2023 |website=Rekhta |language=en}}</ref>

{{Verse translation|नेवला रासू है और ताऊस मोर,
कब्क को '''हिन्दी''' में कहते हैं चकोर|''Nevla'' is rasu (mongoose) and ''Taus'' is mor (peacock),
''Kabk'' is uttered as Chakor (Ptarmigan) in '''Hindi'''}}

John Gilchrist was principally known for his study of the [[Social:Hindustani language|Hindustani language]], which was adopted as the lingua franca of northern India (including what is now present-day {{wipe|Pakistan}}) by British colonists and indigenous people. He compiled and authored ''An English-Hindustani Dictionary'', ''A Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language'', ''The Oriental Linguist'', and many more. His [[Social:Lexicon|lexicon]] of Hindustani was published in the Perso-Arabic script, Nāgarī script, and in [[Social:Romanization|Roman transliteration]].In the late 19th century, a movement to further develop Hindi as a standardised form of Hindustani separate from Urdu took form.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SylBHS8IJAUC|title=Language, Religion and Politics in North India|author=Paul R. Brass|publisher=iUniverse, Incorporated|isbn=9780595343942|year=2005}}</ref> In 1881, Bihar accepted Hindi as its sole official language, replacing Urdu, and thus became the first state of India to adopt Hindi.<ref>Parthasarathy, Kumar, p.120</ref> However, in 2014, Urdu was accorded second official language status in the state.<ref>{{cite web
 | title       = Bihar: The language tussle – Indiascope News – Issue Date: Jul 31, 19…
 | url         = https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19800731-decision-to-make-urdu-second-official-language-in-bihar-provokes-furore-from-maithil-brahmins-821314-2014-01-17
 | date        = 16 June 2022
| archiveurl  = https://archive.today/20220616083954/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19800731-decision-to-make-urdu-second-official-language-in-bihar-provokes-furore-from-maithil-brahmins-821314-2014-01-17
 | archivedate = 16 June 2022 }}</ref>

===Independent India===
After independence, the Government of India instituted the following conventions:{{Original research inline|date=August 2011}}
* Standardisation of grammar: In 1954, the Government of India set up a committee to prepare a grammar of Hindi; The committee's report was released in 1958 as ''A Basic Grammar of Modern Hindi''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Central Hindi Directorate |url=http://archive.org/details/page1-converted-compressed |title=A Basic Grammar of Modern Hindi |date=2011}}</ref>
* Standardisation of the orthography, using the Devanagari script, by the Central Hindi Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Culture to bring about uniformity in writing, to improve the shape of some Devanagari characters, and introducing diacritics to express sounds from other languages.

On 14 September 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi written in the Devanagari script as the official language of the Republic of India replacing Urdu's previous usage in the British Indian Empire.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ieMgAAAAQBAJ|title=Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations|last=Clyne|first=Michael|date=24 May 2012|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110888140|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QuEmDAAAQBAJ|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution|last1=Choudhry|first1=Sujit|last2=Khosla|first2=Madhav|last3=Mehta|first3=Pratap Bhanu|date=12 May 2016|publisher=[[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780191058615|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjab0000grew|url-access=registration|title=The Sikhs of the Punjab|last=Grewal|first=J. S.|date=8 October 1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521637640|language=en}}</ref> To this end, several stalwarts rallied and lobbied pan-India in favour of Hindi, most notably Beohar Rajendra Simha along with Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Seth Govind Das who even debated in Parliament on this issue. As such, on the 50th birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha on 14 September 1949, the efforts came to fruition following the adoption of Hindi as the official language.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.patrika.com/news/jabalpur/know-hindi-had-the-status-of-national-language-1398330|title=हिन्दी दिवस विशेष: इनके प्रयास से मिला था हिन्दी को राजभाषा का दर्जा|date=8 September 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911204803/https://www.patrika.com/news/jabalpur/know-hindi-had-the-status-of-national-language-1398330/|archive-date=11 September 2017}}</ref> Now, it is celebrated as Hindi Day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/research/hindi-diwas-celebration-how-it-all-began/|work=The Indian Express|title=Hindi Diwas celebration: How it all began|date=14 September 2016|access-date=7 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208134226/http://indianexpress.com/article/research/hindi-diwas-celebration-how-it-all-began/|archive-date=8 February 2017}}</ref>

==Official status==

===India===
Part XVII of the Indian Constitution deals with the official language of the Indian Commonwealth. Under Article 343, the official languages of the Union have been prescribed, which includes Hindi in Devanagari script and English:

<blockquote>(1) The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals.<ref name="auto" /><br />
(2) Notwithstanding anything in clause (1), for a period of fifteen years from the commencement of this Constitution, the English language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used immediately before such commencement: Provided that the President may, during the said period, by order authorise the use of the Hindi language in addition to the English language and of the Devanagari form of numerals in addition to the international form of Indian numerals for any of the official purposes of the Union.<ref name="NIC2008">{{cite web|url=http://lawmin.nic.in/coi/coiason29july08.pdf |title=The Constitution of India |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140909230437/http://lawmin.nic.in/coi/coiason29july08.pdf |archive-date=9 September 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref></blockquote>

Article 351 of the Indian constitution states:

<blockquote>It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.</blockquote>

It was envisioned that Hindi would become the sole working language of the Union Government by 1965 (per directives in Article 344 (2) and Article 351),<ref name=eighthschedule>{{cite web|url=http://india.gov.in/govt/documents/hindi/PARTXVII.pdf |title=Rajbhasha |publisher=india.gov.in |language=hi, en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131084820/http://www.india.gov.in/govt/documents/hindi/PARTXVII.pdf |archive-date=31 January 2012 }}</ref> with state governments being free to function in the language of their own choice. However, widespread resistance to the imposition of Hindi on non-native speakers, especially in South India (such as those in Tamil Nadu) led to the passage of the Official Languages Act of 1963, which provided for the continued use of English indefinitely for all official purposes, although the constitutional directive for the Union Government to encourage the spread of Hindi was retained and has strongly influenced its policies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rajbhasha.nic.in/en/official-languages-act-1963|title=The Official Languages Act, 1963 (as Amended, 1967) (Act No. 19 of 1963)|website=Department of Official Language|access-date=9 June 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216142842/http://www.rajbhasha.nic.in/en/official-languages-act-1963|archive-date=16 December 2016}}</ref>

Article 344 (2b)  stipulates that the official language commission shall be constituted every ten years to recommend steps for progressive use of Hindi language and imposing restrictions on the use of the English language by the union government. In practice, the official language commissions are constantly endeavouring to promote Hindi but not imposing restrictions on English in official use by the union government.

At the state level, Hindi is the official language of the following Indian states: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.<ref name="langoff">{{cite web|url=http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf |title=Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 50th report (July 2012 to June 2013) |publisher=Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India |access-date=26 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708012438/http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf |archive-date= 8 July 2016}}</ref> Hindi is an official language of Gujarat, along with [[Social:Gujarati language|Gujarati]].<ref name="Benedikter2009">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vpZv2GHM7VQC&pg=PA89|title=Language Policy and Linguistic Minorities in India: An Appraisal of the Linguistic Rights of Minorities in India|last=Benedikter|first=Thomas|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|year=2009|isbn=978-3-643-10231-7|page=89|access-date=13 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425230812/https://books.google.com/books?id=vpZv2GHM7VQC&pg=PA89|archive-date=25 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> It acts as an additional official language of West Bengal in blocks and sub-divisions with more than 10% of the population speaking Hindi.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Roy|first1=Anirban|title=West Bengal to have six more languages for official use |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/east/story/west-bengal-mamata-banerjee-recognizes-six-non-bengali-languages-134507-2011-05-27 |access-date=10 January 2020 |work=India Today |date=27 May 2011 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Indiatoday:1>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/pti-feed/story/kamtapuri-rajbanshi-make-it-to-list-of-official-languages-in-1179890-2018-02-28 |title=Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi make it to list of official languages in |last=Roy |first=Anirban |date=28 February 2018 |magazine=India Today |access-date=16 March 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330143710/https://www.indiatoday.in/pti-feed/story/kamtapuri-rajbanshi-make-it-to-list-of-official-languages-in-1179890-2018-02-28 |archive-date=30 March 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/hindi-the-first-choice-of-people-in-only-12-states/article27459774.ece|title=Hindi the first choice of people in only 12 States|newspaper=The Hindu|date=4 June 2019|last1=Sen|first1=Sumant}}</ref> Similarly, Hindi is accorded the status of official language in the following Union Territories:  [[Place:Delhi|Delhi]], Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

Although there is no specification of a national language in the constitution, it is a widely held belief that Hindi is the national language of India. This is often a source of friction and contentious debate.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Choudhury |first1=Sushmita |last2=Sharma |first2=Rajesh |date=15 September 2021 |title=70 years on, India is still fighting over a national language |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/70-years-on-india-is-still-fighting-over-a-national-language/articleshow/86196740.cms |access-date=19 March 2022 |work=The Times of India}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Swaddle |first=The |date=12 June 2021 |title=Hindi Isn't India's National Language. Why Does the Myth Continue? |url=https://theswaddle.com/hindi-isnt-indias-national-language-why-does-the-myth-continue/ |access-date=19 March 2022 |website=The Swaddle |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/why-hindi-isnt-the-national-language-6733241.html|title=Why Hindi isn't the national language|date=31 May 2019 |work=Firstpost |access-date=19 March 2022}}</ref> In 2010, the Gujarat High Court clarified that Hindi is not the national language of India because the constitution does not mention it as such.<ref name="National TOI">{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Theres-no-national-language-in-India-Gujarat-High-Court/articleshow/5496231.cms|title=There's no national language in India: Gujarat High Court|last=Khan|first=Saeed|date=25 January 2010|location=Ahmedabad|access-date=5 May 2014|newspaper=The Times of India|publisher=The Times Group|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318040319/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Theres-no-national-language-in-India-Gujarat-High-Court/articleshow/5496231.cms|archive-date=18 March 2014}}</ref><ref name="National PTI">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/hindi-not-a-national-language-court/article94695.ece|title=Hindi, not a national language: Court|date=25 January 2010|work=The Hindu|location=Ahmedabad|publisher=Press Trust of India|access-date=23 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704084339/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/hindi-not-a-national-language-court/article94695.ece|archive-date=4 July 2014}}</ref> In 2021, in a Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case involving Gangam Sudhir Kumar Reddy, the Bombay High Court claimed Hindi is the national language while refusing Reddy bail, after he argued against his statutory rights being read in Hindi, despite being a native Telugu speaker. Reddy has filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court, challenging the Bombay High Court's observation, and contended that it failed to appreciate that Hindi is not the national language in India.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hakim |first=Sharmeen |date=19 February 2022 |title=Bombay High Court Judge Calls Hindi 'National Language' While Rejecting Bail, Accused In Narcotics Case Files SLP In SC |url=https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/supreme-court-slp-bombay-high-court-judge-hindi-national-language-ndps-case-192350 |access-date=19 March 2022 |website=www.livelaw.in |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=20 February 2022 |title=Bombay HC calls Hindi 'national language' while denying man bail, he moves SC |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/bombay-hc-calls-hindi-national-language-while-denying-man-bail-he-moves-sc-161173 |access-date=19 March 2022 |website=The News Minute |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=20 February 2022 |title=Hindi national language, says HC as it rejects bail petition in NDPS case |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/hindi-national-language-says-hc-as-it-rejects-bail-petition-in-ndps-case-101645312220277.html |access-date=19 March 2022 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref> 

In 2018, The Supreme Court has stayed a judgment of Madhya Pradesh High Court that held that the Hindi version of enactment will prevail if there is a variation in its Hindi version and English version. The prominence thus attached to English over Hindi in the judgement underlines the social significance  of English over Hindi.<ref>{{cite web |last1=kini |first1=Ashok |title=If There Is A Variation In Hindi And English Version Of An Enactment, Which Will Prevail: SC To Examine |url=https://www.livelaw.in/if-there-is-a-variation-in-hindi-and-english-version-of-an-enactment-which-will-prevail-sc-to-examine-read-order/?infinitescroll=1 |website=Live Law |date=31 July 2018 |access-date=17 December 2022}}</ref>

===Fiji===
Outside [[Earth:Asia|Asia]], the Awadhi language (an Eastern Hindi dialect) with influence from Bhojpuri, Bihari languages, Fijian and [[Social:English language|English]] is spoken in Fiji.<ref name="ethnologue.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/hif/|title=Hindi, Fiji|work=[[Social:Ethnologue|Ethnologue]]|access-date=17 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211075826/http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/hif/|archive-date=11 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/fijihindi.htm|title=Fiji Hindi alphabet, pronunciation and language|website=www.omniglot.com|access-date=22 June 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608100818/http://www.omniglot.com/writing/fijihindi.htm|archive-date=8 June 2017}}</ref> It is an official language in Fiji as per the 1997 Constitution of Fiji,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/fj00000_.html |title=Section 4 of Fiji Constitution |publisher=servat.unibe.ch |access-date=3 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090609110318/http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/fj00000_.html |archive-date=9 June 2009 }}</ref> where it referred to it as "Hindustani"; however, in the 2013 Constitution of Fiji, it is simply called "Fiji Hindi" as the official language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiji.gov.fj/govt--publications/constitution.aspx|title=Constitution of Fiji|work=Official site of the Fijian Government|access-date=14 October 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011085543/http://www.fiji.gov.fj/govt--publications/constitution.aspx|archive-date=11 October 2016}}</ref> It is spoken by 380,000 people in Fiji.<ref name="ethnologue.com"/>

===Nepal===
Hindi is spoken as a first language by about 77,569 people in Nepal according to the 2011 Nepal census, and further by 1,225,950 people as a second language.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nepal.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Population%20Monograph%20V02.pdf |title=Population Monograph of Nepal, Vol. 2 |year=2014 |place=Kathmandu |publisher=Central Bureau of Statistics |access-date=29 March 2020}}</ref> A Hindi proponent, Indian-born Paramananda Jha, was elected vice-president of Nepal. He took his oath of office in Hindi in July 2008. This created protests in the streets for 5 days; students burnt his effigies; there was general strike in 22 districts. Nepal Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that his oath in Hindi was invalid and he was kept "inactive" as vice-president. An "angry" Jha said, "I cannot be compelled to take the oath now in Nepali. I might rather take it in English."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nalankilli |first1=Thanjai |title=Hindi in Nepal – An Analysis |url=http://www.tamiltribune.com/11/0901.html |website=Tamiltribune.com |access-date=17 December 2022 |archive-date=18 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318051111/http://www.tamiltribune.com/11/0901.html |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

===South Africa===
Hindi is a protected language in {{wipe|South Africa}}. According to the Constitution of South Africa, the Pan South African Language Board must promote and ensure respect for Hindi along with other languages.<ref name="auto1"/> According to a doctoral dissertation by Rajend Mesthrie in 1985, although Hindi and other Indian languages have existed in South Africa for the last 125 years, there are no academic studies of any of them – of their use in South Africa, their evolution and current decline.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Mesthrie |first1=Rajend |title=A history of the Bhojpuri (or "Hindi") language in South Africa |url=https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/19511 |website=University of Cape Town |year=1985 |access-date=17 December 2022|type=Doctoral Thesis }}</ref>

===United Arab Emirates===
Hindi is adopted as the third official court language in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.{{efn|(third official court language)}}<ref name="thehindu.com"/> As a result of this status, the Indian workforce in UAE can file their complaints to the labour courts in the country in their own mother-tongue.<ref>{{cite news |title=UAE introduces Hindi as third official language |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/uae-introduces-hindi-as-third-official-language-119021200048_1.html |newspaper=Business Standard India |date=12 February 2019 |access-date=17 December 2022}}</ref>

==Geographical distribution==
Hindi is the lingua franca of northern India (which contains the Hindi Belt), as well as an official language of the Government of India, along with English.<ref name="NIC2008"/>

In Northeast India a pidgin known as Haflong Hindi has developed as a ''lingua franca'' for the people living in Haflong, Assam who speak other languages natively.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Kothari|editor1-first=Ria|title=Chutnefying English: The Phenomenon of Hinglish|date=2011|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=9780143416395|page=128}}</ref> In Arunachal Pradesh, Hindi emerged as a lingua franca among locals who speak over 50 dialects natively.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://scroll.in/article/675419/how-hindi-became-the-language-of-choice-in-arunachal-pradesh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161211120138/http://scroll.in/article/675419/how-hindi-became-the-language-of-choice-in-arunachal-pradesh|url-status=dead|title=How Hindi became the language of choice in Arunachal Pradesh|first=Abhimanyu|last=Chandra|archive-date=11 December 2016|website=Scroll.in}}</ref>

Hindi is quite easy to understand for many {{wipe|Pakistan}}is, who speak Urdu, which, like Hindi, is a standard register of the Hindustani language; additionally, Indian media are widely viewed in Pakistan.<ref name="Gandapur2012">{{cite news |last1=Gandapur |first1=Khalid Amir Khan |title=Has Hindi become our national language? |url=https://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/13807/has-hindi-become-our-national-language |newspaper=The Express Tribune |access-date=24 January 2020 |language=en |date=19 September 2012 |archive-date=31 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731213305/https://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/13807/has-hindi-become-our-national-language/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A sizeable population in Afghanistan, especially in [[Place:Kabul|Kabul]], can also speak and understand Hindi-Urdu due to the popularity and influence of Bollywood films, songs and actors in the region.<ref name="Hakala2012">{{cite magazine|url=http://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/file/asia_8.pdf|title=Languages as a Key to Understanding Afghanistan's Cultures|last=Hakala|first=Walter N.|year=2012|magazine=National Geographic|language=en|access-date=13 March 2018|quote=In the 1980s and '90s, at least three million Afghans—mostly Pashtun—fled to Pakistan, where a substantial number spent several years being exposed to Hindi- and Urdu-language media, especially Bollywood films and songs, and being educated in Urdu-language schools, both of which contributed to the decline of Dari, even among urban Pashtuns.}}</ref><ref name="Krishnamurthy2013">{{cite web|url=http://www.gatewayhouse.in/kabul-diary-discovering-the-indian-connection/|title=Kabul Diary: Discovering the Indian connection|last=Krishnamurthy|first=Rajeshwari|date=28 June 2013|publisher=Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations|language=en|access-date=13 March 2018|quote=Most Afghans in Kabul understand and/or speak Hindi, thanks to the popularity of Indian cinema in the country.}}</ref>

Hindi is also spoken by a large population of Madheshis (people having roots in north-India but having migrated to Nepal over hundreds of years) of Nepal. Apart from this, Hindi is spoken by the large Indian diaspora which hails from, or has its origin from the "Hindi Belt" of India. A substantially large North Indian diaspora lives in countries like the {{wipe|United States of America}}, the United Kingdom, the [[Place:United Arab Emirates|United Arab Emirates]], Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, South Africa, Fiji and [[Earth:Mauritius|Mauritius]], where it is natively spoken at home and among their own Hindustani-speaking communities. Outside India, Hindi speakers are 8&nbsp;million in Nepal; 863,077 in the {{wipe|United States}};<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/hindi-most-spoken-indian-language-in-us-telugu-speakers-up-86-in-8-years/articleshow/65893224.cms|title=Hindi most spoken Indian language in US, Telugu speakers up 86% in 8 years |website=The Times of India|date=21 September 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/us|title=United States- Languages|work=Ethnologue|access-date=17 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211075837/https://www.ethnologue.com/country/us|archive-date=11 February 2017}}</ref> 450,170 in Mauritius; 380,000 in Fiji;<ref name="ethnologue.com"/> 250,292 in South Africa; 150,000 in Suriname;<ref name="bookcitation">Frawley, p. 481</ref> 100,000 in Uganda; 45,800 in the United Kingdom;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/GB|title=United Kingdom- Languages|work=Ethnologue|access-date=17 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201044623/https://www.ethnologue.com/country/GB|archive-date=1 February 2017}}</ref> 20,000 in [[Earth:New Zealand|New Zealand]]; 20,000 in {{wipe|Germany}}; 26,000 in Trinidad and Tobago;<ref name="bookcitation"/> 3,000 in [[Place:Singapore|Singapore]].

== Comparison with Standard Urdu ==
[[Social:Linguistics|Linguistically]], Hindi and Urdu are two registers of the same language and are mutually intelligible.<ref name="Daniyal2016">{{cite web|url=http://scroll.in/article/809102/the-death-of-urdu-in-india-is-greatly-exaggerated-the-language-is-actually-thriving|title=Hindi and Urdu are classified as literary registers of the same language|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602104222/http://scroll.in/article/809102/the-death-of-urdu-in-india-is-greatly-exaggerated-the-language-is-actually-thriving|archive-date=2 June 2016|access-date=1 June 2016}}</ref> Both Hindi and Urdu share a core vocabulary of native Prakrit and Sanskrit-derived words.<ref name="GubeGao2019"/><ref name="Kuiper2010">{{cite book |last1=Kuiper |first1=Kathleen |title=The Culture of India |date=2010 |publisher=Rosen Publishing |isbn=978-1-61530-149-2 |language=en |quote=Urdu is closely related to Hindi, a language that originated and developed in the Indian subcontinent. They share the same Indic base and are so similar in phonology and grammar that they appear to be one language.}}</ref><ref name="ChatterjiSiṃhaPadikkal1997">{{cite book |last1=Chatterji |first1=Suniti Kumar |last2=Siṃha |first2=Udaẏa Nārāẏana |last3=Padikkal |first3=Shivarama |title=Suniti Kumar Chatterji: a centenary tribute |date=1997 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |isbn=978-81-260-0353-2 |language=en |quote=High Hindi written in Devanagari, having identical grammar with Urdu, employing the native Hindi or Hindustani (Prakrit) elements to the fullest, but for words of high culture, going to Sanskrit. Hindustani proper that represents the basic Khari Boli with vocabulary holding a balance between Urdu and High Hindi.}}</ref> However, Hindi is written in the Devanagari script and contains more [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]-derived words than Urdu, whereas Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script and uses more Arabic and Persian loanwords compared to Hindi.<ref name="JainCardona2007">{{cite book |last1=Jain |first1=Danesh |last2=Cardona |first2=George |title=The Indo-Aryan Languages |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-79711-9 |language=en |quote=The primary sources of non-IA loans into MSH are Arabic, Persian, Portuguese, Turkic and English. Conversational registers of Hindi/Urdu (not to mentioned formal registers of Urdu) employ large numbers of Persian and Arabic loanwords, although in Sanskritized registers many of these words are replaced by ''tatsama'' forms from Sanskrit. The Persian and Arabic lexical elements in Hindi result from the effects of centuries of Islamic administrative rule over much of north India in the centuries before the establishment of British rule in India. Although it is conventional to differentiate among Persian and Arabic loan elements into Hindi/Urdu, in practice it is often difficult to separate these strands from one another. The Arabic (and also Turkic) lexemes borrowed into Hindi frequently were mediated through Persian, as a result of which a thorough intertwining of Persian and Arabic elements took place, as manifest by such phenomena as hybrid compounds and compound words. Moreover, although the dominant trajectory of lexical borrowing was from Arabic into Persian, and thence into Hindi/Urdu, examples can be found of words that in origin are actually Persian loanwords into both Arabic and Hindi/Urdu.}}</ref> Because of this, as well as the fact that the two registers share an identical grammar,<ref name="PeterDass2019"/><ref name="GubeGao2019"/><ref name="Kuiper2010"/> a consensus of linguists consider them to be two standardised forms of the same language, [[Social:Hindustani language|Hindustani]] or Hindi-Urdu.<ref name="Daniyal2016"/><ref name="PeterDass2019"/><ref name="GubeGao2019"/><ref name="Basu2017"/> Hindi is the most commonly used scheduled language in India and is one of the two official languages of the union,<ref>{{cite web |title=THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE POLICY OF THE UNION |url=https://rajbhasha.nic.in/en/official-language-policy-union |website=Department of Official Language - Governemtn of India |access-date=7 November 2023}}</ref> the other being English. Urdu is the national language and ''lingua franca'' of {{wipe|Pakistan}} and is one of 22 scheduled languages of India, also having official status in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, [[Place:Delhi|Delhi]], Telangana,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://m.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/amp/list-of-official-languages-of-indian-states-and-union-territories-1624022980-1 |title=List of Official Languages of Indian States and Union Territories |first=Arfa |last=Javaid |orig-date=18 June 2021 |date=23 June 2021 |website=jagranjosh.com}}</ref> Andhra Pradesh<ref>{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=23 March 2022 |title=Bill recognising Urdu as second official language passed |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/bill-recognising-urdu-as-second-official-languagepassed/article65252966.ece |access-date=4 March 2023 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> and Bihar.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ahmed |first1=Farzand |title=Decision to make Urdu second official language in Bihar provokes furore from Maithil Brahmins |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19800731-decision-to-make-urdu-second-official-language-in-bihar-provokes-furore-from-maithil-brahmins-821314-2014-01-17 |website=India Today |access-date=17 December 2022}}</ref>

==Script==
Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, an abugida. Devanagari consists of 11 vowels and 33 consonants and is written from left to right. Unlike Sanskrit, Devanagari is not entirely phonetic for Hindi, especially failing to mark [[Social:Schwa deletion in Indo-Aryan languages|schwa deletion]] in spoken Standard Hindi.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bhatia|first1=Tej K.|title=A History of the Hindi Grammatical Tradition: Hindi-Hindustani Grammar, Grammarians, History and Problems|date=1987|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004079243}}</ref>

===Romanization===
{{main|Social:Devanagari transliteration}}
The Government of India uses [[Social:Hunterian transliteration|Hunterian transliteration]] as its official system of writing Hindi in the Latin script. Various other systems also exist, such as IAST, [[Social:ITRANS|ITRANS]] and [[ISO 15919]].

Romanized Hindi, also called Hinglish, is the dominant form of Hindi online. In an analysis of [[Company:YouTube|YouTube]] comments, Palakodety et al., identified that 52% of comments were in Romanized Hindi, 46% in English, and 1% in Devanagari Hindi.<ref name="Palakodety">{{Citation |last1=Palakodety |first1=Shriphani |title=Low Resource Machine Translation |date=2021 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5625-5_5 |work=Low Resource Social Media Text Mining |pages=7–9 |place=Singapore |publisher=Springer Singapore |isbn=978-981-16-5624-8 |access-date=24 September 2022 |last2=KhudaBukhsh |first2=Ashiqur R. |last3=Jayachandran |first3=Guha|series=SpringerBriefs in Computer Science |doi=10.1007/978-981-16-5625-5_5 |s2cid=244313560 }}</ref>

== Phonology ==

==Vocabulary==
Traditionally, Hindi words are divided into five principal categories according to their etymology:

* '''[[Social:Tatsama|Tatsam]]''' ({{lang|hi|तत्सम}} {{Translation|"same as that"}}) words: These are words which are spelled the same in Hindi as in Sanskrit (except for the absence of final case inflections).<ref name="sirysq">Masica, p. 65</ref> They include words inherited from Sanskrit via [[Social:Prakrit|Prakrit]] which have survived without modification (e.g. Hindi {{lang|hi|नाम}} ''nām'' / Sanskrit {{lang|sa|नाम}} ''nāma'', "name",<ref>Masica, p. 66</ref> as well as forms borrowed directly from Sanskrit in more modern times (e.g. {{lang|hi|प्रार्थना}} ''prārthanā'', "prayer").<ref>Masica, p. 67</ref> Pronunciation, however, conforms to Hindi norms and may differ from that of classical Sanskrit. Amongst nouns, the ''tatsam'' word could be the Sanskrit non-inflected word-stem, or it could be the nominative singular form in the Sanskrit nominal declension.
* '''Ardhatatsam''' ({{lang|hi|अर्धतत्सम}} {{Translation|"semi-tatsama"}}) words: Such words are typically earlier loanwords from Sanskrit which have undergone sound changes subsequent to being borrowed. (e.g. Hindi {{lang|hi|सूरज}} ''sūraj'' from Sanskrit {{lang|sa|सूर्य}} ''sūrya'')
* '''[[Social:Tadbhava|Tadbhav]]''' ({{lang|hi|तद्भव}} {{Translation|"born of that"}}) words: These are native Hindi words derived from Sanskrit after undergoing phonological rules (e.g. Sanskrit {{lang|sa|कर्म}} ''karma'', "deed" becomes [[Social:Shauraseni Prakrit|Shauraseni Prakrit]] {{lang|psu-Deva|कम्म}} ''kamma'', and eventually Hindi {{lang|hi|काम}} ''kām'', "work") and are spelled differently from Sanskrit.<ref name = "sirysq"/>
* '''Deshaj''' ({{lang|hi|देशज}} {{Translation|"of the country"}}) words: These are words that were not borrowings but do not derive from attested Indo-Aryan words either. Belonging to this category are onomatopoetic words or ones borrowed from local non-[[Social:Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan languages]].
* '''Videshī''' ({{lang|hi|विदेशी}} {{Translation|"foreign"}}) words: These include all loanwords from non-indigenous languages. The most frequent source languages in this category are [[Social:Persian language|Persian]], [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]], [[Social:English language|English]] and [[Social:Portuguese language|Portuguese]]. Examples are {{lang|hi|क़िला}} ''qila'' "fort" from Persian, {{lang|hi|कमेटी}} ''kameṭī'' from English ''committee''.

Hindi also makes extensive use of loan translation (calqueing) and occasionally [[Social:Phono-semantic matching|phono-semantic matching]] of [[Social:English language|English]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Arnold|first1=David|last2=Robb|first2=Peter|title=Institutions and Ideologies: A SOAS South Asia Reader|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136102349|page=79|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tN0rBgAAQBAJ}}</ref>

===Prakrit===
Hindi has naturally inherited a large portion of its vocabulary from [[Social:Shauraseni Prakrit|Shauraseni Prakrit]], in the form of ''tadbhava'' words. This process usually involves compensatory lengthening of vowels preceding consonant clusters in Prakrit, e.g. Sanskrit ''tīkṣṇa'' > Prakrit ''tikkha'' > Hindi ''tīkhā''.

===Sanskrit===
Much of Standard Hindi's vocabulary is borrowed from Sanskrit as ''tatsam'' borrowings, especially in technical and academic fields. The formal Hindi standard, from which much of the Persian, Arabic and English vocabulary has been replaced by neologisms compounding ''tatsam'' words, is called ''Śuddh Hindi'' (pure Hindi), and is viewed as a more prestigious dialect over other more colloquial forms of Hindi.

Excessive use of ''tatsam'' words sometimes creates problems for native speakers. They may have Sanskrit consonant clusters which do not exist in Hindustani, causing difficulties in pronunciation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ohala|first1=Manjari|title=Aspects of Hindi Phonology|date=1983|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|isbn=9780895816702|page=38}}</ref>

As a part of the process of Sanskritization, new words are coined using Sanskrit components to be used as replacements for supposedly foreign vocabulary. Usually these neologisms are [[Social:Calque|calque]]s of English words already adopted into spoken Hindi. Some terms such as ''dūrbhāṣ'' "telephone", literally "far-speech" and ''dūrdarśan'' "television", literally "far-sight" have even gained some currency in formal Hindi in the place of the English borrowings ''(ṭeli)fon'' and ''ṭīvī''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Arnold|first1=David|last2=Robb|first2=Peter|title=Institutions and Ideologies: A SOAS South Asia Reader|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136102349|page=82}}</ref>

===Persian===
Hindi also features significant [[Social:Persian language|Persian]] influence, standardised from spoken [[Social:Hindustani language|Hindustani]].<ref name="JainCardona2007"/><ref name="kachru">{{cite book|last1=Kachru|first1=Yamuna|title=Hindi|date=2006|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=9789027238122}}</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2016}} Early borrowings, beginning in the mid-12th century, were specific to [[Religion:Islam|Islam]] (e.g. ''Muhammad'', ''Islām'') and so Persian was simply an intermediary for Arabic. Later, under the [[History:Delhi Sultanate|Delhi Sultanate]] and Mughal Empire, Persian became the primary administrative language in the Hindi heartland. Persian borrowings reached a heyday in the 17th century, pervading all aspects of life. Even grammatical constructs, namely the izafat, were assimilated into Hindi.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bhatia|first1=Tej K.|last2=Ritchie|first2=William C.|title=The Handbook of Bilingualism|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookbilingua00bhat_489|url-access=limited|date=2006|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|isbn=9780631227359|page=[https://archive.org/details/handbookbilingua00bhat_489/page/n797 789]}}</ref>

The status of Persian language then and thus its influence, is also visible in Hindi [[Social:Proverb|proverb]]s:

{{Verse transliteration-translation
|lang=hi
|हाथ कंगन को आरसी क्या,
पढ़े लिखे को फ़ारसी क्या।
|Hāth kaṅgan ko ārsī kyā,
Paṛhe likhe ko Fārsī kyā.
|What is mirror to a hand with bangles,
What is Persian to a literate.
}}

The emergence of Modern Standard Hindi in the 19th century went along with the Sanskritisation of its vocabulary,<ref>King, Christopher R. (1994). ''One Language, Two Scripts: The Hindi Movement in Nineteenth Century North India''. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.</ref> leading to a marginalisation of Persian vocabulary in Hindi, which continued after Partition when the Indian government co-opted the policy of Sanskritisation. However, many Persian words (e.g. ''bas'' "enough", ''khud'' "self") have remained entrenched in Standard Hindi, and a larger amount are still used in Urdu poetry written in the Devanagari script. Many words borrowed from Persian in turn were loanwords from Arabic (e.g. ''muśkil'' "difficult", ''havā'' "air", ''x(a)yāl'' "thought", ''kitāb'' "book").

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Loanwords from Persian derived from Arabic<ref>{{cite web |last1=Khalife |first1=Leyal |date=25 December 2016 |title=9 Hindi words that sound just like Arabic |url=https://stepfeed.com/9-hindi-words-that-sound-just-like-arabic-6921 |access-date=16 December 2022 |website=Stepfeed.com}}</ref>{{bcn|date=December 2023}}
|-
! Perso-Arabic word !! Hindi word !! Gloss
|-
| {{lang|ar|وقت}} {{transliteration|ar|waqt}} || {{lang|hi|वक़्त}} {{transliteration|hi|vaqt}} || time
|-
| {{lang|ar|قميص}} {{transliteration|ar|qamīṣ}} || {{lang|hi|क़मीज़}} {{transliteration|hi|qamīz}} || shirt
|-
| {{lang|ar|كتاب}}<!--Use Arabic, not Urdu characters--> {{transliteration|ar|kitāb}} || {{lang|hi|किताब}} {{transliteration|hi|kitāb}} || book
|-
| {{lang|ar|نصيب}} {{transliteration|ar|naṣīb}} || {{lang|hi|नसीब}} {{transliteration|hi|nasīb}} || destiny
|-
| {{lang|ar|كرسي}}<!--Use Arabic, not Urdu characters--> {{transliteration|ar|kursiyy}} || {{lang|hi|कुर्सी}} {{transliteration|hi|kursī}} || chair
|-
| {{lang|ar|حساب}} {{transliteration|ar|ḥisāb}} || {{lang|hi|हिसाब}} {{transliteration|hi|hisāb}} || calculation
|-
| {{lang|ar|قانون}} {{transliteration|ar|qānūn}} || {{lang|hi|क़ानून}} {{transliteration|hi|qānūn}} || law
|-
| {{lang|ar|خبر}} {{transliteration|ar|ḵabar}} || {{lang|hi|ख़बर}} {{transliteration|hi|xabar}} || news
|-
| {{lang|ar|دنيا}} {{transliteration|ar|dunyā}} || {{lang|hi|दुनिया}} {{transliteration|hi|duniyā}} || world
|}

*क़ानून ultimately comes from the Greek κανών (kanōn).
*क़मीज़ ultimately comes from the Latin "camisia" pronunciation reinforced by Portuguese "camisa".

===Portuguese===
Many Hindustani words were derived from Portuguese due to interaction with colonists and missionaries:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Hindi !! Meaning !! Portuguese
|-
| ''anānās'' (अनानास) || pineapple || ananás
|-
| ''pādrī'' (पाद्री) || priest || padre
|-
| ''bālṭī'' (बाल्टी) || bucket || balde
|-
| ''čābī'' (चाबी) || key || chave
|-
| ''girjā'' (गिर्जा) || church || igreja
|-
| ''almārī'' (अलमारी) || cupboard || armário
|-
| ''botal'' (बोतल) || bottle || botelha
|-
| ''aspatāl'' (अस्पताल) || hospital || Hospital
|-
| ''olandez'' (ओलंदेज़) || Dutch || holandês
|-
|}

==Media==

===Literature===
Hindi literature is broadly divided into four prominent forms or styles, being ''[[Philosophy:Bhakti|Bhakti]]'' (devotional – Kabir, Raskhan); ''Śṛṇgār'' (beauty – Keshav, Bihari); ''Vīgāthā'' (epic); and ''Ādhunik'' (modern).

Medieval Hindi literature is marked by the influence of Bhakti movement and the composition of long, epic poems. It was primarily written in other varieties of Hindi, particularly Avadhi and Braj Bhasha, but to a degree also in Delhavi, the basis for Standard Hindi. During the [[History:British Raj|British Raj]], Hindustani became the prestige dialect.

''Chandrakanta'', written by Devaki Nandan Khatri in 1888, is considered the first authentic work of prose in modern Hindi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scroll.in/article/756105/stop-outraging-over-marathi-hindi-and-english-chauvinism-is-much-worse-in-india|title=Stop outraging over Marathi – Hindi and English chauvinism is much worse in India|date=18 September 2015 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919230723/http://scroll.in/article/756105/stop-outraging-over-marathi-hindi-and-english-chauvinism-is-much-worse-in-india|archive-date=19 September 2015}}</ref> The person who brought realism in Hindi prose literature was Munshi Premchand, who is considered the most revered figure in the world of Hindi fiction and progressive movement. Literary, or ''Sāhityik'', Hindi was popularised by the writings of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Bhartendu Harishchandra and others. The rising numbers of newspapers and magazines made Hindustani popular with educated people.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

The ''Dvivedī Yug'' ("Age of Dwivedi") in Hindi literature lasted from 1900 to 1918. It is named after Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, who played a major role in establishing Standard Hindi in poetry and broadening the acceptable subjects of Hindi poetry from the traditional ones of religion and romantic love.

In the 20th century, Hindi literature saw a romantic upsurge. This is known as ''Chāyāvād'' (''shadow-ism'') and the literary figures belonging to this school are known as ''Chāyāvādī''. Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Mahadevi Varma and Sumitranandan Pant, are the four major ''Chāyāvādī'' poets.

''Uttar Ādhunik'' is the post-modernist period of Hindi literature, marked by a questioning of early trends that copied the West as well as the excessive ornamentation of the ''Chāyāvādī'' movement, and by a return to simple language and natural themes.

===Internet===
Hindi literature, [[Physics:Music|music]], and film have all been disseminated via the internet. In 2015, Google reported a 94% increase in Hindi-content consumption year-on-year, adding that 21% of users in India prefer content in Hindi.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hindi content consumption on internet growing at 94%: Google|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/hindi-content-consumption-on-internet-growing-at-94-google/articleshow/48528347.cms|access-date=14 February 2018|agency=The Economic Times|date=18 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215085102/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/hindi-content-consumption-on-internet-growing-at-94-google/articleshow/48528347.cms|archive-date=15 February 2018}}</ref> Many Hindi [[Biology:Newspaper|newspaper]]s also offer digital editions.

==Sample text==
The following is a sample text in High Hindi, of Article 1 of the [[Philosophy:Universal Declaration of Human Rights|Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] (by the United Nations):
;Hindi in Devanagari Script
:
:{{Lang-hi|अनुच्छेद १(एक): सभी मनुष्य जन्म से स्वतन्त्र तथा मर्यादा और अधिकारों में समान होते हैं। वे तर्क और विवेक से सम्पन्न हैं तथा उन्हें भ्रातृत्व की भावना से परस्पर के प्रति कार्य करना चाहिए।|label=none}}
;;Transliteration ([[ISO 15919|ISO]]):
:{{transliteration|hi|ISO|Anucchēd 1 (ēk): Sabhī manuṣya janma sē svatantra tathā maryādā aur adhikārō̃ mē̃ samān hōtē haĩ. Vē tark aur vivēk sē sampanna haĩ tathā unhē̃ bhrātr̥tva kī bhāvanā sē paraspar kē pratī kārya karnā cāhiē.}}
;Transcription ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]):
:{{IPA|[ənʊtːʃʰeːd eːk {{!}} səbʰiː mənʊʂjə dʒənmə seː sʋət̪ənt̪ɾə t̪ətʰaː məɾjaːd̪aː ɔːɾ əd̪ʰɪkaːɾõː mẽː  səmaːn hoːteː hɛ̃ː‖ ʋeː t̪əɾk ɔːɾ ʋɪʋeːk seː səmpənːə hɛ̃ː t̪ətʰaː ʊnʰẽː bʰɾaːtɾɪt̪ʋə kiː bʰaːʋənaː seː pəɾəspəɾ keː pɾət̪iː kaːɾjə kəɾnaː tʃaːhɪeː‖]}}
;Gloss (word-to-word):
:Article 1 (one) ''–'' All humans birth from independent and dignity and rights in equal are. They logic and conscience from endowed are and they fraternity in the spirit of each other towards work should.
;Translation (grammatical):
:Article 1 ''–'' All humans are born independent and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with logic and conscience and they should work towards each other in the spirit of fraternity.

==See also==
<!-- New links in alphabetical order please -->
*Hindi Belt
*Bengali Language Movement (Manbhum)
*Hindi Divas – the official day to celebrate Hindi as a language.
*Languages of India
*Languages with official status in India
* Indian states by most spoken scheduled languages
*List of English words of Hindi or Urdu origin
*List of Hindi channels in Europe (by type)
*List of languages by number of native speakers in India
*List of Sanskrit and Persian roots in Hindi
*World Hindi Secretariat

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin|40em}} 
* {{cite book|last=Bhatia|first=Tej K.|title=Colloquial Hindi: The Complete Course for Beginners|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7chEAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT6|access-date=19 July 2014|date=11 September 2002|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-134-83534-8}}
* Grierson, G. A. [[Social:Linguistic Survey of India|''Linguistic Survey of India'' Vol I-XI]], Calcutta, 1928, {{ISBN|81-85395-27-6}} [http://joao-roiz.jp/LSI/ (searchable database)].
* {{cite book|last1=Koul|first1=Omkar N.|title=Modern Hindi grammar|date=2008|publisher=Dunwoody Press|location=Springfield, VA|isbn=978-1-931546-06-5|url=http://v2winners.com/Ebooks/spoeng/Spoken%20English/ModernHindiGrammar.pdf|access-date=19 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726150424/http://v2winners.com/Ebooks/spoeng/Spoken%20English/ModernHindiGrammar.pdf|archive-date=26 July 2014|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book|last1=McGregor|first1=R.S.|title=Outline of Hindi grammar: With exercises|date=1995|publisher=Clarendon Pr.|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-870008-1|edition=3.|url=https://archive.org/details/OutlineOfHindiGrammar|access-date=19 July 2014}}
* {{cite book|last=Frawley|first=William|year=2003|title=International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: AAVE-Esparanto. Vol.1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sl_dDVctycgC|isbn=978-0-195-13977-8|page=481|publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite book|last1=Parthasarathy|first1=R.|last2=Kumar|first2=Swargesh|year=2012|title=Bihar Tourism: Retrospect and Prospect|page=120|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dSZ987-0Fb8C|isbn=978-8-180-69799-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Masica|first=Colin|year=1991|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-29944-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3RSHWePhXwC}}
* {{cite book|first=Manjari|last=Ohala|chapter=Hindi|editor=International Phonetic Association|year=1999|title=Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: a Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet|pages=100–103|publisher=Cambridge University Press|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33BSkFV_8PEC&pg=PA100|isbn=978-0-521-63751-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Sadana|first=Rashmi|year=2012|title=English Heart, Hindi Heartland: the Political Life of Literature in India|publisher=University of California Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2WNfFpT14IC|access-date=19 July 2014|isbn=978-0-520-26957-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Shapiro|first=Michael C.|year=2001|chapter=Hindi|editor1-last=Garry|editor1-first=Jane|editor2-last=Rubino|editor2-first=Carl|title=An encyclopedia of the world's major languages, past and present|publisher=New England Publishing Associates|pages=305–309}}
* {{cite book|last=Shapiro|first=Michael C.|year=2003|chapter=Hindi|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iUHfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT311 |editor1-last=Cardona|editor1-first=George|editor2-last=Jain|editor2-first=Dhanesh|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-77294-5|pages=250–285}}
* {{cite book|last1=Snell|first1=Rupert|last2=Weightman|first2=Simon|year=1989|title=Teach Yourself Hindi|publisher=McGraw-Hill|edition=2003|isbn=978-0-07-142012-9|title-link=Teach Yourself}}
* {{cite book|last=Taj|first=Afroz|year=2002|url=http://taj.chass.ncsu.edu/|title=A door into Hindi|access-date=8 November 2005}}  
* {{cite book|last=Tiwari|first=Bholanath|year=2004|orig-date=1966|title=हिन्दी भाषा|trans-title=Hindī Bhasha|publisher=Kitab Pustika|location=Allahabad|isbn=81-225-0017-X}}

===Dictionaries===
* {{Citation
 | last= McGregor
 | first= R.S.
 | year= 1993
 | title= Oxford Hindi–English Dictionary
 | publisher= Oxford University Press, USA
 | edition= 2004
}}.
* {{Citation|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/bahri/|title=Learners' Hindi-English dictionary|author=Hardev Bahri|year=1989|publisher=Rajapala|location=Delhi}}
* {{Citation|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/caturvedi/|title=A practical Hindi-English dictionary|author=Mahendra Caturvedi|year=1970|publisher=National Publishing House|location=Delhi}}
* Academic Room Hindi Dictionary Mobile App developed in the Harvard Innovation Lab (iOS, Android and Blackberry)
* {{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iDtbAAAAQAAJ|title=A dictionary of Urdū, classical Hindī, and English|author=John Thompson Platts|year=1884|publisher=H. Milford|edition=reprint|location=LONDON|page=1259|access-date=6 July 2011}}

===Further reading===
* Bhatia, Tej K. ''A History of the Hindi Grammatical Tradition''. Leiden, Netherlands & New York, NY: E.J. Brill, 1987. {{ISBN|90-04-07924-6}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{InterWiki|code=hi}}
{{Wikivoyage|Hindi phrasebook|Hindi|a phrasebook}}
* {{curlie|World/Hindi|Hindi}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140308231234/http://knowindia.gov.in/knowindia/profile.php?id=33 The Union: Official Language]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140901145421/http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0900.pdf Official Unicode Chart for Devanagari (PDF)]

{{Subject bar |book1= |portal1= |portal2= |commons=y |n=y |wikt=y |b=y | |q=y |s=y |v=y |voy=y |c=Category:Hindi}}

[[Category:Fusional languages]]
[[Category:Indo-Aryan languages]]
[[Category:Standard languages]]
[[Category:Subject–object–verb languages]]

{{Sourceattribution|Hindi}}