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Languages Of India

Languages of India

:The article describes the languages spoken in the Republic of India. For information on languages spoken by the native peoples of North America, see Native American languages. India is rich in languages, boasting not only the indigenous sprouting of Dravidian and Indo-Aryan tongues, but of the absorption of Middle-Eastern and European influences as well. Distinct, often ancient, and rich literary traditions are to be found in several languages, among them Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Telugu, and Urdu, and not to mention two Classical languages of the world, Tamil and Sanskrit.

The languages of India

While 22 major languages are recognized as "Official Languages" by the Constitution of India, Hindi, in the Devanagari script, is the only national language of the federal government of India. Hindi is the mother tongue of 18% of the people, though it is said to be spoken well by about 30% of the population and understood sufficiently by perhaps an even greater number. While English, due to India's colonial past, is safely embedded in educated Indian circles and enjoys associate official status in the government system, it is not largely spoken by the vast preponderance of the country. It is worth mentioning in this context that in the 1991 census, over 90 million people (about 11% of those polled) claimed that English was their first, second or third language. Individual states, whose borders are mostly drawn on socio-linguistic lines, are free to decide their own language for internal administration and education, so there are 22 official languages spoken throughout the country. Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri and Sindhi, are among the official languages which are widely spoken. Urdu is the official language of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir while Bangla or Bengali is the official language of West Bengal, Tripura (and the neighboring nation of Bangladesh). Linguistically, Hindi and Urdu are the same language (often referred to as Hindustani), the difference being that Hindi is written in the Devanagari script and derives much of its vocabulary from Sanskrit and Prakrit, while Urdu is written in the Arabic script and derives much of its vocabulary from the Persian and Arabic languages. Sanskrit and Tamil are the classical languages of India. Telugu (తెలుగు), also known as 'Italian of the East', is another language with a notably ancient history and body of literature, and is widely used in Carnatic music. Though an official language, and the main language of Hindu liturgy, Sanskrit is no longer a living language. It is mainly used in rituals and ceremonies or as part of daily prayers in Hinduism. Tamil is spoken by 74 million people around the world, most of them in South India and Northern Sri Lanka. Tamil is also one of the national languages of Singapore. In all, there are 24 languages which are spoken by a million or more people, in addition to thousands of smaller languages. Besides the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages, there are many Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic languages spoken in India, among others. The Andamanese languages, spoken on the Andaman Islands, are apparently not related to any other language family.

Alphabets of Indian languages

Indian languages have corresponding distinct alphabets. The two major families are those of the Dravidian languages and those of the Indo-Aryan languages, the former largely confined to the south and the latter to the north. With the exception of Urdu the alphabets of all these languages are native to India. There are those scholars who believe the scripts of the Northern languages (like Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindi and Punjabi) to be distant derivations of the Aramaic alphabet, though this is a disputed theory primarily because the number and grouping of sounds and letters are so radically different.

Phonetic alphabet

A remarkable feature of the alphabets of India is the manner in which they are organised. It is organised according to phonetic principle, unlike the Roman alphabet, which has a random sequence of letters. The classification is as follows

	unvoiced consonants		voiced consonants		nasals
	unaspirated	aspirated	unaspirated	aspirated
velar plosives	k	kh	g	gh	ng
palatal affricates	ch	chh	j	jh	ny
retroflex plosives	t	th	d	dh	nn
dental plosives	t	th	d	dh	n
bilabial plosives	p	ph	b	bh	m

glides and approximants

fricatives

This classification is observed in all the languages under discussion. Additionally each language has a few special letters signifying sounds specific to that language, as also a few symbols representing composite sounds. Finally, the list of vowels is separately specified, as follows :a, aa, i, ii, u, uu, e, ai, o, au, um, (a)h Additionally in Vedic Sanskrit: rr, rrr, lrr, lrrr Note that the list read as pairs represents shorter and longer versions of same vowel. Here the first a is like u in bus. (a)h is special to Sanskritised words, occurring in word endings as in duhkh(a)h, meaning pain or suffering. It is impossible to say any of the consonants without the associated vowel and the default way of saying a consonant attaches the neutral a sound to it. In languages of Eastern India like Bangla, Oriya and Assamese, a is spoken almost o. The classification of these sounds is universal. Every language in India has a corresponding symbol, and also, with some modifications, the corresponding sound. In fact we may be tempted to think that all languages at least of the Indo-European family have the corresponding alphabets, give or take a few, and sometimes give or take a row or column. For instance, English has morphemes similar to the t, th, d, and dh of the third row, but they manifest as only two phonemes, t and d. In French on the other hand, the third row is absent, but morphemes similar t and d of the fourth row are used. For nasals, Sanskrit imposes considerable systematics. The above scheme records that the nasal occurring in conjunction with any given row has a sound characteristic that row. For instance the nasalisation occurring in the word "Ganga" is that of the first row, while the nasalisation occurring in the words "India" or "integral" are character- istically front palatals. Speakers of any language have to necessarily speak in this manner though they never realise it. The classification of the "vowel generated" may seem rather curious. The belief here is that y sound arises from conjunction of ii with a, w sound arises from trying to say u (as in put) or uu in conjunction with a. Old Sanskrit of the Hindu Rig Veda has two more vowels, rr and lrr, as also their corresponding longer versions. It is likely that the rr was guttural like the French r, more akin to a vowel than a consonant. The lrr remains a mystery for being classified a vowel. But this classification then explains r (as in run) and l (as in long) simply as conjunction of these vowels with the a sound. The economy of this classification in the fact that effectively each of the five main rows is generated by one letter, the others are systmeatic modifications of the same. In Tamil, a great simplification of alphabet has been achieved by having only one symbol for each of the five consonants, the specific hardening and aspiration understood from context while reading. Tamil script indeed spells kathai (story) and gadhai (weapon of Bhima) the same.

Phonetic classification in Tamil

Tamil language drastically differs in phonetics from other Indian languages. There are many distintinctive sounds unique to Tamil language. Tamil consonants are classified into three categories with 6 alphabets each: Hard - k ch t th p R (plosives mentioned in the above table with addition to "R") Nasal - ng ny nn n m N (Nasals mentioned in the above table with additional "N") Mid - y r l v zh L (glides and approximants mentioned in the above table with 2 additional "L" and "zh") Vowels - a, aa, i, ii, u, uu, e, ee, ai, o, oo, au, akh Note that um and uh is not in Tamil and e, o and akh are unique to Tamil. The 2 short vowels e and o are not in Sanskrit and almost all other Indian languages. It should also be noted one of the young Indian Language Malayalam is a perfect blend of 2 classifical languages - Tamil and Sanskrit. It combines all the phonetics in Tamil and Sanskrit.

Urdu alphabet

Urdu is unique among Indian languages. It is derived from Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and some Sanksrit. Most of Urdu's grammar, however, is 'genetically' linked to that of older Prakrits. Much of Urdu's vocabulary derives its sources from Persian and Arabic. The word Urdu, in Turkish, means "camp", "tent", or "military encampment". Presumably these cantonments were where Mughal armies, mostly Muslim speakers of Persian (and hence intimately aware of Arabic), and natives interacted, soon forming a new mixed language. For this reason, the Persian script, in turn derived from Arabic script, was adopted and molded to fit with the Indian sound-system. For this reason, while the Urdu language itself has only six additional letters with unique sounds different from that of Hindi, its script has no connection to native Indian alphabets.

List of Indian Languages

There are a large number of languages in India; 216 of them are spoken by a group of 10,000 persons or more.
- List of national languages of India
- List of Indian languages by total speakers

External links

- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=India List of Languages of India]
- [http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/scripts.html Languages and Scripts of India]
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India

The Republic of India is a country in South Asia which comprises of the majority of the Indian subcontinent. India has a coastline which stretches over seven thousand kilometres, and shares its borders with Pakistan to the west, the People's Republic of China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, and Bangladesh and Myanmar on the east. On the Indian Ocean, it is adjacent to the island nations of the Maldives on the southwest, Sri Lanka on the south, and Indonesia on the southeast. India also claims a border with Afghanistan to the northwest. India is the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. It is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of over one billion, and is the seventh largest country by geographical area. It is home to some of the most ancient civilizations, and a centre of important historic trade routes. Four major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism have originated from India. Formerly a major part of the British Empire as the British Raj before gaining independence in 1947, during the past twenty years the country has grown significantly, especially in its economic and military spheres, regionally as well as globally. The name India , is derived from the Old Persian version of Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the river Indus; see Origin of India's name. The Constitution of India and general usage also recognises Bharat ( ), which is derived from the Sanskrit name of an ancient Hindu king, whose story is to be found in the Mahabharata, as an official name of equal status. A third name, Hindustan ( ) , or Land of the Hindus in Persian, has been used since the twelfth century, though its contemporary use is unevenly applied due to domestic disputes over its representiveness as a national signifier.

History

Stone Age rock shelters with paintings at Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh are the earliest known traces of human life in India. The first known permanent settlements appeared 9,000 years ago and developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation, which peaked between 2600 BC and 1900 BC. It was followed by the Vedic Civilisation. From around 550 BC onwards, many independent kingdoms came into being. In the north, the Maurya dynasty, which included Ashoka, contributed greatly to India's cultural landscape. From 180 BC, a series of invasions from Central Asia followed, with the successive establishment in the northern Indian Subcontinent of the Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian kingdoms, and finally the Kushan Empire. From the 3rd century AD onwards the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as ancient India's "Golden Age". Gupta dynasty built by emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC]] In the south, several dynasties including the Chalukyas, Cheras, Cholas, Kadambas, Pallavas and Pandyas prevailed during different periods. Science, art, literature, mathematics, astronomy, engineering, religion and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings. Following the Islamic invasions in the beginning of the second millennium, much of north and central India came to be ruled by the Delhi Sultanate, and later, much of the entire subcontinent by the Mughal dynasty. Nevertheless, several indigenous kingdoms remained or rose to power, especially in the relatively sheltered south. Vijayanagara Empire was notable among such kingdoms. During the middle of the second millennium, several European countries, including the Portuguese, Dutch, French and British, who were initially interested in trade with India, took advantage of fractured kingdoms fighting each other to establish colonies in the country. After a failed insurrection in 1857 against the British East India Company, popularly known in India as the First War of Indian Independence and most commonly known in the West as the Indian Mutiny, most of India came under the direct administrative control of the crown of the British Empire. British Empire, Orissa built in the 13th century, is one of the most famous monuments of stone sculpture in the world.]] sculpture in the 10th century AD.]] In the early part of the 20th century, a prolonged and largely non-violent struggle for independence, the Indian independence movement, followed, to be eventually led by Mahatma Gandhi, regarded officially as the Father Of The Nation. The culmination of this path-breaking struggle was reached on 1947-08-15 when India gained full independence from British rule, later becoming a republic on 1950-01-26. As a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, India has had its share of sectarian violence and insurgencies in different parts of the country. Nonetheless, it has held itself together as a secular, liberal democracy barring a brief period from 1975 to 1977 during which the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a "state of emergency" with the suspension of civil rights. India has unresolved border disputes with China, which escalated into a brief war in 1962, and Pakistan which resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, and 1971, and a border altercation in the northern state of Kashmir in 1999. India was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations. In 1974, India conducted an underground nuclear test, making it an unofficial member of the "nuclear club", which was followed up with a series of five more tests in 1998. Significant economic reforms beginning in 1991 have transformed India into one of the fastest growing economies in the world and added to its global clout.

Government

The Constitution of India states India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. India is a federal republic, with a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system. It has a three branch system of governance consisting of the legislature, executive and judiciary. The President, who is the head of state, has a largely ceremonial role. His roles include interpreting the constitution, signing laws into action, and issuing pardons. He is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The President and Vice-President are elected indirectly by an electoral college for five-year terms. The Prime Minister is the head of government and most executive powers are vested in this office. He (or she) is elected by legislators of the political party, or coalition, commanding a parliamentary majority, and serves a five-year term incumbent upon enjoying this majority. The constitution does not provide for a post of Deputy Prime Minister, but this option has been exercised from time to time. The legislature of India is the bicameral Parliament which consists of the upper house known as the Rajya Sabha, or Council of States, the lower house known as the Lok Sabha, or House of the People, and the President. The 245-member Rajya Sabha is chosen indirectly through an electoral college and has a staggered six year term. The 545-member Lok Sabha is directly elected for a five year term, and is the determinative constituent of political power and government formation. All Indian citizens above the age of eighteen are eligible to vote. The executive arm consists of the President, Vice-President and the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet) headed by the Prime Minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of either house of parliament. In India's parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature. India's independent judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India. The Supreme Court has both original jurisdiction over disputes between states and the Centre, and appellate jurisdiction over the High Courts of India. There are eighteen appellate High Courts, having jurisdiction over a large state or a group of states. Each of these states has a tiered system of lower courts. A conflict between the legislature and the judiciary is referred to the President.

Politics

Chief Justice of India For most of its independent history, India's national government has been controlled by the Indian National Congress Party. Following its position as the largest political organisation in pre-independence India, Congress, usually led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, dominated national politics for over forty years. In 1977, a united opposition, under the banner of the Janata Party, won the election and formed a non-Congress government for a short period after the unpopular 'emergency rule' imposed by Indira Gandhi in the previous Congress regime. In 1996, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a political party with a right wing nationalist ideology, became the largest single party, and established for the first time a serious opposition to the largely centre-left Congress. But power was held by two successive coalition governments, who stayed on with the support of the Congress. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) along with smaller parties and became the first non-Congress government to sustain the full five year term after it returned to power in 1999. The decade prior to 1999 was marked by short-lasting governments, with seven separate governments formed within that period. One however, a Congress government formed in 1991, lasted the full five years and initiated significant economic reforms. In the 2004 Indian elections the Congress party returned to power after winning the largest number of seats, by a narrow margin. Congress formed a government in alliance with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and with several mostly-regional parties called the United Progressive Alliance. The NDA, led by the BJP, currently forms the main opposition. All governments formed since 1996 have required party coalitions, with no single majority party, due to the steady rise of regional parties at the national level.

States and union territories

India is divided into twenty-eight states (which are further subdivided into districts), six Union Territories and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. States have their own elected government, whereas Union Territories are governed by an administrator appointed by the union government, though some have elected governments. India has had two scientific bases in Antarctica – the Dakshin Gangotri and Maitri, but has made no territorial claims so far.

Geography

Maitri in the north to Arunachal Pradesh in the far east making up most of India's eastern borders]] India's entire north and northeast states are made up of the Himalayan Range. The rest of northern, central and eastern India consists of the fertile Indo-Gangetic plain. Towards western India, bordering southeast Pakistan, lies the Thar Desert. The southern Indian peninsula is almost entirely composed of the Deccan plateau. The plateau is flanked by two hilly coastal ranges, the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats. India is home to several major rivers such as the Ganga (Ganges), the Brahmaputra, the Yamuna, the Godavari, and the Krishna. The rivers are responsible for the fertile plains in northern India which are conducive to farming. The Indian climate varies from a tropical climate in the south to a more temperate climate in the north. Parts of India which lie in the Himalaya have a tundra climate. India gets most of its rains through the monsoons.

Economy

monsoon India has an economy ranked as the tenth largest in the world in terms of currency conversion and fourth largest in terms of purchasing power parity. It recorded one of the fastest annual growth rates of 6.9% for the year ending March 2005. India's per-capita income by purchasing power parity is US$ 3,262, ranked 125th by the World Bank. India's foreign exchange reserves amount to over US$ 143 billion. Mumbai serves as the nation's financial capital and is also home to both the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India and the pre-eminent Bombay Stock Exchange. While a quarter of Indians still live below the poverty line, a large middle class has now emerged along with the rapid growth of the IT industry. The Indian economy has shed much of its historical dependence on agriculture, which now contributes to less than 25 % of GDP. Other important industries are mining, petroleum, diamond polishing, films, textiles, information technology services, and handicrafts. Most of India's industrial regions are centred around major cities. In recent years, India has emerged as one of the largest players in software and business process outsourcing services, with revenues of US$ 17.2 billion in 2004 to 2005. Many small-scale industries provide steady employment to workers in small towns and villages. business process outsourcing While India receives only around three million foreign visitors a year, tourism is still an important but under-developed source of national income. Tourism contributes 5.3 % of India's GDP. The actual employment generation, both direct and indirect, is estimated to be 42 million, or about 10 % of India's work force. In monetary terms, it contributes about US$4 billion in foreign exchange. India's major trading partners are the United States, Japan, China and the United Arab Emirates. India's main exports items include agricultural products, textile goods, gems and jewellry, software services and technology, engineering goods, chemicals and leather products while its main import commodities are crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, chemicals. For the year 2004, India's total exports stood at US$ 69.18 billion while the imports were worth at US $89.33 billion.

Demographics

India is the second most populous country in the world, with only China having a larger population. By 2030, India is expected to surpass China with the world's largest population, estimated at 1.6 billion. Language, religion, and caste are major determinants of social and political organisation within the highly diverse Indian population today. Its biggest metropolitan agglomerations are Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Delhi, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Chennai (formerly Madras). Chennai]] India's literacy rate is 64.8 % with 53.7 % of females and 75.3 % of males being literate. The sex ratio is 933 females for every 1000 males. Work Participation Rate (WPR) (the percentage of workers to total population) stands at 39.1 % with male WPR at 51.7 % and female WPR at 25.6 % inote|eu{inote|demostats{inote|religion{ref|languages{inote|tongues{see2|Christianity in India|Jews in India{seealso3|List of Indian languages by total speakers|List of cities in India|Religion in India{main|Culture of India{seealso4|List of World Heritage sites in India|Indian architecture|Indian family name|Cuisine of India{main|Sports in India{main|Holidays in India{Official Holidays of India{Topics related to India{portal{sisterlinks|India{wikitravel{wikicities|india|India{explain-inote{Web reference | title=India facts and figures | work=Embassy of India| URL= http://www.indianembassy.org/dydemo/indiaprofile/profile.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Forex reserves up by $1bn | work=Economic Times| URL= http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1093864.cms | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= India Economy | work=Travel Document Systems |URL= http://www.traveldocs.com/in/economy.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Services | work=India in Business| URL= http://www.indiainbusiness.nic.in/india-profile/ser-infotech.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Destination India: An Unpolished Diamond | work=Times of India | URL= http://timesfoundation.indiatimes.com/articleshow/819309.cms | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= US, UAE, UK, China, Japan among India's top trade partners | work=Indian Express| URL= http://www.indianexpress.com/news/business/20050102-0.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= CIA Factbook : India | work=CIA Factbook | URL= http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Provisional Population Totals 2001 Census| work=Census of India| URL=http://www.censusindia.net/results/resultsmain.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Debating India & India's literacy rate | work=Debating India | URL= http://india.eu.org/1963.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= India – Country profiles | work=indexmundi.com | URL= http://www.indexmundi.com/India/ India | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Census of India 2001, Data on Religion | work=Census of India | URL= http://www.censusindia.net/results/religion_main.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Languages of India | work=India image | URL= http://indiaimage.nic.in/languages.htm| date=August 14 | year=2005{Book reference | Author=K.M. Matthew | Title=Manorama Yearbook 2003 | Publisher= Malaya Manorama | Year=2003 | ID=ISBN 8190046187{mnb|afgh|1{mnb|LoC|2{South Asia{Asia{Commonwealth of Nations{SAARC{Life in India{Link FA|sv{Link FA|sv

India

History

Government

Politics

States and union territories

Geography

Economy

Demographics

Indo-Aryan languages

The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. The term Indic refers to the same group without the negative connotations of "Aryan". Note that in opposition to the generic adjective Indian, Indic is the term used in the context of Indo-European linguistics, and is not strictly a geographical term, so that non-Indo-European languages spoken in India are not included in the term, while the Mitanni, on the other hand, probably were speakers of an Indic language without ever having settled on the Indian subcontinent. The earliest attestations of the group are in Vedic Sanskrit, the language used in the oldest scriptures of India, the foundational canon of Hinduism known as the Vedas. The language of the Mitanni is of similar age, but is only attested fragmentary. In ca. the fifth century BC, the Sanskrit language was codified and standardized by the grammarian Panini; this led (in about 200 BC) to what is now known as 'Classical' Sanskrit. However, although this preserved the integrity of written language for a long time, the spoken language continues to evolve, and by the sixth century, Sanskrit as a spoken language was rare, being by and large replaced by its descendants, the Prakrits. All the Prakrits share a common ancestry, but they are not necessarily mutually intelligible. Apabramsa was the next modification in the spoken language, in a period broadly lasting from the fifth to the tenth century. Increasing numbers of literary texts begin to appear in Apabhransha languages, and the Sravakachar of Devasena (dated to the 930s) is now considered to be the first Hindi book. The next major milestone occurred with the Muslim invasions of India in the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Under the flourishing Mughal empire, Persian became very influential as the language of prestige of the Islamic courts. However, Persian was soon displaced by Urdu. This Indo-Aryan language is a combination of Persian and Arabic in its vocabulary with the grammar of the local dialects. The two largest languages that formed from Apabhransa were Bengali and Hindi; others include Gujarati, Marathi and Punjabi. In the Hindi-speaking areas, the main form was Braj-bhasha, which is still spoken today, but was replaced in the 19th century by the Khari Boli dialect. However, a large amount of modern spoken Hindi vocabulary is derived from Perso-Arabic. This state of affairs continued until the Partition of India in 1947. Hindustani (mixture of Urdu & Hindi) was replaced by 'Hindi' as the official language of India, and soon the Perso-Arabic words of Urdu began to be excised from the official Hindi corpus, in a bid to make the language more 'Indian'. A throwback to Hindi poets like Tulsidas resulted in what is known as a Sanskritization of the language. Arabic or Persian words in common parlance were slowly replaced by Sanskrit words, sometimes borrowed wholesale, or in new compounds. In contemporary times, there is a continuum of Hindi-Urdu, with heavily-Persianized Urdu at one end and Sanskritized Hindi at the other, although the basic grammar remains identical. Most people speak a blend of the two, a dialect known as Hindustani. The sub sections of the Indo-Aryan family of languages, with a selection of the languages, is shown below:

Indo-Aryan languages

- Ancient languages
- Sanskrit language
- Mitanni
- Pali language
- Central Zone languages
- Bhil languages
- Domari language
- Gujarati languages
- Gujarati language
- Saurashtra language
- Khandesi languages
- Dhanki language
- Khandesi language
- Panjabi languages
- Punjabi language (Eastern Panjabi)
- Rajasthani languages
- Dhatki language
- Goaria language
- Gujari language
- Loarki language
- Malvi language
- Marwari language
- Mewari language
- Nimadi language
- Romany languages
- Western Hindi languages
- Bundeli language
- Haryanvi language
- Hindi language
- Urdu language
- Kanauji language
- East-Central Zone languages
- Awadhi language
- Bagheli language
- Chhattisgarhi language
- Dhanwar language
- Fijian Hindustani language
- Magadhan languages (Eastern Zone languages)
- Assamese-Bengali languages
- Assamese language
- Bengali language
- Bishnupriya language
- Chakma language
- Kamrupi language
- Sylheti language
- Bihari languages
- Bhojpuri language
- Magadhi language (Magahi)
- Maithili language
- Oriya languages
- Bhatri language
- Oriya language
- Unclassified Eastern Zone languages
- Pahari languages (Northern Zone languages)
- Central Pahari languages
- Kumauni language
- Eastern Pahari languages
- Nepali language
- Palpi language
- Garhwali languages
- Garhwali language
- Tehri language
- Western Pahari languages
- Bilaspuri language
- Pahari-Potwari language
- North-Western Zone languages
- Dardic languages
- Kashmiri language
- Lahnda languages
- Jakati language
- Western Punjabi language
- Sindhi languages
- Sindhi language
- Nuristani languages
- Sinhalese-Maldivian languages
- Maldivian language
- Sinhalese language
- Veddah language
- Southern Zone languages
- Konkani language
- Marathi language
- Manadeshi

External links

- [http://iiasnt.leidenuniv.nl/pie/ielangs/indic.html The Indic languages]
- [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stone-catend/trind.htm Transliteration of Indic Languages & Scripts - Dr. Anthony Stone's Page]

Bibliography

- Deshpande, Madhav. (1979). Sociolinguistic attitudes in India: An historical reconstruction. Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers. ISBN 0-8972-0007-1, ISBN 0-8972-0008-X (pbk).
- Erdosy, George. (1995). The Indo-Aryans of ancient South Asia: Language, material culture and ethnicity. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-1101-4447-6.
- Jain, Dhanesh; & Cardona, George. (2003). The Indo-Aryan languages. London: Routledge.ISBN 0-7007-1130-9.
- Kobayashi, Masato.; & Cardona, George. (2004). Historical phonology of old Indo-Aryan consonants. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. ISBN 4-8729-7894-3.
- Masica, Colin P. (1991). The Indo-Aryan languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-5212-3420-4.
- Misra, Satya Swarup. (1980). Fresh light on Indo-European classification and chronology. Varanasi: Ashutosh Prakashan Sansthan.
- Misra, Satya Swarup. (1991-1993). The Old-Indo-Aryan, a historical & comparative grammar (Vols. 1-2). Varanasi: Ashutosh Prakashan Sansthan.
- Sen, Sukumar. (1995). Syntactic studies of Indo-Aryan languages. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Foreign Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
- Vacek, Jaroslav. (1976). The sibilants in Old Indo-Aryan: A contribution to the history of a linguistic area. Prague: Charles University.
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Hindi

left Hindi (हिन्दी) is an Indo-European language spoken mainly in North and Central India. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indo-Aryan family, bounded on the northwest and west by Panjābī, Sindhī, and Gujarātī; on the south by Marāthī; on the southeast by Orīya; on the east by Bengālī; and on the north by Nepālī. Hindi also refers to a standardized register of Hindustani that was made one of the official languages of India. The grammatical description in this article concerns standard Hindi. Hindi is often contrasted with Urdu, another standardized form of Hindustani that is the official language of Pakistan and some states in India. The primary differences between the two are that Standard Hindi is written in Devanāgarī and has been partially purged of its Persian and Arabic vocabulary, which was replaced by words from Sanskrit; while Urdu is written in a variant of the Persian alphabet and draws heavily on Persian and Arabic vocabulary. The term "Urdu" also includes dialects of Hindustani other than the standardized languages.

Area

Hindi is the predominant language in the states and territories of Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttaranchal, Jharkhand, and Chattisgarh. It is spoken and understood in Gujarat, Punjab and Kashmir, states that otherwise have their own native languages. It is also widely spoken in the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, all of which are cosmopolitan cities harbouring large communities of people from various parts of India. Local variations of Hindi are counted as minority languages in several countries, including Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Number of Speakers

Hindi in the broader sense is among the more widely spoken languages in the world. According to some estimates, about 500 million people in India and abroad are native speakers of Hindi and the total number of people who understand the language may be as high as 800 million. According to 1991 census^{[http://www.censusindia.net/cendat/language/lang_table5.PDF]} 40.22% of the Indian population can speak Hindi. More than 180 million people in India regard Standard Hindi as their mother tongue, making it the fourth-most spoken language in the world. Another 300 million use it as second language. Outside India, Hindi speakers number 8 million in Nepal, 890,000 in South Africa, 685,000 in Mauritius, 317,000 in the USA^{[http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf]}, 233,000 in Yemen, 147,000 in Uganda, 30,000 in Germany, 20,000 in New Zealand and 5,000 in Singapore.

History

Hindi evolved from Sanskrit, by way of the Middle Indo-Aryan prakrit languages and Apabhramsha of the Middle Ages. As a standardised register of Hindustani, Hindi became the official language^{[http://indiaimage.nic.in/languages.htm]} of India on January 26, 1965, although English and 21 other languages are recognised as official languages by the Constitution of India.

Standard Hindi

After independence of India, the Government of India worked on standardizing Hindi, and the following changes took place:
- standardization of Hindi 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"
- standardization of Hindi spelling
- standardization of Devanagari (Devanāgarī) script by the Central Hindi Directorate, Ministry of Education and Culture to bring about uniformity in writing and to improve the shape of some devanagari characters.
- scientific mode of scribing the Devanagari alphabet
- incorporation of diacritics to express sounds from other languages The popularity of the Urdu and Hindi languages has been helped by Bollywood (the Hindi film industry) where poetry in songs have always been dominated by Urdu. These movies are not only popular in most parts of India but also have an international appeal.

Vocabulary

Standard Hindi derives much of its formal and technical vocabulary from Sanskrit. Standard or shuddha ("pure") Hindi is used only in public addresses and radio or TV news, while the everyday spoken language in most areas is one of several varieties of Hindustani, whose vocabulary contains words drawn from Persian through Urdu. In addition, spoken Hindi uses words from English and other languages as well. Vernacular Urdu and Hindi are practically indistinguishable. However, the literary registers differ substantially; in highly formal situations, the languages are barely intelligible to speakers of the other. It bears mention that for centuries past, Sanskrit and Persian had been regarded, to a large extent regardless of their ethnic or religious background, as the languages of the elite.

Dialects

Hindi in the broad sense is a dialect continuum without clear boundaries. For example, both Nepali and Panjabi are sometimes considered to be Hindi (based on the high level of mutual intelligibility for Panjabi and Hindi especially), though they are more often considered to be separate languages. Hindi is often divided into Western Hindi and Eastern Hindi, and these are further divided. Following is a list of principal Hindi dialects; boldface indicates an idiom that often classified as a separate language.
- Hindustani, including standard Hindi (or 'High Hindi') and standard Urdu, as well as regional dialects of Urdu. Standard Hindi is the principal official languages of India, while standard Urdu is the official language of Pakistan and the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Urdu has a rich literary history, being the language of the Mughal court second only to Persian
- Khadiboli or Sarhindi, spoken in western Uttar Pradesh; the dialect that forms the basis for Standard Hindi
- Chhattisgarhi (sometimes spelled "Chattisgarhi"; also known as Lahariya or Khalwahi), spoken mostly in the recently created state of Chhattisgarh
- Bagheli, spoken mostly in the Baghelkhand region of the state of Madhya Pradesh
- Awadhi, spoken mostly in central Uttar Pradesh, the area formerly comprising the kingdom of Awadh or "Oudh"
- Fijian Hindustani, a form of Awadhi spoken by Fijians of Indian descent
- Bihari', mostly spoken in the state of Bihar, which in turn is comprised of several principal dialects:
- Angika,
- Bhojpuri
- Sarnami - a form of Bhojpuri with Awadhi influence spoken by Surinamers of Indian descent
- Maithili, now an official language of Bihar
- Magahi,
- Vajjika,
- Rajasthani, mostly spoken in the state of Rajasthan, and also comprised of several notable (sub)dialects:
- Marwari
- Mewati or "Mewari"
- Jaipuri
- Braj Bhasha, in a vaguely defined region of north central India, centered on Delhi
- Bundeli, mostly spoken in the Bundelkhand region and the Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh
- Hariyanvi, Bangaru or Jatu, mostly spoken in the state of Haryana
- Kanauji, mostly spoken in Kanauj, Uttar Pradesh
- The Eastern Hindi dialect centered on the Hindu holy city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, with a strong influence on the Sanskritized learned vocabulary of standard Hindi
- Bambaiya Hindi, the dialect of the city of Bombay (Mumbai); the basis for the language of the popular Bollywood films These dialects demonstrate a variety of influences including the adjacent Iranian, Dravidian, and Tibeto-Burman language families. Bollywood dialects: Hindi movies often use dialects to highlight the regional character of some of the roles. Some of the dialects used include
- Bhojpuri: Movie "Ganga-Jamuna"
- Bhopali: Spoken by Soorma Bhopali in "Sholay"
- "Madrasi" Hindi: Spoken by Mehmud in "Padosan"
- Rajasthani: Movie "Paheli"
- Bambaiya Hindi: used in numerous movies Needless to say, dialects used in movies are not always pure.

Sounds

There are 11 vowels and 35 consonants in Standard Hindī. They are shown below:

Vowels

Bambaiya Hindi The vowel occurs in English loans and is represented by ऐ, which was originally used in Sanskrit for the 'ai' or 'əi' diphthong. But today in Khariboli, the Standard dialect, the vowel stands for in almost all Hindi words. The other ten vowels have phonemic nasal counterparts. The vowel sequences and , both oral and nasal, also occur. Note that the short 'a', often seen at the end of masculine Sanskritized words as well as elsewhere, which makes the non-Hindi speakers to pronounce it as short or long 'a', the back vowel, is actually the neutral vowel schwa 'ə'. The short vowel 'e' as in English 'set' also occurs at some places in urban Hindi in place of schwa, like "rehnā" (रहना. to live), but there is no diacritic to mark it.

Consonants

Hindi has a large consonant system, with about 38 distinct consonant phonemes. An exact number cannot be given, since the regional varieties of Hindi differ in the details of their consonant repertoire. To what extent certain sounds that appear only in foreign words should be considered part of Standard Hindi is also a matter of debate. The traditional core of the consonant system, inherited from Sanskrit, consists of a matrix of 25 plosives and 8 sonorants and fricatives. The system is filled out by 7 sounds that originated in Persian, but are now considered Hindi sounds. The 25 plosives occur in five groups, with each group sharing the same position of articulation. These positions in their traditional order are: velar, retroflex, palatal, dental, and bilabial. In each position, there are five varieties of consonant, with four oral stops and one nasal stop. An oral stop may be voiced, aspirated, both, or neither. This four-way opposition is the hardest aspect of Hindi pronunciation for a speaker of English. The voiced, unaspirated consonants are the easiest for English-speakers to pronounce. The initial sounds of "get", "jet", "debt", and "bet" are perfect examples of the velar, palatal, dental, and bilabial positions, respectively. The apico-domal or retroflex position is the hardest for an English speaker: the apex of the tongue must be curled backward and brought into contact with the dome of the palate, well behind the gum-line. In casual Hindi, however, bringing the tongue slightly above the alveolar ridge will also do. The voiceless, unaspirated consonants are similar to those in French or in English words like "skin", "spin", and "stand". Aspirated voiceless consonants are similar to those in the English words "pat", "cat", "chat", and "tap" (though they are typically more heavily aspirated than in English). The voiced, aspirated consonants are the hardest to pronounce, but can be approximated by following the unaspirated version with an audible "h" sound. The nasal sounds are the same as in English. The 4 resonants are y, r, l, and v. These are similar to English, except that r is a tap as in Spanish, not an approximant, and v is usually between English "v" and "w", though it may vary as either of those English sounds. The native fricatives of Hindi are s and sh, which are pronounced as in English. There is also a breathy voice which is generally considered a fricative as well, and it is more or less like English "h" in "home". There is a fourth fricative in the orthography, written ष, which is sometimes transcribed as "ssa" or "sha2". It was originally pronounced as in Sanskrit, and still is to some extent, but in many modern Hindi speakers it has merged with .

Borrowed Sounds

The khutma or Nukta, a dot placed below various consonant letters, indicates Persian and English sounds that are not present in Sanskrit. The sounds f, z, rd, and rdh are found only in loanwords. The first two are as in English. The latter two are retroflex taps, and never begin a word. The additional sounds //, //, and // may be found in some loanwords. Some of the borrowed sounds are difficult for Hindi speakers to pronounce and many Hindi speakers will simply ignore the dot and pronounce the word as if it wasn't there.

Writing system

The Devanagari script represents the sounds of spoken Hindi very closely, so that a person who knows the Devanagari letters can sound out a written Hindī text comprehensibly, even without knowing what the words mean.
- The anuswara (dot placed above a vowel) may represent one of these consonants: rda, nda, na, ma. These are pronounced after the vowel. This style is deprecated.
- The visarga (:) placed after a vowel represents ha.
- The anuswara (.) and visarga (:) are often included in list of vowel letters, but according to the standardized form of Hindi, they are consonants.
- A chandra-bindu sign is placed above a vowel to indicate nasalized vowel (anunasika).
- An ardha chandra-bindu placed above the vowel aa indicates 'o' sound of English (as in "office", "college"). Some people also use this sign, placed above a, to indicate 'e' (as in "bet") sound of English.

Grammar

Hindi grammar can be very complex and is different in many ways from what English speakers are used to. A simple and obvious difference is that for expressing relationship of nouns, Hindi uses postpositions where English would use a preposition. Other differences include gender, honorifics, interrogatives, word order, use of cases, and different tenses. While being complicated, Hindi grammar is fairly regular, with irregularities being relatively limited. Despite differences in vocabulary and writing, Hindi grammar is nearly identical with Urdu. The concept of punctuation having been entirely unknown before the advent of the Europeans, Hindi punctuation uses western conventions for commas, exclamation points, and question marks. Periods are sometimes used to end a sentence, though the traditional "full stop" (a vertical line) is more generally used. Nouns in Hindi have gender, and are either masculine or feminine. There are no overall rules for whether a word will be masculine or feminine so they simply need to be memorized. Adjectives and verbs agree in gender and number with nouns, so proper use of gender is required for conversation. Many masculine nouns end in a long aa (आ) sound and many feminine nouns end in a long ii (ई) sound, though many nouns will have neither of those endings and exceptions occur even for common words. All inanimate objects are either male or female; again, there is neither a neuter gender nor any rule that governs the established "sex" of inanimates Besides the standard interrogative terms of who, what, why, when, where, how, how many, what type, etc, the Hindi word kyaa (क्या), which can also mean "what", can be used as a generic interrogative often placed at the beginning of a sentence to turn a statement into a question. This makes it clear when a question is being asked. Questions can also be formed simply by modifying intonation, exactly as English some questions are. Hindi has three levels of honorifics, or politeness. As reflected in the personal pronoun "you", aap (आप) is the most formal and respectful; tum (तुम) is mid level and usual; and tu (तू) is very informal, verging on the impolite. "Aap" is grammatically plural like the English "you"; adjective and verb agreement follows that. Imperatives (commands or suggestions) typically have four levels, the first three corresponding to the three levels of honorifics, and the last expressing an additional level of politeness akin to "would you be so kind as to..." that might be used in English. The "tu" imperative is simply the verb stem formed by removing the infinitive particle "na". The "tum" imperative is formed by adding "o" to the verb stem, and the "aap" imperative is formed by adding "ie" or "iye" to the stem. The additional form adds "gaa" to the "aap" form. Because imperatives can already include politeness, the word "kripaya", which can be translated as "please", is much less common than in spoken English; it is generally only used in writing, and its use in common speech is usually intended as mockery.

Word order

The standard word order in Hindi is, in general, Subject Object Verb, but where different emphasis or more complex structure is needed, this rule is very easily set aside. More specifically, the standard order is 1) Subject 2) Adverbs (in their standard order) 3) Indirect object and any of its adjectives 4) Direct object and any of its adjectives 5) Negation term or interrogative, if any, and finally the 6) Verb and any auxiliary verbs. (Snell, p93) The standard order can be modified in various ways to impart emphasis on particular parts of the sentence. Negation is formed by adding the word "nahiin" ("no"), in the appropriate place in the sentence, or by utilizing the particle "na" in some cases.

Common tenses and aspect

Some of the most common verb tenses include the present imperfect, present continuous, past imperfect, past continuous, past perfect, and future. Present imperfect is used for habitual actions or states of being. The present continuous is used for ongoing actions, while the past continuous reflects actions that were occurring at a particular time. The past imperfect is used for past habitual actions or conditions, while the past perfect reflects completed actions and has three forms including simple past perfect and two forms akin to where English would use have or had [done]. See also: Grammatical aspect.

Case

Nouns in Hindi have two cases, the direct and the oblique. The direct case is the standard form of the noun as found in the dictionary; the oblique is the form that is used along with postpositions, such as in "in the room". For example, the direct form of the word "room" is "kamraa"; in the oblique, it is "kamrey". So "in the room" is "kamrey maen". Pronouns also change in the oblique in similar fashion, and some interrogatives have oblique forms.

Literature

Main article: Hindi literature The beginnings of Hindi literature can be traced to the Prakrits of classical Sanskrit plays. Tulasidas's Ramacharitamanas attained wide popularity. Modern litterateurs include Jaishankar Prasad, Sumitranandan Pant, Maithili Sharan Gupta, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Mahadevi Varma, Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayana 'Ajneya' and Munshi Premchand.

Common difficulties faced in learning Hindi

- the phonetic mechanism of some sounds peculiar to Hindi (eg. rda, dha etc) The distinction between aspirated and unaspirated consonants will be difficult for English speakers. In addition, the distinction between dental and alveoloar (or retroflex) consonants will also pose problems. English speakers will find that they need to carefully distinguish between four different d-sounds and four different t-sounds.
- Even pronunciation of vowels: In English, unstressed vowels tend to have a "schwa" quality. The pronunciation of such vowels in English is changed to an "uh" sound; this is called reducing a vowel sound. The second syllable of "unify" is pronounced "uh" not "ee." The same for the unstressed second syllabe of "person" which is also pronounced "uh" rather than "oh." In Hindi, English-speakers must constantly be careful not to reduce these vowels.
- In this respect, probably the most important mistake would be for English speakers to reduce final "ah" sounds to "uh." This can be especially important because an English pronunciation will lead to misunderstandings about grammar and gender. In Hindi, "vo bolta hai" is "he talks" whereas "vo bolti hai" is "she talks." A typical English pronunciation in the first sentence would be "vo boltuh hai," which will be understood as "she talks" by most Hindi-native speakers.
- The 'a' ending of many Sanskrit and Sanskrit borrowed gender-masculine words, due to Romanization, is highly confused by non-native speakers. It should never be pronounced as long back vowel "ā", but as the neutral schwa "ə". In Sanskrit, the so-written "Shiva (शिव)" should be pronounced as "Shivə" and never "Shivā", as the latter stands for the the feminine derivative of "Shiva" (compare Phillip-Phillipa), and could be understood to refer to Parvati, the wife of Shiva. In Hindi, the ending 'ə' of such masculine words is altogether dropped, or pronounced very feebly if the penultimate consonant is a cluster of two or more consonants. eg. In Hindi, "Shiva" is "Shiv", "Krishna" is usually "Krishn", "dharma" is "dhərm", "karma" is "kərm", "VaruNa" is "VəruN", etc. There are exceptions, of course, if the devanagari script itself dictates the additional diacritical mark for the vowel "ā" at the end of certain masculine words, like Brahmā (ब्रह्मा).
- the Verbal concordance; Hindi exhibits split ergativity; see Ergative-absolutive language for an example.
- Postpositions (ne)
- Relative-correlative constructions. In English interrogative and relative pronouns are the same word. In "Who are you?" the word "who" is an interrogative, or question, pronoun. In "My friend who lives in Chicago can speak Hindi," the word "who" is not an interrogative, or question, pronoun. It is a relative, or linking, pronoun. We find this pattern with other words: where, when, why, etc. are used both to ask questions and to link words. In Hindi, there are different words for each. The interrogative pronoun tends to start with the "k" sound:" kab = when?, kahaaN = where?, kitna = how much? The relative pronouns are usually very similar but start with "j" sounds: jab = when, jahaaN = where, jitna = how much. Hindi uses these j-sound pronouns where English uses relative pronouns and clauses. In English we say, "I study where she studies" but in Hindi we say this differently. "jahaaN vo padhti hai (she studies) vahaaN main padhta hoon (I study)." Here "jahaaN" means "where" and "vahaaN" means there.
- Honorifics. For many English speakers, the fact that Hindi uses a three-part system of honorifics in the second person pronoun ("you") is deeply mystifying. It shouldn't be. The more formal pronouns are used in situations in which it's proper to express a degree of social respect. The less formal pronouns depart from this and indicate, on the one hand, intimacy, or on the other, an absence of social respect. The most formal is "aap" and is the safest for foreigners to use in all situations. It is used in situations that range from deeply respectful to the merely businesslike. When first meeting adults, whether at the bank, hotel or a restaurant, we should use "aap." The more intimate "tum" would be acceptable in talking with children or with adults with whom one is on more intimate terms. The safest thing with adults is wait and see what pronoun they use with you. They will almost certainly start off with "aap," but might, over time, start to use "tum" if your relationship becomes more like that of close friends. If your Hindi is too weak to determine whether they are using "aap" or "tum," then by all means, you should use "aap." Many grammars say that foreigners will rarely have the chance to use "tum" with Indian colleagues, but that is true only if one behaves like a "memsahib" or "sahib." The most intimate pronoun is "tu", which is only used in situations where there is a total absence of human formality: it is used in addressing servants, very close friends and younger siblings. The use of "tu" with another adult may express the intimacy of lovers (but even here "tum" is safer) or extraordinary anger. What's the connection? All of these situations involve the lack of social respect.
- Direct and Oblique inflections
- Optative and Conditional moods
- Compound verbs

References

- Snell, Rupert Teach yourself Hindi: A complete guide for beginners. Lincolnwood, IL : NTC Publishing Group, 1992. ISBN 0844238635
- Taj, Afroz (2002) http://www.ncsu.edu/project/hindi_lessons/ A door into Hindi. Retrieved November 8, 2005.

External links

- [http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/06/free-software-tools-and-fonts-cd.html Request free Hindi Fonts and Devanagari Tools CD from Indian Government]
- [http://www.it-c.dk/people/pfw/hindi/ A short introduction to Hindi grammar]
- [http://hi.wiktionary.org Hindi Wiktionary]
- [http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=HND Ethnologue on Hindi]
- [http://www.lorem-ipsum.info/_hindi Generator for Hindi typographical filler text]
- [http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/hindilinks.html Hindi Language Resources]
- [http://sanskrit.gde.to/hindi Hindi documents and dictionary]
- [http://ltrc.iiit.net/showfile.php?filename=downloads/ International Institute of Information Technologies IIIT], online and downloadable dictionaries cross referenced in English for Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu languages. Includes Classical Hindi Literature, writings of Meera, Suradas, Tulasidas, Premchand, Rahim et cetera.
- [http://www.aczone.com/itrans/online/ Online Itrans] to generate Hindi/Devanagari output.
- [http://www.goidirectory.nic.in Government of India website]
- [http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0900.pdf Official Unicode Chart for Hindi (PDF)]
- [http://www.bhashaindia.com Website of Microsoft to Provide Solutions for Hindi Language on net]
- [http://www.iit.edu/~laksvij/language/hindi.html Romanized to Unicode Hindi transliterator]
- [http://www.wordanywhere.com Hindi Dictionary]
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Hindi-english/ Hindi English Dictionary] from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition Category:Languages of India Category:Hindi ko:힌디어 ja:ヒンディー語 simple:Hindi

Malayalam language

:Note: Malayalam is not the Malay language, which is spoken in Malaysia. Malayalam (മലയാളം) is the language of the state of Kerala, in southern India. It is one of the 22 official languages of India, spoken by around 30 million people. A person who speaks Malayalam is called a "Malayali" (or rarely, a "Keralite"). It belongs to the family of Dravidian languages. Both the language and its writing system are cl