Hindi Language & Heritage Communities Vijay Gambhir University of Pennsylvania
HERITAGE HINDI COMMUNITIES MLA DATA (5 years +) Total # of Speakers: 465,415
HINDI 2005 Total # of Speakers: 465,415 California 103, % New York 49, % New Jersey 45, % Texas 32, % Illinois 30, % Georgia19, % Virginia 17, % Michigan 16, % Maryland16, % Florida 15, % Pennsylvania 13, % Massachusetts 13, % Washington 9, %
Ohio 9, % Arizona 6, % North Carolina 6, % Connecticut 6, % Wisconsin 5, % Minnesota 5, % Tennessee 5, % Oregon 4, % Nevada 3, % Indiana 3, % Kansas 2, % Alabama 2, % Missouri 2, % Colorado 2, % Utah 1, % South Carolina 1, % Oklahoma 1, % Nebraska 1, % Louisiana 1, % New Hampshire %
Iowa % Arkansas % North Dakota % Mississippi % Delaware % Rhode Island % West Virginia % District of Columbia % New Mexico % Idaho % Montana % Hawai'i % Kentucky % Vermont %
Ability to speak English by age groups
MLA 2005: Urdu Speakers Total: 262,671
SOME FACTS ABOUT HINDI Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European Language Official language of Indian Union Lingua Franca Language of Bollywood (Hindi cinema) Language with a long literary tradition Language of popular politics Language of heritage identity Global communities (Nepal, Middle East, Fiji, Suriname, Canada, Britain, USA, etc.) Devanagari script ( सलाम नमस्ते )
Linguistic Properties of Hindi Diglossia (gap between formal & informal styles) Code-mixing (Hinglish) Code-switching
Varieties of Hindi Standard Hindi Regional varieties –Braj –Awadhi –Bhojpuri –Rajasthani –Etc.
Hindi & Urdu Relationship Are they different languages? Linguistic perspective –Grammar (phonology, morphology, syntax) –Vocabulary –Script Literary Perspective Historical Perspective Cultural perspective Political perspective Religious perspective
Role of English in India Associate official language Language of power & prestige Language of higher education Language of computers & Internet
Pedagogic Issues 1.How much Hinglish should be used in second language classrooms? 2. Should we teach Hindi & Urdu as two separate languages or one language? Hindi & Urdu Hindi-Urdu Hindi Urdu