Caribbean Hindustani

Caribbean Hindustani is a dialect of Bhojpuri spoken in Suriname, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. These three countries put an adjective before the name of the language, so that the local language variant is known for instance as "Sarnami Hindustani" in Suriname. Most people still call the language "Hindustani".

After Dutch and Sranan Tongo, Sarnami Hindustani is the most widely spoken language of Suriname. The language is spoken by the descendants of emigrants from the current Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, they are in Suriname and the Netherlands known as the Hindostanen (sing. Hindostaan). Because the predominance of Bhojpuri speaking emigrants, the Caribbean Hindustani and Sarnami Hindostani are most influenced by Bhojpuri and other Bihari varieties. The Hindostani are one of the largest ethnic groups in Suriname, and Indian culture in general has a major role.

Dialects

The Caribbean Hindustani of neighboring Guyana, known as Aili Gaili, is spoken by a few older members within a community of 300,000 Indo-Guyanese.

The variant spoken in Trinidad and Tobago is known as Trinidad Bhojpuri. In 1996, it was spoken by 15,633 people.^[1]

References