Hinglish

Hinglish (the name is a combination of the words "Hindi" and "English") is a macaronic language, a hybrid of English and South Asian languages – it is a code-switching variety of these languages whereby they are freely interchanged within a sentence or between sentences.[1] While the name is based on the Hindi language, it does not refer exclusively to Hindi, but "is used in India, with English words blending with Punjabi, and Hindi, and also within British Asian families to enliven standard English." [1][2]

Some examples of Hinglish vocabulary are:[1][3]

This is more commonly seen in urban and semi-urban centers of the Hindi-speaking states of India,[4] but is slowly spreading into rural and remote areas of these states via television, mobile phones and word of mouth, slowly achieving vernacular status. Many speakers do not realize that they are incorporating English words into Hindi sentences or Hindi words into English sentences. David Crystal, a British linguist at the University of Wales, projected in 2004 that at about 350 million, the world's Hinglish speakers may soon outnumber native English speakers.[5]

Columnist Karan Kumawat was the first author to use Hinglish in her work.[6] Author Shobhaa De then began to use Hinglish elements in her books and columns in the Indian magazine Stardust.[6] Other authors who have used Hinglish extensively in their novels are Salman Rushdie and Upamanyu Chatterjee.[7]

Over the years, Hinglish has been effectively used in Indian advertising in advertising slogans, like Pepsi's 1998 slogan Yeh Dil Maange More! (This heart desires more!), Yehi hai right choice, Baby (This is the Right Choice, Baby), Yeh Hai Youngistaan.[8]

In 2003, a trend of Hinglish pop songs was popularized by DJ Aqeel whose Tu Hai Wohi became a success. Other Hinglish songs soon followed like "Chadti Jawani Meri Chaal Mastani" by Harry Anand which samples the "The Ketchup Song" and Kaanta Laga by DJ Doll.[4][9]

In 2005, Baljinder Kaur Mahal (pen name BK Mahal) wrote a book called The Queen's Hinglish: How to Speak Pukka[10] published by Collins.

Hinglish is also affecting the English spoken in the United Kingdom, with the adaptation of words and expressions used by Indian immigrants and their offspring into colloquial English in the United Kingdom.[1]

A dictionary for Hinglish has also been published.[1]

Hinglish is also the way English is pronounced by people speaking Hindi. Example of Hinglish:

The above pronunciations are typically used in rural areas. The urban population uses the Indian English pronunciation.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 It's Hinglish, innit?, BBC News Magazine, 8 Nov 2006. By Sean Coughlan. Retrieved on 3 Jun 2012. (backup)
  2. ↑ Veena Malik Interview, Express News TV (Pakistan), 21 Jan 2011. TV interview with Veena Malik in which Urdu and English are freely interchanged. YouTube. Retrieved on 3 Jun 2012.
  3. ↑ Learn English online: How the internet is changing language, BBC News Magazine, 13 December 2012. By Jane O'Brien. Retrieved on 14 December 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Thakur, Saroj; Dutta, Kamlesh; Thakur, Aushima (2007). Davis, Graeme; Bernhardt, Karl, eds. "Hinglish: Code switching, code mixing and indigenization in multilingual environment". Lingua et Linguistica (Journal of Language and Linguistics) 1.2: 112–6. ISBN 978-1-84799-129-4.
  5. ↑ Scott Baldauf (November 23, 2004). "A Hindi-English jumble, spoken by 350 million". Christian Science Monitor.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Kasbekar 2006, p. 93.
  7. ↑ Kasbekar 2006, p. 94.
  8. ↑ "Pepsi ads: From 'Yehi hai right choice' to catering youngistaan". The Economic Times. 15 Dec 2010.
  9. ↑ A. Vishnu (6 August 2010). "Age of `hinglish' remixes". The Hindu. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  10. ↑ Goerlandt, Iannis (2009). Literature for Europe?. Rodopi Publishers. p. 162. ISBN 90-420-2716-9.

Further reading

External links