Hindi, Fiji

HIF

wider communication

Alternate Names: Fiji Hindustani, “Fijian Hindi” (pej.), “Fijian Hindustani” (pej.)

Dialects: No significant regional variation. A type of Awadhi ,, also influenced by Bhojpuri ,.

Genealogy:

Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
East Central zone

Demographics: 380,000 in Fiji (1991 UBS).

Language Use: Used by all of Indian ancestry in Fiji, including ethnic Tamil (6,663), Gujarati (6,203), Urdu, Telugu (2,008), Gurmukhi (Panjabi, 1,167), Bengali (17,875), Malayalam. A small Gujarati community speak Gujarati at home, and a few others, mainly older people, speak their heritage languages. Also use English [eng].

Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: 85%. Newspapers. Radio programs. Bible portions.

Typology: SOV; verb conjugations have been simplified from standard Hindi ,.

Spoken In: Fiji

Writing System: Devanagari, Latin

Nation of Origin: Fiji

Other Comments: Brought by British as indentured laborers from 1879 until 1920s. Hindu, Muslim.