Caribbean Hindustani

Caribbean Hindustani
Bharatiya Caribbean Hindi-Caribbean Urdu
Ethnicity	Indo-Caribbeans and their diaspora (American Indo-Caribbeans, British Indo-Caribbeans, Canadian Indo-Caribbeans, Dutch Indo-Caribbeans, and others)
Native speakers	(150,000 in Suriname cited 1986) 16,000 in Trinidad (1996); a few elders in Guyana
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Hindustani Central Group Eastern Hindi Bihari languages Bhojpuri, Awadhi, other Bihari languages Caribbean Hindustani
Dialects	Trinidadian Hindustani (Trinidadian Bhojpuri) Guyanese Hindustani (Aili Gaili) Sarnami Hindoestani
Writing system	Devanagari,Kaithi,Perso-Arabic, Latin script, Devanagari Braille, Urdu Braille, English Braille
Signed forms	Signed Hindustani
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	`cari1275`

Caribbean Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Indo-Caribbeans in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname. It is based on Bhojpur and has been influenced by Awadhi. The language is spoken by the descendants of emigrants from the Hindi Belt in North India and the Madhesh region in Nepal. It is closely related to Fiji Hindi and the Hindustani spoken in Mauritius and South Africa.

Because a majority of people came from the Bhojpuri region of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and Rajasthan, Caribbean Hindustani is most influenced by Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Braj Bhasha, Rajasthani, and other Bihari varieties. It has also borrowed a large number of words from Dutch in Suriname and other Dutch colonies, and English and French in former British colonies and French colonies. A large number of words, unique to Caribbean Hindustani, have been created to cater for the new environment that Indo-Caribbeans now live in.