Fiji Hindi language
| Fiji Hindi | |
|---|---|
| Fiji Baat फ़िजी बात | |
| Native to | Fiji |
| Ethnicity | Indo-Fijians and the Indo-Fijian diaspora |
|
Native speakers
|
(460,000 cited 1991) |
|
Indo-European
|
|
| Devanagari, Kaithi, Latin script, Perso-Arabic script, Devanagari Braille, Urdu Braille, English Braille | |
| Signed Hindi | |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
 Fiji
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | fiji1242 |
Fiji Hindi or Fijian Hindi, known locally as "Hindustani", is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by most Fijian citizens of Indian descent, though a small number speak other languages at home. It is an Eastern Hindi language, generally considered to be an older dialect of the Awadhi language spoken in central and east Uttar Pradesh that has been subject to considerable influence by Bhojpuri, Magahi and other Bihari languages. It has also borrowed a large number of words from the Fijian and English languages. A large number of words, unique to Fiji Hindi, have been created to cater for the new environment that Indo-Fijians now live in. First-generation Indians in Fiji, who used the language as a lingua franca in Fiji, referred to it as Fiji Baat, "Fiji talk". It is closely related to Caribbean Hindustani and the Hindustani spoken in Mauritius and South Africa.
This is the speaking percentage of each language and dialect that indentured labourers who came to Fiji spoke.
Indian indentured labourers, spoke mainly dialects from the Hindi Belt. Initially, the majority of labourers came to Fiji from districts of central and eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, while a small percentage hailed from North-West Frontier and South India such as Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Wikipedia