Hindi, one of the official languages of the Indian Union since September 14, 1949, is spoken by approximately 41% of India's population, according to the 2001 census. It holds official status in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and several others, collectively known as the Hindi Belt. Additionally, Hindi is spoken in countries such as Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad, and Suriname due to historical migration.
Belonging to the Neo-Indo-Aryan group within the Indo-European language family, Hindi's origins trace back to the 11th century. Initially, the term "Hindi" referred to all Indian languages under Islamic rule, but by the early 19th century, it specifically referred to Khari Boli, the dialect of Delhi. While Braj Bhasha was the literary language until the early 19th century, modern standard Hindi literature emerged prominently in the latter half of the 19th century.
Closely related to Urdu, which is based on the same Khari Boli dialect, Hindi shares similar grammar and vocabulary but differs in script and literary terms. Written in the Devanagari script, Hindi connects with other languages like Sanskrit, Marathi, Nepali, and Konkani. Dive into the Hindi alphabet to explore the historical and cultural depth of this rich language.
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Around 572.4 million people worldwide speak Hindi as their mother tongue.
Hindi is spoken in several countries, with the largest number of speakers in India (422 million). Other countries with Hindi speakers include Nepal (8 million), the United States (649,000), Mauritius (450,170), Fiji (380,000), South Africa (250,292), Suriname (150,000), Uganda (100,000), the United Kingdom (45,800), New Zealand (20,000), Germany (20,000), Trinidad and Tobago (16,000), and Singapo
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Indo-European group
Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, an abugida or alphasyllabary where each character represents a consonant-vowel combination.
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