Bhojpuri language

Bhojpuri
भोजपुरी · 𑂦𑂷𑂔𑂣𑂳𑂩𑂲
The word "Bhojpuri" in the Devanagari script
Native toIndia and Nepal
RegionBhojpur-Purvanchal
EthnicityBhojpuriya
Native speakers
52.2 million, partial count (2011 census)[1][2]
(additional speakers counted under Hindi)
Early forms
Dialects
  • Northern Standard Bhojpuri
  • Western Standard Bhojpuri
  • Southern Standard Bhojpuri
  • Domra
  • Musahari
  • Caribbean Hindustani
     · Trinidadian Hindustani
     · Guyanese Hindustani
     · Sarnami Hindoestani
  • Nagpuriya Bhojpuri
  • Fiji Hindi
  • Mauritian Bhojpuri[3]
  • South African Bhojpuri (Naitali)[4]
  • Dutch Bhojpuri
Official status
Official language in
 Fiji (as Fiji Hindi)
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated by
Language codes
ISO 639-2bho
ISO 639-3bho
Glottologbhoj1244
Linguasphere59-AAF-sa
Bhojpuri-speaking regions of India
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A speaker of Bhojpuri.

Bhojpuri (IPA: /ˌboʊdʒˈpʊəri/;[7] Devanagari: भोजपुरीⓘ, Kaithi: 𑂦𑂷𑂔𑂣𑂳𑂩𑂲) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bhojpur-Purvanchal region of India and the Terai region of Nepal and [8] it is chiefly spoken in eastern Uttar Pradesh, western Bihar, and northwestern Jharkhand in India, as well as western Madhesh, eastern Lumbini, southeastern Gandaki, and southwestern Bagmati in Nepal.[7][9][10] Bhojpuri is also widely spoken by the diaspora of Indians descended from those who left as indentured laborers during the colonial era.[11][12] It is an eastern Indo Aryan language and as of 2000 it is spoken by about 5% of India's population.[13] Bhojpuri is a descendant of Magadhi Prakrit and is related to Maithili, Magahi, Bangla, Odia, Assamese, and other eastern Indo-Aryan languages.[14]

It is also a minority language in Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius, South Africa, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.[11][12] Fiji Hindi, an official language of Fiji, is a variant of Awadhi and Bhojpuri spoken by the Indo-Fijians. Caribbean Hindustani, another variant of Bhojpuri is spoken by the Indo-Caribbean people.[15] It has experienced lexical influence from Caribbean English in Trinidad and Tobago and in Guyana. In Suriname, languages that have lexically influenced it include Sranan Tongo Creole, Surinamese Dutch and English. Other dialects are spoken in Mauritius and South Africa, where its use is declining.

Bhojpuri is listed as a potentially vulnerable language in the UNESCO world atlas of languages due to the influence of Hindi.[16]

  1. ^ "Census of India 2011" (PDF). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. 2011. p. 8. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  2. ^ "National Population and Housing Census 2011" (PDF). Census of Nepal. 2011. p. 138. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  3. ^ Oozeerally, Shameem (March 2013). "The Evolution of Mauritian Bhojpuri: an Ecological Analysis - Mauritius Institute of Education". Retrieved 1 September 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Rambilass, B. "NAITALI - SOUTH AFRICAN BHOJPURI" (PDF). indiandiasporacouncil.org. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  5. ^ Sudhir Kumar Mishra (22 March 2018). "Bhojpuri, 3 more to get official tag". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018.
  6. ^ "New chairman of Bhojpuri Academy | Patna News - Times of India". The Times of India. 28 August 2010.
  7. ^ a b "Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.
  8. ^ Bhojpuri Ethnologue World Languages (2009)[circular reference]
  9. ^ Experts, Arihant (1 February 2022). Jharkhand Sahivalye JGGLCCE Main Exam Paper 3 (General Knowledge) 2022. Arihant Publications India limited. ISBN 978-93-257-9990-5.
  10. ^ Gopal Thakur Lohar (4 June 2006). A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Bhojpuri Language in Nepal.
  11. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Rajend Mesthrie 1992, pages 30-32 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ucla was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ William J. Frawley, International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Volume 1, ISBN 0-19-513977-1, Oxford University Press, Bhojpuri, page 481
  14. ^ Frawley, William (May 2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: 4-Volume Set. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-513977-8.
  15. ^ Hindustani, Caribbean Archived 13 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine Ethnologue (2013)
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference UNESCO_bhoj was invoked but never defined (see the help page).