Hindusztáni

Hindusztáni is a broad term referring to the Hindustani language, which is a major lingua franca of northern India and Pakistan. It is a standardized register of the Hindi-Urdu language continuum. While often considered a single language, it exists as a spectrum with Hindi and Urdu as its standardized literary forms, which differ primarily in their script and vocabulary influenced by Sanskrit and Persian respectively. Hindustani developed from the interaction of early Indo-Aryan dialects with Persian, Turkic, and Arabic influences in the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire.

The grammatical structure of Hindustani is largely identical for both Hindi and Urdu. The primary divergence lies in the writing system: Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, while Urdu is written in a Perso-Arabic script. Vocabulary also differs, with Hindi drawing more heavily from Sanskrit and Urdu incorporating a significant amount of Persian and Arabic loanwords. Despite these differences, speakers of Hindi and Urdu can generally understand each other when speaking.

Hindustani, in its spoken form, is widely used in informal settings and popular culture across India and Pakistan, including Bollywood films and music. It serves as a common linguistic bridge in a region with many distinct regional languages and dialects. The term "Hindustani" itself emphasizes the shared linguistic heritage of the Indian subcontinent.