languagesHindi

Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language in the Indo-European family. It is the most widely spoken native language in India and, together with Urdu, forms the Hindustani lingua franca in much of the northern plains. The standardized form of Hindi is based largely on the Khariboli dialect of the Delhi region and is written predominantly in the Devanagari script. Differences between Hindi and Urdu are primarily script and literary vocabulary, rather than core grammar.

Geographic distribution and speakers: In India, Hindi is spoken across the Hindi belt, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi, and it serves as a common means of communication nationwide. Estimates place the number of speakers in the hundreds of millions, with a large pool of second-language users. The language is also spoken by diaspora communities in countries such as Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, and in North America and Europe, where it is reinforced by media and education.

History and dialects: Hindi emerged from earlier Prakrits and Apabhramsa and developed into a standardized form under the influence of the Hindustani milieu during medieval and early modern periods. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the modern Hindi-Urdu register split stylistically along script and nationalism lines. Regional dialects such as Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Braj Bhasha, and Haryanvi are often treated as separate languages by some scholars, though they form part of the broader Hindi-Urdu continuum.

Script and official status: Devanagari is the primary script for standard Hindi, though other scripts have been used historically. In India, Hindi is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an official language of the central government, with extensive use in education, media, and administration. It also holds official status in several states and is widely taught to learners worldwide.