Hindi dialects

[SpiralArchitect]

A lot of languages in Northern India are considered by some people as being merely dialects of Hindi. Languages like Rajasthani (and its variants), Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Haryanvi, Pahari, Chattisgarhi etc are all at times just considered dialects and not seperate languages.

Seeing the major differences between these languages/dialects would you consider them just dialects or seperate languages from Hindi? Having a decent amount of knowledge of a few of these languages, I believe that while there are indeed many similarities between them a few of them could be considered seperate languages and not merely dialects. For example, Rajasthani has so many differences from the other dialects that it just can't be grouped with them while Haryanvi can be considered a dialect and not a language.

What is your opinion, fellow Hindi-bhashis?

[arizona]

Hey there- well, that's a really nice post out there. Well, in my opinion I would still consider them dialects rather than a new language because the origin is still Hindi. I do not know about other languages like haryani and all but I do understand bhojpuri because it is really close to Hindi therefore making it a dialect.

[Meera]

Hi SpiralArchitect, I think it depends. For me personally, it's almost impossible for me to understand Rajasthani. I would consider it a diffirent language, but I don't know if native speakers can understand it or not. Bhojpuri would be the eaisest for me to understand, although I haven't heard Haryanvi.

[SpiralArchitect]

I personally would consider Haryanvi to be a dialect because its just too similar to pure Hindi and Rajasthani to be a seperate language but the situation gets murky if you look at further variants(or dialects) of Rajasthani like shekhawati which has many similarities with haryanvi because of geographical proximity.

Bhojpuri is a dialect for sure. Its just too similar.

[Meera]

Yeah it's really difficult to understand Rajasthani especially when it is above basic sentances, I can't make out anything.

[BWL]

When I started leaning Hindi and Urdu years ago, I watched a Bhojpuri movie with some friends who were from that region of India and I was shocked at how much I understood! It gets more difficult with dialects further to the east and by the time you reach Bengal, it's a full-fledged language that's has its own grammar and structure.

[SpiralArchitect]

Yeah. Bengali is a completely different language from Hindi. Even some of the tribal languages spoken in Jharkhand have little common with Hindi. Even close to Rajasthan, Gujarati is a language in its own right.

[Meera]

Yeah Bengali is completely different from Hindi. When I'm studying Bengali sometimes I think the only thing they have in common is words I'm kidding, but they are pretty different. I really like how Bengali doesn't have gender though

[BWL]

Yes, I think many Eastern Indian languages have lost the gender system. Bengali verbs do not even have a plural distinction, so they say "Ami khai" (I eat) and "Amra khai" (We eat). Compare "She khay" (He eats) and "Tara khay" (They eat).

Bengali makes not difference between "eats" and "eat" unlike Hindi which has a plural and gender differences in all verbs.

[SpiralArchitect]

Its especially amusing when Bengalis speak in Hindi and confuse the gender. They seem to refer to things by the wrong gender far too much.

[Meera]

Yes, I think many Eastern Indian languages have lost the gender system. Bengali verbs do not even have a plural distinction, so they say "Ami khai" (I eat) and "Amra khai" (We eat). Compare "She khay" (He eats) and "Tara khay" (They eat).

Bengali makes not difference between "eats" and "eat" unlike Hindi which has a plural and gender differences in all verbs.

Yeah and I have noticed in simple sentenced they like to drop the "to be" verb. Like "ini ke?" "Ini amar baba" lol