Number of speakers
According to the 1991 census of India, Hindi is spoken by about
337 million people in India as the mother tongue, which makes up
about 40 % of India's 1991 population. About 180 million people in
India regard Standard Hindi as their mother tongue. Another 300
million use it as second language.
History of the Hindi Language
Hindi shares with English and most other European languages the
same ancestral roots. They evolved from a language thought to have
been spoken in Central Asia around 5,000 BC, called the
Indo-European parent language. For this reason, many basic words in
Hindi are similar or the same as their equivalent in English.
English words of Hindi origin include cot, loot, thug, chintz,
bandanna, dungaree, pundit, coolie, tom-tom, and juggernaut.
Hindi language has its roots in the classical Sanskrit language.
The language acquired its current form over many centuries. Like
Sanskrit, Hindi is written in the Devnagari script, which is common
to several other Indian languages as well. Much of the vocabulary
of Hindi comes from Sanskrit, though Hindi also has a special
relationship with Urdu. Their grammar and much of their vocabulary
are virtually identical. Linguists think of Hindi and Urdu as the
same language, the difference being that Urdu is written in Persian
script and draws on Persian and Arabic.