Impact of English on the Modern Hindi

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to provide a description of the linguistic behaviour and repertoire of the speakers of Hindi from the so-called middle-class of the capital city of Delhi, who come into contact with native speakers of English in their employment and everyday life. Therefore, the thesis starts with CHAPTER ONE, where I described and explained the methodology and material used (1.1.0), provided a definition of the middle class in India and its determinants (1.2.0.) in view to my respondents and thirdly gave a detailed insight into the multicultural and multilingual situation in Delhi (1.3.0.), where all of the respondents live. In CHAPTER TWO, I demonstrated the evolution of the language presently known as Hindi, i.e. a language that has been influenced and enriched by various cultures and languages, both from the internal sources such as the Sanskrit based words tatsama (2.1.1.), Hindi based words tadbhava (2.1.2.) and vernacular words called desi (2.2.) as well as external sources, such as Arabic (2.3.1.), Turkish (2.3.2.), Urdu (2.3.3.) or Persian (2.3.4.) and especially the linguistic influences connected with the European Colonial Powers, such as Portuguese (2.4.1.) and above all English (2.4.2.), whose influence started to be felt from the second half of the 19th century and culminated in the...