« 5 ft FIJI A BASIC COURSE AND REFERENCE GRAMMAR b y R O D N E Y F. M O A G o > Printed by Pine Printers Pty Ltd.. Cant>erra A C T. 2609 THE HINDI ALPHABET AND ITS ENGLISH TRANSCRIPTION V ow els INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT Nasal Nasal ST - a "5C or i t - a = ka * or ^ ■ 5TT = aa 3 i\ or 3 $ = aa ^ = kaa 3F5T qj* = r - i a ; - i ■ÖT = ki ■ftfr , k-; ^ ■ Ü £ - i i = k li ^ - k £ t 3 - - u $ - - u ^ = ku ^ - ku 3T = uu *■ - uu ^T = kuu t l = kuu ^S’! ^**1 ^ 5T - e 5T > e ^cFT = ke ^0 = u % ^ ” *\ *Y = a i * . ai *** = kai % . k - i = 0 s j f . 0 ^ = ko k-' s V - au s K au ^ = kau = k --‘ C o n so n a n ts t*"l = ka = kha 'll = ga <a = gha ■ 0a - cha = chha ST - j a IfT o r XT” = jh a = na 3* = Ta s = Tha 3" = Da s - Dha o r •'ir - :;a <T = ta T-r = tha ^ = da - iha ^ = na “ pa CR = f a / (H = ba TT = bha ^ = na pha Tt - ya T = ra = la sr = wa = « h a ^~ = Sha XT = sa «r = ha ^T" = Ra 3" • Rha ?T * ksha "5T - t r a This book was published by ANU Press between 1965–1991. This republication is part of the digitisation project being carried out by Scholarly Information Services/Library and ANU Press. This project aims to make past scholarly works published by The Australian National University available to a global audience under its open-access policy. • ftitfta FIJI HINDI A BASIC COURSE AND REFERENCE GRAMMAR by Rodney F. Moag Fulbright Fellow In Linguistics in consultation with Rama Narayan Senior Education Officer, Hindi Curriculum Development Unit Education Department Government of Fiji Manuscript Design by Louisa Booth Moag » ./WO*v-» LC-.: fUSTURN T&t- r' “ ', a I n r p a r v r * . r ~ \ ^ I E D h At- b Hu* *»« I i M 41 » f) : 7 ' U U S I 8 Ä L I Ä 8 IIH iUi5 .w. ili I L Si u 1 » »' j Australian National University Press in collaboration with Extension Services University of the South Pacific Suva, Fiji RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE i> 2-<K PüBLiöÄTiON DATE First published in Australia 1977 Printed in Australia for the Australian National University Press, Canberra (c) Rodney F. Moag 1977 This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Moag, Rodney F. Fiji Hindi : a basic course and reference grammar. Index. ISBN 0 7081 1574 8 1. Hindi language - Dialects. 491.43’834'21 Southeast Asia: Angus 6 Robertson (S.E. Asia) Pty Ltd, Singapore Japan: United Publishers Services Ltd, Tokyo ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Work on this volume was made possible by an extended grant under the U.S. Government's Visiting Fulbright Professor Program from 1975-77. I am also indebted to the University of the South Pacific for allowing me time away from other duties in order to complete the book. Individual contributors to the work are many. It was Marjorie Crocombe, Director of the Fiji Center, who provided the spark by suggesting that the lessons being prepared for the extension course in Hindi be compiled into a book. In the Fiji-wide fieldwork, Master Ram Pidarath hosted my family and served as principal informant in Taganikula village, Vanua Levu and Master Muni Deo rendered similar assistance in the Sigatoka Valley. Many others served as willing language informants in Savusavu, Taveuni, and all around Viti Levu. Through the writing, revision, and trialing several persons made significant contributions. Narendra Prasad not only served as model voice on language lab. tapes, but made many helpful suggestions on naturalness of dialogues and exercises. Saroj Prasad wrote much of the Hindi script, and she and Urmila Bajpai proofed and attested the entire text. Raymond Pillai of the University's English staff, a trained linguist, who is currently writing a play in Fiji"Hindi, went maticulously through the appendices. Subramani, also of the English staff, made many useful comments on various aspects of the text. The principal of Suva Grammar School, Mr. Sarvan Singh, arranged the trialing of the book in second language Hindi classes in his school. Others played crucial roles. Loraini Qase did a large amount of the final typing and Gil Dixon helped with drafts. Patrick Fong designed the cover, while Uday Singh and Atandra Nath prepared maps and illustrations. The staffs of both Extension Services and the School of Education Media Services aided in preparing, printing, and collating of preliminary copies. Finally at this stage, Joan Thomson, University Publications Officer, edited the entire manuscript for consistency and punctuation. Rama Narayan, the consultant, helped in writing some of the dialogues and taught the test lessons for two terms. He further proofed all materials for naturalness and rendered significant help in compiling the appendices. My wife, Louisa, has been the real force behind the completion of this work, doing whatever was needed from writing Hindi script to collating. I wish there was some adequate means to compensate her for two years of unstinting dedication and fulltime work. To her, and to all those who helped with this endeavor, my sincere thanks. Rodney F. Moag Suva, Fiji, 1977 Hi INTRODUCTION Fiji Hindi is the home language of some 270,000 people, comprising fifty-three percent of the population of Fiji, an Island nation in the South Pacific. The forefathers of today's Fiji Indians came to Fiji to work as indentured labourers in the sugar industry during the period 1879-1920. They spoke a wide variety of Hindi dialects, other North Indian languages, plus the four Dravidian languages from South India. With this tremendous diversity of language background, the linguistic homogeneity which one finds among the Fiji Indian community today is nothing short of amazing. Other Indian languages have, for all intents and purposes, disappeared, and today nearly everyone uses Fiji Hindi as his home language. Wherever one goes in Fiji today, the language of the Indians is the same. Indeed, the linguistic differences between those living on the two main islands. Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, amount to some half dozen words. Also, Fiji Hindi seems to have existed in its present form for a long time in Fiji, for the oldest persons that one finds, including former indentured labourers from India, speak virtually the same Hindi as the young people of today. This author has encountered some persons in the rural areas of both main islands who recall a different set of verb endings now fallen into disuse, but their origin or history has not been traced. Fiji Hindi combines elements from several of the major regional Hindi dialects of North India. Fiji Indians are fond of saying that it derives from the Bhoj Puri dialect spoken in India's Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh States. This cannot be supported, however, as there are many elements in Fiji Hindi, including most of the verb endings, which are found in other Hindi dialects and not in Bhoj Puri. Very careful research is needed in Fiji and in India before the important questions of the origins of Fiji Hindi can be answered. Introduction Whatever its origins, Fiji Hindi is regarded as a corrupted and substandard form of the language by those who speak it. In this, it is identical in prestige level and social function to most of the regional dialects of Hindi in India. It is a spoken language used for informal purposes only. On all formal occasions, and whenever Hindi has been written down in Fiji, it has been standard Hindi - a variety of the language used in Hindu worship, literature, broadcasting, and newspapers in both India and Fiji. Moreover to date in schools in Fiji only standard Hindi is taught and never the vernacular. This text, therefore, represents the first time that a body of Fiji Hindi has been put to writing. For some, this may seem a welcome innovation, for others a grave injustice. It must be borne in mind that one of the major purposes of the book is to teach non-Hindi speakers, which include nearly half of Fiji's population as well as interested foreigners, to learn the type of language which will allow them to function socially within the Fiji Indian community. Learning standard Hindi would limit one to one-way communi­ cation in most everyday situations. The learner could be understood but would understand very little of what was spoken back to him. He could understand the language used in the classroom, in religious gatherings and at formal meetings, but would understand very little of what was said to him in the market, on the streets, in the field or in the home. Moreover, standard Hindi signals social distance as well as formality. Thus, the ability to both speak and comprehend Fiji Hindi is absolutely essential for the outsider to have two-way communication in socially relaxed and intimate situations. Fiji Indians, on the other hand, tend to have a one-way communication problem in formal situations. Knowing Fiji Hindi natively, they can function fully in informal situations, but many acquire only a passive ability in standard Hindi. This is closely tied up with the use of English in many formal situations in the towns as well as the use of that language as medium of instruction in the schools from class four onward.