Bhojpuri language
(Redirected from Bhojpuri)
Categories: Indo-Aryan languages | Languages of India | Indo-European language stubs
| Bhojpuri (भोजपुरी) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | India, Mauritius, Nepal |
| Region: | Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal |
| Total speakers: | 26 million |
| Ranking: | 37 |
| Genetic classification: | Indo-European
Indo-Iranian |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | none |
| Regulated by: | none |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | bh |
| ISO 639-2 | bho |
| SIL | BHJ |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Bhojpuri is the main language spoken in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh. Bhojpuri is also spoken in Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius and is often said to be the only Indian language to be spoken on all continents. It is sometimes considered to be a dialect of Hindi (the main language in official and written use in the states above). It is definitely part of the mix of languages and dialects that also include Urdu and what is referred to as Hindustani. The three languages (some would say dialects), especially as they are spoken on the street, are mutually intelligible. Bhojpuri and several closely related languages, including Maithili and Magahi, are known as the Bihari languages, which are part of the Eastern Zone group of the Indo-Aryan languages, which includes Bengali and Oriya.
There are several dialects of Bhojpuri, including three or four in eastern Uttar Pradesh alone.
Number of speakers
Bhojpuri is usually quoted to have about 25 million speakers in India, 1.4 million speakers in Nepal and 300,000 speakers in Mauritius. Unofficially, this is, at best, a rough estimation.
See also
- Hindustani language
- Languages of India
- List of national languages of India
- List of Indian languages by total speakers
External links
- Entry for this language in the Ethnologue database.