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Indian languages in diaspora - towards a typology

Rajend Mesthrie

This paper offers a broad typology of Indian languages in diaspora within a historical sociolinguistic framework. The crux of the typology is the difference between the sociolinguistics of the language experiences of indentured labourers of the 19 th century in European colonies (which I term the 2 nd diaspora) and those of largely 20 th century immigrants into the metropolises and some independent former colonies (the 3 rd diaspora). A third category (the 1 st diaspora) is necessary for historical movements of Indians within Asia in early historical times. After motivating this typology (which is not without its problems) I focus on the linguistic characteristics of the 2 nd diaspora. I argue that this category can be characterised by linguistic `focussing’ and show how the field of study is in many ways parallel to that of pidgin and Creole studies (or creolistics). I present comparative data from studies of overseas varieties of Bhojpuri-Hindi (OBH) from Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad, South Africa, Suriname and Fiji, stressing the remarkable similarities in linguistic change in these parallel settings. I argue that language change can be seen as a sensitive indicator of the social history of diasporic communities. I also offer some insights that OBH studies offer for (a) creolistics and (b) studies of the 3 rd diaspora.