THE “HIGHER” STATUS LANGUAGE DOES NOT ALWAYS WIN: THE FALL OF ENGLISH IN INDIA AND THE RISE OF HINDI

Kushani de Silva, Aladeen Basheer, Kwadwo Antwi-Fordjour, Matthew A. Beauregard, Vineeta Chand and Rana D. Parshad
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Kushani de Silva: Department of Mathematics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Aladeen Basheer: #x2020;Department of Mathematics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Kwadwo Antwi-Fordjour: #x2021;Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Samford University, Birmingham, AL 35229, USA
Matthew A. Beauregard: #xA7;Department of Mathematics, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX 75962, USA
Vineeta Chand: #xB6;Snoring Orange Studio, 1150 6th Street, Berkeley CA 94710, USA
Rana D. Parshad: Department of Mathematics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), 2020, vol. 23, issue 08, 1-20

Abstract: Classical language dynamics explain language shift as a process in which speakers adopt a higher status language in lieu of a lower status language. This is well documented with English having out-competed languages such as Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Mandarin. The 1961–1991 Indian censuses report a sharper increase in Hindi/English Bilinguals compared to Monolingual Hindi speakers, suggesting that English is on the rise in India — and is out-competing Hindi. However, the 1991–2011 data show that Bilingual numbers have saturated, while Monolingual Hindi speakers continue to rise exponentially. To capture this counter-intuitive dynamic, we propose a novel language dynamics model of interaction between Monolingual Hindi speakers and Hindi/English Bilinguals, which captures the Indian census data of the last 50 years with greater accuracy, than other well-known language dynamics models. We thus provide a first example of a lower status language having out competed English, a higher status language.

Keywords: Language dynamics; language shift; Bilingualism; ODE model; Hindi; English (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1142/S0219525920500216

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