Fiji Hindi - Phonology

Phonology

The phonemes of Fijian Hindi are very similiar to Indian Hindi, but there are some important distinctions. As in Bhojpuri and Hindi spoken in rural India - Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh - the consonant "sh" is replaced with "s" (for example, saadi instead of shaadi) and "v" replaced with "b" (for example, bid-es instead of videsh). There is also a tendency to ignore the differences between the consonants "ph" and "f" (In Fiji Hindi a fruit is fal instead of phal) and between "j" and "z" (In Fijian Hindi land is jameen instead of zameen). The consonant "n" is used in Fijian Hindi for the nasal sounds "ṅ", "ñ" and "ṇ" in Indian Hindi. These features are common in the Eastern Hindi dialects. Some other characteristics of Fijian Hindi which is similar to Bhojpuri are:

• Pronunciation of the vowels ai and au as diphthongs, rather than monophthongs (as in standard Hindi). For example bhauji (sister-in-law) and gaiya (cow).
• Coda clusters are removed with the use of vowels. For exampe dharm (religion) is pronounced as dharam.
• Shortening of long vowels before a stressed symbol. For example Ra:jen (a common name) is pronounced as Rajen.