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

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.