Chutnefying English: The Phenomenon of Hinglish

by Rita Kothari, Rupert Snell

'Tension mat le yaar' 'Aaj Middle East mein peace ho gayi' 'Yeh dil mange more' 'Zara zara touch me touch me' Something has happened to English; and something has happened to Hindi. These two languages, widely spoken across India, need to be understood anew through their 'hybridization' into Hinglish a mixture of Hindi and English that has begun to make itself heard everywhere from daily conversation to news, films, advertisements and blogs. How did this popular form of urban communication evolve? Is this language the new and trendy idiom of a youthful population no longer competent in either English or Hindi? Or is it an Indianized version of a once-colonial language, claiming its legitimate place alongside India's many bhashas? Chutnefying The Phenomenon of Hinglish, the first book on the subject, takes a serious look at this widespread phenomenon of our times which has pervaded every aspect of our daily lives. It addresses the questions that many speakers of both languages ask time and should Hinglish be spurned as the bastard offspring of its two parent languages, or welcomed as the natural and legitimate result of their long- term cohabitation? Leading scholars from literature, cultural studies, translation, cinema and new media come together to offer a collection of essays that is refreshingly new in thought and content.

Genres: Language

280 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 2011

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of this book, which is basically a conference proceedings, is better than the second half. Then again, the first half is comprised of academic papers where the second half is much more informal. The points raised throughout the book are noteworthy.

[Abhinav Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is one of the interesting book occupying my bookshelf. use of hinglish in India is just depicted in it. A must read for creative students.