Fiji Hindi/Vocabulary/Numbers
Though broadly based on standard Hindi, counting in Fiji Hindi reflects a number of cross-language and dialectal influences picked up in the past 125 years. The pronunciation for numbers between one and ten show slight inflections, seemingly inspired by eastern Hindi dialects such as Bhojpuri. The number two, consequently, is do (दो) in standard Hindi, while in Fiji Hindi it is dui (दुइ), just as it is in Bhojpuri. Similarly, the number six in standard Hindi is chhah (छह) while in Fiji Hindi it is pronounced as chhe (छे). Words for numbers between 10 and 99 present a significant difference between standard Hindi and Fiji Hindi. While, as in other north Indian languages, words for numbers in standard Hindustani are formed by mentioning digits first and then multiples of ten, Fiji Hindi reverses the order and mentions the tens multiple first and the digits next, as is the practice in many European languages and south Indian languages. That is to say, while 'twenty-one' in Standard Hindi is 'ikkiis' (इक्कीस), an internal sandhi of 'ek aur biis', or 'one-and-twenty', in Fiji Hindi it would reverse the order, and simply be 'biis aur ek' (बिस और एक), without any additional morphophonological alteration. Similarly, while the number thirty-seven in standard Hindi is 'saintiis' (सैंतीस), for 'saat aur tiis' or 'seven-and-thirty', the number would be तिस और सात, 'tiis aur saat', or 'thirty-and-seven' in Fiji Hindi. Additionally, powers of ten beyond ten-thousand, lakh (100,000) and karor (10 million) are not used in Fiji Hindi.
A list of Fiji Hindi numbers (1-20) is shown below, together with Standard Hindi, for comparison.
| English | Fiji Hindi | Standard Hindi |
|---|---|---|
| one | ek | ek |
| two | dui | do |
| three | tiin | tiin |
| four | chaar | chaar |
| five | paanch | paanch |
| six | chhe | chhah |
| seven | saat | saat |
| eight | aath | aath |
| nine | nau | nau |
| ten | das | das |
| eleven | gyaara | gyaarah |
| twelve | baara | baarah |
| thirteen | teraa | teraah |
| fourteen | chaudaa | chaudaah |
| fifteen | pandra | pandrah |
| sixteen | solaa | solaah |
| seventeen | satraa | satraah |
| eighteen | athaara | athraah |
| nineteen | unniis | unniis |
| twenty | biis | biis |