ABSTRACT

One factor that has united Fijians of Indian descent is the language of Fiji Hindi, or Fiji Baat. Developed on the plantations of the indenture period, it is now the mother tongue of virtually all Indo-Fijians, distinct from the Standard Hindi that is taught in schools. This paper examines the way these two varieties of Hindi have been metalinguistically reconstructed from the early colonial period to the present day, focusing particularly on the labels Hindustani, Hindi, Fiji Hindi and Fiji Baat. We examine the extent to which Fiji Hindi fits into the pan-Fijian identity that is supposed to unite all Fiji citizens without drawing attention to ethnic difference. We argue that the acceptance of Fiji Hindi as part of a hybrid national identity is impeded both by this political erasure of ethnicity, and by the lingering negative attitudes expressed by its own speakers about the intralingual variation within Hindi.

摘要

将印度裔斐济人团结在一起的一个因素是斐济印地语或斐济 Baat 语言。它是在契约时期的种植园发展起来的，现在几乎是所有印度斐济人的母语，区别于学校教授的标准印地语。本文探讨了这两个品种的印地文已经从早期的殖民时期到目前的一天被metalinguistically重建的方式，特别注重标签斯坦，印地文，斐济印地文和斐济BAAT. 我们研究了斐济印地语在多大程度上融入了泛斐济身份，这种身份应该团结所有斐济公民，而不会引起对种族差异的关注。我们认为，斐济印地语作为混合民族认同的一部分受到这种政治抹杀以及斐济印地语的发言者对印地语内部变化所表达的挥之不去的负面态度的阻碍。