Romanagri– new language surfs airwaves across India
There’s a new language surfing airwaves across India—and in a fashion completely different from how the 6,000-odd languages that humans speak have evolved.While languages traditionally developed through the gradual accretion of words and syntax and spread through the brain and the tongue, “Romanagri”, as this portmanteau of English and Hindi is termed, mutates and proliferates via cellphones and not speech.This bastard stepchild of English is as befuddling and appalling to English language purists as it is natural to and ubiquitous among young Indians.Romanagri could simply be a regional language written in English as a phone message or Tweet, say—such as “Mera naam Jacob hain” (my name is Jacob). It could involve using a regional language in part of a message—such as “Time for daaru” (effectively, let’s get a drink). Or it could involve more complex combinations—such as “Picture main feel nahin thee” (The film lacked pizzazz). More.
See: Live Mint
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