From: "Salil Tripathi" <salil61-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: chinese info for salil
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 08:10:30 +0000



Many thanks, Malcolm and Evelyn, for this lucid explanation. ON the same 
topic, two thoughts, related to comments by other post-ers. Perhaps Hindi 
and Marathi, which use Devanagari script, could be added to this list. Both 
are not totally incomprehensible to one another, and the popularity of Hindi 
cinema may mean that those who can read Marathi can read Hindi and 
understand it, but the reverse is not the case, unless the Hindi-literate is 
in a city like Bombay. Also, as regards Hindi and Urdu: while in general 
simple Hindi and Urdu are mutually comprehensible, my guess is that the 
Arabicisation of Urdu on one hand and Sanskritisation of Hindi on the other 
make mutual comprehension, too, difficult. Television news in either 
language would be harder and harder to follow, for instance, since both use 
official texts. "This is a mango and that is a naan" is understandable in 
either language, but not, for example, complicated street directions.

Also, wonder what the thoughts are on this list about Gandhi's view, that 
all Indian languages should use the same script -- Baal-bodh, as he called 
it, or slightly amended Devanagari -- for greater mutual comprehension and 
integration. Some Gujarati authors, like Mahendra Meghani, the son of the 
poet Zaverchand Meghani, for those familiar with western Indian 
literature....

Salil

Salil


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