# The "higher" status language does not always win: The fall of English in India and the rise of Hindi

**Authors:** Kushani De Silva, Rana D. Parshad, Aladeen Basheer, Kwadwo Antwi-Fordjour, Matthew A. Beauregard, Vineeta Chand  
**arXiv:** [2002.05787](https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.05787)  
**Date:** 2020-02-10  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2002.05787v1/

## Key points

- English has historically out-competed languages like Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Mandarin in India due to its higher status
- Data from Indian censuses show a sharp increase in Hindi/English bilinguals from 1961-1991, suggesting that English was on the rise and potentially out-competing Hindi
- However, the 1991-2011 data shows a different story as monolingual Hindi speakers continue to rise exponentially while bilingual numbers have saturated
- This counter-intuitive dynamic challenges traditional understanding of language shift
- The authors propose a novel model that focuses on capturing the interaction between monolingual Hindi speakers and Hindi/English bilinguals using census data from the last 50 years
- Their model achieves near-perfect accuracy and surpasses existing models from literature
- This research offers an important example of a lower status language (Hindi) seemingly out-competing a higher status one (English) within a specific context (India)
- The authors contribute to our understanding of how languages evolve and compete within societies.

## Summary

In their paper titled "The 'higher' status language does not always win: The fall of English in India and the rise of Hindi," authors Kushani De Silva, Rana D. Parshad, Aladeen Basheer, Kwadwo Antwi-Fordjour, Matthew A. Beauregard, and Vineeta Chand discuss the dynamics of language shift in India. They argue that classical language dynamics theory does not fully capture the situation in India where English has historically out-competed languages like Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Mandarin due to its higher status. However, data from Indian censuses show a sharp increase in Hindi/English bilinguals from 1961-1991 suggesting that English was on the rise and potentially out-competing Hindi. This aligns with classical language dynamics theory but the 1991-2011 data tells a different story as monolingual Hindi speakers continue to rise exponentially while bilingual numbers have saturated. This counter-intuitive dynamic challenges traditional understanding of language shift. To address this discrepancy and provide a more accurate model for understanding language dynamics in India, the authors propose a novel model that focuses on capturing the interaction between monolingual Hindi speakers and Hindi/English bilinguals using census data from the last 50 years. Their model achieves near-perfect accuracy and surpasses existing models from literature. This research offers an important example of a lower status language (Hindi) seemingly out-competing a higher status one (English) within a specific context (India). By shedding light on this unique linguistic phenomenon, the authors contribute to our understanding of how languages evolve and compete within societies.