Dear Harry,

This is an interesting question; some of the variations in spelling date all the way back to attempts at standardizing the language that came about in the last decades of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th. Some of the greatest philologists of the Hindi tradition, such as Hazariprasad Dvivedi, weighed in on aspects of spelling. Grammar manuals from different periods and by different authors offer varying rules in this regard (and do not follow any type of regional distinctions, as far as I know). It would be interesting to find out whether anyone has actually done a historical study of these rules and their development.

All best,

Tyler

On Fri, Dec 2, 2016 at 9:23 PM, Harry Spier <hspier.muktabodha@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you Dick,

You've made it much clearer. What is the source of these variations in spelling the Govt. is trying to standardize, Are these regional variations?

Harry Spier
On Fri, Dec 2, 2016 at 7:45 AM, Dick Plukker <d.plukker@inter.nl.net> wrote:
Dear Harry Spier,

I am afraid I don’t know the Manak Hindi grammar book you mentioned, but the most recent (2016) publication (in Hindi) of the Central Hindi Directorate (of the Ministry of Human Resource Development), Standardization of Devanagari Script and Hindi Spelling, says on p. 30, par. 3.13 (on the euphonic glides ya and va) that in cases where the use of ya is optional (jhukāye or jhukāe) the spelling with the glide is to be avoided. The same rule was formulated in earlier publications of the Directorate, already in the sixties of the previous century.

It is not a spelling reform, but rather an attempt from the side of the government to standardize the spelling of Hindi.

The booklet can be downloaded for free at:

http://hindinideshalaya.nic.in/hindi/schemeofpublication/FinalDevnagriLipi_05-07-2016.pdf

Yours,

Dick Plukker
Op 2-12-2016 om 09:14 schreef Harry Spier:
Dear list members,

I've been asked a question about a Hindi spelling change and I'm not a Hindi speaker so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I've been told that the Manaki Hindi grammar book rule 2.13.1 says to change the spelling of āye to āe in Hindi words.

And the example I've been given is jhukāye should be spelled jhukhāe

I've been asked what this is about.
Is this a spelling modernization or some kind of official spelling reform?

Or two different types of Hindi spelling like British english and Amarican english?

Are there other spelling changes prescribed in the Manaki Hindi grammar book?

What is the Manaki Hindi grammar? Does it have some kind of special status.

Thanks,

Harry Spier
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