East Indian language


Mumbai Marathi or the East Indian language is a dialect of Marathi with significant Portuguese influences and loanwords. Although it does not have a unique script, scripts of the other languages native to the regions its speakers inhabit are used. Devanagari and Latin is used by most of the speakers. East Indian is very popular language used for songs and dramas.

Differences from standard Marathi

All pronouns have a change from yah to te. Words in Marathi for yes, where, here, there, have different East Indian counterparts. Other grammatical nuances differ from standard-spoken Marathi.

Historical references

From the early days of the East India Company, there were no other Indian Christians in the North Konkan except the East Indian Catholics. Employments that were intended for Christians, were the monopoly of the East Indians. With development, came in railways and steamship, a boon for the travelling public. And with that came a number of immigrants from Goa who were also known as Portuguese Christians. The British found it expedient to adopt a designation which would distinguish the Christians of North Konkan who were British subjects and the Goan, who were Portuguese subjects. Accordingly, on the occasion of The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, the Christians of North Konkan, who were known as "Portuguese Christians" discarded that name and adopted the designation "East Indian". By the adoption of the name "East Indian" they wanted to impress upon the British Government of Bombay that they were the earliest Roman Catholic Subjects of the British Crown in this part of India, in as much as parts of Bombay, by its cession in 1661, were the first foothold the British acquired in India, after Surat. As the children of the soil, they urged on the Government, that they were entitled to certain natural rights and privileges as against the immigrants.