Hinglish on 'X': IIT Delhi Study Highlights Bollywood's Impact on Language Fusion

IIT Delhi researchers analysed Hinglish growth on 'X' (formerly Twitter), finding it enhances user engagement with a wider audience, especially aided by Bollywood. Know details here

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, in a joint study, have conducted a thorough analysis of the increase of Hinglish, a hybrid language blending Hindi and English, on social media platforms, notably ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). Their findings reveal that Hinglish enhances user engagement across a diverse audience, with Bollywood playing a pivotal role in its increasing popularity.

Professor Tanmoy Chakraborty and researchers at the Laboratory of Computational Social Systems (LCS2) conducted a comprehensive statistical and econometric analysis, examining 260,000 posts on platform 'X' from 17,000 users. Their findings revealed that over 34% of users favour Hinglish, facilitating more effective connections with their followers.

Rise of Hinglish Code-Mixing on Social Media

The research article titled "Social, economic, and demographic factors drive the emergence of Hinglish code-mixing on social media" was recently published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, a publication by Nature (available at www.nature.com/articles/s41599-024-03058-6).

Bollywood's Influence on Growth of Hinglish-Speaking Population

According to the study, the Hinglish-speaking population has shown consistent growth from 2014 to 2022, with an annualized increase of 1.2%. Concurrently, the annual usage of Hinglish on platform 'X' has risen by 2%. Researchers attribute this growth to a demand for greater audience engagement and relatability.

The researchers have expanded on Bollywood's impact on the evolution of Hinglish, noting frequent references to popular actors that have contributed to its proliferation. The study underscores socio-economic factors such as living standards and internet usage as significant catalysts for the adoption of Hinglish.

“Considering these external factors, we developed an econometric model to predict Hinglish's future evolution. This model helps understand the broader implications of socio-economic conditions on language usage,” said said Prof. Tanmoy Chakraborty, Electrical Engg., IIT Delhi.

This insight into the contextual nature of Hinglish provides a deeper understanding of how language evolves in different settings. The researchers further addressed the challenges that Hinglish presents for natural language processing (NLP) technologies. Traditional NLP models, designed for monolingual data, struggle with the complexities of code-mixed languages like Hinglish.

Read More

• IIT Delhi Open House for JEE Advanced 2024 Qualified Candidates on June 15; Check Details Here
• IIT Delhi Opens Abu Dhabi Campus Admission via JEE Advanced 2024 Scores