Deccani language

Deccani (دکنی, dekanī or دکھنی, dakhanī) also known as Deccani Urdu or Deccani Hindi is a language spoken in the Deccan region of south-central India and the native language of the Deccani people. The historical form of Deccani sparked the development of Urdu literature during the late-Mughal period. Deccani arose as a lingua franca under the Delhi and Bahmani Sultanates, as trade and migration from the north introduced Hindustani to southern India. It later developed a literary tradition under the patronage of the Deccan Sultanates. Deccani came to influence Khariboli, on which Urdu and Hindi are based.

The official language of the Deccan Sultanates was Persian, and due to this, Deccani has had an influence from the Persian language. In the modern era, it has mostly survived as a spoken lect and is not a literary language. Deccani differs from northern Hindustani sociolects due to archaisms retained from the medieval era, as well as a convergence with and loanwords from the Deccan's regional languages like Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi spoken in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and some parts of Maharashtra. Deccani has been increasingly influenced by Standard Urdu, especially noticed in Hyderabadi Urdu, which serves as its formal register.

There are three primary dialects of Deccani Urdu spoken today: Hyderabadi Urdu, Mysore Urdu, and Madrasi Urdu. Hyderabadi Urdu is the closest of these dialects to Standard Urdu.

The term "Deccani" and its variants are often used in two different contexts: a historical, obsolete one, referring to the medieval-era literary predecessor of Hindi-Urdu; and an oral one, referring to the dialect spoken in many areas of the Deccan today. Both contexts have intricate historical ties.