MUMBAI

Mumbai City, also known as Island City, South Bombay or Old Bombay, is one of India’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities. The linguistic plurality continues to define Mumbai City, with a range of languages spoken, from Marathi, the state’s official language, to Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, English, and many others. Additionally, the city is home to popular language variations and trending slangs and terms used by the younger generation due to the frequent exposure of social media such as the peculiar way residents of Dharavi and the South Bombay speak. However, some, such as the varieties of Mumbai’s oldest communities such as the Kolis, Maangelis, and Wadavalis, have become a lesser-known aspect of the district’s linguistic identity and are increasing at the risk of fading away. 

The linguistic landscape of Mumbai City can be characterized as ‘cosmopolitan’ and ‘pluralistic’ in nature. With the region often described as the ‘melting pot of diverse cultures, the district is home to a number of diverse speech communities, each having their own language as their mother tongue.

Remarkably, the 2011 Census of India reveals that a wide range of languages are spoken as mother tongues in Mumbai city district, reflecting its diverse population. The district had a total population of approximately 30 lakh (30,85,411), of which 35.93% reported Marathi as their first language. This was followed by Hindi (23.07%), Urdu (13.53%), and Gujarati (11.33%). Other languages spoken as mother tongues included Tamil (2.89%), Marwari (2.57%), Telugu (2.36%), Konkani (1.37%), Bengali (1.31%), and Kachchhi (0.82%).

In addition, Bhojpuri (0.81%), Punjabi (0.78%), Sindhi (0.62%), and English (0.45%) are spoken by sizable communities. Malayalam (0.43%), Odia (0.29%), Banjari (0.20%), Tulu (0.19%), and Nepali (0.18%) are among the many other languages spoken across the district.

Very notably, Census reports from 2001 and 2011 show that Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, have remained the most commonly spoken languages in the district over time. However, interestingly, they also highlight a notable feature, no single language is spoken by a majority of the population as a mother tongue. This multilingual character has been noted by linguistic anthropologist Jonathan Galton in a 2018 article, where he emphasizes how Mumbai’s linguistic diversity distinguishes it from other cosmopolitan cities such as London.

The linguistic profile of Mumbai Suburban, like that of the broader Mumbai Metropolitan Region, is shaped by the presence of multiple language communities. As Jonathan Galton (2018) notes, the city is “multilingual… in a different way.” This observation refers not only to the wide range of languages spoken but also to the absence of a single majority language. Census data shows that no one language is spoken by more than half the population as a mother tongue.

This multilingual character contributes to what many linguists might describe as a polyglossic environment, where several languages are used side by side in everyday life. In many localities, it is common to find signage, conversation, and artistic expression occurring in multiple languages simultaneously.

The multilingual nature of Mumbai is also visible in contemporary cultural forms such as hip-hop. In Dharavi, one of the largest informal settlements in the world, hip-hop has become a prominent medium of expression, particularly among youth. Artists frequently address issues related to class, identity, and space, drawing on the linguistic resources available to them.

Groups such as SlumGods have gained recognition for their use of rap to challenge dominant narratives about Dharavi. Their performances incorporate multiple languages, including Hindi, English, Marathi, Tamil, and Gujarati. Although some artists began by rapping in English, many shifted to regional languages in order to reach wider audiences and express themselves more effectively. Vivian Fernandes (DIVINE) and Tony Sebastian are among those who made this transition. Their work reflects the view that regional languages offer greater expressive capacity and cultural resonance.

Multilingual performance is now a common feature of Mumbai’s hip-hop scene. Crews such as Sout Dandy Squad use both English and Tamil in their lyrics, addressing a range of social issues, from child labour to environmental degradation. In these ways, hip-hop in Dharavi reflects the city’s broader linguistic practices.

As mentioned above, Mumbai’s hip-hop scene has grown into a distinct subculture, shaped by the city’s linguistic diversity and socio-economic landscape. The Dharavi rap genre is referred to as Gully Rap. Much like the Bronx in New York, where hip-hop emerged from inner-city struggles, Mumbai’s rap scene has its roots in digital spaces like former Orkut communities, where early enthusiasts engaged in text-based rap battles before transitioning to cyphers and freestyle competitions in public spaces.

The 2019 Bollywood film Gully Boy, directed by Zoya Akhtar, is based on the rise of Dharavi rappers DIVINE and Naezy (Naved Shaikh). It reflected a shift among Mumbai’s rappers—moving away from Western influences like Snoop Dogg and Eminem, toward artists such as Tupac, Biggie, and N.W.A., who used their local dialects to narrate their realities. Recognizing this, Mumbai’s hip-hop artists incorporated Hindi and the city’s street language into their lyrics, giving rise to a unique slang that blended Hindi, Marathi, and the signature Bambaiyya Hindi. As they aimed to capture the essence of street life, a new lexicon developed—words and phrases that reflected everyday experiences, struggles, and friendship. Many of these terms have now become a staple in Mumbai’s urban vocabulary.

Interestingly, hip-hop artists have drawn inspiration from the city’s underworld, where organized crime has long played a role in shaping street narratives. Much like Gangster Rap or Gangsta Rap in the United States, which was influenced by figures from the American crime world, Mumbai’s rappers incorporate themes of power, survival, and street justice into their lyrics; this influence has also introduced a distinct set of slang terms derived from the language of the Mumbai underworld.

The effects of multilingualism are also evident in the linguistic history of specific neighbourhoods. Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar (GTB Nagar), formerly known as Koliwada, became a resettlement area for Punjabi-speaking Sikh and Hindu refugees after the Partition of India in 1947. These communities settled in a region originally inhabited by Marathi-speaking Kolis, creating conditions for sustained language contact.

The result is a localized variety of Punjabi. As a resident of the Wada puts it in Aarefa Joshi’s (2018) article, “our Punjabi is also different, with a lot of Marathi and Hindi words in it.” This includes code-switching (switching between languages in conversation), lexical borrowing (adopting words from another language), and some degree of syntactic convergence (structures from one language influencing another), all processes that fall under what linguists refer to as contact-induced language change.

Many residents informally describe their variety as “Maratta Punjabi,” acknowledging its distinct features. This type of localized hybrid speech is a common outcome in multilingual urban environments, where prolonged contact between communities leads to gradual linguistic adaptation.

The South Bombay (SoBo) accent is a modern intonation prevalent among the English-speaking population of Mumbai City and the Bandra suburban region. This accent is distinguished by its unique sound patterns and grammatical structures, showcasing how English has been adapted to local usage. It is predominantly spoken by the influential elite and upper-class society, characterised by their power, wealth and education.

The distinctiveness of the SoBo accent is especially evident in the common phrases used by local residents, which showcase how they have adopted the accent in their own unique patterns of English usage. For instance, speakers commonly use expressions such as:

• “Where’re you going, yaa?”
• “Y’all need to visit this café, haa…it’s like, the bomb!”
• “Listen no babe, I have to go.”
• “Yaa! I know, right!? It was totally epic.”

Although the origins of the accent remain unclear, its adoption can be characterised as code-switching. Beverly Tatum, a psychologist and expert in race relations, defines code-switching as the “shifting or manipulating one’s behaviours to appeal to a different crowd or audience…It could refer to other cultural expressions as well—[like] style of dress[ing], physical mannerisms, and other forms of self-presentation,” including accents. Consequently, the influence of social media and Western trends may have fostered the spread and adoption of the SoBo accent among the youth, as a means of appearing fashionable or sophisticated.

One of the most popular instances of the SoBo accent in media are highlighted in the Hindi sitcom Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai (2004-2006; 2017), especially through the characters of Rosesh Sarabhai (played by Rajesh Kumar), Anirudh Mehta a.k.a. ‘Kaccha Kela’ (played by Aatish Kapadia), and Simple Killawala (played by Meher Acharia-Dar). The sitcom follows the lives of the Sarabhais, an ideal upper-class Gujarati family residing in the neighbourhood of Cuffe Parade, and highlights the hypocrisy of the elite society.

The Koli community, often considered the ‘oldest living inhabitants of Mumbai’, speak a distinct variant of Marathi that often reflects their maritime heritage and coastal lifestyle. This variety is characterized by a conversational tone and includes vocabulary and expressions unique to the community’s livelihood.

The linguistic peculiarities of the Koli dialect were noted by S.M. Edwardes in The Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island (1909), who observed that their Marathi differed from that spoken by Sonars, Prabhus, and others. The distinct features he observes is their use of the sibilant (a speech sound which has a ‘hissing effect’) sounds ‘ha’ in place of ‘sa’, ‘sa’ in place of ‘cha’, and more. He cites, thus, in their pronunciation, the word ‘chammade’ (leather) becomes ‘samde’.

The Koli dialect/language, like most regional varieties, has its own distinct vocabulary. Notably, many words are specifically used by the community that differ from what one might say in other varieties of Marathi. These words, interestingly, are correlated with the local environment and lifestyle of the community. The Kolis live in settlements which they call ‘wadas.’ A word that they usually use to demarcate areas within and outside the wadas is ‘paar.’ Additionally, they use the word ‘aagar valis’ to describe lanes or alleys. In other forms of Marathi or even Konkani, the word ‘वेस’ (Ves) or शीव (Sheev) is typically used for the former and ‘gully’ (गल्ली) for the latter. Both these words differ from other linguistic variations of Marathi when it comes to signifying these features.

Despite being a language variety which is spoken by Mumbai’s oldest community, today, the dialect/language stands at a critical juncture in its history.  Many fear that with time and the increasing urbanization of Mumbai, the usage of the dialect/language will disappear. In Mumbai’s koliwadas, many say that its use is rapidly declining. Mohit Ramale, president of the Akhil Koli Samaj Sanskruti Samvardhan Sangh (2023), observes that, “only 50 to 55% of people in the koliwadas of Mumbai speak the original Koli language.” He also points out a deeper cultural issue, i.e. “Ever since urbanisation reached the koliwadas of Mumbai, many [Kolis] feel an inferiority complex about speaking our own language.” Furthermore, the dialect/language neither enjoys any mainstream attention.

This decline in usage is just one of the variety’s challenges. Koli scholar Bhagwan Dandekar (2023) highlights that the dialect/language has never been fully documented, which has prevented it from being “given literary status.” Given these concerns, there have been calls for immediate action. Language scholar Prakash Parab urges academic institutions, particularly the University of Mumbai, to lead efforts in researching and preserving the Koli variety. Such initiatives would likely play a crucial role in preserving the language variety and the district’s linguistic heritage.

Wadavali is the language of the Wadaval community, settled in Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Daman. They also inhabit areas like Vasai, Palghar, and Dahanu, and are known as Eadwals or Wadavals. The term ‘Wadaval’ means one who works on a vineyard or farm growing various creepers. The community has lived in Girgaon and the Juhu area in Mumbai for many years, and are mentioned in Y. D. Phadke and Vasanti Phadke’s book Mumbaiche Khare Malak Kon?

Fearing language extinction, Wadavali community leaders have taken steps to popularize the language through social programs, documenting orally transmitted folk songs and folklore through printing and recordings.

The Devanagiri consonants ‘स’ (sə) ‘श’ (ʃə) become ‘ह’ (hə) in Wadavali. The following table illustrates some words in Marathi, along with their Wadavali variants and phonetic transcriptions:

Similarly, ‘च’ (tʃə) becomes ‘स’ (sə) or ‘श’ (ʃə) in some places.

As observed in the table above, the word ‘शिस’ has dropped the nasal pronunciation, which is evident in Wadavali language.

When it comes to the vocabulary, most of the nouns and verbs in Wadavali are similar to Marathi, but have been simplified for the community for easy pronunciation in daily use.

Maangeli is the language variety spoken by the Maangele community in Maharashtra, referred to as Tandela Jaatila Maangela in historian V.K. Rajwade’s historical document Mahikarwatichi Bakhar. In another historical document, handwritten by a Nashik-based priest named Annaji Nanaji Chandrarate, the community refers to itself as Maangele-Taandele. The term ‘Taanda’ means a group of people on a ship, while ‘taandel’ refers to their leader. Very interestingly, it is mentioned in the volume Languages of Maharashtra (2017) that this term was also used to refer to the Konkan area in ancient times.

The community originally belonged to Telugu families and was influenced by Aryan culture and language in the Andhra region. After migrating from Andhra Pradesh to the Konkan seashore, they settled as professional fishermen and spread roughly from Umbergaon (Gujarat) to Mumbai. Some members of the Maangele community may have migrated from the north, communicating in a corrupt form of Prakrit that resembled Marathi. Smaller groups within the community spoke regional languages such as Maangeli, Warli, Thakari, and Koli, settling along the present-day borders of Maharashtra about 2,500 years ago.

Today, the Maangeles are settled in the coastal towns of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, and Diu and Daman; their population is notably present in areas of Mumbai City such as Colaba, Cuffe Parade, and Mahim.

Many words in Maangeli share similarities with Marathi, but they have been either simplified or renamed to make daily use easier for the community. The following table illustrates some words: