ABSTRACT
Regarding the history and structure of Bhojpuri nothing has been recorded – a statement which holds for all the 'transplanted' Indian languages of South Africa. A broad classification of the language families of India follows as a prelude to the discussion of the linguistic affiliations of the South Africa-bound migrants. The indentured Indian of nineteenth-century Natal, initially restricted to working on sugar and sometimes coffee plantations, found on completion of his contract that there was some scope for individual economic development. Some left the British colony of Natal in search of employment in the gold and diamond fields of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, until the free movement of Indians was restricted at the turn of the century. In most areas of Natal, South African Bhojpuri tends to be the second most widely spoken Indian language after Tamil.
