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Encyclopedia > Languages of India

" languages" redirects here. For languages of Native Americans, see Indigenous languages of the Americas.

The languages of India primarily belong to two major linguistic families, Indo-European (whose branch Indo-Aryan is spoken by about 70% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by about 22%). Other languages spoken in India come mainly from the Dardic language family, the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman linguistic families, as well as a few language isolates.[1] Indigenous languages of the Americas (or Amerindian Languages) are spoken by indigenous peoples from the southern tip of South America to Alaska and Greenland, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. ... A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common proto-language. ... For other uses, see Indo-European. ... The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic[1]) are a branch of the Indo-European language family. ... For other uses, see Dravidian (disambiguation). ... The Dards are an Indo-Aryan (the issue as to whether the Dardics are a subgroup of the Indo-Aryans or a separte Indo-European family is not yet settled) ethnic group living in Afghanistan, Pakistan and a few scattered villages in a remote region of Ladakh district, itself a... The Austroasiatic languages are a large language family of Southeast Asia and India. ... The Tibeto-Burman linguistic subfamily of the proposed Sino-Tibetan language family is spoken in various central and south Asian countries: Myanmar (Burmese language), Tibet (Tibetan language), northern Thailand (Mong language), Nepal, Bhutan, India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and the Ladakh region of... A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or genetic) relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common to any other language. ...


Individual mother tongues in India number several hundred[2] (SIL Ethnologue lists 415). According to Census of India of 2001, 29 languages are spoken by more than a million native speakers, 122 by more than 10,000. Three millennia of language contact has led to significant mutual influence among the four language families in India and South Asia. Two contact languages have played an important role in the history of India: Persian and English.[3] “Native Language” redirects here. ... Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... The History of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent from 3300 to 1700 BCE. This Bronze Age civilization was followed by the Iron Age Vedic period, which witnessed the rise of major kingdoms known as the Mahajanapadas. ... Farsi redirects here. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...


Sanskrit and Tamil are the classical languages of India according to the Government. Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ...

Contents

History

Main article: Linguistic history of India
A bazaar in Andhra Pradesh with signs, from left to right, in Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, and English.
A bazaar in Andhra Pradesh with signs, from left to right, in Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, and English.
Language families in South Asia
Language families in South Asia

The northern Indian languages from the Indo-European family evolved from Old Indo-Aryan such as Sanskrit, by way of the Middle Indo-Aryan Prakrit languages and Apabhramsha of the Middle Ages. There is no consensus for a specific time where the modern north Indian languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali and Oriya emerged, but CE 1000 is commonly accepted.[4] Each language had different influences, with Hindi/Urdu and closely related languages being strongly influenced by Persian and Arabic. The South Indian (Dravidian) languages had a history independent of Sanskrit. However in later stages all the Dravidian languages had been heavily influenced by Sanskrit. The major Dravidian languages are Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Originating over 5,000 years ago, the linguistic history of India describes the evolution and transformation of early human communications techniques - from pictures, pictorial scripts and engravings - to the modern Indian languages that belong to the Indo-Aryan languages and the Dravidian languages. ... Image File history File links Bangles in Laad Bazaar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. ... Image File history File links Bangles in Laad Bazaar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 549 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (637 × 695 pixel, file size: 49 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) South Asian Language Families, translated from Image:Südasien Sprachfamilien. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 549 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (637 × 695 pixel, file size: 49 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) South Asian Language Families, translated from Image:Südasien Sprachfamilien. ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Middle Indo-Aryan refers to a stage (c. ... Prakrit (also spelt Pracrit) (Sanskrit: , original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual, i. ... The term Apabhramsha refers to the dialects of North India before the rise of modern North Indian languages. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Hindi (DevanāgarÄ«: or , IAST: , IPA:  ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is used, along with English, for central government administrative purposes. ... Marathi is one of the widely spoken languages of India, and has a long literary history. ... Punjabi (also Panjabi; in GurmukhÄ«, PanjābÄ« in ShāhmukhÄ«) is the language of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ... Bangla redirects here. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... For other uses, see Dravidian (disambiguation). ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... Telugu redirects here. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ...


Language families

The languages of India may be grouped by major language families. The largest of these in terms of speakers is the Indo-European family, predominantly represented in its Indo-Aryan branch (accounting for some 700 million speakers), but also including minority languages such as Persian, Portuguese or French, and English as lingua franca. The second largest is the Dravidian family, accounting for some 200 million speakers. Minor linguistic families include the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman families (with some 10 and 6 million speakers, respectively). Kashmiri considered a Dardic language has some 4.6 million speakers in India. There is also a language isolate, the Nihali language. A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common proto-language. ... For other uses, see Indo-European. ... The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic[1]) are a branch of the Indo-European language family. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... For other uses, see Dravidian (disambiguation). ... Austro-Asiatic languages The Austro-Asiatic languages are a large language family of Southeast Asia, and also scattered throughout India and Bangladesh. ... The Tibeto-Burman linguistic subfamily of the proposed Sino-Tibetan language family is spoken in various central and south Asian countries: Myanmar (Burmese language), Tibet (Tibetan language), northern Thailand (Mong language), Nepal, Bhutan, India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and the Ladakh region of... For other uses, see Kashmiri (disambiguation) Kashmiri is a Dardic language spoken primarily in Kashmir, an Asian region now split between India, Pakistan and China. ... The Dards are an Indo-Aryan (the issue as to whether the Dardics are a subgroup of the Indo-Aryans or a separte Indo-European family is not yet settled) ethnic group living in Afghanistan, Pakistan and a few scattered villages in a remote region of Ladakh district, itself a... A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or genetic) relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common to any other language. ... Nihali is a language isolate of India. ...


Classical languages of India

Two classical languages, Sanskrit and Tamil, originated in India. By a formal Declaration of the Indian government, Sanskrit and Tamil are the recognized as Classical Languages of India. In the mid-19th century, Indologists referred to Paninian Sanskrit as "classical Sanskrit," distinguishing it from the older Vedic language.[5][6][7] Robert Caldwell, the first linguist to systematically study the Dravidian languages as a family, used the term "classical" to distinguish the literary forms of Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tulu from the diglossic colloquial forms.[8] In the second half of the 20th century, academics began to suggest that the Old Tamil poems of the Sangam anthologies were also "classical" in the sense that they shared many features with literatures commonly accepted as classical. This point, first made by Kamil Zvelebil in the 1970s,[9] has since been supported by a number of other scholars,[10][11][12] and the terminology "classical Tamil" is commonly used in historical literature to refer to texts from that period.[13] Martha Ann Selby argues that if classicality is defined with reference to age and the value a literature has within the tradition it represents, the Tamil poetry of the Sangam anthologies and the Maharashtri poems of the Sattisai are "classical", in addition to Sanskrit literature.[14] Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... Indian postage stamp depicting (2004), with the implication that he used (IPA ) was an ancient Gandharan grammarian (approximately 5th century BC, but estimates range from the 7th to the 3rd centuries) who is most famous for formulating the 3,959 rules of Sanskrit morphology known as the . ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Bishop Robert Caldwell (1814 -1891) was an orientalist who pioneered the study of the Dravidian languages with his influential work Comparative Grammar of Dravidian Languages (1856; revised edition 1875). ... For other uses, see Dravidian (disambiguation). ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Telugu redirects here. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Tulu is one of the minor languages of India with under 2,000,000 speakers. ... Look up Diglossia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Sangam literature refers to a body of classical Tamil literature created between the years 200 BCE and 300 CE.[1][2] This collection contains 2381 poems written by 473 poets, some 102 of whom are anonymous authors[3]. The period during which these poems were written is commonly referred to... Kamil Veith (or Vaclav?) Zvelebil from Czechoslovakia a distinguished Czech scholar in Dravidian linguistics and literature. ... Sangam literature refers to a body of classical Tamil literature created between the years 200 BCE and 300 CE.[1][2] This collection contains 2381 poems written by 473 poets, some 102 of whom are anonymous authors[3]. The period during which these poems were written is commonly referred to... Maharashtri is a language of medieval India, descended from Sanskrit, and spoken in what is now Maharashtra and other parts of India. ...


In 2004, a new category was created by constitutional decree under which languages that met certain requirements could be accorded the status of a 'classical' in India.[15] With the creation of this category, Tamil and, a year later, Sanskrit, have been accorded the status. More languages are being considered to be added to the list.[15] Experts consulted by the government and the Sahitya Academy of India, a literary body, recommended against awarding the tag to any language. Dr. George Hart, a Professor of Tamil at the University of California-Berkeley, supported classifying Tamil as a classical language.[3][16]


Official Languages

Main article: Official languages of India

Article 343 of the Indian Constitution recognises Hindi in Devanāgarī script as the official language of central government India. The Constitution also allows for the continuation of use of the English language for official purposes. Article 345 provides constitutional recognition to "official languages" of the union to include any language adopted by a state legislature as the official language of that state. In effect, there are "official languages" at the state and center level but no one "national language". Until the Twenty-First Amendment of the Constitution in 1967, the country recognised 14 official regional languages. The Eighth Schedule and the Seventy-First Amendment provided for the inclusion of Sindhi, Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali, thereby increasing the number of official regional languages of India to 18 [17]. Individual states, whose borders are mostly drawn on socio-linguistic lines, are free to decide their own language for internal administration and education. In 2004, the government elevated Tamil,[18][19][20] to the newly created official status of "Classical Language", followed by Sanskrit[21] in 2005. The Constitution of India recognises 22 languages, spoken in different parts the country, namely Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Meitei, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Hindi is an official language of the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Marathi is an official language of Maharashtra. Punjabi is a official language of Punjab. Gujarati is the official language of Gujarat. Tamil is a official language of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Malayalam is the official language of Kerala and Lakshadweep. Kannada is the official language of Karnataka. Telugu is the official language of Andhra Pradesh. English is the co-official language of the Indian Union, and each of the several states mentioned above may also have another co-official language. As a large and linguistically diverse country, India does not have a single official language. ... The Constitution of India, the worlds lengthiest written constitution (with 395 articles and 8 schedules) was passed by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949. ... Hindi (DevanāgarÄ«: or , IAST: , IPA:  ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is used, along with English, for central government administrative purposes. ... () is an abugida script used to write several Indo-Aryan languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati,Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Marwari, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Pahari (Garhwali and Kumaoni), Santhali, Nepali, Newari, Tharu and sometimes Kashmiri and Romani. ... An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... An official language is a language that is given a unique status in the constitutions of countries, states, and other territories. ... SindhÄ« (سنڌي, सिन्धी) is the language of the Sindh region of South Asia, which is now a province of Pakistan. ... Konkani language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator Konkani (DevanāgarÄ«: कोंकणी, Roman: Konknni, Kannada: ಕೊಂಕಣಿ, Malayalam: കൊംകണീ, IAST: ) is a language of India, and belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Manipuri may refer to: Manipuri/Meitei language or Manipuri Language, the predominant language and lingua-franca in the state of Manipur, in northeastern India Manipuri (Bishnupriya Language), an Indo-Aryan language Manipuri dance, one of the major Indian classical dance forms Categories: ... Nepali (Khaskura) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, and some parts of India and Myanmar (Burma). ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... A classical language, is a language with a literature that is classical—ie, it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own, not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature. ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Assamese ( ) (IPA: ) is a language spoken in the state of Assam in northeast India. ... Bangla redirects here. ... Bodo is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Bodo people of north-eastern India and Nepal. ... Areas in India and Pakistan where Dogri and related dialects are spoken Dogri (डोगरी or ڈوگرى) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about two million people in India and Pakistan, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, but also in northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, other parts of Kashmir, and... Gujarati (ગુજરાતી GujÇŽrātÄ«; also known as Gujerati, Gujarathi, Guzratee, and Guujaratee[3]) is an Indo-Aryan language descending from Sanskrit, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. ... Hindi (हिन्दी) is a language spoken mainly in North and Central India. ... “Kannada” redirects here. ... Kashmiri (कॉशुर, کٲشُر Koshur) is a Dardic language spoken primarily in the valley of Kashmir, a region situated in the Jammu and Kashmir state of India. ... Konkani language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator Konkani (DevanāgarÄ«: कोंकणी, Roman: Konknni, Kannada: ಕೊಂಕಣಿ, Malayalam: കൊംകണീ, IAST: ) is a language of India, and belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Maithili (मैथिली MaithilÄ«) is a language of the family of Indo-Aryan languages, which are part of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. ... Malayalam ( ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Meitei-lon , also Meitei-lol, and Manipuri (and sometimes, the 19th century British term, Meithei, which is the name of the people, not of the language), is the predominant language and lingua-franca in the Southeastern Himalayan state of Manipur, in northeastern India. ... Marathi (मराठी ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western India. ... Nepali (Khaskura) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, and some parts of India and Myanmar (Burma). ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Punjabi redirects here. ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Santali is a language in the Munda subfamily of Austro-Asiatic, related to Ho and Mundari. ... SindhÄ« (سنڌي, सिन्धी) is the language of the Sindh region of South Asia, which is now a province of Pakistan. ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... Telugu redirects here. ... The phrase Zaban-e Urdu-e Mualla written in Urdu Urdu () is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Aryan family that developed under Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Hindi, and Sanskrit influence in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire (1200-1800). ... Marathi is one of the widely spoken languages of India, and has a long literary history. ... , Maharashtra (Marathi: महाराष्ट्र , IPA  , translation: Great Nation) is Indias third largest state in area and second largest in population after Uttar Pradesh. ... Punjabi (also Panjabi; in GurmukhÄ«, PanjābÄ« in ShāhmukhÄ«) is the language of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ... , This article is about the Indian state of Punjab. ... Gujarati (ગુજરાતી GujÇŽrātÄ«; also known as Gujerati, Gujarathi, Guzratee, and Guujaratee[3]) is an Indo-Aryan language descending from Sanskrit, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. ... This article is for the Indian state. ... Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ... This article is about the Union Territory. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Andaman Islands. ... , Kerala ( ; Malayalam: കേരളം; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of southwestern India. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the Indian region. ... Andhra redirects here. ...


Writing systems

Main articles: Indic scripts and Nasta'liq script

Indian languages have corresponding distinct alphabets. The two major families are those of the Dravidian languages and those of the Indo-Aryan languages, the former largely confined to the south and the latter to the north. Urdu and sometimes Kashmiri, Sindhi and Panjabi are written in modified versions of the Arabic script. Except for these languages, the alphabets of Indian languages are native to India. Most scholars consider these Indic scripts a distant offshoot of the Aramaic alphabet, although there are differing opinions. The family tree ([1]) of the scripts of the South and South-East Asian sub-continent. ... Chalipa panel, Mir Emad. ... For other uses, see Dravidian (disambiguation). ... The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic[1]) are a branch of the Indo-European language family. ... The geographical south of India includes all Indian territory below the 20th parallel. ... Dark green region marks the approximate extent of northern India while the regions marked as light green lies within the sphere of north Indian influence. ... Kashmiri (कॉशुर, کٲشُر Koshur) is a Dardic language spoken primarily in the valley of Kashmir, a region situated in the Jammu and Kashmir state of India. ... Sindhī (سنڌي, सिन्धी) is the language of the Sindh region of South Asia, which is now a province of Pakistan. ... Punjabi (sometimes spelled Panjabi) is the language of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ... The family tree ([1]) of the scripts of the South and South-East Asian sub-continent. ... Bilingual inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great, 3rd century BC. The Aramaic alphabet is an abjad alphabet designed for writing the Aramaic language. ...


Romanization

Main articles: ISO 15919 and National Library at Kolkata romanization
unvoiced consonants voiced consonants nasals
unaspirated aspirated unaspirated aspirated
velar plosives k kh g gh ṅ
palatal affricates c ch j jh ñ
retroflex plosives ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ
dental plosives t th d dh n
bilabial plosives p ph b bh m
glides and approximants y r l v
fricatives ś ṣ s h

A romanization or latinization is a system for representing a word or language with the Roman (Latin) alphabet, where the original word or language used a different writing system. ... The National Library at Kolkata romanization is the most widely used transliteration scheme in dictionaries and grammars of Indic languages. ...

Inventories

Main articles: Official languages of India and List of Indian languages by total speakers

Linguists generally distinguish the terms "language" and "dialects" on the basis of 'mutual comprehension'. The Indian census uses two specific classifications in its own unique way: (1)'language' and (2) 'mother tongue'. The 'mother tongues' are grouped within each 'language'. Many 'mother tongues' so defined would be considered a language rather than a dialect by linguistic standards. This is specially so for many 'mother tongues' with tens of millions of speakers that is officially grouped under the 'language' Hindi. As a large and linguistically diverse country, India does not have a single official language. ... Indian languages spoken by more than ten million people are given below. ...


The Indian census of 1961 recognised 1,652 different languages in India (including languages not native to the subcontinent). The 1991 census recognizes 1,576 classified "mother tongues"[4] SIL Ethnologue lists 415 living "Languages of India" (out of 6,912 worldwide). Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language. ...


According to the 1991 census, 22 'languages' had more than a million native speakers, 50 had more than 100,000 and 114 had more than 10,000 native speakers. The remaining accounted for a total of 566,000 native speakers (out of a total of 838 million Indians in 1991).[5]


According to the most recent census of 2001, 29 'languages' have more than a million native speakers, 60 have more than 100,000 and 122 have more than 10,000 native speakers.


Government of India has given 22 "languages of the 8th Schedule" the status of official language. The number of languages given this status has increased through the political process. Some languages with a large number of speakers still do not have this status, the largest of these being Bhili/Bhiladi with some 9.6 million native speakers (ranked 14th), followed by Santali with 6.5 million speakers (ranked 15th), Gondi with 2.7 million speakers(ranked 18th) and Khandesi with 2.1 million speakers (ranked 22nd). On the other hand, 2 languages with fewer than 2 million native speakers have recently been included in the 8th Schedule for mostly political reasons: Manipuri/Maithei with 1.5 million speakers (ranked 25th) and Bodo with 1.4 million speakers (ranked 26th). For cultural/historical reason Sanskrit is on the official schedule though only 14 thousand people claim it to be their language, but many more study it in school as the classical language of India. Bhili is a Central Indo_Aryan language spoken in west_central India, in the region east of Ahmadabad. ... Santali is a language in the Munda subfamily of Austro-Asiatic, related to Ho and Mundari. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Meitei-lon , also Meitei-lol, and Manipuri (and sometimes, the 19th century British term, Meithei, which is the name of the people, not of the language), is the predominant language and lingua-franca in the Southeastern Himalayan state of Manipur, in northeastern India. ... Bodo is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Bodo people of north-eastern India and Nepal. ...


Footnotes and References

  1. ^ see: Nihali language, Burushaski language, Andamanese languages
  2. ^ More than a thousand including major dialects. The 1991 census recognized "1576 rationalized mother tongues" which were further grouped into language categories [1]; the 1961 census recognized 1,652 [2].
  3. ^ Bhatia, Tej K and William C. Ritchie. (2006) Bilingualism in South Asia. In: Handbook of Bilingualism, pp. 780-807. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
  4. ^ Shapiro, M: Hindi.
  5. ^ Whitney, William D. (1854). "On the History of the Vedic Texts". Journal of the American Oriental Society 4: 245-261.  at p. 259.
  6. ^ Whitney, William D. (1853). "On the Main Results of the Later Vedic Researches in Germany". Journal of the American Oriental Society 3: 289-328.  at p. 296.
  7. ^ Prichard, James Cowles (1850). "Anniversary Address for 1848, to the Ethnological Society of London on the Recent Progress of Ethnology". Journal of the Ethnological Society of London 2: 119-149.  at p. 139.
  8. ^ Caldwell, Robert [1913] (1998). A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Or South-Indian Family of Languages, Second AES reprint, New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 30, 78-81. ISBN 8120601173. 
  9. ^ Zvelebil, Kamil (1975). Tamil Literature. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 5-21, 50-53. ISBN 9004041907. 
  10. ^ Takahashi, Takanobu (1995). Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics, Brill's Indological Library. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2. ISBN 9004100423. 
  11. ^ Ramanujan, A.K. (1985). Poems of Love and War from the Eight Anthologies and the Ten Long Poems of Classical Tamil, UNESCO Collection of Representative Works. New York: Columbia University Press, ix. ISBN 0231051069. 
  12. ^ Annamalai, E. & Steever, S.B. (1998), "Modern Tamil", in Steever, Sanford B., The Dravidian Languages, London: Routledge, pp. pp. 100-128, ISBN 0415100232  at p. 100.
  13. ^ See e.g. Stein, Burton (1977). "Circulation and the Historical Geography of Tamil Country". The Journal of Asian Studies 37: 7-261.  at p. 12; Maloney, Clarence (1970). "The Beginnings of Civilization in South India". The Journal of Asian Studies 29 (3): 603-616.  at p. 605.
  14. ^ Selby, Martha Ann (2000). Grow long, Blessed Night: Love Poems from Classical India. New York: Oxford University Press, 3-4. ISBN 019512734X. .
  15. ^ a b India sets up classical languages. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-05-01.
  16. ^ Classic case of politics of language. The Telegraph. Retrieved on 2007-04-20. “...The government has declared Tamil a classical language despite the objections of experts it consulted and after a committee it had appointed refused to recommend it....The Sahitya Akademi office bearers wrote a second time. In essence, they repeated that it was not the government's business to declare a language classical. It is a classically foolish move, a source said....”
  17. ^ "Legislation: Legislation dealing with the use of languages". Constitution of India. Articles 29, 30, 120, 210, 343-351 as amended in the 21st and 71st Amendments.
  18. ^ Item 41 of President Kalam's address to a joint sitting of both houses of Indian Parliament
  19. ^ BBC news item on the formal approval by the Indian Cabinet
  20. ^ "Tamil as a classic language: Report to Central Government by Tamil Nadu Government", report submitted by Tamil Nadu State Government to Central Government of India to claim the Classic Language status.
  21. ^ News item that appeared in "The Hindu" on the Cabinet decision to declare Sanskrit as a classical language.

Nihali is a language isolate of India. ... Burushaski is a language isolate spoken by some 87,000 (as of 2000) Burusho people in the Hunza, Nagar, Yasin, and parts of the Gilgit valleys in northern Pakistan and Kashmir. ... Ethnolinguistic map of the precolonial Andaman Islands (drawn 1902) The Andamanese languages form a language family spoken in the Andaman Islands, a India. ... Attipat Krishnaswami Ramanujan (1929-1993) was an author who wrote in both English and Kannada. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article deals with The Daily Telegraph in Britain, see The Daily Telegraph (Australia) for the Australian publication The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper founded in 1855. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 110th day of the year (111th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ...

See also

Language families in Pakistan are mainly Indo-Aryan with a minor language belonging to Dravidian (Brahui) and one language isolate (burushaski) English is an official language of Pakistan while Urdu is termed the national language. ... Indian States Notes Note 1: — Excludes Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul sub-divisions of Senapati district of Manipur See also: States and territories of India References Census of India, final 2001 results Category: ...

External links

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 (Official) Languages of the Republic of India
Federal-level Official languages

Standard Hindi · English Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_India. ... As a large and linguistically diverse country, India does not have a single official language. ... Khariboli (also Khadiboli, Khadi-Boli, or Khari dialect; identified as Hindi by SIL Ethnologue), (/ /; Hindi: खड़ी बोली; Urdu: كهڑى بولى, ; lit. ... Indian English comprises several dialects or varieties of English spoken primarily in India, and/or by first generation Indian diaspora elsewhere in the world. ...

State-level official languages

Assamese · Bengali · Bodo · Dogri · Garo · Gujarati · Standard Hindi · Kannada · Kashmiri · Khasi · Kokborok · Konkani · Maithili · Malayalam · Meitei · Marathi · Mizo · Nepali · Oriya · Punjabi · Sanskrit  · Santali · Sindhi · Tamil · Telugu · Urdu Assamese ( ) (IPA: ) is a language spoken in the state of Assam in northeast India. ... Bangla redirects here. ... Bodo is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Bodo people of north-eastern India and Nepal. ... Areas in India and Pakistan where Dogri and related dialects are spoken Dogri (डोगरी or ڈوگرى) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about two million people in India and Pakistan, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, but also in northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, other parts of Kashmir, and... Garo is the language of the majority of the people of the Hills which bear their name in the state of Meghalaya of India. ... Gujarati (ગુજરાતી GujÇŽrātÄ«; also known as Gujerati, Gujarathi, Guzratee, and Guujaratee[3]) is an Indo-Aryan language descending from Sanskrit, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. ... Khariboli (also Khadiboli, Khadi-Boli, or Khari dialect; identified as Hindi by SIL Ethnologue), (/ /; Hindi: खड़ी बोली; Urdu: كهڑى بولى, ; lit. ... “Kannada” redirects here. ... Kashmiri (कॉशुर, کٲشُر Koshur) is a Dardic language spoken primarily in the valley of Kashmir, a region situated in the Jammu and Kashmir state of India. ... Khasi is an Austroasiatic language spoken in the four districts of Meghalaya state in India, namely East Khasi Hills district, West Khasi Hills district, Jaiñtia Hills district and Ri Bhoi district. ... Kokborok (also spelled Kok Borok) also known as Tiprakok or Tripuri is the native language of the Tripuri people in the Indian state of Tripura and its neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. ... Konkani language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator Konkani (DevanāgarÄ«: कोंकणी, Roman: Konknni, Kannada: ಕೊಂಕಣಿ, Malayalam: കൊംകണീ, IAST: ) is a language of India, and belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Maithili (मैथिली MaithilÄ«) is a language of the family of Indo-Aryan languages, which are part of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. ... Malayalam ( ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Meitei-lon , also Meitei-lol, and Manipuri (and sometimes, the 19th century British term, Meithei, which is the name of the people, not of the language), is the predominant language and lingua-franca in the Southeastern Himalayan state of Manipur, in northeastern India. ... Marathi (मराठी ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western India. ... Mizoram known as the Lushai Hills District till 1954 is now a state in the Indian Union. ... Nepali (Khaskura) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, and some parts of India and Myanmar (Burma). ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Punjabi redirects here. ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Santali is a language in the Munda subfamily of Austro-Asiatic, related to Ho and Mundari. ... SindhÄ« (سنڌي, सिन्धी) is the language of the Sindh region of South Asia, which is now a province of Pakistan. ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... Telugu redirects here. ... Urdu ( , , trans. ...

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Languages of Asia

Afghanistan · Armenia · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma · Cambodia · China (People's Republic of China [Hong Kong · Macau] · Republic of China [Taiwan]) · Cyprus · East Timor1 · Egypt1 · Georgia1 · India · Indonesia1 · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan1 · Korea (North Korea · South Korea) · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Northern Cyprus2 · Oman · Pakistan · Palestinian territories3 · Philippines · Qatar · Russia1 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Thailand · Turkey1 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen1 Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... A large majority of people on Taiwan speak Standard Mandarin, which has been the only officially sanctioned medium of instruction in the schools for more than four decades. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

1 Transcontinental country.  2 Only recognised by Turkey.  3 Not fully independent.
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Languages of South Asia

Main articles
Languages of India (list by number of speakers - scheduled)  · Languages of Pakistan · Languages of Bangladesh  · Languages of Nepal · Languages of Sri Lanka This is a list of countries spanning more than one continent. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ... India is home to several hundred languages. ... As a large and linguistically diverse country, India does not have a single official language. ... Language families in Pakistan are mainly Indo-Aryan with a minor language belonging to Dravidian (Brahui) and one language isolate (burushaski) English is an official language of Pakistan while Urdu is termed the national language. ...