Indian languages spoken by more than ten million people are given below. English is spoken as a second language by approximately 20-25 million Indians. This data has been extracted from the Ethnologue database. This list takes into account native speakers only. Most languages spoken in India belong either to the Indo-Aryan (ca. 74%), the Dravidian (ca. 24%), the Austroasiatic (Munda) (ca. 1.2%), or the Tibeto-Burman (ca. 0.6%) families, with some languages of the Himalayas still unclassified. English, introduced under the British Empire, plays an important role as a lingua franca not tied to a specific Indian ethnicity. Prior to colonization, Persian played an important role as a language of government, education and trade, due to its mandate by the Muslim rulers. It is still a classical language of study in many Indian schools. The official figure of 'mother tongues' spoken in India is 1,683, of which an estimated 850 are in daily use. The SIL Ethnologue lists 415 living languages for India. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A second language is any language other than the first, or native, language learned; it is typically used because of geographical or social reasons. ... 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. ... First language (native language, mother tongue) is the language a person learns first. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Look up Circa on Wiktionary, the free dictionary The Latin word circa, literally meaning about, is often used to describe various dates (often birth and death dates) that are uncertain. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages[1] that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and eastern and central India, as well as in parts of Afghanistan and Iran, and by overseas Dravidians in other countries... The Austroasiatic languages are a large language family of Southeast Asia and India. ... Munda Languages are spoken in north east India. ... The Tibeto-Burman linguistic subfamily of the proposed Sino-Tibetan language family is spoken in various central and south Asian countries: Myanmar (the Burmese language as well as the languages of minorities like the Karens and Kachins), Tibet (Tibetan language), northern Thailand (Lahu, Lisu, Akha languages), southern China, Nepal, Bhutan... Perspective view of the Himalayas and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ... The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... 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. ... Persian (local name: Fārsī or Pārsī ) is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, India, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... First language (native language, mother tongue, or vernacular) is the language a person learns first. ... SIL International is a worldwide non-profit evangelical Christian organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document lesser-known languages in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy and aid minority language development. ...

Scheduled languages

Main article: Official languages of India

Ordered by number of speakers as first language[1] India has a diverse list of spoken languages among different groups of people. ...

Hindi (Devanagari: हिन्दी or हिंदी; IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is the official language of the Union government of India [1][2]. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indic family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu, and Gujarati... Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. ... Tamil ( தமிழ் ) is a classical language and the oldest of the Dravidian language family. ... Marathi (मराठी ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western India (Maharshtrians). ... Look up telugu in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... (اردو), historically spelled Ordu, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to Indo-European family of languages. ... Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ ) is one of the major Dravidian languages of southern India and one of the oldest languages in India. ... Malayalam ( ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Gujarātī is an Indo-Aryan language, part of the greater Indo-European language family. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Punjabi redirects here. ... Maithili (autonym: मैथिली maithilī) is of the family of Indo-Aryan languages, which are part of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. ... Bhojpuri is a popular regional language spoken in northeastern India in the western part of state of Bihar, the northwestern part of Jharkhand, and the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, as well as an adjoining area of southern plains of Nepal. ... Assamese ( ) (IPA: ) is a language spoken in the state of Assam in northeast India. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Sindhī (सिन्धी, سنڌي) is the language of the Sindh region of South Asia, which is now a province of Pakistan. ... Konkani (Devanāgarī/Marathi कोंकणी ) is an Indo-Aryan language, although it includes a wealth of words derived from various Dravidian languages. ... Manipuri or Meiteilon is the predominant language and lingua-franca in the state of Manipur, in northeastern India. ... Nepali (Khaskura) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, and some parts of India and Myanmar (Burma). ... For other uses, see Kashmiri (disambiguation) Kashmiri (, also , Kashmiri: ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in valley of Kashmir, a South Asian region now split between India and Pakistan. ... The Sanskrit language (Skt. ...

Other significant languages

Santali is a language in the Munda subfamily of Austro-Asiatic, related to Ho and Mundari. ... Sikkimese (also known as Bhutia) is a sublanguage of South Tibetan (Bhutanese-Sikkimese, Lhoke) language. ... Dzongkha is the national language of the Kingdom of Bhutan. ... Dakkhini, also known as Deccani is a dialect of the Urdu language spoken in the Deccan region of southern India, centered on the city of Hyderabad, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. ...

Minority languages

• Mahl: (also known as Malki, spoken in Minicoy): 15,000

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

References

• Language Maps from Central Institute of Indian Languages
• Data table of Census of India, 1991
• Statewise data table of Census of India, 1991

See also

• Official languages of India
• Languages of India

India has a diverse list of spoken languages among different groups of people. ... Map of South Asia in native languages. ...

External links

• Major Indian Languages
• Ethnologue report
• Language Maps from Central Institute of Indian Languages