LANGUAGES OF INDIA

INTRODUCTION
According to Ethnologue, India is considered to be the home to 398 languages. But still there is not a
single Indian language which is spoken across its length and breadth. Hindi is spoken by the majority of
North Indians but it's not a popular means of communication in southern part of India. Similarly south
Indian languages - Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam - are not understood by the people of
northern India. For the convenience of people, the Constitution of India has recognized 23 languages as
official languages of India. These are known as Scheduled Languages and constitute the Major
languages of India

Languages spoken in the Republic of India belong to several language families, the major ones being
the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64%
of Indians, both families together are sometimes known as Indic languages. Languages spoken by the
remaining 2.31% of the population belong to the Austroasiatic, Sino–Tibetan, Tai–Kadai, and a few other
minor language families and isolates. As per the People's Linguistic Survey of India, India has the
second highest number of languages (780), after Papua New Guinea (840). Ethnologue lists a lower
number of 456.
 TIMELINE
◦ Dravidian languages, family of some 70 languages spoken
primarily in South Asia. The Dravidian languages are
spoken by more than 215 million people in India, Pakistan,
and Sri Lanka.

◦ The four major literary languages—Telugu, Tamil,

Malayalam, and Kannada—are recognized by the
constitution of India. They are also the official languages of
the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and
Karnataka (formerly Mysore), respectively.

◦ Notably, the most ancient forms of the Dravidian

languages are found in southern India, which was not
exposed to Sanskrit until the 5th century BCE. This
suggests that the south was populated by the speakers of
the Dravidian languages even before the entry of Aryans
into India.
 NORTH
◦ North India delineates the states comprising Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab,
Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and the Union Territories of New Delhi and Chandigarh. With
such assorted kinds of names residing side by side, it becomes obvious that its language and
speech diversity turns even more complex and meticulous. For instance, the Pahari language
spoken by men from Uttarakhand will never be recognised by an individual residing in Chandigarh,
speaking Punjabi. This precise diversification and wholesomeness is describes through the north
Indian languages.

◦ When stating about the historical evolvement of the north Indian languages, there however
survives no judgement of opinion concerning a stipulated time when the modern north Indian
languages such as umpteen western and eastern Hindi dialects, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pahari and
Kashmiri languages and Hindustani, emerged. Nevertheless, A.D. 1000 is commonly accepted as
the precise epoch of north Indian languages beginning its prolonged journey towards evolution.
NORTH INDIA
◦
North India and its languages are absolutely clustered under the family of Indo-Aryan
languages, which wins total predominance. A major section of Northern India forms the so-
termed 'Hindi Heartland' (a common reference to the regions of North and Central India
where Hindi languages are spoken natively or as a primary language), where Hindi and related
languages override its other counterparts. Preceding the Partition of India, this Heartland also
had encompassed the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab, and the eastern portion of the
North West Frontier Province (NWFP) up to Peshawar Valley, where Punjabi accents and
Hindko are spoken. This in effect debars numerous of the seven North-East states (leaving out
Assam and Sikkim).

◦ When spoken in terms of linguistics too, Northern India is dominated by Indo-Aryan languages
Although sub-regions of Dravidian languages , Tibeto-Burman languages and Austro-Asiatic
languages continue to remain spanning the region. It is precisely in this region, or its
immediacy, that Sanskrit and the several Prakrits are thought to have evolved. Indo-Aryan
languages native to Northern India assimilate the Hindustani lingua franca (including both its
Hindi and Urdu versions), an extensive range of western and eastern Hindi dialects, Bihari
languages Punjabi, Pahari languages, Kashmiri and various other aboriginal instances.
◦ The Hindi-speaking sub-region is at times referred to as the Hindi Heartland or the 'Hindi Belt'
and is defined in a slack.
 EAST INDIA
◦ East Indian languages owe their lineage to the Indo-Aryan language family. The Indo-Aryan languages
spoken in this region are known to have descended from the Magadhi Prakrits, spoken in the prehistoric
kingdom of Magadha. Amongst these, Magadhi and Oriya, which remain almost unaffected for over a
thousand years, are deemed the most direct descendants. Bengali and Assamese (though belonging to the
north-eastern region, this is counted together in its historical evolvement) had emerged as separate
languages from Magadhi Prakrit approximately around 9th or 10th century A.D.
◦
Several of the minority adivasis (indigenous tribal people, conceived under the minority section by
Government of India) of East India belong to the Munda branch of the Austro-Asiatic language family. As
such East Indian languages also take in the major tribal representatives of this group, encompassing the
Munda, Santal and Ho peoples.
◦

East Indian languages comprise the likes of Bihari languages encompassing Bhojpuri, Magadhi and Maithili,
umpteen dialects of Bengali, Sikkimese (including Pahari) and Oriya. Bengali is the most overriding
language of this part of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, being mouthed by well over 80 million people in West
Bengal, including the adjacent states. Hindi occupies the largest number of speakers at over 90 million, but
owns trivial ethnic influence beyond Bihar. Other languages like Oriya and Sikkimese or Bihari follow soon
after.
 NORTH EAST

◦ North-east India is that bundle that is represented by the seven sister states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. The distinct dissimilarity that is manifested through these border-line
states is that each state has to unfold a legend of its own.
◦
Going by and following the 1971 census, there exist approximately 220 languages spoken in the north-east Indian
states, belonging basically to three language families, specifically Indo-Aryan, Sino-Tibetan and Austric. The Indo-
Aryan language family is represented primarily by Assamese and Bangla; Austro-Asiatic language family is
represented chiefly by Khasi and the Sino-Tibetan family of languages is exemplified by the Tibeto-Burman and the
Siamese-Chinese sub-families. Besides these, there also exist languages of the Tea-Tribes under the north-east
Indian languages configuration.
◦
There exists an accepted conjecture that the Tibeto-Burman tribes had arrived by way of Burma and entered the hills
and valleys of north-eastern India in approximately around 1000 B.C. From then onwards, they gradually intruded
upon the Austric settlers, who have existed in these parts since 2000 to 2500 B.C., and drove most of them to seek
shelter in the mountainous regions. That was precisely how the Khasis prospered in their mountain homes high on
the hills of Meghalaya, forever resting an impact upon the evolvement of north-east Indian languages and their
gradual amalgamation with other north-eastern sections.
 WEST
◦ West India is defined by the states comprising Maharashtra,
Goa, Rajasthan and Gujarat and the Union territories of
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

◦ In an overall estimate, 83.66 percent of the population of

west India is Hindu, followed by a count of 10.12 percent
Muslim, 4 percent Buddhist, with Christians in Goa and
Maharashtra counterbalancing the majority of the
remainder. 

◦ Amongst the west Indian languages, Marathi with

approximately 73 million speakers, is the most extensively
spoken language, followed by Gujarati with approximately
46 million speakers and Konkani 2.5 million speakers. All
these languages essentially come under the Indo-Aryan
language family. Maintaining parity other parts of India, an
intense level of multilingualism is witnessed with English
and Hindi being spoken as additional languages in urban
areas.  
WEST
◦ Marathi, is the most widely spoken language in Western India with about 73 million speakers, followed by Gujarati with about 46 million
speakers and Konkani 2.5 million speakers, all of which are Indo-Aryan languages.As in other parts of India, a high level of multilingualism is
seen with English and Hindi being spoken as additional languages in urban areas. Marathi language is  undoubtedly the official language of
Maharashtra. Marathi language has varied form.  Most Importantly This Marathi language has its origin from Dravadian and Sanskrit language.
Convincingly Marathi is also co-official language in the union territories of Daman Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In Goa, Konkani is the sole
official language; however, Marathi may also be used for some official purposes in some cases.
◦

Undoubtedly Gujarati language is the official language of Gujarat. In fact Gujarati language seems to be originated from Sanskrit and Persian
blend. The Gujarati language is more than 700 years old it is also the official language in the union territory of Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman
and Diu. Gujarati is the 6th most widely spoken language in India by number of native speakers. It is the 26th most widely spoken language in
the world by number of native speakers .

◦ The Goans speak Konkani, Marathi, English and Portuguese. Portuguese was spoken by Portugal’s. They captivated Goa for almost 400 Years.
Most Importantly the Konkani language is the official language of Goa. Konkani belongs to the Indo-Aryan language branch. It is a part of the
Marathi-Konkani group of the Southern Indo-Aryan languages. The language seems to be some what rigid and not a flexible language.
Konkani language is fairly close in resemblance with Sanskrit as compared to other modern Indo-Aryan languages. Linguists describe Konkani
as a fusion of variety of Prakrits. This could be attributed to the confluence of immigrants that the Konkani coast has witnessed over the years.
SOUTH
Literary languages

Tamil (1st–4th century CE)

◦ Of the four literary languages in the Dravidian family, Tamil is the oldest, with examples dating
to the early Common Era. In the early 21st century, Tamil was spoken by more than 66 million
people, mostly residing in India, northern Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Fiji, and
Myanmar .
◦ Malayalam was the west coast dialect of Tamil until about the 9th century CE. Geographically
separated from the main speech community by the steep Western Ghats, the dialect gradually
developed into a distinct language. The first literary work in Malayalam is Ramacaritam (12th–
13th century; “Deeds of Rama”).
 SOUTH
Kannada
◦ Kannada is the official language of the Karnataka state.
Inscriptions in Kannada date from the 5th century CE,
Modern standard Kannada is based on the educated speech
of southern Karnataka (associated with the cities of Mysore
and Bangalore.

Telugu
◦ Among the Dravidian languages, Telugu is spoken by the
largest population. After Hindi and Bengali it is the third
most frequently spoken of all the Indian languages. Telugu
place-names occur in Prakrit inscriptions from the 2nd
century CE. The first Telugu inscription is dated to 575 CE
THANK YOU!
◦ Nidhi Nair 332
◦ Lekhha Bhansali 290
◦ Aditya Kaspate 387
◦ Anannya Girme 046