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;[5][6] both families together are sometimes known as Indic languages.[7][8][9][a] 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.[10]: 283 According to the People's Linguistic Survey of India, India has the second highest number of languages (780), after Papua New Guinea (840).[11] Ethnologue lists a lower number of 456.[12]
This article is about the general overview of Indian languages. For historical context, see Linguistic history of India.Languages of India
Article 343 of the Constitution of India stated that the official language of the Union is Hindi in Devanagari script, with official use of English to continue for 15 years from 1947. Later, a constitutional amendment, The Official Languages Act, 1963, allowed for the continuation of English alongside Hindi in the Indian government indefinitely until legislation decides to change it.[2] The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union are "the international form of Indian numerals",[13][14] which are referred to as Arabic numerals in most English-speaking countries.[1] Despite some misconceptions, Hindi is not the national language of India; the Constitution of India does not give any language the status of national language.[15][16]
The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists 22 languages,[17] which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement. In addition, the Government of India has awarded the distinction of classical language to Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu. This status is given to languages that have a rich heritage and independent nature.
According to the Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. However, figures from other sources vary, primarily due to differences in the definition of the terms "language" and "dialect". The 2001 Census recorded 30 languages which were spoken by more than a million native speakers and 122 which were spoken by more than 10,000 people.[18] Two contact languages have played an important role in the history of India: Persian[19] and English.[20] Persian was the court language during the Mughal period in India and reigned as an administrative language for several centuries until the era of British colonisation.[21] English continues to be an important language in India. It is used in higher education and in some areas of the Indian government.
Hindi, which has the largest number of first-language speakers in India today,[22] serves as the lingua franca across much of northern and central India. However, there have been concerns raised with Hindi being imposed in South India, most notably in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.[23][24] Some in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Punjab and other non-Hindi regions have also started to voice concerns about imposition of Hindi.[25] Bengali is the second most spoken and understood language in the country with a significant number of speakers in eastern and northeastern regions. Marathi is the third most spoken and understood language in the country with a significant number of speakers in the southwest,[26] followed closely by Telugu, which is most commonly spoken in southeastern areas.[27]
Hindi is the fastest growing language of India, followed by Kashmiri in the second place, with Meitei (officially called Manipuri) as well as Gujarati, in the third place, and Bengali in the fourth place, according to the 2011 census of India.[28]
According to the Ethnologue, India has 148 Sino-Tibetan, 140 Indo-European, 84 Dravidian, 32 Austro-Asiatic, 14 Andamanese, 5 Kra-Dai languages.[29]
In 2004, the Government of India declared that languages that met certain requirements could be accorded the status of a "Classical Language" of India.[224]
Languages thus far declared to be Classical:
Over the next few years, several languages were granted the Classical status, and demands have been made for other languages, including Pali, Bengali,[231][232] Marathi,[233] Maithili[234] and Meitei (officially called Manipuri).[235][236][237]
A Meitei language stone inscription in Meitei script about a royal decree of a Meitei king found in the sacred site of God Panam Ningthou in Andro, Imphal East, Manipur
Development of Odia script
North Indian Brahmi found in Ashok pillar
The Halmidi inscription, the oldest known inscription in the Kannada script and language. The inscription is dated to the 450 CE - 500 CE period.
Most languages in India are written in scripts derived from Brahmi.[270] These include Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Meitei Mayek, Odia, Eastern Nagari – Assamese/Bengali, Gurumukhi and other. Urdu is written in a script derived from Arabic. A few minor languages such as Santali use independent scripts (see Ol Chiki script).
Various Indian languages have their own scripts. Hindi, Marathi, Maithili[271] and Angika are languages written using the Devanagari script. Most major languages are written using a script specific to them, such as Assamese (Asamiya)[272][273] with Asamiya,[274] Bengali with Bengali, Punjabi with Gurmukhi, Meitei with Meitei Mayek, Odia with Odia script, Gujarati with Gujarati, etc. Urdu and Kashmiri, Saraiki and Sindhi are written in modified versions of the Perso-Arabic script. With this one exception, the scripts of Indian languages are native to India. Languages like Kodava that didn't have a script whereas Tulu which had a script adopted Kannada due to its readily available printing settings; these languages have taken up the scripts of the local official languages as their own and are written in the Kannada script.[275]