Indian languages

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There are many different languages and cultures in India. The only geographical place with more different languages and cultures is the African continent. There are two main language families in India, the Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian languages. About 69% of Indians speak an Indo-Arayan language, about 26% speak a Dravidian language. Other languages spoken in India come from the Austro-Asiatic group. Around 5% of the people speak a Tibeto-Burman language.

Hindi is the official language in India with the largest number of speakers.^[1] It is the official language of the union.^[2] Native speakers of Hindi represent about 41% of the Indian population (2001 Indian census). English is also used, mostly for business and in the administration. It has the status of a 'subsidiary official language'.^[3] The constitution also recognises 21 other languages. Either many people speak those languages, or they have been recognised to be very important for Indian culture. The number of dialects in India is as high as 1,652.

In the south of India, many people speak Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. In the north, many people speak Chhattisgarhi, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Marathi, Odia and Bihari. In North East, people speak Assamese, Manipuri (Meitei) and others.^[4]^[5]

India has 27 official languages. Its constitution lists the name of the country in each of the languages.^[6] Hindi and English (listed in boldface) are the "official languages of the union" (Union meaning the Federal Government in Delhi);^[7] Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia are officially the "classical languages of India."

Language	Long form	English Pronunciation	Short form
Assamese	ভাৰত গণৰাজ্য	Bhārôt Gôṇôrājÿô	ভাৰত Bharot
Bengali	ভারত গণরাজ্য	Bʰārôt Gôṇôrājÿô	ভারত Bharot
Bhojpuri	भोजपुरी	Bʰārôt Gôṇôrājÿô	ভারত Bharot
Bodo
Dogri
English^[8]	Republic of India		India
Gujarati	ભારતીય પ્રજાસત્તાક	Bhartiya Prajasattak	ભારત.
Hindi	भारत गणराज्य	Bhārat Gaṇarājya	भारत Bhārat
Kannada	ಭಾರತ ಗಣರಾಜ್ಯ	Bhārata Gaṇarājya	ಭಾರತ Bhārata
Kashmiri	ہِندوستان	Hindustān
Konkani	भारोत गोणराज		भारोत
Ladakhi	ལ་དྭགས་སྐད་	Hindustān
Lepcha	ᰛᰩᰵᰛᰧᰵᰶ་	Hindustān
Limbu	ᤕᤠᤰᤌᤢᤱ ᤐᤠᤴ་	Hindustān
Magahi	ᤕमगही/मगधी	Hindustān
Maithili
Malayalam	ഭാരതം	Bhāratam	ഭാരതം Bhāratam
Manipuri (also Meitei or Meithei)	ꯚꯥꯔꯠ ꯂꯩꯄꯥꯛ (ভারত লৈপাক্)	Bhārat	ꯚꯥꯔꯠ (ভারত) Bhārat
Marathi	भारतीय प्रजासत्ताक	Bhartiya Prajasattak	भारत Bhārat
Nepali	भारत गणराज्य	Bʰārat Gaṇarāǳya	भारत Bʰārat
Odia	ଭାରତ	Bharata	Bharata
Punjabi	ਭਾਰਤ ਗਣਤੰਤਰ	Bhārat Gantantar	ਭਾਰਤ Bhārat
Sanskrit	भारत गणराज्यम्	Bhārata Gaṇarājyam	भारत Bhārata
Santhali	ᱥᱤᱧᱚᱛ ᱨᱮᱱᱟᱜ ᱟᱹᱯᱱᱟᱹᱛ		ᱥᱤᱧᱚᱛ
Sindhi	ڀارت، هندستانڀارت،		ڀارت،
Tamil	இந்தியக் குடியரசு	Indiyak-Kudiyarasu	இந்தியா India/Bharadham
Telugu	భారత గణరాజ్యము	Bʰārata Gaṇa Rājyamu	భారత్ Bhārath
Urdu	جمہوریہ بھارت	Jumhūrīyat-e Bhārat	بھارت Bhārat

References[edit]

↑ "Languages by number of speakers according to 1991 census". Central Institute of Indian Languages. Retrieved August 2, 2007.
↑ Mallikarjun, B. (Nov., 2004), Fifty Years of Language Planning for Modern Hindi–The Official Language of India, Language in India, Volume 4, Number 11. ISSN 1930-2940.
↑ "Notification No. 2/8/60-O.L. (Ministry of Home Affairs), dated 27 April, 1960". Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved July 4, 2007.
↑ Prabodh Bechardas Pandit, "Language in a Plural Society", Dev Raj Chanana Memorial Committee, 1977.
↑ Robert McHenry, "The New Encyclopaedia Britannica", Encyclopædia Britannica, 1993.
↑ "Eighth Schedule". National Informatics Centre (NIC). 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
↑ "The Union: Official Language". National Informatics Centre (NIC). 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-24.
↑ "CIA Factbook: India". CIA. Retrieved 2007-03-10.

[1] "Languages by number of speakers according to 1991 census". Central Institute of Indian Languages. Retrieved August 2, 2007.

[2] Mallikarjun, B. (Nov., 2004), Fifty Years of Language Planning for Modern Hindi–The Official Language of India, Language in India, Volume 4, Number 11. ISSN 1930-2940.

[English-subsidiary-3] "Notification No. 2/8/60-O.L. (Ministry of Home Affairs), dated 27 April, 1960". Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved July 4, 2007.

[pandit1977-4] Prabodh Bechardas Pandit, "Language in a Plural Society", Dev Raj Chanana Memorial Committee, 1977.

[britannica1993-5] Robert McHenry, "The New Encyclopaedia Britannica", Encyclopædia Britannica, 1993.

[6] "Eighth Schedule". National Informatics Centre (NIC). 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2007-06-26.

[7] "The Union: Official Language". National Informatics Centre (NIC). 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-24.

[CIA-8] "CIA Factbook: India". CIA. Retrieved 2007-03-10.

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