Indian languages

From Bharatpedia, an open encyclopedia

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]

  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.
  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.
  4. ↑ Prabodh Bechardas Pandit, "Language in a Plural Society", Dev Raj Chanana Memorial Committee, 1977.
  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.
  8. ↑ "CIA Factbook: India". CIA. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
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