Languages of India
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| Languages of India | |
|---|---|
 ShyamTirhut · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source | |
| Name | Languages of India |
| Native name | भारत की भाषाएँ |
| Countries | India |
| Family | Indo-European, Dravidian, Austroasiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Tai–Kadai, Andamanese |
| Official | Hindi, English (associate) |
| Scheduled | 22 languages |
| Scripts | Devanagari, Bengali, Gurmukhi, Gujarati, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Roman, others |
| Iso | multiple |
Languages of India India is one of the world's most linguistically diverse nations, where speakers of Sanskrit-derived Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, and Marathi coexist with speakers of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam as well as hundreds of smaller language communities associated with Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Surveying linguistic diversity in India requires integrating data from censuses conducted by the Office of the Registrar General, India, field records held by the SIL International, and scholarship from institutions such as the School of Oriental and African Studies and the Linguistic Survey of India.
Overview and Classification
The linguistic landscape of India is classically divided into major families: the Indo‑Aryan branch of Indo-European (including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia), the Dravidian family (including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam), the Austroasiatic family (including Santali, Ho, Munda languages), and the Sino-Tibetan family (including Meitei, Bodo, Naga languages). Historical classification owes much to the work of George Abraham Grierson and later typological refinements by scholars at University of Cambridge, University of Chicago, and the Central Institute of Indian Languages. Contact phenomena among Persianate administrative terms, Arabic loanwords, and colonial-era English lexicon produced extensive borrowings across regions such as Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai.
Official and Scheduled Languages
The Constitution of India recognises 22 scheduled languages, including Hindi and Sanskrit, with English retained as an associate official language under legislative arrangements debated in sessions of the Constituent Assembly of India and later statutes passed by the Parliament of India. States such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab designate state official languages in state legislatures; the Supreme Court of India and the Election Commission of India manage language use in judicial and electoral processes. Policies affecting language status reflect debates in forums like the Rajya Sabha and controversies arising around language movements exemplified by protests in Andhra Pradesh and the anti‑Hindi agitations in Tamil Nadu.
Language Families and Regional Languages
Regional languages show deep historical layering: Odia literature flourished in the courts of Kalinga and the Gajapati Kingdom; Marathi developed in the Deccan under the influence of the Maratha Empire and poets patronised by rulers of Pune and Satara; Bengali literary modernism interlinked with cultural institutions in Kolkata such as the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. In the northeast, Assamese and Bodo reflect links to the Brahmaputra valley and to cross-border communities in Bangladesh and Bhutan; Naga languages and Meitei show affinities documented by researchers at the North Eastern Hill University and the Anthropological Survey of India.
Scripts and Orthographies
Scripts in India include abugidas and alphasyllabaries such as Devanagari (used for Hindi, Marathi, Nepali), the Bengali script (for Bengali, Assamese), Gurmukhi (for Punjabi), Oriya script (for Odia), Gujarati script (for Gujarati), and southern scripts like Tamil script, Telugu script, Kannada script, and Malayalam script. Sanskritic transmission used manuscripts preserved in institutions such as the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute and the Kolkata National Library, while colonial archiving by the British Library and the Asiatic Society of Bengal influenced orthographic standardisation. Romanisation schemes for Roman script use in minority and diaspora contexts have been proposed by committees convened at the Ministry of Home Affairs and academies like the Sahitya Akademi.
Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism
Multilingual practices in urban centres such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad produce code‑switching among Hindi, English, Urdu, and regional tongues; linguistic repertoires are shaped by institutions including the Indian Institutes of Technology and the All India Radio broadcasting network. Language and identity politics surface in movements led by cultural organisations like the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and literary bodies such as the Kendra Sahitya Akademi. Migration to Gulf Cooperation Council countries and diasporas in London, Toronto, and San Francisco sustain heritage languages and influence remittance‑enabled media consumption.
Language Policy, Education, and Media
Language policy instruments include three‑language formula debates in sessions of the Ministry of Education and curriculum reforms promoted by boards like the Central Board of Secondary Education and the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Odisha. Print and electronic media actors such as The Times of India, Doordarshan, NDTV, and regional newspapers in Kerala and Assam mediate language prestige and literacy; film industries exemplified by Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood, and Sandalwood drive standardisation of registers and cross‑linguistic influence.
Endangered Languages and Preservation Efforts
Endangered languages such as some Munda varieties, isolated Great Andamanese tongues, and smaller Naga languages face attrition documented by NGOs like VICAS and research groups at the National Museum Institute. Preservation efforts involve digital corpora initiatives at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, community‑based revitalisation projects coordinated with the National Mission for Manuscripts, and academic partnerships with the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and the University of Pennsylvania to archive oral histories and produce pedagogical materials.