Language Trees of India
Author : Bhumika Patel and Dr. Shweta Gohel
Abstract :
India is home to a vast and diverse linguistic landscape, with the major language families being Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. Indo-Aryan languages are spoken by approximately 78.05% of the population, while Dravidian languages account for 19.64%. Collectively, these are known as the Indic languages. In addition to these, minor language families and language isolates make up the remaining 2.31%, including Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Tai-Kadai, and others. The number of languages spoken in India varies according to different sources; the People’s Linguistic Survey of India lists 780 languages, whereas Ethnologue records 456.
Officially, Hindi in the Devanagari script is recognized as the official language under Article 343 of the Indian Constitution, with English allowed to continue for official purposes for 15 years from 1947. However, the Official Languages Act of 1963 permits the indefinite use of English alongside Hindi. The international form of Indian numerals, commonly known as Arabic numerals, is used for official purposes. Notably, the Constitution of India does not designate any national language. Instead, it recognizes 22 scheduled languages under the Eighth Schedule, which are granted recognition, status, and official encouragement. Furthermore, six languages—Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu—have been given the status of Classical Languages.
According to the 2001 Census, India had 122 major languages and 1,599 other languages. Of these, 30 languages have over a million speakers, while 122 have more than 10,000 speakers. Historically, Persian served as the court and administrative language during the Mughal era, and English continues to play a significant role in higher education and government functions.
In terms of current linguistic dynamics, Hindi has the largest number of native speakers and functions as a lingua franca in northern and central India, though its promotion has raised concerns in non-Hindi speaking regions like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, and Punjab. Bengali is the second most spoken language, mainly in the eastern and northeastern regions, followed by Marathi in the southwest and Telugu in the southeast. According to the 2011 Census, Hindi is the fastest growing language, followed by Kashmiri, Meitei (Manipuri), Gujarati, and Bengali.
Ethnologue provides further classification with 148 Sino-Tibetan, 140 Indo-European, 84 Dravidian, 32 Austroasiatic, 14 Andamanese, and 5 Kra-Dai languages. This linguistic diversity illustrates the complex, multilingual character of India.
Keywords :
Language family, Indian roots, classical languages, endangered languages.
