III) Topic: Distribution of Language in India
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Transcript of III) Topic: Distribution of Language in India
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Department of Geography
B.A. (IV Semester) Section - F
Geography of India (Unit – III)
Topic: Distribution of Language in India
For geographers, language is a major means by which cultural diffusion, both spatial and
temporal, takes place. Therefore, geographers often use language as an identification mark for
different cultures. Because language is essential to communication, it strongly influences the sort
of political, social and economic institutions we create. As a result economic and religious
systems frequently follow patterns of language distribution, and political borders quite often
parallel linguistic boundaries. In short, human linguistic patterns make a highly varied mosaic
whose design both affect and are affected by many elements of culture and the physical
environment. Language evolves through ages. Social, cultural, political and other aspects of life
do contribute in need and essence of origin of language.
Definitions:
1. Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual (signed), or written symbols by
means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in
its culture, express themselves. The functions of language include communication, the
expression of identity, play, imaginative expression, and emotional release.
2. The method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of
words in a structured and conventional way.
3. The words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and
understood by a community.
4. A system of communication used by a particular country or community.
Dialect: A dialect is a particular form of a language which is unique to a specific region or social
group. It is different from a standard variety of language. Dialects have variations in grammar,
vocabulary or pronunciation. Dialects are especially a way of speaking that differs from the
standard variety of the language. For example, American English, Indian English, and Australian
English, etc. are some examples of English dialects. Moreover, there are also sub-dialects within
these dialects. Furthermore, it is also possible to derive some information about a person’s
geographical location, education or social background from his or her dialect. There are two
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categories of dialects as standard and non-standard dialects. A standard dialect is a dialect that is
approved and supported by institutions, and non-standard dialects are those that are not
supported by institutions.
Language Composition of India
India is a country of heterogeneous ethnic and social groups which have their own languages and
dialects. This broad linguistic regional identity formed the basis for the formation of Indian
states. It is very certain that inhabitants of the country are not her original people. They entered
India in different spans of time and got settled here. It is natural that differences and variations
exist in their languages and dialects owing to their coming into India from different part of world
especially Asia. After coming in to India, cultural mixing has taken place among various races
and it led to the mixing of their languages and dialects to great extent. Despite all this, people of
different races and classes live in different parts of the country and they speak different
languages and dialects.
The languages of India belong to several language families, the most important of which are:
(1) Indo-European Language Family (Arya)
These languages are spoken by a sizeable population of the country which is confined to the
Indo-Ganga plains. These are sub-divided into two main branches: Dardic and Indo-Aryan.
Former includes Dardi, Shina, Kohistani and Kashmiri while the latter is divided into north-
western (Lhanda, Kachchi, Sindhi), southern (Marathi, Konkani), eastern (Oriya, Bihari, Bengali,
Assamese), east-central (Avadhi, Baghaili, Chhattisgarhi), central (Western Hindi, Punjabi,
Rajasthani, Gujarati), and northern (Nepali, and Pahari) groups. Hindi is the principal language
of the Indo- European family which is spoken by 337.27 million (39.85 per cent) people of the
country. It is mainly spoken in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. Urdu is closely akin to Hindi and is popular in Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Marathi is the most important language of
Maharashtra in South India. Similarly Bengali, Oriya and Assamese represent the eastern group
in the states of West Bengal, Orissa and Assam respectively and Nicobari). These are mainly
spoken by the tribal groups in the Khasi and Jaintia hills of Meghalaya, Nicobar Islands, Santhal
Pargana, Mayurbhanj, Ranchi, East Nimar, Betul and Baudh Khondmals.
(2) Dravidian Language Family (Dravida)
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The second largest language family is the Dravidian language family, accounting for
approximately 21.6%.The Dravidian languages are spoken mainly in southern India and parts of
eastern and central India as well as in parts of northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and
Bangladesh. The Dravidian languages with the most speakers are Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and
Malayalam. Besides the mainstream population, Dravidian languages are also spoken by small
scheduled tribe communities, such as the Oraon and Gond tribes.
(3) Austroasiatic Language Family
Families with smaller numbers of speakers are Austroasiatic and numerous small Sino-Tibetan
languages, with some 10 and 6 million speakers, respectively, together 5 per cent of the
population.The Austroasiatic language family (austro meaning South) is the autochthonous
language in South Asia and Southeast Asia, other language families having arrived by migration.
Austroasiatic languages of mainland India are the Khasi and Munda languages, including
Santhali. The languages of the Nicobar Islands also form part of this language family. With the
exceptions of Khasi and Santhali, all Austroasiatic languages on Indian Territory are endangered.
(4) Sino-Tibetan Language Family: (Kirata)
This family consists of three main branches: (a) Tibet Himalayan (Tibetan, Balti, Ladakhi,
Lahuli, Kanauri, Lepcha), (b) North Assam (Aka, Dafla, Abor, Miri, Mishmi, Mishing), and (c)
Assam-Myanmari (Bodo or Boro, Naga, Kachin, Kukichin and Myanmar). These languages are
mainly spoken by the tribal groups of the North-East and of the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan
region of the North and North-West. The speakers of the Tibet Himalayan branch are
concentrated in Ladakh, parts of Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Assam-Myanmari branch
spreads along the Indo-Myanmar border. Among these, Naga dialects are spoken in Nagaland,
Lushai in Mizo hills, Garo in Garo hills and Meitei in Manipur.
On the basis of principal languages India may be divided into 12 linguistic regions.
These include Kashmiri, Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Guajarati, Marathi, Kannada,
Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam regions.
Each Indian state also happens to be pluri-cultural, besides showing a great degree of
multilingualism as the following table would reveal.
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Set Sates Major Languages
(Ratio of Population) Other Languages
A Kerala Malayalam (96.6%) Tamil, Kannada
Punjab Punjabi (92.2%) Hindi, Urdu
Gujarat Gujarati (91.5%) Hindi, Sindhi
Haryana Hindi (91.0%) Punjabi, Urdu
U.P. Hindi (90.1%) Urdu, Punjabi
Rajasthan Hindi (89.6%) Bhili, Urdu
H.P. Hindi (88.9%) Punjabi, Kinnauri
Tamil Nadu Tamil (86.7%) Telugu, Kannada
West Bengal Bangla (86.0%) Hindi, Urdu
A.P. Telugu (84.8%) Urdu, Hindi
B. M.P. Hindi (85.6%) Bhili, Gondi
Bihar Hindi (80.9%) Urdu, Santali
Orissa Oriya (82.8%) Hindi, Telugu
Mizoram Lushai (75.1%) Bangla, Lakher
Maharashtra Marathi (73.3%) Hindi,Urdu
C. Goa Konkani (51.5%) Marathi, Kannada
Meghalaya Khasi (49.5%) Garo, Bangla
Tripura Bangla (68.9%) Tripuri, Hindi
Karnataka Kannada (66.2%) Urdu, Telugu
D. Sikkim Nepali (63.1%) Bhotia, Lepcha
Manipur Manipuri (60.4%) Thadou, Tangkhul
Assam Assamese (57.8%) Bangla, Boro
E. Arunachal Nissi (19.9%) Nepali,Bangla
Nagaland Ao (14.0%) Sema, Konyak
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SCHEDULED LANGUAGES IN DESCENDING ORDER OF SPEAKERS' STRENGTH - 2011
S. No.
Language
Persons who returned the
language as their mother tongue
Percentage to total
1 2 3 4
1
Hindi
52,83,47,193
43.63
2 Bengali
9,72,37,669
8.03
3 Marathi
8,30,26,680
6.86
4 Telugu
8,11,27,740
6.70
5 Tamil
6,90,26,881
5.70
6 Gujarati
5,54,92,554
4.58
7 Urdu
5,07,72,631
4.19
8 Kannada
4,37,06,512
3.61
9 Odia
3,75,21,324
3.10
10 Malayalam
3,48,38,819
2.88
11 Punjabi
3,31,24,726
2.74
12 Assamese
1,53,11,351
1.26
13 Maithili
1,35,83,464
1.12
14 Santali
73,68,192
0.61
15 Kashmiri
67,97,587
0.56
16 Nepali
29,26,168
0.24
17 Sindhi
27,72,264
0.23
18 Dogri
25,96,767
0.21
19 Konkani
22,56,502
0.19
20 Manipuri
17,61,079
0.15
21 Bodo
14,82,929
0.12
22 Sanskrit 24,821 N
N - Stands for negligible. Source: Census of India, 2011