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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

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Source: India – A Comprehensive Geography by Dr. Khullar