Languages of India
The languages of India primarily belong to two major linguistic families, Indo-European, whose branch Indo-Aryan is spoken by about 70% of the population of India and that includes the Dardic languages; secondly, the Dravidian family (spoken by about 22%). Other languages spoken in India come mainly from the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman linguistic families; in addition there are a few language isolates.
Individual mother tongues in India number several hundred. According to Census of India of 2001, 29 languages are spoken by more than a million native speakers, 122 by more than 10,000. Three millennia of language contact has led to significant mutual influence among the four language families in India and South Asia. Two contact languages have played an important role in the history of India: Persian and English.
The languages of India primarily belong to two major linguistic families, Indo-European, whose branch Indo-Aryan is spoken by about 70% of the population of India and that includes the Dardic languages; secondly, the Dravidian family (spoken by about 22%). Other languages spoken in India come mainly from the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman linguistic families; in addition there are a few language isolates.
Individual mother tongues in India number several hundred. According to Census of India of 2001, 29 languages are spoken by more than a million native speakers, 122 by more than 10,000. Three millennia of language contact has led to significant mutual influence among the four language families in India and South Asia. Two contact languages have played an important role in the history of India: Persian and English.
| No. | Language | State(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Assamese/Asomiya | Assam |
| 2. | Bengali | Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Tripura, West Bengal |
| 3. | Bodo | Assam |
| 4. | Dogri | Jammu and Kashmir |
| 5. | Gujarati | Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Gujarat |
| 6. | Hindi | Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, the national capital territory of Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand |
| 7. | Kannada | Karnataka. |
| 8. | Kashmiri | Jammu and Kashmir |
| 9. | Konkani | Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala |
| 10. | Maithili | Bihar |
| 11. | Malayalam | Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep,Puducherry |
| 12. | Manipuri (also Meitei or Meithei) | Manipur |
| 13. | Marathi | Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka |
| 14. | Nepali | Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam |
| 15. | Oriya | Orissa |
| 16. | Punjabi | Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab |
| 17. | Sanskrit | Non-regional language. |
| 18. | Santhali | Santhal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa) |
| 19. | Sindhi | Non-regional language. |
| 20. | Tamil | Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Puducherry |
| 21. | Telugu | Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry |
| 22. | Urdu | Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh |
