język: Languages of India

Evidence: 69 • authority: 71

There is a popular aphorism that depicts India’s linguistic diversity rather well: Kos-kos par badle paani, chaar kos par baani (The language spoken in India changes every few kilometres, just like the taste of the water). The Census of 2001 provided only a partial demonstration of this multiplicity when it said that our country has 30 languages that are spoken by more than a million people each. These 30 languages by themselves only provide a linguistic window through which we can view the 122 languages that are spoken by at least 10,000 people each. Then we have the 1,599 languages, most of them dialects, restricted to specific regions, many of them on the verge of extinction. Many Indians are bilingual by default. As per Census 2001, about 255 million Indians — more than a quarter of the total population — spoke at least two languages while 87.5 million spoke at least three. Our society, multicultural by default, can be made multilingual by design if the right interventions, at State and non-State levels, are taken. However, the Centre’s current efforts — placing an excessive focus on the Sanskritised version of Hindi — would aid only in fuelling greater insecurity among the local people of the regions where the language is not spoken. The government — through its Department of Official Language, under the Home Ministry — allocates huge amounts towards a tongue that is spoken by less than half of our population. A portion of those funds, if allocated to institutions dedicated to other languages, will foster a greater spirit of nationhood. Failing to recognise the dangers inherent in the ‘imposition project’ will create a demographic time-bomb out of the demographic dividend. Hindi came to be known as a ‘language’ only in the late 19th century. There are many dialects and languages, some with grammar and syntax of their own, which are grouped under the term ‘Hindi’, including Haryanvi, Braj, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Bundeli, Bagheli, Kannauji and Rajasthani. A cursory look at the ‘language’ section of Census results shows that there were 49 such ‘dialects’ grouped under ‘Hindi’. Though a Hindi speaker may easily understand some of these tongues, each of them have an identity of its own that is not wholly dependent on Hindi. If you consider solely those who list ‘Hindi’ or ‘Khadi Boli’ — the standardised Hindi variant used for official purposes — as their mother tongue, the percentage of native Hindi speakers is just about 26%.

Evidence: 54 • authority: 72

An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead" or "extinct language". A dead language may still be studied through recordings or writings, but it is still considered dead or extinct once there are no more fluent speakers left. Although languages have always become extinct throughout human history, factors currently accelerating the rate of language death include globalization, mass migration, linguistic imperialism, neocolonialism, and linguicide (language killing). Language shift most commonly occurs…

Evidence: 45 • authority: 72

The Dravidian languages are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, primarily in South India, but also in parts of North India, Bangladesh and Nepal, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan, with pockets in Afghanistan and Iran. The most commonly spoken Dravidian languages (in descending order) are Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam, all of which have long literary traditions. Smaller literary languages include Tulu and Kodava. Together with several smaller languages such as Gondi, these languages cover the southern part of India and the northeast of Sri Lanka, and account for the overwhelming majority of speakers of Dravidian languages. Malto and Kurukh are spoken in i…

Evidence: 45 • authority: 72

The most commonly used language in the United States is English (specifically the American English set of varieties), which is the national language and official language. While the U.S. Congress has never declared a statutory official language, the federal government primarily uses English and a 2025 executive order declared English official. In addition, 32 U.S. states out of 50 and all five U.S. territories have laws that recognize English as an official language. Of these, three states and most territories have adopted English plus one or more other official languages. Overall, 430 languages are spoken or signed by the population, of which 177 are indigenous to the U.S. or its territori…

Evidence: 31 • authority: 72

Languages of India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians; both families together are sometimes known as Indic languages. Languages spoken by the remaining 2.31% of the population belong to the Austroasiatic, Sino–Tibetan, Tai–Kadai, Andamanese, and a few other minor language families and isolates. According to the People's Linguistic Survey of India, India has the second highest number of languages (780), after Papua New Guinea (841). Ethnologue lists a lower number of 459. Article 343 of the Constitution of India stated that the official language of the Union is…

Evidence: 0 • authority: 62

Evidence: 0 • authority: 91