India > Culture > Regional Languages

Regional Languages of India

Indian languages belong to a numerous linguistic families, but most of them being the Indo-Aryan languages group, nearly 74% of Indians speak any one languages of this branch of Indo-European languages and mainly originated from the Sanskrit as a root language, and nearly 24% of Indians speak a language of the Dravidian languages family and mainly concentrate on the southern India. Other languages spoken in India belong to the Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burman, and a few minor language families, which are still uncategorized (mainly speaks on the Himalayan states).

According to the census of 1961, there have 1,652 regional or local languages in India, among them standard Hindi declared as leading status language by the Indian government. Because, there are more than 40% people use standard Hindi as their main language. The constitution of India used Standard Hindi as official language while English is the secondary official language.

Choosing Hindi as an official language presents serious problems to every person whose "mother tongue" is not Hindi. This may be a huge trouble for children who have to learn Standard Hindi completely. Local official language commissions have been established and various steps are taken in a direction to reduce tensions and friction. They choose 22 regional languages as state level official language. As an example, Assamese is the regional language of states Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and also official language of those states not standard Hindi.

Major regional languages in India

Hindi is the main language in India. It is a language of Indo-Aryan, Central family and several states and union territories apply this language as their dialect; 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. With out Hindi there are 21 more official language in India. This are

1. Assamese is a language of Indo-Aryan, Eastern family and it is the regional language of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Assamese used as official language in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

2. Bengali is a language of Indo-Aryan, Eastern family and it is the regional language of West Bengal, Tripura, Kolkata, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and also few regions of Assam. Bengali Used as official language in West Bengal and Tripura and as a sub-official language in Assam.

3. Bodo is a language of Tibeto-Burman family and it is the regional language of Assam. Bodo Used as sub-official language in Assam.

4. Dogri is a language of Indo-Aryan, Northwestern family and it is the regional language of Jammu and Kashmir.

5. Gujarati is a language of is a language of Indo-Aryan, Western family and it is the regional language of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Gujarat. Gujarati Used as official language in Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

6. Kannada is a language of Dravidian family and it is the regional language of Karnataka. Kannada Used as official language in Karnataka.

7. Kashmiri is a language of Indo-Aryan, Dardic family and it is the regional language of Jammu and Kashmir.

8. Konkani is a language of Indo-Aryan, Southern family and it is the regional language of Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala. Konkani Used as official language in Goa.

9. Maithili is a language of Indo-Aryan, Eastern family and it is the regional language of Bihar. Maithili Used as official language in Bihar.

10. Malayalam is a language of Dravidian family and it is the regional language of Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Puducherry. Malayalam Used as official language in Kerala and Lakshadweep and as a sub-official language in Puducherry.

11. Manipuri is a language of Tibeto-Burman family and it is the regional language of Manipur. Manipuri Used as official language in Manipur.

12. Marathi is a language of Indo-Aryan, Southern family and it is the regional language of Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. Marathi Used as official language in Maharashtra, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

13. Nepali is a language of Indo-Aryan, Northern family and it is the regional language of Sikkim, northern parts of West Bengal and Assam. Nepali Used as official language in Sikkim.

14. Oriya is a language of Indo-Aryan, Eastern family and it is the regional language of Orissa. Oriya Used as official language in Orissa.

15. Punjabi is a language of Indo-Aryan, Northwestern family and it is the regional language of Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab. Punjabi Used as official language in Punjab and Chandigarh and as a sub-official language in Haryana and Delhi.

16. Sanskrit is a language of Indo-Aryan family. It is a non-regional language. Sanskrit Used as sub-official language in Uttarakhand.

17. Santhali is a language of Munda family and it is the regional language of Santhal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa). Santhali Used as official language in Jharkhand.

18. Sindhi is a language of Indo-Aryan, North-western family. It is a non-regional language.

19. Tamil is a language of Dravidian family and it is the regional language of Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. Tamil Used as official language in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

20. Telugu is a language of Dravidian family and it is the regional language of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry. Telugu Used as official language in Andhra Pradesh and as a sub-official language in Puducherry.

21. Urdu is a language of Indo-Aryan, Central family and it is the regional language of Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. Urdu Used as official language in Jammu and Kashmir and as a sub-official language in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.