ITINERARY

Languages spoken in India

India, a potpourri of different cultures, religions and beliefs, is home to not just one or two languages but to an uncountable number of different lingual families. Languages belonging to the two major language families – Indo Aryan and Dravidian – are spoken by more than 90% of the people of India. Know more about the languages of India with India Language Map.

According to Ethnology, India is considered to be home to 461 languages, out of which 14 have been reported to be extinct.

But still there is not a single Indian language that is spoken across its length and breadth. Hindi is spoken by a majority of North Indians, but it is not a popular means of communication in the southern part of India. Similarly, South Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam are not understood by the people of North India.

For the convenience of people, the Constitution of India has recognized 22 languages as the official languages of India. These are known as Scheduled Languages and constitute the major languages of the country. India Language Map provides detailed information about these languages listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution and spoken in different parts of the country.

The list of some of the Indian languages includes

• Sanskrit
• Hindi
• English
• Gujarati – Language of Gujarat and Union Territories of Dadar and Nagar Haveli
• Punjabi – The official language of Punjab
• Bengali- The state language of West Bengal
• Assamese – Official language of Assam
• Dogri, Urdu – The language of Jammu and Kashmir
• Oriya – The state language of state of Odisha
• Marathi – Language of Maharashtra
• Kannada – The official language of Karnataka
• Tamil – The state language of Tamil Nadu
• Telugu – It is the official language of Andhra Pradesh.
• Malayalam – It is the official language of Kerala
• Sindhi
• Konkani – The state language of Goa
• Manipuri – The official language of Manipur
• Khasi – The official language of Meghalaya
• Mizo – The official language of Mizoram
• English – The official language of Nagaland

Urdu and Telugu are also the official languages of the newly formed state of Telangana.

Besides these, there are other languages, which are spoken by large masses but have still not acquired the status of Scheduled Languages of India. These languages spoken by regional people are known as regional languages of India. These include Rajasthani, Haryanvi, Bhili, Gondi and Tulu among others.