Indian Languages and Its Classifications

Indian languages as discussed by Harsh

Language is a system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understand to have the same meaning. There are two terms associated with language; language family (includes individual languages related through a common ancestor) and Dialect (a form of language spoken in a local area. The Indian languages are divided into different groups; Indo-Aryan group, Dravidian group, Sino-Tibetan group, Negroid, Austric, etc. Different languages exist in every group with numerous dialects of them.

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Classification of Indian Languages

Indo-Aryan Group of Languages

The Indo-Aryan group of languages is a branch of the Indo-European family and 74% of Indians speak those languages which belong to this group. This group was developed around c. 1500 BC and Sanskrit was born out of this group, Vedas were written in Sanskrit and Sanskrit is the mother language of many Indian languages like Pali and Prakrit.  The Languages of Pali and Prakrit were prevalent during the age of Mahajanapadas.

The chaste form of Sanskrit was developed between c. 300 BC to 200 BC and the first evidence of the same was found from the Junagarh inscription of Rudradaman. The Prakrit language remained prevalent between the period 600 BC to 1000 AD. Prakrit is also a group of many languages like Pali, Ardha-Magadhi, Shauraseni, Maharashtri Prakrit, Elu, Paishachi, etc. Apabhramsa is a corrupt or non-grammatical group of languages developed during the 7^th century. After the 10^th century, many regional languages emerged in the Indian subcontinent like Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Odia, Urdu, etc.

Dravidian Group of Languages

This group mainly comprises the languages spoken in the southern part of India and it covers around 25% population of India. Brahui language (Baluchistan), Malto (tribal areas of Bengal), and Kurukh (in Bengal) are Dravidian languages spoken in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent. The four major languages of the Dravidian group are Telegu, Tamil (the oldest one), Malayalam (the newest and smallest one), and Kannada; which are spoken in the southern part of India.

Sino-Tibetan Group

The 0.6 % population of India belongs to this group of languages that stretches all over the Himalayas, North Bihar, North Bengal, Assam, and the North-eastern belt; and this group belong to Mongoloid family. Tibetan-Burman sub-group constituted Sikkimese, Balti, Limbu, Abor, Miri, Dafla, Bodo and Naga, Manipuri etc. The other sub-group Siamese-Chinese involves Ahom but this language is already extinct from the subcontinent.

Austric and Other Group of Languages

The languages of the Austric group are a sub-family of the Austro-Asiatic group which is represented by the languages of Munda or Kol group and spoken in Central, Eastern, and North-Eastern India. Some of them also belong to the Mon-Khmer group (Khasi and Nicobarese). Santhal is another important language of this group which is spoken by the Santhal tribes of Jharkhand, Bihar, and Bengal. Other than these languages several Dravidian Adivasi languages like Gondi, Oraon, Praji, etc. are spoken in India but they are very distinct and hence, not a part of any group.   

Thus, the diversification of Indian culture is enriched by different languages spoken by different communities of the Indian subcontinent.