Home > Indian History > Languages in India > Indian Regional Languages
Indian Regional Languages
Indian regional languages have been vested with supreme official status, including their power of admirability.

Share this Article:

Indian Regional LanguagesIndia is an enormous land of ancient culture and ritualistic heritage, which is further heightened by the fact that the land has been enriched by all things natural and innate. Each of India`s physical, political, administrative, economic, humanitarian or social condition has impacted deeply upon its colossal population. Since Indian Independence the country came face to face with what is known as democratic and secular principles, making its residents reside side and side with peace and authority. This very aspect takes on new and meaningful beliefs and thoughts when it is witnessed that humankind speak and communicate in umpteen languages and diction styles. Indeed Indian languages comprise several regional dialects, many of which have been accredited by the Constitution of India. Indian regional languages and the impeccable way of verbalising them, make them stand out in assorted manners, constituting an attractive subject in universities overseas.

At present there exist 844 regional Indian language dialects. Each state additionally possesses its own language, which by and large acts as its official language. The 8th schedule of the Constitution of India has enlisted 22 such regional languages. Chapter II of Part XVII of the Indian Constitution states about the utilisation of regional languages of India.

The articles of this chapter are as follows:

Article 345: This article deals with the topic of official language or languages of a State. It is observed that the legislature of each Indian state possesses the power to choose one or more regional languages or Hindi to be used for its official purposes.

Article 346: This article deals with usage of official languages for communicational intensions between one state and another or between a state and the union. It states that the official language chosen by the legislature of a state should be the official language for inter-state communication or communication within a state and the union.

Article 347: This article cites the exceptional provision associated with language spoken by a section of the population of a state. It is also assigned that the President of India can commend any language to be used by a particular portion of the population of a state. This language can further be officially recognised throughout the state.

However, leaving behind all such lawful and strictly administrational news from the Central Government of India, regional languages in India can be consciously divided into six essential sections, comprising - North Indian Languages, South Indian Languages, East Indian Languages, West Indian Languages, Central Indian Languages and North East Indian Languages. Each of these social sections possesses their significant dissimilarity in daily life, beginning from communication and concluding perhaps in dressing styles. North Indian languages assimilate the Hindustani lingua franca, an assorted range of western and eastern Hindi dialects, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pahari languages and Kashmiri. East Indian languages comprise Bihari languages encompassing Bhojpuri, Magadhi and Maithili, various dialects of Bengali, Sikkimese and Oriya. North East Indian languages include Assamese, Nepali, Manipuri or Meiteilon, Kokborok or Tripuri, Nagamese, Mizo, Khasi, Garo, Bodo, Karbi, Dimasa, Mishing and Apatani. South Indian languages comprise one of the five Dravidian languages of Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Tulu. West Indian languages comprise primarily Marathi and Gujarati, besides the domination of various dialects of Hindi. Central Indian language fashion is predominated by Hindi as their official language, besides Sindhi serving to a section of society.

Apart from the twenty two regional languages stated by Indian Constitution as official, there exist many languages and dialects employed by a number of people. Some of the regional languages and dialects of India encompass - Aariya, Adi, Andaman Creole Hindi, Andh, Arakanese, Awadhi, Bhadrawahi, Bhattiyali, Bhojpuri, Bilaspuri, Birhor, Braj Bhasha, Chaura, Chhattisgarhi, Deccan, Deori, Dhodia, Dimasa, Gaddi, Garhwali, Godwari, Gujari, Gurung, Haryanvi, Holiya, Jad, Jarawa, Kanauji, Khasi, Korlai Creole Portuguese, Kumauni, Ladakhi, Lepcha, Lodhi, Majhi, Malapandaram, Maldivian, Marwari, Mundari, Newar, Parsi, Powari, Rabha, Rajbanshi, Rongpo, Samvedi, Saurashtra, Shekhawati, Sherpa, Tamang, Urali, Varhadi-Nagpuri, Vasavi, Wagdi, Yerukula and Zangskari.


Share this Article:

Related Articles

More Articles in Languages in India


Development of Tamil Scripts
Development of Tamil scripts can be traced to the period just after the reign of Asoka. The Tamil script is believed to have developed from the Brahmi script.
History of Tamil Language
History of Tamil Language dates back to around the 2nd century BCE. Tamil language consists of the oldest non-Sanskrit Indian literature amongst all other Indian languages.
History of Maithili Language
History of Maithili Language can be dated back to the early fourteenth century. Maithili is now one of the national languages of India.
West Indian Languages
West Indian languages distinguish themselves with rurality and urbanity drawing the primary lines of speech.
Nagari Script
Nagari script today is classified as Devanagari, believed to have served as the ancestor of various modern-day writing.
Tamil Language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken primarily in India and other countries of South Asia. It is one of the official languages of Tamil Nadu. With a rich literary history spanning over 2,000 years, Tamil holds the distinction of being one of the oldest classical languages in the world.
Awadhi Language
Awadhi is one of the enriched languages of India, Hindi too originated from it. Awadhi, an Indo-Aryan language from the Indo-European family, originated from Ardhamagadhi Prakrit with ties to Sauraseni and Magadhi dialects.
Tamil Scripts
Tamil Scripts are used to write the Tamil language and other Dravidians languages. Tamil script varies from other Brahmi-derived scripts in numerous ways.
Bengali Language
Bengali Language evolved from Prakrit, Pali and Sanskrit and an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern India.
Gondi language
Gondi language is unusual in its formation that it contains no written versions, yet is enriched in concepts.
Pali Language
Pali Language owes its origination to Gautama Buddha and his disciples, who were chief to propagate it.
Origin of Prakrit Language
Origin of Prakrit language can be attributed to Sanskrit according to some historians. Some consider it as nature’s gift which is easily comprehensible.
Indian Language Families
Indian language families encompass diverse linguistic groups such as Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Tai-Kadai, and Andamanese. Indo-Aryan languages dominate northern India, Dravidian languages in the south, Tibeto-Burman in the northeast, Tai-Kadai in the northeast, and Andamanese in the Andaman Islands, reflecting India`s rich linguistic heritage and cultural diversity.
Chakma Script
Chakma script is also called Ojhapath, Ojhopath, Aaojhapath. The forms of the letters have resemblances to that of the Burmese script.
Garhwali Language
Garhwali, widely spoken by the denizens of Garhwal and East Himalayan region.
Sikkimese Language
The Sikkimese language, also known as Bhutia or Drenjongke, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken primarily in the Indian state of Sikkim. Rich in cultural significance, it features a unique script derived from the Tibetan alphabet. Sikkimese reflects the region's deep Buddhist heritage, preserving its traditions through oral and written forms.
Kharosthi Script
Kharosthi script had much to do with emperor Ashoka, who made use of this style in his Rock Edicts.
Siddham Script
Siddham script has evolved from two exceedingly respected lineage, thriving during the reign of Gupta Empire.
Indian Tribal Languages
Indian tribal languages have no legend of their own and spoken by people of ethnic groups from remote areas.
Assamese Script
Assamese script is a variation of the Eastern Nagari script. It belongs to the family to the Brahmic script family.