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List of languages by number of native speakers in India

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States and union territories of India by the spoken first language[1][note 1]

The Republic of India is home to several hundred languages. Most Indians speak a language belonging to the families of the Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European (c. 77%), the Dravidian (c. 20.61%), the Austroasiatic (precisely Munda and Khasic) (c. 1.2%), or the Sino-Tibetan (precisely Tibeto-Burman) (c. 0.8%), with some languages of the Himalayas still unclassified. The SIL Ethnologue lists 424 living languages in India.[2]

Overview

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Kauravi language (evolved from Sauraseni language of Prakrit language of Vedic Sanskrit language of Indo-Aryan sub-branch of Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European language family) was spoken in ancient Delhi (today's National Capital Territory of Delhi) and ancient north-western Uttar Pradesh (today's Meerut, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Saharanpur and Moradabad) and it was written in the Nagari script (ancient form of today's Devanagari script) with Sanskrit vocabulary.

During the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526), Kauravi was called Khari (Khari means Standing in English language) in Sanskrit language, that Khari language began to be written in the Persian script with Sanskrit-Arabic-Persian vocabulary and it was renamed as Hind-e-stani i.e. Hindustani language (the Sanskrit word Sindh was pronounced as Hind in Arabic-Persian language and ancient Bharat i.e. India was known as Hind-e-stan i.e. Hindustan in Arabic-Persian language).

During the Mughal Empire (1526-1757), a new separate language Urdu (Urdu is a Turkish word which means Army in English language) evolved from that Hindustani language and that new language began to be written in the Persian script with Arabic-Persian vocabulary.

During the British Empire (1757-1947), a new separate language Hindi (the Sanskrit word Sindhi was pronounced as Hindi in Arabic-Persian language) evolved from that Hindustani language and that new language began to be written in the Devanagari script (modern form of ancient Nagari script) with Sanskrit-Persian-Arabic vocabulary, and that Khari language became Khari dialect (it became Khari-boli in Hindustani language) as the main dialect of Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) and the other north Indian languages Bhojpuri-Magahi-Maithili (evolved from Magadhi language of Prakrit language of Vedic Sanskrit of Indo-Aryan sub-branch of Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European language family) and Awadhi-Bagheli-Bhili-Braja-Bundeli-Chhattisgarhi-Garhwali- Haryanvi-Marwari-Pahari (evolved from Sauraseni language of Prakrit language of Vedic Sanskrit of Indo-Aryan sub-branch of Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European language family) became sub-dialects of Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu). After the Independence of India in 1947, only Maithili again became a language under the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.


List of languages by number of native speakers

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Ordered by number of speakers as first language.

More than one million speakers

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The 2011 census recorded 31 individual languages as having more than 1 million native speakers (0.1% of total population). The languages in bold are scheduled languages (the only scheduled language with less than 1 million native speakers is Sanskrit). The first table is restricted to only speaking populations for scheduled languages.

First, second, and third languages by number of speakers in India (2011 Census)
First language speakers Second language
speakers[3] 		Third language
speakers[3] 		Total speakers
Language Figure[3] % of total
population 		Figure[4][3] % of total
population
Hindi 322,230,097 26.61% 139,207,180 24,160,696 485,597,973 40.10%
Bengali 97,237,669 8.03% 9,037,222 1,008,088 107,237,669 8.85%
Marathi 83,026,680 6.86% 12,923,626 2,966,019 99,026,680 8.18%
Telugu 81,127,740 6.70% 11,946,414 1,001,498 94,127,740 7.77%
Tamil 69,026,881 5.70% 6,992,253 956,335 77,026,881 6.36%
Gujarati 55,492,554 4.58% 4,035,489 1,007,912 60,492,554 4.99%
Urdu[note 2] 50,772,631 4.19% 11,055,287 1,096,428 62,772,631 5.18%
Kannada 43,706,512 3.61% 14,076,355 993,989 58,706,512 4.84%
Odia 37,521,324 3.10% 4,972,151 31,525 42,551,324 3.51%
Malayalam 34,838,819 2.88% 499,188 195,885 35,538,819 2.93%
Punjabi 33,124,726 2.74% 2,300,000 720,000 36,074,726 2.97%
Assamese 15,311,351 1.26% 7,488,153 740,402 23,539,906 1.94%
Maithili 13,063,042 1.08% 400,200 120,222 13,583,464 1.12%
English 259,678 0.02% 83,125,221 45,993,066 129,259,678 10.67%
Table: Population ordered by number of native speakers
Rank Language 1991 census of India[5]
(total: 838,583,988) 		2001 census of India[6]
(total: 1,028,610,328) 		2011 Census of India[7][8]
(total: 1,210,854,977)[9] 		Encarta 2007 estimate[10]
Worldwide total
Speakers Percentage Speakers Percentage Speakers Percentage Speakers
1 Hindi[note 3] 233,432,285 27.83% 257,919,635 25.07% 322,230,097 26.61% 366 million
2 Bengali 69,595,738 8.30% 83,369,769 8.11% 97,237,669 8.03% 207 million
3 Marathi 62,481,681 7.45% 71,936,894 6.99% 83,026,680 6.86% 68.0 million
4 Telugu 66,017,615 7.87% 74,002,856 7.19% 81,127,740 6.70% 69.7 million
5 Tamil 53,006,368 6.32% 60,793,814 5.91% 69,026,881 5.70% 66.0 million
6 Gujarati 40,673,814 4.85% 46,091,617 4.48% 55,492,554 4.58% 46.1 million
7 Urdu[note 2] 43,406,932 5.18% 51,536,111 5.01% 50,772,631 4.19% 60.3 million
8 Kannada 32,753,676 3.91% 37,924,011 3.69% 43,706,512 3.61% 35.3 million
9 Odia 28,061,313 3.35% 33,017,446 3.21% 37,521,324 3.10% 32.3 million
10 Malayalam 30,377,176 3.62% 33,066,392 3.21% 34,838,819 2.88% 35.7 million
11 Punjabi 23,378,744 2.79% 29,102,477 2.83% 33,124,726 2.74% 57.1 million
12 Assamese 13,079,696 1.56% 13,168,484 1.28% 15,311,351 1.26% 15.4 million
13 Maithili 7,766,921 0.926% 12,179,122 1.18% 13,583,464 1.12% 24.2 million
14 Bhili/Bhilodi 9,582,957 0.93% 10,413,637 0.86%
15 Santali 5,216,325 0.622% 6,469,600 0.63% 7,368,192 0.61%
16 Kashmiri 5,527,698 0.54% 6,797,587 0.56%
17 Gondi 2,713,790 0.26% 2,984,453 0.25%
18 Nepali 2,076,645 0.248% 2,871,749 0.28% 2,926,168 0.24% 16.1 million
19 Sindhi 2,122,848 0.253% 2,535,485 0.25% 2,772,264 0.23% 19.7 million
20 Dogri 2,282,589 0.22% 2,596,767 0.21%
21 Konkani 1,760,607 0.210% 2,489,015 0.24% 2,256,502 0.19%
22 Kurukh 1,751,489 0.17% 1,988,350 0.16%
23 Khandeshi 2,075,258 0.21% 1,860,236 0.15%
24 Tulu 1,722,768 0.17% 1,846,427 0.15%
25 Meitei (Manipuri) 1,270,216 0.151% 1,466,705* 0.14% 1,761,079 0.15%
26 Bodo 1,221,881 0.146% 1,350,478 0.13% 1,482,929 0.12%
27 Khasi 1,128,575 0.11% 1,431,344 0.12%
28 Ho 1,042,724 0.101% 1,421,418 0.12%
29 Garo 1,061,352 0.103% 1,145,323 0.09%
30 Mundari 889,479 0.086% 1,128,228 0.09%
31 Tripuri 854,023 0.083% 1,011,294 0.08%

* Excludes figures of Paomata, Mao-Maram and Purul sub-divisions of Senapati district of Manipur for 2001.
** The percentage of speakers of each language for 2001 has been worked out on the total population of India excluding the population of Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul subdivisions of Senapati district of Manipur due to cancellation of census results.

100,000 to one million speakers

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Rank Language 2001 census
Speakers Percentage
32 Kui 916,222 0.089%
33 Lushai/Mizo 674,756 0.066%
34 Halabi 593,443 0.058%
35 Korku 574,481 0.056%
36 Miri/Mishing 551,224 0.054%
37 Munda 469,357 0.046%
38 Karbi/Mikir 419,534 0.041%
39 Koya 362,070 0.035%
40 Ao 261,387 0.025%
41 Savara 252,519 0.025%
42 Konyak 248,109 0.024%
43 Kharia 239,608 0.023%
44 English 226,449 0.022%
45 Malto 224,926 0.022%
46 Nissi/Dafla 211,485 0.021%
47 Adi 198,462 0.019%
48 Thado 190,595 0.019%
49 Lotha 170,001 0.017%
50 Coorgi/Kodagu 166,187 0.016%
51 Rabha 164,770 0.016%
52 Tangkhul 142,035 0.014%
53 Kisan 141,088 0.014%
54 Angami 132,225 0.013%
55 Phom 122,508 0.012%
56 Kolami 121,855 0.012%
57 Khond/Kondh[11] 118,597 0.012%
58 Dimasa 111,961 0.011%
59 Ladakhi 104,618 0.010%
60 Sema 103,529 0.010%

List of mother tongues by number of speakers

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Each of the languages of the 2001 census subsumes one or more mother tongues. Speaker numbers are available for these mother tongues and they are also included in the speaker numbers for their respective language. For example, the language Telugu (with a total of 81,127,740 speakers) includes the mother tongues of Telugu (with 80,912,459 speakers), Vadari (198,020 speakers) and "Others" (17,261 speakers).[12] The General Notes from the 2001 census define "mother tongue" as "the language spoken in childhood by the person's mother to the person. If the mother died in infancy, the language mainly spoken in the person's home in childhood will be the mother tongue."[13]

The following table lists those mother tongues that have more than one million speakers according to the 2011 census:[14]

Mother tongues with more than one million speakers
Rank Mother tongue 2011 census Included
in language
Speakers Percentage
1 Hindi 322,200,000 26.6%
2 Bengali 96,180,000 7.94%
3 Marathi 82,800,000 6.84%
4 Telugu 80,910,000 6.68%
5 Tamil 68,890,000 5.69%
6 Gujarati 55,040,000 4.55%
7 Urdu 50,730,000 4.19%
8 Bhojpuri 50,580,000 4.18% Hindi
9 Kannada 43,510,000 3.59%
10 Malayalam 34,780,000 2.87%
11 Odia 34,060,000 2.81%
12 Punjabi 31,140,000 2.57%
13 Rajasthani 25,810,000 2.13% Hindi
14 Chhattisgarhi 16,250,000 1.34% Hindi
15 Assamese 14,820,000 1.22%
16 Maithili 13,350,000 1.10%
17 Magahi 12,710,000 1.05% Hindi
18 Haryanvi 9,807,000 0.810% Hindi
19 Khortha/Khotta 8,039,000 0.664% Hindi
20 Marwari 7,832,000 0.647% Hindi
21 Santali 6,973,000 0.576%
22 Kashmiri 6,554,000 0.541%
23 Bundeli/Bundel khandi 5,626,000 0.465% Hindi
24 Malvi 5,213,000 0.430% Hindi
25 Sadan/Sadri 4,346,000 0.359% Hindi
26 Mewari 4,212,000 0.348% Hindi
27 Awadhi 3,851,000 0.318% Hindi
28 Wagdi 3,394,000 0.280% Bhili/Bhilodi
29 Lamani/Lambadi 3,277,000 0.271% Hindi
30 Pahari[note 4] 3,254,000 0.269% Hindi
31 Bhili/Bhilodi 3,207,000 0.265%
32 Hara/Harauti 2,944,000 0.243% Hindi
33 Nepali 2,926,000 0.242%
34 Gondi 2,857,000 0.236%
35 Bagheli/Baghel Khandi 2,679,000 0.221% Hindi
36 Sambalpuri 2,630,000 0.217% Odia
37 Dogri 2,597,000 0.214%
38 Garhwali 2,482,000 0.205% Hindi
39 Nimadi 2,309,000 0.191% Hindi
40 Surjapuri 2,256,000 0.186% Hindi
41 Konkani 2,147,000 0.177%
42 Kumaoni 2,081,000 0.172% Hindi
43 Kurukh/Oraon 1,977,000 0.163%
44 Tulu 1,842,000 0.152%
45 Manipuri 1,761,000 0.145%
46 Surgujia 1,738,000 0.144% Hindi
47 Sindhi 1,679,000 0.139%
48 Bagri 1,657,000 0.137% Punjabi
49 Ahirani 1,636,000 0.135% Khandeshi
50 Banjari 1,581,000 0.131% Hindi
51 Brajbhasha 1,556,000 0.129% Hindi
52 Dhundhari 1,476,000 0.122% Hindi
53 Bodo/Boro 1,455,000 0.120% Bodo
54 Ho 1,411,000 0.117%
55 Gojri/Gujjari/Gujar 1,228,000 0.101% Hindi
56 Mundari 1,128,000 0.093%
57 Garo 1,125,000 0.093%
58 Kangri 1,117,000 0.092% Hindi
59 Khasi 1,038,000 0.086%
60 Kachchhi 1,031,000 0.085% Sindhi

Notes

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  1. ^ Some languages may be over- or under-represented as the census data used is at a state-level. For example, while Urdu has 52 million speakers (2001), in no state is it a majority language.
  2. ^ a b Although linguistically Modern Standard Hindi and Urdu together is classified as a single language called Hindustani, the government classifies them as separate languages instead of different standard registers of the same language due to socio-political reasons.
  3. ^ Hindi does not merely refer to "Modern Standard Hindi" (which is based on Dehlavi dialect of Kauravi), but also broadly many "Hindi languages", which includes Western Hindi (apart from Urdu), Eastern Hindi, Bihari languages except for Maithili, the Rajasthani languages, and the Pahari languages apart from Nepali and (in 2001) Dogri, whether or not the included varieties were reported as "Hindi" or under their individual names during census.
  4. ^ "Pahari" as ambiguous, but in the census returns the language name most commonly comes from the Western Pahari area.[15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India (July 2012 to June 2013)" (PDF). Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  2. ^ Lewis, M. Paul; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2014). "Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Seventeenth edition) : India". Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs. "C-17 POPULATION BY BILINGUALISM AND TRILINGUALISM". Archived from the original on 2019-11-13. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
  4. ^ "Indiaspeak: English is our 2nd language – Times of India".
  5. ^ Comparative Speaker's Strength of Scheduled Languages -1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001 Archived 2013-02-22 at the Wayback Machine, Census of India, 1991
  6. ^ Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2000 Archived 2013-10-14 at the Wayback Machine, Census of India, 2001
  7. ^ "Language" (PDF). Census of India. New Delhi: Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  8. ^ Statement 1 : Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2011 Archived 2018-06-27 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Statement 2 : Distribution of population by Scheduled and other Languages India, States and Union Territories – 2011 Archived 2018-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million People – Table – MSN Encarta". Archived from the original on 2007-12-03.
  11. ^ different from Kui language
  12. ^ The data are from http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-16/DDW-C16-STMT-MDDS-0000.XLSX. Archived 2018-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "Census Data 2001 General Notes". Archived from the original on 22 February 2013.
  14. ^ "2011 Census tables: C-16, population by mother tongue". Census of India Website. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  15. ^ Masica, Colin P. (1991). The Indo-Aryan languages. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-521-23420-7.

General references

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