Languages of India

India is the home of many languages. India is a vast country with lot of cultural and geographical diversities. There are a number of languages spoken in India. Some of these languages are accepted nationally while others are accepted as dialects of that particular region. The foreign intrusions have left an impact on the Indian local languages. English language, the legacy of the British rule in India, became the commonly used official language of India.

The eighth schedule of the Indian constitution recognizes 22 languages. All these languages have evolved from the great language families drawn from history. The major ones to make an influence are the Aryan and the Dravidian. They have influenced each other and have, in turn, been influenced by the Austeric and Sino-Tibetan tongues.

The Indian Constitution (Article 343) declares Hindi to be the official language of the Union. Hindi is also the mother tongue of about 20% of the Indian population in the area known as the 'Hindi-belt' or the 'cow-belt' of northern India. This includes the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand/Uttaranchal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Rajasthan. Haryana and Himachal Pradesh also have Hindi as their official language. Like the other languages of the north, Hindi is of Indo-Aryan origin. But in south India, it's quite a different scene altogether. The Dravidian languages bear little resemblance to their Indic or Indo-Aryan counterparts.

English enjoys a special status and remains the additional official language of India. It is the authoritative legislative and judicial language. In fact, one could say that English is the official language of India for all practical purposes.

Apart from the more widely spoken English and Hindi, there are the various regional languages. Each state has its own language which is generally its official language. The 8th schedule of the Constitution of India lists 22 such regional languages.