Indian languages
Main
languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The languages of the region are generally classified as belonging to the following families: Indo-European (the Indo-Iranian branch in particular), Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic (Muṇḍā in particular), and Sino-Tibetan. Fourteen languages are mentioned in the constitution of India: Hindi, Urdū, Punjābī, Bengali, Oṛiyā, Marāṭhī, Gujarātī, Sanskrit, and Assamese, all belonging to the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European; Kashmirī, belonging to the Dardic group of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European; and Telugu, Tamil, Kannaḍa (or Kanarese), and Malayālam, belonging to the Dravidian language family. The Manipurī language of Assam and the Newārī language of Nepal are usually classified, along with languages of the Bodo group, as belonging to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Among the Muṇḍā languages (classified as a branch of the Austro-Asiatic language family), Santhālī and Khāsī have the most speakers.
Languages used in Pakistan include the Sindhī, Punjābī, and Urdū languages, which belong to the Indo-Aryan group, and Brāhūī, which is a Dravidian language. Bengali is the language of Bangladesh. See Indo-Aryan languages; Indo-Iranian languages.
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Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
Assorted References
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major reference
( in South Asian arts: Islāmic literatures: 11th–19th century )
At the time of the spread of Muslim power and culture in India, Sanskrit was the chief language of Hindu cultural, learned, and religious expression, while Buddhism and Jainism had lent their prestige and patronage to various Prākrits. The progress of and developments in these literatures remained unaffected by the advent of Islām in India. The emergence of the new Indo-Aryan...
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alphabet
( in alphabet: Indian alphabets )
The Aramaic alphabet was probably the prototype of the Brāhmī script of India, the ancestor of all Indian scripts. The transmission probably took place in the 7th century bc. Adapting the Aramaic script to the Indo-Aryan tongue of India was by no means simple or straightforward. The shapes of many Brāhmī letters show clear Semitic influence; moreover, the...
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distribution
( in Dravidian languages )
...Malayalam (Malayālam), 27,500,000; Gondi, 2,460,100; Tulu (Tuḷu), 1,427,000; and Kurukh (Kuruḵẖ), 1,358,000. The Dravidian languages are spoken in the Republic of India (mainly in its southern, eastern, and central parts), in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), and by settlers in areas of Southeastern Asia, southern and eastern Africa, and elsewhere. Brahui...
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grammar
( in linguistics: Non-Western traditions )
Certainly the most interesting non-Western grammatical tradition—and the most original and independent—is that of India, which dates back at least two and one-half millennia and which culminates with the grammar of Pāṇini, of the 5th century bc. There are three major ways in which the Sanskrit tradition has had an impact on modern linguistic scholarship. As soon as...
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languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The languages of the region are generally classified as belonging to the following families: Indo-European (the Indo-Iranian branch in particular), Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic (Muṇḍā in particular), and Sino-Tibetan. Fourteen languages are mentioned in the constitution of India: Hindi, Urdū, Punjābī, Bengali, Oṛiyā, Marāṭhī, Gujarātī, Sanskrit, and Assamese, all belonging to the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European; Kashmirī, belonging to the Dardic group of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European; and Telugu, Tamil, Kannaḍa (or Kanarese), and Malayālam, belonging to the Dravidian language family. The Manipurī language of Assam and the Newārī language of Nepal are usually classified, along with languages of the Bodo group, as belonging to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Among the Muṇḍā languages (classified as a branch of the Austro-Asiatic language family), Santhālī and Khāsī have the most speakers.
Languages used in Pakistan include the Sindhī, Punjābī, and Urdū languages, which belong to the Indo-Aryan group, and Brāhūī, which is a Dravidian language. Bengali is the language of Bangladesh. See Indo-Aryan languages; Indo-Iranian languages.
Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
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major reference South Asian arts
At the time of the spread of Muslim power and culture in India, Sanskrit was the chief language of Hindu cultural, learned, and religious expression, while Buddhism and Jainism had lent their prestige and patronage to various Prākrits. The progress of and developments in...
Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
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writing system Indic writing systems
...The Thai writing system is thought by scholars to be derived from that of the Khmer, the Burmese and Lao systems from that of Mon, and the Buginese and Batak systems of Indonesia from that of Kavi. The scripts used by speakers of the Tai dialects other than Shan and Lao are derived from the Burmese writing system. The ancient Cham inscriptions of the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian)...
Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
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classification of Uto-Aztecan languages Uto-Aztecan languages
...(2) the Yaquian, or Taracahitian, branch, also called Taracahitic, including Tarahumara, Guarijío, Yaqui-Mayo, and the extinct languages Tubar, Eudeve, and Ópata; and (3) the Coran group, also called Corachol, including Cora and Huichol.
major group, or phylum, of American Indian languages; it includes three families of Mesoamerican Indian languages and 14 families of North American Indian languages. The Mesoamerican groups are Tequistlatec (two languages in Oaxaca, Mex.), Tlapanecan (one living language in Guerrero, Mex., and an extinct one in Nicaragua), and Jicaque (spoken in Honduras). The North American Indian families are Yuman (four languages), Pomo (six languages), Palaihnihan (two languages), Shastan (three languages), Yanan (two languages), Salinan (two languages), and Chumashan (six languages), plus Chimariko (extinct), Washoe, Seri, Esselen (extinct), Karok, Comecrudan (extinct), and Coahuiltecan (extinct), consisting of a single language each. The North American Hokan languages were once spoken in the southwestern United States from northern California to southern Texas and in northern Mexico.
The Hokan languages are basically agglutinative in structure; that is, they frequently use affixes (such as prefixes and suffixes), as well as compound words, to form long words made up of several elements. Sometimes such words become so complex that a complete sentence or phrase may be expressed by one word; when this occurs, and when the units that compose such a word are “bound” forms (i.e., cannot be used except in conjunction with other elements within a word), the process has gone beyond agglutination and is called polysynthesis, a process characteristic of many American Indian languages. Some Hokan languages are extremely polysynthetic, among them the Yana language of northern California. The Yana word yābanaumawildjigummaha’nigi means “let us, each one [of us], move indeed to the west across [the creek].” It is composed of the following elements—yā “several people...
Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
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typology of American Indian languages South American Indian languages
The typology proposed by Tadeusz Milewski, a Polish linguist, classifies American Indian languages into three types: (1) Atlantic, with few oral consonants but complex systems of nasal consonants, and oral and nasal vowels, of which the Ge languages would be typical; (2) Pacific, with complex systems of oral consonants (many contrasting points and modes of articulation) but with few nasal...