India is home to hundred languages, contains a list of recognises 22 regional languages includes Hindi and other Indian languages. Here is the list of top 10 Indian languages by number of native speakers, As per the 2011 Census of India.
Hindi / हिन्दी (528 millions Speakers)
हिन्दी हमारी मातृभाषा है; मात्र एक भाषा नहीं!
Hindi Divas (हिन्दी दिवस) is celebrated on 14 September, spoken by 366 million people as the original language. Hindi is one of the official languages of India, written in the Devanagari script and fourth most spoken first language in the world.
हिन्दी भारत देश की सबसे अधिक बोली और समझी जाने वाली भाषा है, हालाँकि यह हमारी राष्ट्रभाषा नहीं है परन्तु फिर भी यह विश्व की दस शक्तिशाली भाषाओं में से एक है और सम्पूर्ण भारत के विविध राज्यों में बोली और समझी जाती हैं!
Bengali (97 millions)
Bengali also known as Bangla languages is second most widely spoken out of 22 scheduled languages of India, After Hindi. Bangla or Bengali languages is the official language of West Bengal state and also spoken by some populations in other states of Tripura, Assam and Bihar.
Marathi (83 millions)
Marathi is the third most spoken languages in India and also has one of the largest number of native speakers after Hindi and Bengali. The language of Marathi is also spoken in Goa states as well as some part of neighbouring states of Gujarat and Karnataka.
Telugu (81 millions)
Telugu is a Dravidian language and one of the top five Indian languages with official status in more than one state. Telugu spoken in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state and also listed as one of six languages designated a classical language of India.
Tamil (69 millions)
Tamil language is also a Dravidian language, spoken by the Tamil people in India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. The language is an not only one of the official language of India but also Sri Lanka and Singapore.
Gujarati (55 million)
Gujarati language predominantly spoken by the people of Gujarat state and also in the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli by 55.5 million speaker.
Urdu (उर्दू)
Urdu language is listed as one of the 22 official languages of India with approximately 66 million speakers, spoken in Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana.
Kannada (43 millions)
Kannada is a true Dravidian language spoken in South India, mainly in the state of Karnataka and has roughly 45 million native speakers. Kannada language is also present in other cities of India like Hyderabad, Delhi, Goa and Maharashtra.
Malayalam (38 million)
Malayalam language spoken by the Malayali people and also widely spoken in Gulf countries, has official language status in Kerala state. The Dravidian language is spoken by 38 million people mainly in India and again part of the 6 Indian classical languages.
Odia (37 million)
Oriya or Odia language spoken in Odisha by native speakers and also spoken in some parts of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. In 2004, the Government of India declared six Classical languages of India and Odia is one, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Sanskrit being other.
Punjabi
Punjabi language is the native language Punjab and listed as 11th most widely spoken language of India, also one of the most spoken language in Canada.
Assamese
Assamese language is an official language of Assam state, spoken by 15 million speakers. The Indian state of Assam known for Kamakhya Temple, Bihu festival, Assam tea, Assam silk, one-horned Indian rhinoceros along with the pygmy hog, wild water buffalo and wildlife of Kaziranga National Park.
22 Languages with official Status in India
English is added as daily official work language in India and used in official purposes and communications. There are 22 regional languages of India been recognised by constitution as the scheduled languages.
More than 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken in India as mother tongues, according to the latest analysis of a census released this week.
There are 121 languages which are spoken by 10,000 or more people in India, which has a population of 121 crore, it said.
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, said since a household may consist of persons related by blood or of unrelated persons or a mix of both, it is absolutely necessary to ask every person about her or his mother tongue.
It was required because the mother tongue of each member of a household need not necessarily be the same — these may be different for different members in the household.
The number of such raw returns of mother tongues has totalled 19,569, the report of the 2011 census said. However, 96.71 per cent population in the country have one of the 22 scheduled languages as their mother tongue.
Since mother tongues, as returned in the census, are basically the designations provided by the respondents of the linguistic mediums in which the respondents think they communicate, they need not be identical with the actual linguistic mediums, it said.
For assessing the correlation between the mother tongue and designations of the census and for presenting the numerous raw returns in terms of their linguistic affiliation to actual languages and dialects, 19,569 raw returns were subjected to thorough linguistic scrutiny, edit and rationalisation.
This resulted in 1,369 rationalised mother tongues and 1,474 names which were treated as “unclassified” and relegated to “other” mother tongue category.
The 1,369 rationalised mother tongues were further classified following the usual linguistic methods for rational grouping based on the available linguistic information. Thus, an inventory of classified mother tongues returned by 10,000 or more speakers are grouped under appropriate languages at the all-India level, wherever possible, has been prepared for final presentation of the 2011 mother tongue data.
The total number of languages arrived at is 121, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, said.
The 121 languages are presented in two parts — languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, comprising 22 languages and languages not included in the Eighth Schedule, comprising of 99 languages plus the category “total of other languages”, which includes all other languages and mother tongues which returned less than 10,000 speakers each at the all-India level or were not identifiable on the basis of the linguistic information available.
The number of scheduled languages was 22 at the time of presentation of the 2001. The same 22 languages are maintained in 2011 census also.
The non-scheduled languages are 99 in 2011 against 100 in 2001. The decrease in the number is due to exclusion of Simte and Persian, which were not returned in sufficient numbers as 2011, and inclusion of Mao, which has returned more than 10,000 speakers at the all-India level at 2011 census.
Of the total population of India, 96.71 percent have one of the scheduled languages as their mother tongue, the remaining 3.29 per cent is accounted for other languages.
There are total 270 identifiable mother tongues which have returned 10,000 or more speakers each at the all-India level, comprising 123 mother tongues grouped under the scheduled languages and 147 mother tongues grouped under the non-scheduled languages.
Those mother tongues which have returned less than 10,000 speakers each and which have been classified under a particular language, are included in “others” under that language.
The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution consists of the following 22 languages –Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.
Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution. Sindhi language was added in 1967. Thereafter three more languages viz., Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were included in 1992.
Subsequently, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added in 2004.
In this report, we have discussed about 12 most spoken languages in India. India is home of dozens of languages, contains 22 regional languages including Hindi and different other Indian languages.
From total languages spoken in India, we have share the list below of top 12 Indian languages by number of native speakers, as per the 2011 report.
List of Most Spoken Languages of India 2022
- Hindi
- Bengali
- Marathi
- Telegu
- Tamil
- Gujrati
- Urdu
- Kannada
- Malayalam
- Odia
- Punjabi
- Assamese
Also Read: MOST SPOKEN LANGUAGES IN AFRICA
1 – Hindi
The most spoken language in India is Hindi which is spoken by 528 million Speakers. Hindi Divas is celebrated in India on 14th Sep, spoken by 366 million people as the original language.
Hindi is an official languages of India, and 4th most spoken languages in the world, written in the Devanagari script.
2 – Bengali
There are 97 million Bengali language speakers in India. Bengali also famous as Bangla languages. It is the 2nd most spoken language of India after Hindi.
West Bengal state official language is Bengali. It is also spoken by some populations in other states of Assam, Tripura, and Bihar.
3 – Marathi
Marathi language with 83 million speakers is on the third position. This language is also spoken in Goa states and some part of Gujarat and Karnataka.
4 – Telugu
The 4th language in the list of most spoken languages in India 2022 is Telugu with 81 million speakers. Telugu is a Dravidian language and falls in top five list with official status in more than one state.
Telugu language is spoken in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state.
5 – Tamil
Tamil with 69 million is on 5th position. This language is also a Dravidian language, spoken by the Tamil people in India. This is also spoken in some parts of Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
6 – Gujarati
The 6th most spoken language of India is Gujarati with a number of 55 million speakers. Gujarati language mostly spoken by the people of Gujarat state.
7 – Urdu
Urdu is 7th most spoken Indian language and there are 66 million Urdu speakers in India. Urdu language is one of the twenty two official languages of India. Urdu is an Official language of Pakistan which also spoken in Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana.
8 – Kannada
Kannada is on number 8th with 43 million speakers. It is a true Dravidian language spoken in South India. Kannada language is also spoken in other cities of India including Hyderabad, Delhi, Goa and Maharashtra.
9 – Malayalam
The 9th language in the list of most spoken languages of India is Malayalam with 38 million speakers. Malayalam language spoken by the people of Malayali. This language is one of the hardest languages of India and It is also spoken in Gulf countries.
10 – Odia
There are 37 million Oriya speakers in India. Odia language is spoken in Odisha by native speakers and also spoken in some parts of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The Indian Government has declared six classical languages of India in which Odia is one. The others were Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Sanskrit.
11 – Punjabi
The 11th most spoken language in India is Punjabi. This is the native language of Punjab, also spoken in Pakistan and Canada widely.
12 – Assamese
Assamese is the 12th most spoken Indian language. It is an official language of Assam state. Assamese language has 15 million speakers in India.
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