INDIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
India is a multilingual country. The 1961 Census, which can legitimately be
considered most authentic in this respect, recorded a total of 1,652 languages
belonging to four (now five, with the addition of Andamanese and Nicobarese
family, see Abbi 2006) different language families in this country. The major ones
being the Indo-Aryan languages are spoken by 75% of Indians and the Dravidian
languages spoken by southern Indians. Other languages spoken in India belong to
the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman. According to 2001 census there are 234
mother tongues , more than 10,000 speakers for each language. Over 87 languages
are used in the print media, 71 languages are used on the radio, and the
administration of the country is conducted in 13 different languages. Yet many
languages have disappeared. People’s Linguistic Survey of India under the
supervision of Ganesh Devy (since 2010) identified 860 distinct languages in India.
The Constitution of India does not give any language the status of national language.
The official languages of the Union Government of the Republic of India are Hindi in
the Devanagari script and English as an associate language. The Eighth Schedule of
the Indian Constitution lists 22 languages at present, which have been referred to as
scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement.
Eighth Schedule
[Articles 344(1) and 351]
Languages
1. Assamese.
2. Bengali.
3. Bodo.
4. Dogri.
5. Gujarati.
6. Hindi.
7. Kannada.
8. Kashmiri.
9. Konkani.
10. Maithili.
11. Malayalam.
12. Manipuri.
Indian Languages
13. Marathi.
14. Nepali.
15. Odia
16. Punjabi.
17. Sanskrit.
18. Santhali.
19. Sindhi.
20. Tamil.
21. Telugu.
22. Urdu
In addition, the Government of India has awarded the distinction of classical
language to Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia. These languages
are also used for day to day discourse.
Multiplicity of languages in India does not act as a barrier in communication;
instead variability in linguistic behaviour facilitates communication. Contemporary
research has shown that multilingualism is an asset for language learning, scholastic
achievement, cognitive growth and social tolerance. The significance of Hindi as our
official language and as a major link language of a substantial part of the country can
hardly be overstated. Considering the importance of English as our window to the
world and as a language of higher education, knowledge and social mobility, most
states now introduce English early in school.
Social harmony in a country as diverse as India is only possible through mutual
respect for each other’s language and culture. Such respect can only be built on
knowledge. Ignorance breeds fear, hatred, and intolerance and this is indeed a major
barrier to the building up a national identity and responsible citizenship. With each
State having one dominant language, there is bound to develop a certain amount of
ethnocentric attitude and linguistic chauvinism. This not only hampers the free
movement of people and ideas but also imposes restrictions on creativity,
innovation, and diffusion and retards the modernization of the society. Therefore
multilingualism is encouraged in India.
LANGUAGE AND POWER
In spite of the fact that all languages as abstract systems or subsystems are equal, the
complex ways in which history, economics, sociology, and politics interact with
language, some languages become