Linguistic Elements in the Indian Population | Anthropology Optional for UPSC PDF Download

The Austric Family

The speakers of these languages are Proto-Australoid and Australoid tribes. It has two sub families:

• Australasian: These languages are prevalent in Madagascar, Indonesia and Pacific Islands and not spoken in India.
• Austro-Asiatic: This family is further subdivided into two branches:
  • Mon- Khemer: Nicobarese language spoken by Nicobarese people, Khasi language spoken by Khasi tribes of Meghalaya belong to this branch
  • Munda Branch: It is the largest of Austric family which includes 14 languages. Mundari, Santhali are the best known languages of this branch.

Karen Family

This family is spoken by Karen tribe of South Burma and parts of Thailand and not spoken in the Indian mainland.

Man Family
It is spoken by tribes in China, Indochina, Indo-Burmese border.

Tibeto-Chinese Family
It is further classified into Tibeto-Burman sub-family which has three branches

• Tibeto-Himalayan: The languages belonging to this group are Tibetan, Ladakhi, Balti, Purik, Lohke etc.
• North Assam: The languages belonging to this group are Aka, Urgkas, Dafla, Mishni etc.
• Assam-Burmese: These languages are spoken in Naga hills, Garo Hills, Tippara Hills, Manipur etc which are to the south of Himalayas.

Dravidian Family

Spoken by most of the Dravidian ethnic group except Mundas. It is a very closely knit family and Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam account for 96% of the speakers  This family has 3 groups:

• The South Dravidian Group: This group includes the major languages like Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and minor languages like Tulu, Coorgi, Erukula etc.
• The Central Dravidian Group: This group includes Telugu, the most widely spoken Dravidian language and minor languages like Gondi, Kui, Khond, Koya etc.
• The North Dravidian Group: This group consists of Kurukh, Oraon, Malti etc.

Indo-European Family
This family has 3 branches

• Iranian branch: This is spoken from Iran to the east of Pamirs.
• Dardicor Pisacha branch: These languages are spoken in Sindh, Pakistan and Kashmir.
• Indo-Aryan branch: This is the most widely spoken branch in India. It has 3 sub branches.
  • Outer sub branch: It has three groups
    • Northwest group: Punjabi, Sindhi
    • Southern group: Marathi
    • Eastern group: Oriya, Bihari, Bengali, Assamese
  • Intermediate sub branch: This has intermediate groups that include eastern Hindi or Purviya languages
  • Inner sub branch: It has two groups:
  • Central group: Western Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bhilli, Kandeshi, Rajasthani
  • Pahari group: Pahari, Nepali, Kumaoni, Gharwali, Kuluhi, Jaunsari.

Conclusion

The linguistic diversity in India is vast, with languages belonging to several different families. The Austric family has two main subfamilies, Australasian and Austro-Asiatic, with the latter further divided into Mon-Khemer and Munda branches. The Karen and Man families are spoken in regions outside the Indian mainland, while the Tibeto-Chinese family includes the Tibeto-Burman subfamily, which has three branches: Tibeto-Himalayan, North Assam, and Assam-Burmese. The Dravidian family is primarily spoken by the Dravidian ethnic group and is divided into three groups: South, Central, and North Dravidian. Finally, the Indo-European family has three branches: Iranian, Dardic or Pisacha, and Indo-Aryan, with the latter being the most widely spoken branch in India and further divided into outer, intermediate, and inner sub-branches. This linguistic diversity showcases the rich cultural heritage of the Indian subcontinent.