States of India and their Languages

Languages spoken in India are as diverse as its culture, demography, and tradition. According to Article 343 of the Indian Constitution, Hindi written in Devanagari script is the official language of the Union. While it was proposed that English be used for official purposes for 15 years starting in 1947 but later it was extended indefinitely.

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Key Highlights

• There are 28 states and 8 Union Territories in India
• The Constitution of India recognizes 22 languages.
• The Indian Constitution's Article 348(1)(a) mandates that all Supreme Court and High Court sessions be conducted in English.
• Sino-Tibetan languages are mostly widely spoken language group in the North Eastern States.
• India has the second-highest percentage of English speakers worldwide.

Languages in India

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States of India – Major Languages

There are 28 states in India. From the largest to the smallest, each state of the country has a unique demography, history and culture, dress, festivals, language etc. The major Indian states languages spoken across the country are listed zone-wise in the table below:

Eastern and North Eastern Region

• In most of the North Eastern states, Sino-Tibetan languages (Lepcha, Kokborok) are spoken second only to Indo-European in terms of the number of native speakers, the Sino-Tibetan language family, also referred to as Trans-Himalayan in certain sources.
• Meitei, often called Manipuri, was the official language of the Manipur Kingdom and one of the Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeastern India.
• Bengali emerged as a form of Magadhi Prakrit in the 3rd century BC mainly spoken by the Buddhist population.
• Bihari Hindi is a dialect of Hindustani greatly influenced by Bihari languages such as Bhojpuri and Magahi, spoken in urban areas in Bihar.

Western Region

The western region of India constitutes 4 states. Marathi, is the most widely spoken language in Western India, followed by Gujarati and Konkani.

Northern Region

• Languages spoken in the Northern, Western, and Central regions in India evolved from the Indo-European family of languages.
• Hindi, descended directly from Shauraseni Prakrit and Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa, which were early forms of Vedic Sanskrit.
• During the Sultanate and Mughal Period, Prakrit, or Old Hindi, got mixed with the Persian language, and as a result, it accumulated loanwords, giving Hindi its current form of Hindustani.

The North Indian States and languages are provided in the following table:

Central Region

There are two states in the central India, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Bundeli, Bagheli, Chhattisgarhi and Surgujia are the dialects that are spoken in Central India. 

Southern Region

• Languages like Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada are considered Dravidian languages indigenous to the Indian Subcontinent.
• Tamil is one of the oldest written traditions among the languages still in use today.

Languages spoken in the southern states of India are mentioned in the table below:

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Union Territories of India – Major Languages

There are 8 Union Territories in India. The major languages spoken in these Union Territories are listed in the table below:

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Major Languages in India - Important Facts

• The Constitution of India recognizes 22 languages in its eighth schedule.
• The Indian Constitution's Article 348(1)(a) mandates that all Supreme Court and High Court sessions be conducted in English.
• In 1999, UNESCO designated February 21 as "International Mother Language Day" in remembrance of the martyrs of the Bengali Language Movement who were killed during a demonstration in 1952.
• All the major Indian language scripts come from the same Brahmi script.

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English in India

India is home to the second-highest percentage of English speakers worldwide, after the United States, but just 0.1% of Indians speak English as their first language and about 30% of Indians can speak the language to some extent. English was introduced to India during British colonial control, and even after the country gained independence, it continued to be an important language. English remained one of India's official languages after the country gained its independence to maintain diplomatic relations, administration, and governance.

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What is Hinglish?

Hinglish is a language hybrid that combines English and Hindi or other Indian languages. It is primarily used in informal settings, such as everyday conversations, casual writing, and media like movies, television, and advertising. The vocabulary of Hinglish is a combination of Hindi, English, and hybrid terms created by fusing aspects of the two languages.