Added: 10/16/2005 |
Outlook on Indian dialectsIndia is interesting not only from the point of view of a traveler or a holidaymaker but also from the point of view of a linguist. The number of languages and Indian dialects spoken in India is not limited to two or three; it is rather more. Language in India was under the influence of different European languages such as English, Portuguese, and French as the country was a dominion for a long time. Indian dialects also changed due to the presence of Europeans on India territory.
When India became exposed to European culture--and eventually became part of the British Empire--it came heavily under the influence of Western ideas. Some Indian writers reacted to the European presence by reviving the ancient values of Hinduism. Other writers eagerly adopted Western forms of writing such as journalism and the novel. Even some European writers like Ruskin Bond settled down in India and established their own trend which largely effected the modern Indian literature.
Nowadays people of India speak many languages and Indian dialects, which are mostly varieties of about 15 principal languages. These Indian dialects form indic group.
The Indian languages belong to four language families: Indo-European, Dravidian, Mon-Khmer, and Sino-Tibetan. Indo-European and Dravidian languages are used by a large majority of India's population. The language families, that have different Indian dialects, divide roughly into geographic groups. Languages of the Indo-European group are spoken mainly in northern and central regions.
The languages of Southern India are mainly of the Dravidian group. Some ethnic groups in Assam and other parts of eastern India speak languages of the Mon-Khmer group. People in the northern Himalayan region and near the Burmese border speak Sino-Tibetan languages.
Speakers of 54 different languages of the Indo-European family make up about three-quarters of India's population. Twenty Dravidian languages are spoken by nearly a quarter of the people. Speakers of 20 Mon-Khmer languages and 98 Sino-Tibetan languages together make up about 2 per cent of the population.
The languages of southern India make up the Dravidian family. Speakers of Dravidian languages also group together in parts of India where northern languages predominate. About 250 million of India's people speak Dravidian languages.
If we look close on languages and Indian dialects that people of the large cities in India speak we will see that the situation is not so simple. For example, Tamilians are people who take pride in their culture and oppose any interference in it. Not surprising most strong opposition to Hindi being made the official Mother tongue of India came from Tamil Nadu. The people in Chennai are zealous guardians of Tamil culture, which they regard as superior to the cultures further north. They very much oppose Hindi being made the national language.
With Mumbai the situation is rather different. The language riots, the reorganisation of Indian states and the see-saw politics of the country did not seem to affect the city.
The native language of Karnataka is Kannada. The population of Karnataka is predominantly Kannada speaking as Kannada also is the state's official language. English is also very widely spoken here. So are Hindi, Konkani, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
In West Bengal most of the people speak Bengali and they are very proud of their language Bengali. Atulprasad Sen said the following about this language, "Our pride, our hope, O our language Bengali". Another famous person, Rabindranath Tagore, was awarded Nobel prize for his collection of poems: "The Song Offerings". In Bengali original it was called "Gitanjali".
As we see native people of India are proud of their languages and Indian dialects and try to preserve their Mother tongues or at least to mitigate the influence
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