Scheduled Languages

State: Assam Number of Speakers: 1, 31, 68,484

Origin of name of language:

The geographical area Axom and its caste/sub caste (Jati), the Axomiya get their first mention in the Katha Gurucharit. There are diverse intepretations about the origins of the word “Axomiya”, with some attributing it to the geography and others tracing in to the Ahom dynasty who ruled the land for six hundred years. The Brahmaputra valley tract including North Bengal is referred to as Pragjyotishpura in the Mahabharata and as Kamrupa in the pillar inscription of Samudragupta dating back to the fourth century AD. The anglicized version of Axom is Assam (denoting the Brahmaputra valley). From the anglicized word Assam comes Assamese, denoting the language of Assam. Axomiya as a language is recorded to have been flourishing around the eight century AD. Axomiya (or Assamese) is the language of the State of Assam and it is enshrined as an official language under the Official Languages Act 1971 of the Constitution of India.

The Role of Axomiya Language:

Assam is a land of a multitude of languages. About 70 different languages are spoken by the various communities living in the state. The major language families are the (a) Indo-European (b) Austro-Asiatic (c) Tibeto-Burman and (d) Tai-Ahom group. Among the various tea tribes in Assam, the use of the Dravidian languages is evident. As per the Census of 2001, the proportion of people with Axomiya as the mother language is 1, 31, 68,484. Language variations are evident in the communication of the various tribal groups of Assam. Communities such as Bodos, Rabhas, Karbis, Misings, Deoris, Chutiyas etc communicate in their respective languages which bear an affinity to the languages spoken in Burma and Tibet. From the perspective of communication, pidgins such as Arunachali Axamiya and Nagamese have emerged crossing linguistic barriers, and are representative of the assimilation of the Axomiya language into a native form as a preferred form of communication for a group of people.

History of the Axomiya Speaking Populace:

The earliest relics of the language can be found in the paleographic records of Kamrupa from the 5th -12th centuries AD. Linguists are of the opinion that the Axomiya language, along with languages such as Bengali, Oriya etc., originated from the Indo-Aryan language group around 10th century AD. The writings of a Chinese pilgrim/traveller on his visit to Kamrup around 643 A.D during the reign of King Bhaskarvarman are a testimony to the affinity of the language of the people of Axom to the language spoken by the people of Madhya Bharat (central India where Magadhi was spoken). He mentions, “the language (of Kamrup) only slightly varies from the language spoken by the people of Madhya Bharat”, implying that the language had evolved and was in the process of development. The language continued to flourish from the 9th century onwards with proliferation in the number of people speaking the language.

During the 11th-12th centuries, Muslim occupation of Axom, noticeable changes were apparent in political and cultural scenario. The Muslim invaders began observing Hindu rituals and customs and made Sanskrit their court language. Axom remained the language of commoners and language of communication for all people of the region. Contemporary Assam also reflects the same features, and together this has shaped the larger Axomiya identity. Axom thus incorporates / is inclusive of all the groups of people / communities who have been residing in Assam across centuries.

Evolution and development of the Axomiya Language:

There are competing theories and opinions regarding the origin and the evolution of the Axomiya language. Scholars as Grierson,. Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Banikanta Kakati, etc, believe that Axomiya is a language belonging to the Magadhi-Prakrit group. Another group of scholars as Beni Madhab Barua, Dimbeshwar Neog etc are of the opinion that Axomiya owes its origin to the Kamrupi-Prakrit. To the renowned grammarian of Axom, Kaliram Medhi, Axomiya is a hybrid of the eastern and western Prakrit dialects.

The earliest example of pre-modern Axomiya script is preserved in the Charyapadas (ancient Buddhist Tantric literature) written by the Buddhist Siddhacharyas and dated between the 8th-12th centuries. The affinity of the Charyapadas with languages as Axomiya and other Magadhan languages illuminate the phases in the evolution of several Indian languages. The vocabulary of the Charyapadas includes words which are typically Axomiya. Morever in terms of phonetics and morphology, the vocabulary of the Charyapadas bears a strong resemblance to typical Axomiya words, some of which survive in the contemporary language.

The history of the development of the Axomiya literature may be divided into five periods;

(a) The formative phase of the language( 800-1300 A.D): to which belong the esoteric verses of the Buddhist Charyapadasand Sanskrit Srikrishna Kirtan literature, (b) The Pre- Vaishnavite literature (1300-1550 AD): this includes the compositions of Hem Saraswati, Madhav Kandali, Harihar Vipra, Kaviratna Saraswati and the works of Rudra Kandali, (c) The era of Sankari or Vaishnavite literature (1550-1650 AD), which also signifies the crystallization of a fully distinguished form of Axomiya around this period. (d) Post-Sankardeva era literature (1650-1850 AD): To this period belong the Buranjis (chronicles of the Ahom court), the Charit( religious biographies) and essentially modern Axomiya writing and (e) Contemporary (Modern) Era (1830 onwards): this period saw the evolution of standard Axomiya with the pre and post missionary literature; development of new genres as drama, novels etc. reflected in the works of Hemchandra Barua, Gunabhiram Barua; Jonaki-era literature and the form of the language continuing up to the present day.

Axomiya as a blend of several languages

The origin of Axomiya language is dated to be around 10th century AD, but its evolution as an independent language is believed to have begun around 7th century AD. The spread of Magadhi and Prakrit in the eastern part of Indian subcontinent, entered Kamrup evolving and developing into an independent form from around 6th-7th century AD. The trajectory of the development of the Axomiya language from Sanskrit-Pali-Prakrit as its mother languages to many other Indo-Aryan languages from ancient to contemporary times for historical reasons has been an amalgamation of the influences of the many languages from Sanskrit-Pali-Prakrit to the many Indo-Aryan languages to which the Axomiya language owes it origin and development.

Assam has been a meeting ground for the conglomerate of cultural and linguistic groups. Along with the Indo-European family, the Austric, Tibeto-Chinese, the Axomiya language has also developed a strong bond and affinty with the people of the region. At different periods of historical existence, Arabic-Persian language group, Portugese, English language, Aryan langauges, along with other Indian languages, both in manifest and latent blending has resulted in significant changes in the constitution of the Axomiya language.

In Contemporary Assam, Indo-European, Austric, Sino-Tibetan and Semitic (Arabic-Persian etc.) family of languages are in practice. The manifold modifications that have resulted in the Axomiya language are the outcome of the interaction and influence of the various language forms.

Names of Songs/’naam’

For every occasion and ceremony in Axomiya social customs/ every day life is available a set of songs or ‘naam’. From descriptions of seasonal variation to events as birth-death-wedding, religious preaching, curing illnesses, etc., these naams are associated with the various phases and events in Axomiya social, religious and economic life.

Such songs can been divided into various categories-

1. Festival songs: Bihu Naam etc.
2. Childhood songs: Dhai-naam, Nisukoni naam, Dhemali naam
3. Wedding songs: Pani tola naam, Daiyan Diya naam etc.
4. Songs relating to religious conduct: Gohain naam, Deh Bisarar naam, Tokari naam, Jikir etc
5. Songs for bestowing good health curing illness: Ai naam, Aapesharar naam, Lakhimi Shabahar songs etc.
6. Malita or Ballads: Phool Konwarar geet, Mani Konwarar geet, Barphukanar geet etc.
7. . Juna (short verse): Kapahar Juna
8. Songs relating to sports and festivities: Nao Khelar geet (boat race songs)
9. Baramahi geet (songs depicting twelve months): Sita Baramahi, Kanya Baramahi etc.

Region Spoken In: West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar, Himachal Pradesh

Number of Speakers

• Andaman and Nicobar: 91582
• Himachal Pradesh: 83230

Andaman and Nicobar Islands predominantly developed as a result of immigrants from various parts of the country. The journey of immigrants started with transportation of revolutionaries from Sepoy Mutiny. The First War of Independence of India was fought against the British Empire. The British authorities landed in these Islands with hundreds of convicts who were prisoners of war of 1858. Under the Penal settlement, people from various linguistic groups were established in various parts of the Islands among whom the Bengali speaking people were considered to be the major community. Since the first attempt which was made to occupy these Islands by British authority in 1789, the Bengali settlers were brought to Andamans.

With the second Penal settlement in 1858, the Bengali speaking people had started migrating to these Islands with others. The British authority had prepared official records on total immigrants to Andamans. From time to time, the official records were updated. The people of all provinces under British control were transported to Andamans. The people who came here were Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani, Burmese ,Tamil, Telugu, Malayalee, Peshawari, Pushto ,Sindhi, Baluchi, Punjabi Nepali, Kharia, Gondi, Marwari and Dogri. All these linguistic groups constituted a society known as convicts society or Local Born. Urdu was the common language of this Island society.

Baghal earlier was a state from which the present district of Solan was formed. Its language is called Bagali, also known as Bagalyani. Bagali is closely related with Hindi.

The noted linguist Grierson has also named the language spoken in this area as ‘Bagali’. Though the census of 2001 puts the total population of Arki tehsil at 83230, the influence of the Bagali language can be seen beyond the boundaries of Arki tehsil, extending upto Patta Mehlong, eastern parts of the hill areas of Nalagarh tehsil of Solan district, areas of district Bilaspur adjoining Arki tehsil, and the north-western areas of Sunni Tehsil in district Shimla.

It is appropriate to mention that Verma is of the view that the languages of Himachal covered under Pahari also bear much similarity with Rajasthani. There appears to be reasonable affinity between Pahari of Himachal and Jaipuri, and between western Pahari and Marwari. The western and mid Pahari area was also known as Sapadalaksh. In the earlier times, the Gurjar community was settled in these regions of the Himalayas. Later, however, these people migrated to Rajasthan. In the Muslim period too, a large number of Rajputs settled in Sapadalaksh. As a result, some similarities are found between the Rajasthani and Pahari languages. The impact of Rajasthani language is evident in words such as khan.a khana, pin.a (pina), den.a (dena), sunan.a (sunana,) etc. (the fifth letter of the ta varga). The languages of various rulers of the country have not only influenced Bagali, but also enriched the vocabulary of this language. The impact of the Mughals and Britishers can also be seen in these areas. While the ‘iskool’ of Urdu has become ‘askool’, the English words ‘lord’ and ‘lord sahib’ have become ‘laat’ and ‘laat saheb’ in this area. An impact of languages such as Kahluri, Panjabi, Hindoori, Kyonthali and Baghati, which are local to adjoining areas, can also be seen in Bagali language. This is due to a cultural and social exchange between these languages. All these languages are in the category of Indo-Aryan languages. . There is a clear-cut impact of Panjabi visible on Hindoori and Bagali. It will not be an overstatement to mention that Bagali and Hindoori are siblings (sisters) in the present time.

State: Assam

Ethnicity and linguistic differences cause diversity and very often reciprocal cultural assimilation within the diversified community brings unity. People and their culture reveals multicultural characters through their life-style. Different ethnic and linguistic groups migrated to Assam in different times. Bishnupriya Manipuri is one of among those linguistic groups of Assam which is migrated from present Manipur. The vicinity of Loktak Lake of Manipur is traced as the place of emergence of this community. The people of this community follow the Vishnu cult and have been introducing themselves as the descendents of Babhruvahana, the son of Arjuna. Grierson referred to them as mayāng in Linguistic Survey of India (Vol.3). In the census report of 1961, it is stated- “Manipuri people call the Bishnupriyas mayāngs, because they hailed from outside Manipur.” (Vol-1). At present Bishnupriya Manipuri people are scattered in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura Bangladesh and Myanmar. The language, spokken by the community is known as Bishnupriya Manipuri.

Dr. Upendranath Goswami wrote in his book Asomiya Bhashar Udbhav Samriddhi Aru Vikash (Derivation, growth and development of the Assamese Language) as- ‘owing to the internal dispute of Manipur and the Burmese invasion most of the people of this linguistic community had to flee from their homeland, it became very difficult to retain their language in Manipur and consequently by the turn of this century (twentieth) the language wiped out from Manipur.’

Geographical Location: At present a substantial number of Bishnupriya Manipuri speaking people live in Assam. They live mainly in the three districts of the Barak valley and some parts of the Brahmaputra Valley. They usually practice Vaisnavism, propounded by Chaitanya and hence this language has witnessed a considerable influence of the Bengali language. However, this influence is certainly not far old.

Language Family: Tibeto – Burman language family. State: West Bengal Region Spoken In: Mostly used in Malbazar, Dhupguri and some other areas of Jalpaiguri, Coochbihar, Darjeeling.

Name of the Language: Boro is the name of the language and the community.

Alternate Names: The community is also designated by the terms Kochari, Mesh, Boro-Kochari and Boro etc.

Language Family The Boros belong to Tibeto – Burman language family.

Disambiguation of Name ‘BODO’

The inhabitants of the ‘BOD’ country are known as ‘BODO-FICHA’ or ‘BODOCHA’ or ‘BODOSA’ ('Bod' means land and 'ficha' or 'cha' means children, hence children of the Bod country). In course of time they came to be known as Boddo>Bodo>Boro.

Geographical Origins:

Some scholars state that in the past the Boros lived in the Southern part of China, mostly on the bank of river Wangho and Yansikiang region. Another group of scholars comment that the Boros came from the Step area and the Mongolian region. Others believe that the Boros migrated to the north-eastern regions of India from some parts of China, which are known as Tibod, Labod, Horbod, Kurbod, Bastibod and Tibet etc.

Geographical Locations:

The Boros are one of the largest Tibeto – Burman language groups living in the Brahmaputra valley. Their habitats are also found in North – Eastern states like Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura as well as some parts of West-Bengal, Nepal and Bhutan. The majority of the Boro people live in Bongaigaon, Dhubri, Goalpara, Darang, Nagaon, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of Assam.

Geographical Changes in Language Varieties

The Boro people living in the North Bank of Brahmaputra like Dhubri, Kokrajhar and Chirang basically speak the western Boro dialect, whereas the Boros of undivided Kamrup, Darang, Nagaon and Sibsagar district use eastern Boro dialect. But the Boros in the southern part of the Brahmaputra valley, mainly in indigenous Boro habitats of Goalpara district, use the Doikhungkhulari Boro dialect. The language spoken by the Boros of the West Bengal and Nepal is known as ‘Meche’ dialect. The Boros living in Karbi – Anglong district is known as ‘Mesh’, but they do not have their own dialect. They use Assamese language as a means of communication.

Boro Yatra Gan (Boro theatre)

During the first half of the 20th century, two types of Boro drama- ‘Khemtha’ and ‘Thakriphalla’ were performed in Boro society. Performed basically during festivals, rituals, marriages as well as on other occasions to entertain the audience. The objective of this type of plays was to instruct and impart moral education. Besides these, a kind of play, which was known as ‘Serja Gan’ gained much popularity in Boro society. The play was performed by playing ‘Serja’ (a kind of musical instrument similar to the violin) and the plot of this type of plays was based on folk traditions.

Musical instruments of the Boros:

The Boros are a nature loving tribe and they usually consider themselves as the offspring of nature. They have numerous songs related to nature and their musical instruments are usually made of natural materials. Like many other tribes of Assam, the Boros use their self-made musical instruments during festivals as well as on many other occasions. Kham (drum), Siphung (flute), Serja, Gongona, Jotha, Thorka, Jabkhring and Jenjengra (made of wattles tree) are the chief musical instruments of the Boro.

Boro language on radio

Boro language was first broadcast on radio on 2nd October, 1975 on Akash Bani Guwahati. At first the broadcasting was made from 4-15 pm till 4-45pm for a period of half an hour, and later the time was extended up to 45 minutes. On Sunday, the broadcast started at 3. 15 pm and various programs were broadcast till 4 pm. Another broadcasting centre was founded in Kokrajhar district on 15th August, 1999. Various programs in Boro, Assamese, Hindi and English are broadcast from this centre from 6 pm to 9. 30 pm.

Boro language on television

As part of the weekly P.P.C. program of Doordarshan Kendra, Guwahati, some specific programs on Boro are telecast every Saturday. Everyday Boro News is telecast on NE TV at a specific time. Various programs are also telecast by the Boroland Channel, Kokrajhar.

Boro language in modern media

The Boro language is making its rapid growth and development through electronic media. At present Boro News has become available as a mobile service too.

State : Jammu & Kashmir

Area Spoken In : Spoken in the mountainous region of North-West India lying between Pipanjal and Dhauladhar ranges in North and plains of Punjab in South, River Sutlej in East and Manawar Tawi in West. Language Family : Indo-Aryan Language Family Region Spoken In : Pir Panjal and Dhauladhar ranges in North and plains of Punjab. Also spoken across Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and across the border in Sialkot and Shakargharh **Number of Speakers : 2282589

Geographical Location:

Spoken in the mountainous region of North-West India lying between Pipanjal and Dhauladhar ranges in North and plains of Punjab in South, River Sutlej in East and Manawar Tawi in West. This region is known as Duggar. The mention of ‘durgar’, occurs in Chamba Copper Plates of 11th Century A.D. and it refers to the community inhabiting the region between Ravi and Chenab.

Language Group: Indo-Aryan Language Family

History:

Dogri, the second prominent language of Jammu and Kashmir has an important place on the Linguistic map of Northern India. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of Indo-European language family. It has its origin from old Indo-Aryan language, i.e., language of Vedas and Laukik Sanskrit.

Historical mentions:

• The earliest reference of Dogri is found in Nuh-Siphir, a Masnavi written by Amir Khusrao in A.D. 1317.
• Maharaja Ranbir Singh (1856-1885), made Dogri written in Taakari Script the court language along with Persian of Jammu and Kashmir State.

Inclusion in Indian Constitution:

According to the 92 Amendment Act 2003 of the Indian Constitution on 22nd December 2003 (The Gazette of India Part-II Sec-I)

Folk-Music:

Devotional Songs: bispante arti, bhet, batt, sangh, thal, narate, gujari, bhajan etc.

Ceremonial Songs: badhava, behai, suhag, ghori, sithani, chhanda, loahni, palla etc.

Festival Songs: lohri, hirana, erani, swari, garlodi, laddi, etc.

Seasonal Songs: rittariya, bara mah, dholaru etc.

Love Songs: kunju-chainchalo, bhagu-gilamo, chhambi:- raja ami:chand, pirthi:singh indardei etc.

Bhakh is a typical variety of Dogri folk songs

State- Gujarat

Area spoken- Cities and towns of Gujarat

State : Haryana, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh in India

Language Family : Indo-Aryan language

Number of Speakers : 422,048,642

Area and Its Speakers

Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language (a branch of the Indo-European family of languages), spoken primarily in the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh in India. Besides being the official language of these states, it is also, along with English, the official language of the Government of India. According to the 2001 Census, it is spoken by 422,048,642 speakers, which include the speakers of its various dialects and variations of speech grouped under Hindi. It is also spoken by a large number of people of Indian origin, settled abroad.

History

Hindi and Urdu have their origins in Khariboli spoken in areas around Delhi. Khariboli was adopted by the Afghans, Persians and Turks as a common language of interaction with the local population, during the period of Islamic invasions and the establishment of Muslim rule in north India, between the eighth and the tenth centuries ad. In time, it developed a variety called Urdu, with significant borrowings from Arabic and Persian and which uses a Persian script. It was also known as rexta or ‘mixed language’. As Urdu gained patronage in the Muslim courts and developed into a literary language, the variety used by the general population gradually replaced Sanskrit, literary Prakrits and Apabhramshas as the literary language. This later variety looked to Sanskrit for linguistic borrowings, and Sanskrit, Prakrits and Apabhramshas for literary conventions. It is this variety that became known as Hindi.

Hindi and Urdu have a common form known as Hindustani, which is essentially a Hindi–Urdu mixed language. This was the variety that was adopted by Indian leaders as a symbol of national identity during the struggle for freedom. Hindi has been used as a literary language since the twelfth century. The development of prose, however, began only in the eighteenth century, which marks the emergence of Hindi as a full-fledged literary language.

Grierson (1906) has divided Hindi into two groups: Eastern Hindi and Western Hindi. In the Eastern group Grierson discusses three dialects: Awadhi, Bagheli, and Chattisgarhi. In the Western group he discusses five dialects: Hindustani, Braj Bhasha, Kanauji, Bundeli, and Bhojpuri. Eastern Hindi is bounded on the north by the language of the Nepal Himalaya and on the west by various dialects of Western Hindi, of which the principal are Kanauji and Bundeli. On the east, it is bounded by the Bhojpuri dialect of Bihari and by Oriya. On the South it meets forms of the Marathi language. Western Hindi extends to the foot of the Himalayas on the north, south to the Jamna valley, and occupies most of Bundelkhand and a part of central provinces on the east side.

The Hindi region is traditionally divided into two: Eastern Hindi and Western Hindi. The main dialects of Eastern Hindi are Awadhi, Bagheli and Chattisgarhi. The Western Hindi dialects are Haryanvi, Braj Bhasha, Bhundeli, Kanuji and Khariboli. The dialects spoken in the regions of Bihar (i.e., Maithili, Bhojpuri, Maghi etc.) in Rajasthan (i.e., Marwari, Jaipuri, Malvi etc.) and some dialects spoken in the northwestern areas of Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh were kept away from the earlier classification. earlier classification. Now, all of these dialects are also covered under the term Hindi. The standard Hindi developed from the Khariboli has borrowed lexical items from Sanskrit and is the vehicle of all official literary and commercial communication. It is intelligible throughout the broad Hindi language region. Another literary style, Urdu, has also developed from Khariboli and it uses the Perso-Arabic script and borrows from Perso-Arabic sources.

Hindi –Urdu

Historical and cultural processes and the linguistic affinity which exists in Indian languages led to the emergence of Hindi-Urdu or so-called Hindustani as the lingua-franca of major areas of India long before its freedom. In an earlier period, the languages of administration, Sanskrit in the case of the earliest Hindu kingdoms, Persian in the case of the Muslim dynasties, and English in the case of the British regime, have mostly remained confined to the elite.

Beginning with the invasion of Mohammed Ghori in the late 12th century AD, the foreign invaders settled down in India to rule. The Slave, Tughluq, Lodi, and Mughal dynasties used Persian in their administration, but they used the local language spoken in and around Delhi for communicating with the people for their day-to-day needs. This local language was a form of Apbhramsha, which eventually became Khariboli; they called this language Hindi - a language belonging to Hind. Thus, the Hindi language derived its name from the Persian towards the end of the 12th century or beginning of the 13th century. During the Mughal period, the word ‘Urdu’ was derived from the Turkish word ‘Yurt’ or ‘ordu’ that meant ‘military encampment.’ This variety was distinguished on the basis of Perso-Arabic influence at the lexical level and was written in the Perso-Arabic script. Hindi-Urdu became the medium of communication between the Muslim rulers and the local people. The southern variety of the speech, best known as Dakhini, also became the medium of literature and socio-religious discourse. This variety is influenced by Dravidian languages as a result of language contact.

Due to a common structural basis, Hindi and Urdu continued to be treated as synonymous for centuries at least up to the period of Mirza Ghalib. Mirza Ghalib called his language ‘Hindi’ on several occasions, though he used the Perso-Arabic script for writing it. He named one of his works ‘ode-e-Hindi’ (perfume of Hindi). Primarily in the domain of different genres of literature, Hindi and Urdu started drifting away from each other not only in the use of two different scripts, but also in literary styles and vocabulary. Hindi started drawing more and more from Sanskrit, and Urdu from Persian and Arabic. The processes continue today.

During British rule, when English was adopted as the official language, local languages were assigned roles for certain functions at lower levels of administration. A competition started between the proponents or supporters of Hindi and those of Urdu for official recognition of their languages. In the first instance, Urdu was recognized by the British in the Northwest and Oudh, Bihar, and the Central Provinces in 1830 AD as the language of the courts. This was followed by the recognition accorded to Hindi in certain areas. Hindi and Urdu were involved in controversy and mutual competition for their recognition in various domains of education and administration. The mutual conflicts intensified at the beginning of the 20th century. On the one hand, there were proponents of Hindi and Urdu who were eager to maintain separate linguistic identities, and, on the other hand, some national leaders wanted to develop Hindustani as a combined linguist identity on the basis of its use by the general population.

Linguistic Characteristics

Hindi shares major linguistic characteristics with other Indo-Aryan languages. It has ten vowels. The length of vowels is phonemic. All vowels can be nasalized and nasalization is phonemic. The Hindi syllable contains a vowel as its nucleus, followed or preceded by consonants. Words usually have two or three syllables.Nouns are inflected for number, gender and case. There are two numbers: singular and plural, two genders: masculine and feminine; and two cases: direct and oblique. Nouns are assigned one of the two genders. The gender of inanimate objects is not predictable from the form or meaning. Pronouns are inflected for number and case. Adjectives are of two types: declinable and indeclinable. The first type is uninflected for number, gender, and case, whereas the second type is not. Verbs are inflected for person, number, gender, tense, mood, and aspect. There are three tenses: present, past, and future; three moods: imperative, indicative, and subjective; two aspects: imperfective and perfective. Hindi is a verb-final language. Hindi is written in the Devanagari script which originated from Brahmi. The Devanagari script for Hindi is standardized, but certain minor variations still exist. In this grammar we are using Devanagari and Roman scripts for the data from the language.

Hindi in Education:

Hindi has a significant role in education. It is used as a subject of study as well as a medium of education in India from the primary level to the university level in all the Hindi-speaking states in India. It is also used as a medium for technical education at the lower levels. Various organisations at the Union and state levels are engaged in the preparation of textbooks and supplementary instructional materials in Hindi. English continues to be a preferred medium of instruction for science and technology at the higher levels.

Hindi in Media:

Hindi has a prominent role in both electronic and print media. Hindi is widely used in programs on radio and television and in films. The language style of Hindi used in electronic media is close to the spoken variety of so-called Hindustani. In the print media, styles vary from high Hindi to that commonly understood by the Hindi-Urdu speech community. Whereas a few newspapers and periodicals prefer high Hindi or the Sanskritized style, others prefer to use the Urdu vocabulary. A large number of newspapers, periodicals, and journals are published in Hindi.

Grammars in Hindi:

Beginning in the eighteenth century, Hindi has a long tradition of grammatical literature which falls under the categories of (a) traditional grammars, (b) comparative and historical grammars, and (c) modern linguistic grammars. Bhatia (1987) provides a critical survey of the Hindi grammatical tradition. Traditional grammars describe the language using the traditional framework of Sanskrit grammars. Comparative and historical grammars are mostly concerned with presenting the diachronic description of the grammatical features at different linguistic levels, especially phonology and morphology. They are useful for historical linguists and those interested in the comparative linguistics of Indo-Aryan languages. There is a scope for a pedagogically oriented grammar which provides essential information for the use of Hindi language learners as well as teachers. The present Modern Hindi Grammar is an effort in this direction. It is pedagogically oriented; utilizing simpler terminology and authentic data from standard spoken and written Hindi; providing useful descriptions and tables of grammatical categories as well as simple descriptions of phrases, and sentence types designed for the use of language learners, teachers of Hindi at various levels. The Phonology describes segmental phonemes (vowels, consonants), suprasegmentals (length, stress, intonation), and morphophonology (alternations, deletion and insertion, allomorphs). The Morphology provides descriptions of nominal morphology (noun inflection, gender, number, case, postpositions, pronouns, adjectives), verb morphology (types of verbs, verb inflections, voice, tense, aspect, mood, non-finite verb forms), and adverbs. The Syntax describes the structure of phrases, sentence types, complex and compound constructions, other syntactic constructions among other items. The Lexicon presents a classified vocabulary of Hindi under 12 sub-sections.

Language Family : Kashmiri belongs to Dardic branch of the Indo-Aryan family.

Region Spoken In : Kashmir valley of Jammu & Kashmir

Number of Speakers : 53,62,349

Script : Sharda, Devanagari, Roman and Perso-Arabic.

State : Jammu & Kashmir

Area Spoken In : Kashmiri is spoken primarily in Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir State of India.

Regional and Social variations in Kashmiri Speech:

Kashmiri speaking area in the valley is ethno - semantically is divided into

▪ mara:z (southern and south-eastern region)

▪ karma:z (northern and north-western region)

▪ Vamra:z (Srinagar and the neighbouring area)

Dialects of Kashmiri Poguli - spoken in Pogul and Kishtawari. It shares 70% linguistic features vocabulary with Kashmiri Kishtawari - spoken in Kishtawar valley, the south-east part of Kashmir. It shares 80% vocabulary with Kashmiri.

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Kashmiri though spoken by majority of people in the valley, it has never been used as an official language in its home state i.e. Jammu and Kashmir.

Scripts used for Kashmiri Sharda, Devanagari, Roman and Perso-Arabic. Sharda is the oldest script developed around 10th Century which was used for writing Sanskrit by local scholars of the time.

Region Spoken In : Kerela

Number of Speakers : 33066392

Evolution of the name Malayalam The origin of the word Malayalam is of recent origin. Malayalam is a combination of mala ‘mountain’ with any of the following terms - * alam - the place denoting the mountain country * aalam ‘depth’ - representing the land that lies between the mountain and the deep ocean * awl ‘man’ - meaning mountain dweller.

The last term conveys to a possible extent the original meaning of Malayalam, denoting the people depicted by word forms such as malayaalar, malayali, malanaattukaaran and the region or country as in the term malanaatu. Lilatilakam, a famous 14th century work on the grammar and language of Malayalam, mentions only keeralabhaasa to denote the language. The etymology of the word keralam is unsure. Keralam may be derived from the Classical Tamil word ‘ceralam’ mountain slope’ or cheralam ‘land of Cheras’. It may also have originated from keral-am, kera ‘coconut tree’, alam ‘land or location’ meaning land of coconut trees.

The earliest attestation to the name kerala is found in an Asokan rock inscription of 3rd century BC which mentions a state or people called kerala putra. In literary records, kerala was mentioned in the Sanskrit epic Aityreya Aranyaka. Kerala was well known to Katyayana, Patanjali and Pliny and was famous among Greeks and Romans for its spices especially black pepper. There is a legend regarding the origin of Keralam, that Lord Parasurama regained his land from the sea by standing higher on Gokarna commanded the sea to recede, and hurling his battle axe into the Arabian Sea. The emergence of land, thus coming out of the sea waters came to be known as Keralam.

The use of the word Malayalam, as the name of the language does not have a long history. The attestation to this is found in the available records which could only be traced back to middle of 19th century. The earliest available reference to the word ‘Malayaalabhaasha’ is found in Bailey’s paLaya Niyamam (Old Testament) published in 1839. Prior to 19th century, the available record reveals generally that the language of the former Kerala region was named Tamil and later named Keralabhaasha before commencing the current name.

The word Malayalam was used earlier to refer the region as a toponym. A clear distinction then existed between the land and the language. Malayalam refers to a place of occupation and the words like Malayalma, or Malyaayma were used to mean the language.

The common folk continue to get identified by Malayaam/ Malayaanma which reflects the land, people and the language. The political settings have given more popularity to the power laden Malayaalar than the native Malayaam/Malayaanma.

Geography of Malayalam Language Geography of language describes distribution of Malayalam language through history and space. Kerala, the present home land of Malayalam came into existence as a state in Indian Union on 1st Nov. 1956 with a clearcut political boundary. It is bounded by the Western Ghats on the east and Arabian Sea on the west. It shares its border with the state of Karnataka at the north and rest with Tamil Nadu. The Highlands- slope down from Sahyadri (Western Ghats), the Midlands, area found between mountains and lowlands and the Lowlands (Coastal region) define the physiographic pattern of Kerala.

It was formerly a larger piece of land stretched between Kanyakumari in the south and Gokarna in the north under Chera rule. The genesis of Malayalam is rooted to the Chera regime but it does not confirm the spread of language. Cankam Tamil was a literary language common to both Kerala and modern Tamil Nadu in 1st — 3rd centuries AD. The common heritage coupled with political dominance allowed the centamil literary ancestry to continue until about 1600.

There are various opinions about the origin of Malayalam, whether it originated by split from proto-Tamil Malayalam or from middle Tamil. Inscriptional evidences confirm its official use around 9th century.

The age of Kulasekharas or second Chera Empire (800-1102 AD) was the golden age in the history of Kerala. During the reign of Rajasekhara Varman the Malayalam Era known as Kollam era commenced around 825 AD. Several independent principalities came into existence after the fall of second Chera Empire in 1102 AD. The Portuguese and Dutch intrusions or the Mysore invasion (1766-82) disturbed the Malayalam language geography. The British annexed Malabar under Madras Presidency and thus disturbing the language geography for the first time. The formation of new Travancore-Cochin state after Independence made the language geography more stable, followed by the emergence of unilingual state — Kerala comprising of Malabar district and Kasargode taluk of Madras state and Travancore Cochin State excluding Tamil speaking areas of south Travancore. This situation help Malayalam language to define its boundary with the neighbouring languages — Tamil, Kannada, Tulu and Kodagu.

Ethnic base of Malayalam Language The ethnic base of today’s Malayalam is rich and distinct in terms of ethnic boundaries. It comprises locally evolved groups; immigrants turned residents, bicultural bilinguals, and linguistically subjugated groups. Despite having mother tongue diversity, most of the groups today putatively accounted as Malayalam speakers. It comprises social groups like Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Castes (SC), Other Backward Communities (OBC), Other Eligible Communities (OEC) and Other Communities (OC). Within this fabric, religious subcultures survive with great diversity. Among the Hindus, Brahmin community is ethnically more diverse in Kerala. Kerala Brahmins comprising Nambudiris and many sub castes, Tamil Brahmins (Smarta and Aiyyangar), Tulu Brahmins (Embranthiri and Pox) and Konkani Brahmins including Gauda saraswathi Brahmins.The Christian divisions of Malayalam speech community include theSyrian Christians (Syrian Catholics, Jacobites, Orthodox and Marthomites, and Knanaya community), LaEn Catholics, Nadar Christians, and the various Protestant splinter groups etc. Kerala Muslim community comprises mainly of 10 communities. Although all are fluent in Malayalam, only four (Mappila, Marakkar, Meythor, Ossan) claim their Mother tongue as Malayalam.The rest belong to GujaraE(Bohra, Cutchi Memon), Urdu(Dakhani Muslim, Navayat), Tamil (Ravuthar)and Turkish dialect (Turukkan).

The ethnic base of present day Malayalam speech community can be identified in four streams -

1. Malayalam mother tongue speakers

2. Groups who have adopted Malayalam as the mother tongue

3. Groups use Malayalam by maintaining their original mother tongue (native-bicultural bilinguals) and
4. Linguistically subjugated minorities.

Language Demography Language demography provides the speaker’s strength of a language. The total number of Malayalam speakers in India was 33066392 persons (2001 Census).

Status of Malayalam Malayalam is one of the scheduled languages of India. It enjoys the shared official language status along with the English in the homeland Kerala and Lakshadweep. It is also counted as an official language in Pondicherry (Puduchery). Malayalam survives as the principal mother tongue in Kerala has 99.54 % of speaker’s strength at state level, which is highest to any other state tongue’s status in India. 86.83% speaker’s strength is marked in Lakshadweep.

As a standard language, Malayalam is rich and dynamic in its existence. About 170 daily newspapers, 235 weekly and 560 monthly periodicals are published in Malayalam. In education front, it is used as a medium of instruction only at school level in the state. Malayalam is used in mass communication both in print and electronic media. Highly appreciable visibility in the domain of mass communication is recorded. The role of Malayalam as a language of political expressionist has been well credited with a political dialect and language proficiency in the political domain is well counted in both oral and written media.

In the domain of Culture, Malayalam survives with great antiquity and prestige in folk arts of Kerala. The role of Malayalam in films and other popular entertainments is high while its role in administration and judiciary is secondary. Malayalam language is not yet fully compatible with language technology but has succeeded in the initial phase of Malayalam computing.

While Malayalam accommodates the theoretical innovations in social science and humanities with ease, its capability for displaying Science and mathematics needs further terminological advancement. Malayalam language products like dictionaries, glossaries, grammars and other pedagogical products have to become more systematic, scientific and current in order to develop its own discourses in sciences and social sciences.As translation is inequitably responding to the growing demands in various fields of knowledge,technologically compatible Malayalam with machine translation capability is the need of the hour. Free use of English words in Malayalam sentences, as freely as it did with Sanskrit in the past,is the cosmopolitan trademark of Malayalam.

Linguistic and Cultural landscape of Malayalam Three cultural zones: north, central and south, are distinctively visible in Kerala and are distinctively marked. This map excludes tribal and minority subcultures but demarcates the major regionally bounded cultural and linguistic zones.

Bilingualism in Kerala The phenomena of bilingualism i**s of great importanceIn Kerala, where though the mother tongue speaker's prominence is well marked, bilingual status is also significantly high. The 16 languages of Kerala and dialects spoken in Kerala are English, Gujarati, Kachchi, Kadar, Kannada, Konkani, Koraga, Malankudi, Malayalam, Marathi, Muduga, Punjabi, Tamil, Telgu, Tulu and Urdu.

Of the 225 communities in Kerala, 112 of them are Malayalam speakers, 39 Tamil speakers, 24 Tulu speakers, 15 Kannada speakers, 12 Telugu speakers, 5 Marathi speakers, 4 Konkani speakers and 2 Urdu speakers. English, Punjabi, Gujarati and Kachchi are spoken by one community each. 14 communities are speakers of Indo-Aryan languages (Gujarati, Kachchi, Konkani, Marathi, Punjabi and Urdu) while the others speak Dravidian language.

Regional Bilingualism in Kerala can be observed in three prominent patterns -

1. General trend evolved due to Trilingual education policy and the result of outward migration.
2. Maintenance of respective mother tongue by minority settlers along with Malayalam.
3. Tribal Bilingualism.

History of Malayalam Language Proto-Dravidian, Proto-Tamil and Middle Tamil Ancestry of Malayalam The term Dravidian as a generic name of the major language family next to Indo-European, spoken in the Indian subcontinent was first used by Robert Caldwell in 1856. This was an adaptation of the Sanskrit term dravida (adj. draavida-) which is traditionally used to designate the Tamil language and people, in some contexts and in others, roughly the South Indian peoples The modern Dravidian languages are believed to have disintegrated from the common ancestor called Proto-Dravidian (PD). The present Dravidian family consists of 26 well established languages, besides, about 70 distinct tribal speech forms.

The 26 languages are classified into four geneEc subgroups:

(i) South Dravidian (SD): Tamil, Malayalam, Irula, Kurumba, Kodagu, Toda, Kota, Badaga, Kannada, Koraga, Tulu. (ii) South Central Dravidian (SCD): Telugu, Gondi, Konda, Kui, Kuvi, Pengo, Manda. (iii) Central Dravidian (CD): Kolami, Naiki, Parji, Ollari, Gadaba. (iv) North Dravidian (ND): Kurukh, Malto, Brahui.

Evolution of Malayalam Malayalam has a recorded literary history of over eight centuries; the earliest document, the Vazhappalli inscriptions of Rajasekhara dates to the 9th century.

The early literature developed through three different traditions: (i) The Tamil tradition of paattu , the classical songs as depicted in the first literary work, Ramacaritam (ii) The Sanskrit tradition of maniprvaala, a literary innovation portraying a harmonious blend of baasha (native language)and Samskrita (Sanskrit), as in Vaisikathantram; (iii) The native tradition of folk songs and ballads predominantly concerning indigenous elements. Bashaakautiliiyam is the earliest prose written in simple language. All three traditions belong to the 12th century. Modern Malayalam literature is rich in fiction, poetry, prose, drama, short stories, biographies and literary criticism.

Sangam Literature and Malayalam language The Sangam (cankam ) literature (1-3 Centuries of AD) provides the most ancient sources of Tamil- Malayalam common ancestry. The main Sangam literary productions were eightAnthologies (ettuttokai ) containing more than 2000 verses and Ten Idylls (Pattuppattu) composed on akam (deals love and romance) and puram genres (deals praise of the Kings). The eight anthologies are Patirruppattu, Purananuru, Akananuru, Narrinai, Kurumtokai, Ainkurunuru, Kalittokai and Paripatal. The ten Idylls encompass Tirumurkarruppatai, Porunararrupatai, Cirupanaruppatai, Perumpanaruppatai, Mullaippattu, Maturaikkanci, Netunalvatai, Kurincippattu, Pattinappalai and Malaipatukatam.

This literary capital showcases that the Sangam literature is neither fully in Tamil nor Malayalam. It is a common heritage for both. Kerala has its own share of cultural, historical, political and language heritage in the Sangam literature despite Malayalam attesting an independent history in later periods.

The geographical descriptions in Purananuru is more akin to the Kerala ecology with the beautiful depiction of flora and fauna.The political descriptions in Sangam texts particularly on the Chera dynasty are rooted to Kerala. Some cultural features mentioned in Tamil classical works are retained in Kerala, but not in Tamil Nadu. For example, the classical art form Chakkiyaŗ kuttu, and the extraction of Toddy from rice are not found in Tamil Nadu, but is prevalent in Kerala.

The tradition of Bards is kept alive in Kerala. Bards, particularly the Panan, Kuththar who sang praise of Kings and Chieftains in Sangam were not found in Tamil territory but have survived with their own identity of caste and profession in Kerala. Their oral songs are known as Panan pattu in Kerala.

Many Sangam poets like Kuttuvan Kiranar, Kudalur Kizhar, Poykaiyar were from Kerala. Ilangovadikal, the author of the Tamil epic Chilappathikaaram was also recognised from Chera dynasty.

State : Aandaman & Nikobar

Number of Speakers : Approx 30000

After Bengali, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu Malayalam is the fifth largest language spoken in AN Islands as per the 2001 Census. 28,869 people have recorded Malayalam as their mother tongue in the Census. We do not have the linguistic data of 2011 Census. However, as per the growth rate of 6%, we can add about 2000 and round it off to approximately 30000, who speak Malayalam or have recorded it as their mother tongue.

Malayalees reached the shores of Andaman and Nicobar Islands for different reasons. But, before the Moplah Rebellion of 1921, very few Malayalees were deported to ANI Islands. After Independence, on various settlement schemes announced by Government of India, people voluntarily started settling in Andamans and a Malayali Settler population belonging to Southern Kerala also came and settled in different pockets of the Islands. And, there were economic migrants, who keep coming to Islands and engage in various business and economic activities. Many others came for government service.