Languages in India
Sprawled over an area of 3.28 million square kilometers India displays an exotic variety in culture, tradition, religions and languages. Though most of the languages and dialects spoken in India are either of Aryan origin or of Dravidian origin, some of the languages and tongues spoken in Eastern India trace their origin to the Sini-Mongoloid scripts.
Most of the languages that are spoken in present day India have evolved over the centuries from an admixture of indigenous languages such as Sanskrit, Maghadi, Pali and Dravidian languages with languages spoken by those who came from foreign lands.
Languages in Northern and Central India have gone through several evolutionary phases, invaders, rulers and migrants from different parts of the world came to the Indian sub-continent and brought their cultural traditions that gradually blended with indigenous languages and local ways. For example Persian and Urdu have had a great impact on the languages spoken in northern India.
The Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution recognizes 18 official languages. Originally there were only 15 official languages, later in the year 1992; Manipuri, Nepali and Konkani were also added to the list by an amendment to the Constitution.
Besides the officially recognized languages, a large section of the society communicates in different dialects and languages. Some of the popularly spoken tribal tongues in India include Santhali, Agariya, Arakanese, Gaduliya, Pahari, Gadhwali, Gondi et al.
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