North India - Languages

Languages

Further information: Languages of India, List of Indo-Aryan languages, and Dravidian languages

Linguistically, North India is dominated by Indo-Aryan languages, although subregions of Northern Dravidian languages (such as Bihar's Kurukh language), Tibeto-Burman languages (such as Himachal's Lahauli language) and Austro-Asiatic languages (such as Munda) exist throughout the region. It is in this region, or its proximity, that Sanskrit and the various Prakrits are thought to have evolved. Indo-Aryan languages native to North India include the Hindustani lingua franca (including both its Hindi and Urdu registers), a wide range of western and eastern Hindi dialects, Rajasthani languages (Marwari, Mewari, Shekhawati, Malwi, Bagri), Haryanvi, Bihari languages (Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili and Angika), Pahari, Kumaoni, Garhwali, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Haryanavi and other languages. The subregion where Hindi languages are widely spoken (as either primary or secondary languages) is sometimes called the Hindi Heartland or the Hindi Belt, and is loosely defined.

Small speaker populations of two language isolates (Nihali and Burushaski), which are not known to be rooted in any other language families, also exist in North India.

Read more about this topic:  North India

Famous quotes containing the word languages:

    People in places many of us never heard of, whose names we can’t pronounce or even spell, are speaking up for themselves. They speak in languages we once classified as “exotic” but whose mastery is now essential for our diplomats and businessmen. But what they say is very much the same the world over. They want a decent standard of living. They want human dignity and a voice in their own futures. They want their children to grow up strong and healthy and free.
    Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)

    The trouble with foreign languages is, you have to think before your speak.
    Swedish proverb, trans. by Verne Moberg.

    Wealth is so much the greatest good that Fortune has to bestow that in the Latin and English languages it has usurped her name.
    William Lamb Melbourne, 2nd Viscount (1779–1848)