INDIAN LANGUAGES

languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The languages of the region are generally classified as belonging to the following families: Indo-European (the Indo-Iranian branch in particular), Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic (Munda in particular), and Sino-Tibetan. Fourteen languages are mentioned in the constitution of India: Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Gujarati, Sanskrit, and Assamese, all belonging to the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European; Kashmiri, belonging to the Dardic group of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European; and Telugu, Tamil, Kannada (or Kanarese), and Malayalam, belonging to the Dravidian language family. The Manipuri language of Assam and the Newari language of Nepal are usually classified, along with languages of the Bodo group, as belonging to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Among the Munda languages (classified as a branch of the Austro-Asiatic language family), Santhali and Khasi have the most speakers. Languages used in Pakistan include the Sindhi, Punjabi, and Urdu languages, which belong to the Indo-Aryan group, and Brahui, which is a Dravidian language. Bengali is the language of Bangladesh. See Indo-Aryan languages; Indo-Iranian languages.