Tribal Languages in India – Introduction (1/4)

Tribal Languages in India – Part I

Introduction

India, as we all know is a land full of diversity – different cultures, faiths, lifestyle, traditions, rituals etc. are all interwoven, that makes it a vibrant nation. As you traverse the region, you will meet an entirely different set of communities with each passing kilometre. And as this popular adage in Hindi goes –

“Every two miles the water doth change, and every four the dialect”.

As per the census, tribal people make up about 8.2 percent of the nation’s total population. This diversity extends to languages as well. A survey done by passionate linguistics has established that there exist about 1635 native languages (of which about 197 are classified as between endangered and vulnerable by UNESCO). Yes! This might be unbelievable to some but the vastness this country holds make others believe in it.

Noam Chomsky, the world renowned linguist once said, “A Language is the Mirror of the Mind”. It is only in a language that we find our lives, our stories, our ancestors and our future too. Tribal Languages, therefore are universally significant and are languages of the earth containing ecological, geographical, and climatic information.

When come to think of different dialects prevalent in India, we can easily divide them into five major language families starting from the first civilization of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Andamanese, and Austro-Asiatic. However, for a better understanding of the tribal region segregation, it is best to have a look at the regions where tribal population inhabits. Therefore, a quick glance at the Indian map will divide the nation into five major belts namely –

1. The Himalayan Belt: This region consists of states that are nick-named as seven sisters (North Eastern States–Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura) along with Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
2. Central Indian Belt: Over half of the population lives in this belt and states that come into this region are Bihar, Odisha (Orissa), West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
3. Western Indian Belt: This region consists of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Goa, Gujarat, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
4. The Dravidian Belt: Primarily, it’s the South Indian region and it starts from Karnataka to Kerala from one end and from Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu at the other.
5. The Islands: Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

For a better understanding of the regions, refer to the map below –

Words will fall short if I start covering each tribal language separately. So, below find the names of various languages spoken by different Indian tribes as per their family –

• Indo-Aryan Family: The languages spoken by inhabitants of this family are following –

• Tibeto-Burman Family: Language spoken by this part of region includes mainly –

• Dravidian Family: The languages spoken by this family are –

• Austro-Asiatic Family – The not-so-famous tribal language spoken by the members of this family include –

• Andamanese Family: If you were looking for ancient aboriginal tribe, come to Andamans. The endangered tribe lives in misery, yet managed to survive all odds.

This was just an indicative list as there are many more languages prevalent. With this, the first part of Introduction comes to close. In Part II of this four part series, I will cover The Importance of Tribal Languages.

Till then, stay tuned for Tribal Tuesdays!