[Fsf-friends] Languages of India
Kanti Jadia
Kanti Jadia" <j_kanti@rediffmail.com
10 Mar 2003 12:45:33 -0000
Hi,
There are around 18 languages recognized by the Indian
Constitution. These languages are
1. Assamese
2. Bengali
3. Gujrati
4. Hindi
5. Kannada
6. Kashmiri
7. Konkani
8. Malyalam
9. Manipuri
10. Marathi
11. Nepali
12. Oriya
13. Punjabi
14. Sanskrit
15. Sindhi
16. Tamil
17. Telgu
18. Urdu
Hindi is the national, official and main link language of India.
Its homeland is mainly in the north of India, but it is spoken and
widely understood in all urban centers of India. It is written in
the Devanagri script, which is phonetic and, unlike English, is
pronounced as it is written. Hindi is a direct descendant of
Sanskrit through Prakrit and Apabhramsha. It has been influenced
and enriched by Dravidian, Turkish, Farsi, Arabic, Portugese and
English. It is a very expressive language. In poetry and songs, it
can convey emotions using simple and gentle words. It can also be
used for exact and rational reasoning.
URL: http://indiaimage.nic.in/languages.htm