Spatial pattern of languages in India: A culture-historical analysis

Abstract

Though Indian languages have roots in five racial groups — Negroids, Austrics, Mongoloids, Caucasoid Dravidians and Caucasoid Aryans — it is the last two groups that dominate the country. Sanskrit based Aryan languages of the North and Dravidian languages of the South have derived their scripts from a common source — the 3rd and 2nd century BC Brahmi. Hindi and Urdu core areas in the ‘Linguistic Heartland of India’ are nationally spread though their use in the southern plainlands is minimal. Marathi, Tamil and Bengali with existing cores in the former Presidency towns are widely spread out in outer areas, whereas, Assamese and Kashmiri have thrived in linguistic isolation. Punjabi and Sindhi were dwarfed because of historic-geographical factors. Sindhi does not have any core in India. There is a general dominance of single languages by districts. Districtwise diversity index shows that India has a linguistic homogeneity at the micro-level. If the nation is considered as one unit, India is linguistically diverse.