LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 24:1 January 2024
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

Celebrate India!
Unity in Diversity!!

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

Poetic Encounter
Available in https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09TT86S4T

Poems
Naked: the honest browsings of two brown women
Available in https://www.amazon.in

Decrees
Available in https://www.amazon.com

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2024
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

Urdu in Contemporary India – A Study of the Census Data on Languages

Prof. B. Mallikarjun

Abstract

In my paper ‘Patterns of Indian Multilingualism’ published in the Language in India (Vol. 10:6 June 2010) based on language data of 2001 Census, I had written that ‘… only speakers of Hindi are found in all the States and Union Territories. Next to Hindi, it is Urdu speakers who are found in all the states except in the states of the Northeast region of the country.’ In the Northeast region also, Urdu speakers are there but in very less numbers. Hindi and Urdu languages could be called pan-Indian languages. I wanted to write about the spread of Urdu and multilingualism of Urdu speakers and waited for 2021 Census. But Census 2021 is not held till date, and we do not know when it is going to be held. Hence, I am using the language data of Census 2011 to present the Urdu scenario in the Union and the States and Union Territories. Of course, wherever possible I shall present some comparative information from the earlier Censuses also about Urdu.

In the population ranking of the Language Handbook on Mother tongues in Census-1971, Urdu is the 6th largest mother tongue spoken by 28,600,428 persons, where 11,027,864 are males and 10,547,155 are females. In the 2011 Census, ‘Mother tongue is the language spoken in childhood by the person’s mother to the person. If the mother died in infancy, the language mainly spoken in the person’s home in childhood will be the mother tongue. In the case of infants and deaf mutes, the language usually spoken by the mother should be recorded. In case of doubt, the language mainly spoken in the household may be recorded’. In the 2011 Census in the order of speaker’s strength Urdu is in the 7th place.

Composition of Urdu

The Census, while rationalizing the data relating to mother tongues and languages. follows a process of inclusiveness. It is not genetic grouping of mother tongues into languages but a functional grouping of mother tongues. Accordingly, all languages are mother tongues, but all mother tongues are not languages. Urdu language is a composite of different mother tongues included under its name. Table-1 below exemplifies the composition of it in 1991, 2001 and 2011. In the 2011 Census, Urdu language is a composite of mother tongues Urdu, Bhansuri and Others (this includes many more unlisted mother tongues). Here it may be recalled that Hindi too is one of the composite languages having more than 56 mother tongues under its umbrella.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Prof. B. Mallikarjun
Former Director
Centre for Classical Kannada
Central University of Karnataka
Kadaganchi, Aland Road, Kalaburagi District - 585311
Karnataka, India
mallikarjun56@gmail.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.