LANGUAGE IN INDIA

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Volume 26:6 June 2026
ISSN 1930-2940

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Language Endangerment and Revitalization of the Tribal Languages: A Study of Madhya Pradesh

Dr. Bablu Ray

Abstract

The case of language endangerment world-wide is a very serious issue these days and the languages must be saved from dying. As per UNESCO's (2010) report, India is having 197 endangered languages which is the highest number of endangered languages in the world. The situation is such a grave that even official languages like Manipuri and Bodo and many tribal languages are in the list of the endangered languages of India. Further, indigenous languages like Mahali, Sidi, Karo, and Dimasa are also at the verge of extinction (Devy 2013). In this pretext, the present research paper by analyzing data from UNESCO (2010), Census (2011) and Ministry of Tribal affairs of Government of India (2019) and some other sources, tries to identify and analyze the endangerment of the tribal languages of Madhya Pradesh and argues for the revitalization and preservation of the same. The study finds that tribal languages like Gondi and Korku of Madhya Pradesh are in list of UNESCO’s (2010) list of endangered languages. Further, the decadal growth rate of the tribal languages of Madhya Pradesh (Census 2011) show lesser growth rate of the speakers of Gondi and Bhili. Similarly, Khandeshi, Kamar, Korwa, and Nihali have shown decrease in their speakers and potentially they are endangered. Furthermore, the report of the Ministry of Tribal affairs of Government of India (2019), too, enlists the languages like Bhili, Gondi, and Korku of Madhya Pradesh as the endangered languages. Thus, there is a strong need for the revitalization and preservation of the tribal languages of Madhya Pradesh as well as of other states so that linguistic and cultural ecology of the country could be saved.

Keywords:Language Endangerment, Language Revitalization, Language Loss, Language Death, Tribal Languages, Madhya Pradesh

Introduction

The phenomena of language decline, language decay, language loss, language extinction, and language death are collectively referred as the case of language endangerment (Tsunoda 2005). As per UNESCO's (2010) report, the reality of language endangerment is that half of the 6000 languages spoken today are on the verge of extinction. So, the situation of language endangerment is very grave and proper attention is needed all around the world to save our languages from being endangered or from being dead. In the words of Krauss (1992, p. 5), “out of world’s 6000 languages, Americans speak only 15% (900 languages), and the European and the Middle Eastern people speak only 4% (275 languages) of the languages of the world whereas 81% (1900 languages) of the world’s languages are being spoken in the sub-continent of Africa, Asia and in the Pacific region of the world (Tsunoda, 2005).” Similarly, in its preamble of “Language Vitality and Endangerment” prepared by UNESCO’s Ad-Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Language also highlights the act of language heterogeneity by citing Bernard (1996) that approximately 97% of the global population speaks 4% of the world’s languages whereas only 3% of the global population speaks 96% of the world’s languages. The above-mentioned fact reveals how the languages of the world are unevenly distributed, which also is somehow responsible for the endangerment of the languages of the world. The phenomenon of language endangerment is not the new one. In fact, it dates back to the period of pre-colonial as well as to the post-colonial. The trace of it can be very much seen in the pre-historic as well as historic periods or times (Tsunoda, 2005) and European colonization is primarily responsible for the endangerment of the world’s languages (Hale, 1992) and the phenomenon of language loss can be seen at an alarming rate in many parts of the world around the sixteenth century (Dixon, 1991).

However, it can’t be claimed that all the languages of the world are either endangered or almost at the stage of extinction. There are various degrees of endangerment of the languages and on the basis of those degrees; the endangerment of a particular language can be decided. Based on the criteria of 'intergenerational transmission', UNESCO's (2003) document on “Language Vitality and Endangerment” enlists the following degrees of language endangerment: (i) safe, (ii) unsafe, (iii) definitely endangered, (iv) severely endangered, (v) critically endangered, and (vi) extinct. Based on these degrees of language endangerment, UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Language in Danger (2010), reports that out of 6000 languages, 2473 languages spoken around the world are recognized as endangered languages. This indicates that only 57% of the languages spoken worldwide are safe while 43% are in danger. Of these endangered languages, 4% have been extinct since 1950, 10% are unsafe, 11% are certainly endangered, 9% are highly endangered, and 10% are critically endangered.

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

Dr. Bablu Ray
Assistant Professor
Department of Linguistics
Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya (A Central University), Sagar (M.P.)
babluray@gmail.com

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