After the Indo-Aryan group, which language family has the largest number of speakers in India?
Correct Answer :
Dravidian
Solution :
The correct option is Dravidian.
Step 1: Understand the Major Language Families in India
Languages spoken in India belong primarily to four major language families. Based on demographic data from the Census of India, the distribution of speakers among these families is as follows:
1. Indo-Aryan Family (branch of Indo-European): Spoken by approximately 78% of the Indian population (includes Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, etc.).
2. Dravidian Family: Spoken by approximately 19% to 20% of the population (includes Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, etc.).
3. Austroasiatic (Austric) Family: Spoken by about 1.1% of the population (includes languages like Santhali, Khasi, and Mundari).
4. Sino-Tibetan Family: Spoken by about 0.6% of the population (includes languages spoken predominantly in the Himalayan and Northeastern regions, such as Manipuri and Bodo).
Step 2: Identify the Second-Largest Group
Comparing the numerical proportions of speakers shows that the Indo-Aryan family ranks first, while the Dravidian language family ranks second largest in terms of total speakers in India.
Step 3: Conclusion
Therefore, after the Indo-Aryan group, the language family with the largest number of speakers in India is the Dravidian family.
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