India is a country with many languages threatened with extinction, due to the fact they were not transmitted from generation to generation, which is why we bring you the list of the top 15 critically endangered languages in India.
Being one of the main forms of identity, language is inevitably the focus of many surveys, especially in the cases where there are very few people who speak it. It is a sad fact that one language can easily disappear or become critically endangered, especially when its speakers reach the certain age, without leaving it to younger generations. This may enormously affect one society, and if you want to get to know more about it on the global level, don’t forget to check the list of 10 Endangered Languages in the World.
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According to UNESCO, there is a strict classification system in order to portray the current status of a language, and it ranges from being in the vulnerable category to being completely extinct. However, the group of critically endangered languages stands for those languages where the speakers are grandparents and older who did not transmit the language to their children or grandchildren, and even they speak it partially or occasionally.
In order to provide the exact data about the languages in India that are critically endangered, we examined the whole list that UNESCO provided regarding the languages from all over the world of every category, and identified the critically endangered languages from India, further classifying it according to the number of speakers. Let’s find out more about these 15 critically endangered languages in India.
15. Baghati Language
3, 976 speakers
Baghati language is actually a dialect of Mahasu Pahari language, and it is spoken in Himachal Pradesh, Northern India. The number of speakers is almost near 4,000, this may be a little confusing, since it does not look critically endangered. On the other side, if you take into consideration that these speakers are between 60 and 90 years old, they do not speak the language perfectly, and did not transmit it to their children or grandchildren–you will realize that maybe in 20 years from now this language will be extinct and there will be nothing to do about it.
14. Takahanyilang Language
3, 000 speakers
With a smaller number of speakers than the previous one, Takahanyilang language is also on the list of the critically endangered languages, due to many reasons. Its speakers are also people of older age, who did not use the language in communication with their successors. The language is actually a dialect of Southern Nicobarese language, and it is mostly present on the Southern Nicobar Islands of Little Nicobar, in the eastern Indian Ocean.
13. Aimol Language
2, 643 speakers
This is the language that is mostly spoken in Manipur, which is located in northeastern India, and the people who speak it are also called Aimol people. They are predominantly Christians, and what is really interesting is the fact that they translated the New Testament in Aimol, believing that it will help spread the religion, but also preserve the language. However, with a little bit fewer than 3,000 speakers, this language is also critically endangered, considering the fact its speakers are older people.
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12. Nihali Language
2, 000 speakers
Nihali is marked as an “isolate” language, spoken within the regions of Maharashtra, Buldana and Jamod Jalgaon district, located in the western part of India. Among the five language families present in India, this language actually does not belong to any of them, and is considered to be quite unique. The people who speak it also belong to the tribe named Nihali, and they are mostly located in various places among several villages of this region. This is also one of the main reasons why it is really hard for this language to be preserved.
11. Pengo Language
1, 254 speakers
We are continuing our list of critically endangered languages in India with the language that belongs to the family of South-Central Dravidian languages, and the speakers are predominantly located in the state of Odisha, which belongs to India’s eastern coast. It is also called Hengo or Pengu, and the people who speak it are mostly of Hindu religion. There were several attempts to preserve the language through dictionaries, but unfortunately, the speakers are, as in other cases, quite old and there is a devastating possibility that the language will become extinct once they are no longer alive.
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10. Toda Language
1, 006 speakers
Toda language also belongs to the family of Dravidian language, and it is spoken by the Toda people, who are located in Nilgiri Hills of southern India. The members of this tribe are Hindu and Christian. Among them there are around 1,000 quite old members who still speak this language, though they don’t have chances to use it often. The most similar to Toda is actually Kota language, and they share around 24% lexical similarity. Some parts of the Bible were also translated into this language, but it is still critically endangered and threatened to become extinct in the following decades.
9. Bellari Language
1, 000 speakers
Being also the part of the Dravidian family, this language, the number nine on our list of critically endangered languages in India is predominantly spoken by the Bellara tribe, located in Kundapura Taluk in coastal Karnataka. It is not very much known whether the language has any dialects, but it is supposed that Tulu and Koraga belong to it. Though the members of the Bellara tribe are believed to be Christians, there is a very little written data about them, and it is not confirmed whether they have anything written in their language, such as Bible, or even parts of it.
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8. Tarao Language
870 speakers
The reason why this language is on our list of 15 critically endangered languages in India is pretty obvious. Particularly if you take into consideration the fact there are less than 1,000 people in the world speaking it. It belongs to Sino-Tibetan family, and it is quite typical for the region of Manipur, especially the Palel area of Chandel district and Sinakeithei village of Ukhrul district. The member of Tarao tribe who speak the language became quite a minority, and, unfortunately, this language has never been taught to younger generations.
7. Purum Language
503 speakers
This language, next in line on our list of critically endangered languages in India also belongs to the group of Sino-Tibetan language family, being Tibeto-Burman language, and it is spoken in the villages of Senapati district, which is a part of Manipur state. The members of the tribe that still use this language to some point are Christians. This language very much resembles Aimol, so the history of the language that was transmitted through the religious books is quite similar, though there is, unfortunately, a really small number of people who use this it today.
6. Lamongse Language
400 speakers
Lamongse language is actually a dialect of Southern Nicobarese language, which is the part of Austroasiatic language family. This dialect is particularly mostly spoken within the Kondul Island, which is a rather small island of the Nicobar Islands in India. Not very much is known about the people who speak the language, since the number is reduced to only 400 speakers, presumably old and unable to transmit it to other at this point.
5. Mra Language
350 speakers
We are continuing our list of critically endangered languages in India with that Mra is actually the dialect of Nishi language, which is the part of Sino-Tibetan language family, and most of the speakers, of this small number that remained today, are located in Darrang District of Assam in India. With the very small number of people who speak it, there is also not much information, but it is important to note that they have their own set of digits and numerals and that the language itself is quite complex and interesting.
4. Handuri Language
138 speakers
Hinduri language is a dialect of the Western Pahari, or Himachali languages that belong to the family of Indo-European group, and the speakers are mostly located in Himachal Pradesh region. The language with only 138 speakers in the world is quite endangered and very much likely to disappear in the next following decades. However, since the speakers are predominantly Christian believers, there is a Bible written in this language, which may be one of the ways to preserve it from becoming extinct.
3. Shompen Language
100 speakers
With 100 speakers of the next language on our list of critically endangered languages in India, there are many ambiguities regarding this language. It is supposed to belong to Austroasiatic group of languages, but there are also two dialects, Kalay and Keyet. The population of the Shompen people is located around the Great Nicobar Islands, but not all of the members speak the language, which is one of the main reasons it is critically endangered. The other language they speak is regarded to be completely unrelated to Shompen, which also contributed to the fact its condition is very critical.
2. Onge Language
50 speakers
The number two on our list of critically endangered languages in India belongs to the family of Ongan group of languages, and it is spoken by Onge people who are located in South Andaman Islands, Dugong Creek and South Bay islands in India. Unfortunately, what brought to the fact that this language today has only 50 speakers is the behavior of the people who were very much closed for the outside world and did not have many children, so the language exclusively remained within one circle that was not widening at all.
1. Jarawa Language
38 speakers
Jarawa shares the similar destiny with Onge language, since it also belongs to the family of Ongan group of languages, spoken by Jarawa people, who live on the Rutland and Andaman Islands. They are mostly hunters, and almost everywhere described as not very friendly towards the members of other tribes, so, quite similarly like Onge, they also live in quite a closed circle without letting anyone interfere. In this way, the speakers of the language are reduced to a minimal number of 38, which is the main reason why Jarawa is on the first place of our list of the top 15 critically endangered languages in India.
