Effect of migrations on lingual diversity

BENGALURU: A recent analysis of the 2011 Census suggested, with over 107 languages spoken, Bengaluru is one of the most linguistically diverse cities in India.

The analysis, conducted by Shamika Ravi, a non-resident senior fellow of Brookings Institution, and Mudit Kapoor, an associate professor of economics at Indian Statistical Institute, pointed out that these 107 languages include 22 scheduled and 84 non-scheduled languages.

The analysis also said that Kannada, which is the official language of the city, was listed as the mother tongue by 44.62% of the city’s population. Other major languages include Tamil (15%), Telugu (14%), Urdu (12%), Hindi (6%), and Malayalam (3%).

Apart from them, the residents of the city also speak Maithili, Odia, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Konkani, Santali, Marathi, Manipuri and Nepali. The non-scheduled languages include English, Kabuli, Pashto, Tibetan, Arabic, Nishi, Mundari, Lushai, Nicobarese, Sherpa, languages from Nagaland, among others.

Historians and experts attribute this diversity in languages to the multiple waves of migrations the city has seen over centuries, especially three particular incidents in history.

In Census 2001, inter-district and inter-state migrants constituted 30.27% of the city’s population. Over the next decade, the migrant population increased by more than 12%, making them the fastest-growing community in the city.

Historian Suresh Moona said that soon after Bengaluru’s formation, there was a call made for people to come to the city for trade.

“When Kempegowda built his mud fort in 1537, a call was made for traders and other craftsmen to move to the new city. He knew that unless there is no thriving trade, a city can’t grow. Many areas in Bengaluru were named after occupations such Akkipet (rice), Ragipet (millet), among others.”