top
Kannada is the official language of Karnataka state. The State of Karnataka has a population of 4,49,77,201 persons, according to the 1991 Census of India. The regional language of the State is Kannada whose speakers constitute 64.75 per cent of the population. Kannada speakers are also the competent bilingual speakers of Hindi, English, Assamese, Oriya, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Maithili, Nepali, Punjabi, Gujarati, The major linguistic minority groups in the State comprise the speakers of Urdu (9.72%), Telugu (8.34%), Marathi (3.95%), Tamil (3.82%), Malayalam (1.69%), Tulu (3.38%), Konkani (1.78%) and Hindi (1.87%). The speakers of minority languages who constitute less than 1 per cent are the speakers of Gujarati (0.10%) and Coorgi/Kodagu (0.25%). The minority language speakers who constitute less than 0.09 per cent are the speakers of Bengali (0.03%), Punjabi (0.03%), Sindhi (0.03%), Oriya (0.01%), Arabic/Arbi, (0.01%) Gorkhali/ Nepali (0.01%) and Tibetan (0.05%).
Language Identification:
a) Principal language: The principal language spoken in Karnataka is Kannada.
b) Language names: The native speakers of the language used the name ‘Kannada’.
c) The names used in government document or in the constitution is Kannada.
d) The names used in English is Kannada.
1. Identity Group: (mother tongue speakers) and their bi/multilingualism.
The total number of native speakers (usually the first language spoken and referred to as mother tongue) -------------------------------------21710649.
The total number of monolinguals ------------------17995786
The total number of bilinguals -----------------------3714863
The total number of bilingual-males ----------------2288059
The total number of bilingual females---------------1426804
Bilinguals by language: (indicate the language and the number of speakers of each):
Language name Number of speakers
Telugu 957795
English 911968
Tamil 764757
Marathi 503488
Hindi 336609
Tulu 101717
Urdu 78977
Konkani 25076
Malayalam 23501
Kodagu 3305
Gujarati 1838
Sindhi 85
Bengali 82
Oriya 75
Gondi 20
Ho 20
Dimara 15
Halabi 10
Bhumij 10
Nepali / Gorkhali 10
Khandeshi 10
Khasi 10
Thado 10
Bhili / Bhilodi 6
Korku 6
Asssamese 6
Tangkhul 5
Kui 5
Tripuri 5
Dogri 5
Manipuri / Meirhei 5
Punjabi 4
Kashmiri 1
Others 5427
Total 3714863
The total number of rural speakers -----------17730953
The total number of urban speakers ----------- 3979696
The total number of second language speakers ------- 4621134
Second Language Speakers by Mother tongue:
Language Name No of Speakers
Telugu 1336176
Urdu 1079950
Marathi 548418
Tulu 475819
Tamil 406058
Konkani 298472
Hindi 267231
Malayalam 139990
Kodagu 51406
Gujarati 1296
English 3369
Sindhi 1484
Punjabi 553
Oriya 356
Bengali 202
Gorkha/Nepli 134
Bhili/Bhilidi 40
Korwa 30
Manipuri / Meithei 24
Santali 21
Assamese 11
Dogri 6
Kharia 5
Gondi 5
Kashmiri 3
Mundari 1
Thankhul 1
Dimara 1
Tripuri 1
Bodo / Boro 1
Total 4621134
Immediate cognate languages in Karnataka are Coorgi/Kodagu, Malayalam, Tamil.
2. Functional Group: (cline of bilingualism-wherever research material available) and their mother-tongues:
Principal Country By sub-areas or regions
State No. of speakers
Mysore 19328950
TamilNadu 1056512
Maharashtra 775354
Andhra Pradesh 426146
Kerala 78933
Goa, Daman and Diu 16534
Gujarat 7124
Madhya Pradesh 6702
Delhi 3925
Uttar Pradesh 3064
West Bengal 1700
Bihar 1298
Rajastan 952
Orissa 805
Pondicherry 707
Arunachal Pradesh 384
Assam 239
Punjab 236
Andaman and Nicobar islands 201
Haryana 194
Himachal Pradesh 192
Jammu and Kashmir 162
Chandigarh 142
Meghalaya 50
Manipur 43
Nagaland 38
Sikkim 22
Tripura 18
Laccadive, Mincoy and
Amandivi islands 15
Dadra and Nagar Haveli 7
Total 21710649
Kannada is the language of Karnataka. Like many other South-Asian languages, Kannada exhibits the phenomenon of diglossia whereby the spoken language differs to a greater or lesser extent from the spoken version of the literary language. In contrast with literary language, the spoken language is used for informal purposes such as in the home, on the street and increasingly in the dialogue portions of novels and short-stories, in plays and in movies. Most literary activities are carried on in a fairly standard form of the literary dialect.
The speech of educated people of the Bangalore-Mysore area of Karnataka is accepted by most as ‘standard’. This is the dialect used in films and on the radio to a certain extent and the one which educated speakers from other region emulate when they want to communicate with people from different areas.
Copyright CIIL-India Mysore