Dravidian languages

Rare card · No. 30567

The Dravidian languages are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, primarily in South India, but also in parts of North India, Bangladesh and Nepal, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan, with pockets in Afghanistan and Iran. The most commonly spoken Dravidian languages (in descending order) are Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam, all of which have long literary traditions. Smaller literary languages include Tulu and Kodava. Together with several smaller languages such as Gondi, these languages cover the southern part of India and the northeast of Sri Lanka, and account for the overwhelming majority of speakers of Dravidian languages. Malto and Kurukh are spoken in isolated pockets in eastern India. Kurukh is also spoken in parts of Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. Brahui is mostly spoken in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iranian Balochistan, Afghanistan, and around the Marw oasis in Turkmenistan. During the British colonial period, Dravidian speakers were sent...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Noahedits, CC BY-SA 4.0