Tribal Languages in India

The Tribal People of India speak languages which are different not only from those of non-tribal India but also from one another.

The tribal languages may be classified into three main groups,

• The Dravidian Language,
• Austric Language, and
• Sino-Tibetan Language.

The tribal languages of the Dravidian group include the following:

• Gond people speaks Gondi Language,
• Kui is spoken by the Kondh Tribe,
• Kurukh language is spoken by the Oraon Tribe,
• Malto language is spoken by the Mal­ Paharia Tribes,
• and others.

Under tribal languages of the Austric group are included Santali, Mundari, Ho, Kharia, Bhumij, Korku, Savara, Gadaba, Khasi and Nicobarese.

Tribal languages of the Sino-Tibetan group may be sub-divided into two branches—Tibeto-Burman and Siamese-Chinese. But the majority of the languages belong to the Tibeto-Burman branch which includes Murmi, Magari, Lepcha, Bodo, Abor, Miri, Dafla, Mikir, Naga, Lushai, etc. Khamti comes under the Siamese-Chinese branch.