Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

India is among the world’s most linguistically diverse nations, with 22 official languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and over 19,500 dialects spoken nationwide. This diversity enriches India’s cultural fabric while also presenting governance, education and political challenges. This study examines the impact of linguistic diversity on national identity, governance and social integration through a qualitative approach, incorporating interviews, focus group discussions and ethnographic case studies. Findings reveal political tensions over language policies, regional identity formation and educational implications. The study concludes with policy recommendations for linguistic inclusivity, preservation and multilingual governance.

Keywords

Linguistic diversity multilingualism language policy national integration India

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Annamalai

(2001) Managing Multilingualism in India: Political and Linguistic Manifestations. London: Sage.

Azam

Chin

Prakash

(2013) The returns to English-language skills in India. Economic Development and Cultural Change 61(2): 335–367.

Baruah

(2005) Durable Disorder: Understanding the Politics of Northeast India. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Brass

(2005) Language, Religion, and Politics in North India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chatterjee

(2004) The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World. New York: Columbia University Press.

Debbarma

(2024) Refugees experience and the host communities: critical analyses on absence of refugee law in India. Journal of Asian and African Studies 60(5): 3204–3218.

Dua

(1993) The national language and the ex-colonial language as rivals: the case of India. International Political Science Review 14(3): 293–308.

Fishman

(1991) Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Assistance to Threatened Languages. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Grin

(1996) The economics of language: survey, assessment, and prospects. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 121(1): 17–44. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1996.121.17

10.

Hashmi

(2019) Shaping public opinion and community mobilisation: the role of Urdu language media in India. Society and Culture in South Asia 5(2): 216–257.

11.

Pattanaik

(2020) Tribal children in Odisha and their right to education in the home language. South Asia Research 40(2): 163–180.

12.

Pattanayak

(1981) Multilingualism and Mother Tongue Education. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

13.

Ramaswamy

(1997) Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India, 1891–1970. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.

14.

Ranjan

(2021) Language as an identity: Hindi–non-Hindi debates in India. Society and Culture in South Asia 7(2): 314–337.

15.

Sachdev

(2007) Communication, language, and discrimination: a prologue. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 26(2): 101–105.

16.

Sapir

(1929) The status of linguistics as a science. Language 5(4): 207–214.

17.

Singh

(2008) The State, Democracy, and Anti-Terror Laws in India. London: Sage.

18.

Suri

Elliott

Hundt

(2016) Democracy, governance and political parties in India: an introduction. Studies in Indian Politics 4(1): 1–7.

19.

Tikhir

(2024) The politics of language: Christianity, language, and identity conflict in Nagaland. Transformation 41(1): 17–29.

20.

Toft

(2003) The Geography of Ethnic Violence: Identity, Interests, and the Indivisibility of Territory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

21.

Whorf

(1956) Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf (ed Carroll

). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Linguistic Diversity and National Integration in India: Challenges,Policies and Pathways to Inclusivity

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References