Correct option is C
The correct answer is (c) The Indo-Aryan
Explanation:
· The Indo-Aryan linguistic group is the largest and most dominant language family in India.
· Languages belonging to this group are spoken by approximately 74% to 77% of the Indian population.
· Key languages include Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, Odia, and Assamese, among many others.
· These languages are predominantly spoken in North, Central, West, and East India.
Information Booster:
· The Indo-Aryan languages are a branch of the larger Indo-European language family.
· This group is further classified into Old Indo-Aryan (from which Sanskrit emerged), Middle Indo-Aryan (including Prakrits like Pali), and Modern Indo-Aryan languages.
· Hindi is the most widely spoken language within the Indo-Aryan group and in India overall, serving as a lingua franca in many regions.
Additional Knowledge: (a) The Dravidian
· The Dravidian language family is the second largest in India, accounting for roughly 19% to 25% of the population.
· These languages are mainly spoken in Southern India.
· Major languages include Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.
· Dravidian languages have distinct grammatical structures compared to Indo-Aryan languages.
(b) The Austric
· The Austric language family (specifically the Austroasiatic branch in India) represents a smaller proportion of the population, around 1% to 1.5%.
· Languages like Santhali, Mundari, and Ho belong to this group.
· They are primarily spoken by tribal communities in Central and Eastern India.
· These are considered very ancient languages.
(d) The Sino-Tibetan
· The Sino-Tibetan linguistic group constitutes an even smaller percentage, around 0.6% to 1% of the Indian population.
· This family includes languages spoken mainly in the North-East and Himalayan regions of India.
· Examples include languages like Manipuri (Meitei) and Bodo.
· Sino-Tibetan languages are considered to be older than Indo-Aryan languages by some scholars.