Languages of Chhattisgarh

Languages of Chhattisgarh

Being originally a part of Madhya Pradesh, Hindi is spoken widely in Chhattisgarh and the urban areas bear the maximum traces of it. But it is the Chhattisgarhi language that is unique about this state.

Spoken by more than 11.5 million of the population hailing from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the native language of the place-Chhattisgarhi is widely in use in the rural areas and tribal belts of the state. Being an ensemble of 93 dialects and written in the Devanagiri script, it bears close resemblance to Awadhi and Bagheli. Although it is considered to be Hindi’s dialect, it is regarded to be a language different from it. Having its roots in the language families such as the Dravidian language family, the Indo-European language family and the Munda language family, Chhattisgarhi has in it many dialects such as Korku, Korba and Kharia. The dialects of the Indo-European language family constitute the major portion of the Chhattisgarhi language. Sadri among them is the most important. While all the three dialects are dominantly spoken in the northern region of the state, the Indo-European and Dravidian dialects are present in the southern area. In contrast to this, the people in central Chhattisgarh speak the Indo-European dialects.