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T.N. Language Atlas
July 27 , 2025
12 hrs 0 min
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- The linguistic profile of Tamil Nadu reveals a vibrant variety of languages.
- It includes Telugu, Kannada, Urdu, Malayalam, and English.
- It reflects the State’s rich linguistic diversity.
- This was vividly captured in the Language Atlas of Tamil Nadu 2011.
- It was brought out by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs.
- The State had a total population of 7,21,47,030 that spread across an area of 1,30,060 square kilometres in 32 districts (based on Census 2011).
- Of this, 7,20,98,315 people (99.93%) reported speaking one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
- While only 48,715 people (0.07%) spoke other languages.
- A total of 96 languages were identified within the administrative boundaries of Tamil Nadu during the 2011 Census.
- In the Language Atlas, the term ‘speakers’ had referred only to individuals who reported a particular language as their mother tongue during the Census enumeration.
- This count excluded those who may have spoken the language but did not declare it as their mother tongue in the Census.
- Among the scheduled languages in Tamil Nadu, Tamil had a total of 6,37,53,997 speakers.
- They reported Tamil as their mother tongue in the Census schedules.
- It was along with 10,150 individuals whose mother tongues were classified under the Tamil language group.
- This was followed by Telugu with 42,34,302 speakers, Kannada with 12,86,175, Urdu with 12,64,537, Malayalam with 7,26,096, Hindi with 3,93,380, Gujarati with 2,75,023 and Marathi with 85,454 speakers.
- Among the non-scheduled languages, English had the highest number of speakers at 24,495, followed by Tulu with 2,636, Bhili/Bhilodi with 1,405, Arabic/Arbi with 1,119 and Kurukh/Oraon with 817.
- Tamil Nadu remained predominantly a monolingual State in terms of linguistic ability.
- According to the 2011 Census, 5,17,30,760 people (71.70%) spoke only one language.
- The number of bilingual speakers, excluding those who were trilingual, was 1,79,69,107 (24.90%), while 24,47,163 individuals (3.39%) reported speaking three languages.
- The Language Atlas also recorded the number of individuals who reported that they could speak various languages, irrespective of whether it was their mother tongue or not.
- In Tamil Nadu, a total of 6,94,04,292 people reported that they could speak Tamil (96.20%).
- It was followed by 1,33,37,789 people who reported that they could speak English (18.49%).
- A total of 58,04,634 individuals said they could speak Telugu (8.05%), 18,70,602 Kannada (2.59%) and 15,24,049 Hindi (2.11%).
- And 10,08,468 reported that they could speak Malayalam (1.40%).
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