Gujarati language

Gujarati
Gujarati
ગુજરાતી
	The word "Gujarati" in Gujarati script
Pronunciation	[ɡudʒəˈɾɑːtiː]
Native to	India
Region	Gujarat
Ethnicity	Gujaratis
Native speakers	L1: 57 million (2011)[1]; L2 speakers: 5.0 million[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Western[2] Gujarati languages Gujarati; ; ; ; ;
Early forms	Shauraseni Prakrit Gurjar Apabhraṃśa Old Gujarati Middle Gujarati ; ; ;
Writing system	Gujarati script (official); Gujarati Braille;
Official status
Official language in	India Gujarat; Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu;
Recognised minority; language in	South Africa (protected language)[3]
Regulated by	Gujarat Sahitya Akademi, Government of Gujarat
Language codes
ISO 639-1	gu
ISO 639-2	guj
ISO 639-3	guj
Glottolog	guja1252
Linguasphere	59-AAF-h
	Map of the Gujarati language. Light red are regions with significant minorities, dark red a majority or plurality

Gujarati (/ˌɡʊdʒəˈrɑːti/ GUUJ-ə-RAH-tee;[4] Gujarati script: ગુજરાતી, romanized: Gujarātī, pronounced [ɡudʒˈɾɑːtiː]) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken predominantly by the Gujarati people. Gujarati is descended from Old Gujarati (c. 1100–1500 CE). In India, it is one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Union. It is also the official language in the state of Gujarat, as well as an official language in the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. As of 2011, Gujarati is the 6th most widely spoken language in India by number of native speakers, spoken by 55.5 million speakers which amounts to about 4.5% of the total Indian population.[5] It is the 26th most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers as of 2007.[6]

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22 Official Languages of the Indian Republic

Outside of Gujarat, Gujarati is spoken in many other parts of South Asia by Gujarati migrants, especially in Mumbai and Pakistan (mainly in Karachi).[7] Gujarati is also widely spoken in many countries outside South Asia by the Gujarati diaspora. In North America, Gujarati is one of the fastest-growing and most widely spoken Indian languages in the United States and Canada.[8][9] In Europe, Gujaratis form the second largest of the British South Asian speech communities, and Gujarati is the fourth most commonly spoken language in the UK's capital London.[10] Gujarati is also spoken in Southeast Africa, particularly in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and South Africa.[1][11][12] Elsewhere, Gujarati is spoken to a lesser extent in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and Middle Eastern countries such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.[1][13][14]

Indo-Aryan language / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia