<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of South Asia</span>

Languages of South Asia

<p><a href="/en/South_Asia" title="South Asia" class="wl">South Asia</a> is home to several hundred languages, spanning the countries of <a href="/en/Afghanistan" title="Afghanistan" class="wl">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="/en/Bangladesh" title="Bangladesh" class="wl">Bangladesh</a>, <a href="/en/Bhutan" title="Bhutan" class="wl">Bhutan</a>, <a href="/en/India" title="India" class="wl">India</a>, <a href="/en/Maldives" title="Maldives" class="wl">Maldives</a>, <a href="/en/Nepal" title="Nepal" class="wl">Nepal</a>, <a href="/en/Pakistan" title="Pakistan" class="wl">Pakistan</a>, and <a href="/en/Sri_Lanka" title="Sri Lanka" class="wl">Sri Lanka</a>. It is home to the third most spoken language in the world, <a href="/en/Hindi–Urdu" title="Hindi–Urdu" class="mw-redirect wl">Hindi–Urdu</a>; and the sixth most spoken language, <a href="/en/Bengali_language" title="Bengali language" class="wl">Bengali</a>. The languages in the region mostly comprise <a href="/en/Indo-Iranian_languages" title="Indo-Iranian languages" class="wl">Indo-Iranic</a> and <a href="/en/Dravidian_languages" title="Dravidian languages" class="wl">Dravidian</a> languages, and further members of other language families like <a href="/en/Austroasiatic_languages" title="Austroasiatic languages" class="wl">Austroasiatic</a>, <a href="/en/Turkic_languages" title="Turkic languages" class="wl">Turkic</a>, and <a href="/en/Tibeto-Burman_languages" title="Tibeto-Burman languages" class="wl">Tibeto-Burman</a> languages.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Overview of South Asian languages</div>
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<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:South_Asian_Language_Families.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:South_Asian_Language_Families.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/South_Asian_Language_Families.png/220px-South_Asian_Language_Families.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="1000" data-file-height="1201" data-file-type="bitmap" height="264" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/South_Asian_Language_Families.png/330px-South_Asian_Language_Families.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/South_Asian_Language_Families.png/440px-South_Asian_Language_Families.png 2x" alt="South_Asian_Language_Families.png"></a><figcaption>Map of language families in <a href="/en/South_Asia" title="South Asia" class="wl">South Asia</a>.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-halign-right wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:States_of_South_Asia.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:States_of_South_Asia.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/States_of_South_Asia.png/400px-States_of_South_Asia.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="798" data-file-height="752" data-file-type="bitmap" height="377" width="400" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/States_of_South_Asia.png/600px-States_of_South_Asia.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/States_of_South_Asia.png 2x" alt="States_of_South_Asia.png"></a><figcaption>The names of each state in the script of the dominant language of that state of India, part of Pakistan, and the whole of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.</figcaption></figure>

<p><a href="/en/South_Asian_English" title="South Asian English" class="wl">South Asian English</a> is considered the international lingua franca of the <a href="/en/South_Asian_Association_for_Regional_Cooperation" title="South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation" class="wl">South Asian countries</a>.</p>



South Asia is home to several hundred languages, spanning the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It is home to the third most spoken language in the world, Hindi–Urdu; and the sixth most spoken language, Bengali. The languages in the region mostly comprise Indo-Iranic and Dravidian languages, and further members of other language families like Austroasiatic, Turkic, and Tibeto-Burman languages. South Asian English is considered the international lingua franca of the South Asian countries. 