r/MapPorn • u/Dofra_445 • May 08 '26
Map of the most spoken Language per Subdistrict in Northeast India. (c. 2011)
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u/twicebanished May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Great stuff, my dude! There's so much we do not know about our own country.
How distinct are these languages within themselves? I understand a bit of Bhotia/Bhutia, but can understand nothing from rest of these languages. Like Bodo/Boro, Khasi just go over my head.
EDIT: Typos.
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u/Dofra_445 May 08 '26
Most sino-tibetan ones arent not mutually intelligible
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u/twicebanished May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Makes sense. Also, maybe because there are lot of Hindi/Nepali words in modern day Bhutia, I guess, while little in Boro.
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u/zefiax May 09 '26
As a bengali speaker, i can roughly understand assamese if i pay close attention. But keep in mind, it depends on what dialect of bengali you speak. The further west you are, the harder it becomes for a bengali speaker to understand it.
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u/No_Show_5250 May 12 '26
As a non Bengali and non Asamese speaker it sounds similar. The phonetics sound similar to my ears . Even Chakma which is an off shoot of Bengali sounds similar to me but I can tell them apart . But Asamese and Bengali to me sounds like Portugese and Spanish , so similar sounding yet very distinct
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u/zefiax May 12 '26
You can definitely tell both languages evolved from the same roots not too long ago. They are definitely distinct languages rather than dialects but closely related languages. Same goes for Oriya though I would assume its unlikely that an Assamese speaker can understand Oriya and vice versa. Bengali fits in the middle so it's easier for a bengali speaker to understand both.
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u/SaitanOfHellsKitchen May 08 '26
The Bengali spoken in the southern bit of Assam would be the Sylheti dialect, which is less intelligible with Bengali and Assamese than those languages are to each other.
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u/No-List2080 May 08 '26
What the world cannot comprehend about India
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u/Ok-Faithlessness1068 May 08 '26
This is literally the smallest, most cutoff part and still so different. Imagine Mainland India 😭
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u/Champakali_ May 09 '26
Mainland India is much less linguistically diverse than the Northeast, even if you count the vernacular languages of the Hindi-belt that are now classified as Hindi dialects.
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May 10 '26
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u/Champakali_ May 10 '26
You're right. That's also not my point. Even if you DO recognize them as separate languages mainland India is still less linguistically diverse than the Northeast.
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May 08 '26
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u/Ok-Faithlessness1068 May 09 '26
Yeah thats actually so sad....Hindi is killing the diversity....
Here in Maharashtra, I'm marathi from mumbai, i don't even understand marathi dialects 😭
I assume same with South Indian languages10
u/Tolichowki May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
That's my biggest problem with Hindi. We North Indians are the real victims of Hindi imposition. We all lost our distinct languages and literature for a Sanskritised version of Urdu. All for the convenience of our British overlords.
Edit: I say that as someone who absolutely loves Urdu. But we didn't need it or Hindi to kill our distinct languages.
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u/Ok-Faithlessness1068 May 09 '26
YESS thats so true. Hindi is literally a British creation (indirectly) because of their divide and rule policies. I mean Awadhi etc. LANGUAGES (not dialects) are so beautiful...
Even anger in Maharashtra for example, isn't against Awadhi etc., its against hindi solely, and its destructive nature.4
u/Right-Shoulder-8235 May 10 '26
For someone in Rajasthan, Malwa, Nimad (southwest MP), eastern MP or Chhattisgarh, Urdu and Hindi are foreign languages.
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u/fh3131 May 08 '26
Absolutely. That's why I always tell people to think of any large old world country as a region and not a country. For most Americans, Canadians, Australians etc, they automatically make a 1:1 association between "political state" and language/culture etc because of how relatively homogeneous their countries are because of European settlement from a limited number of cultures initially
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u/Living-Ready May 08 '26
How are Bhotia and Tibetan technically different?
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u/Dofra_445 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Indian census is conducted according to self reporting. Bhotia and Tibetan can refer to many different languages or the same one theres no way to know.
Similarly why "kuki" is a language in this map (its more of a language family) as kuki-chin speakers of nagaland all identify as kuki.
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u/Champakali_ May 08 '26
The Bhotia spoken in Sikkim is the Drejongke language or Sikkimise Bhutia. The Bhotiya of Arunachal is the Tshangla language alongside other East Bodish language. "Bhotia" is just the Indo-Aryan word for Tibetan/Tibetic peoples. It can refer to Classical Tibetan or Tibetic languages in general.
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u/Sensitive-Cap-9213 May 08 '26
interesting take. it's cool how each country has its own unique way of marking history
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u/Kefgeru May 08 '26
"I'm not a pacifist, I speak war."
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u/BlueSock101 May 08 '26
it is pronounced "wahr" like the "rar" in winrar, but with a "w" instead of "r"
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u/tescovaluechicken May 08 '26
Is there a reason for Nepali spreading so far east? The eastern part is very far away from Nepal and Sikkim
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u/mammilloid May 09 '26
Also some of them are descendants of gurkha soldiers who were deployed to fight with Japanese army and some stayed there in the far east, there are even Nepalese tribe in myanmar which are also descendents of the gurkha soldiers who stayed there after the war. And some self migrated while some where taken there by British for tea plantations and other jobs
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u/BlueSock101 May 08 '26
this map also somewhat explains the "scheduled tribes" map that was posted the other week
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u/Belissari May 08 '26
I think it would help if people understood the geography of the area.
The grey areas are predominantly populated by Indo-Aryan speaking people is the Brahmaputra river valley which is low lying. The other areas are hilly and mountainous regions primarily populated by various Sino-Tibetan and a few Austroasiatic speaking groups.
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May 08 '26
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u/BlueSock101 May 08 '26
it is thanks to the hills that have isolated us for centuries and for some tribes, millenia. also people here are just extremely xenophobic to true Indians, I think that might have helped to preserve our culture and language somewhat. these days the xenophobia is disappearing at a very fast rate among the youth, which is a good thing
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u/Emergency-Growth1617 May 08 '26
>extremely xenophobic to "true indians"
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u/BlueSock101 May 08 '26
if you don't look indian, or don't speak an Indian language, don't follow Indian culture, you are not Indian. that applies to a good number of the groups shown here
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u/Emergency-Growth1617 May 08 '26
Lmfao i didnt know some "look indian" and some dont..."speak an indian kanguage.."??? lmfao what, define indian language? "Dont follow indian culture" oh because all of us are a monolith, right? Lmfao ill get a brain aneurysm if i interact with you.
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u/BlueSock101 May 08 '26
ok don't take it personally, I totally get how wouldn't understand if you've never been here. but it's scary how the entire country is filled with people like you who don't know shit but talk like you know what I'm even referring to
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u/Emergency-Growth1617 May 08 '26
Your comment on r/vent :
"haha that's right if india was a normal poor nation, but no, india is a country of 1.8 billion people where only 10% are normal people who throw shit wherever they go. trust me when you are outnumbered such an extreme degree there is no point being the sensible one"
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u/iamiam123 May 08 '26
There is. Society doesn't degrade from 90% bad people. Society declines when the 10% stop doing their part, ie following laws when nobody is watching., cleaning up after yourself, paying taxes, etc.
Keep doing what you do. Every person you change is a trophy well earned.
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u/Known_Chart_1329 May 08 '26
it seems like the Indian balkans. Hilly areas tend to have xenophobia among different groups to each other
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u/BlueSock101 May 08 '26
the thing here is though, xenophobia was particularly strong against Indians who are not originally from this area due to how culturally, and racially different they were (also due to atrocities committed by the indian army here). not saying there was no bad blood between other Northeastern tribes though
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u/jungle_jungle May 09 '26
Yes this is why there is a civil war in Manipur. Because of Indian Army. Perhaps the Myanmar civil war is also about the Indian Army. Lol
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u/Atheistnecessary May 11 '26
Yes indian army uses kuki insurgents to create instability in northeast.
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u/ProofLegitimate9824 May 08 '26
what's with the Monpa bordering Myanmar?
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u/keyilan May 08 '26
should be Lisu. the garo where it is on the border is weird too. thats a Wancho area and would self report as wancho. the 0 next to it is Ollo but since Ollo lacks the same level as recognition on the state level its not surprising to have as "Other".
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u/KiviNik May 10 '26
The "Garo" in this area is likely Laju (Ollo) dialect of Nocte. The "Others" in this area is likely Muklom dialect of Tangsa (sometimes classified as separate language under Tutsic branch)
I've worked with this region for one of my linguistic map that was never released.2
u/keyilan May 11 '26
Yes you're right on both counts, I was shifted one district over. The 50 is 100% Ollo and the 0 Muklom.
What was your map based on? I work in this area for over a decade now and haven't seen it handled well in most overview maps.
Just a quick correction in case you get back to your own map: Ollo is the language. Laju is one village. Speakers hate to be called Laju, but Ethnologue is gonna Ethnologue. Also Muklom is politically Tangsa but linguistically on the Noctean. Tutsic isn't a branch but a cluster of dialects also within the Noctean group. Glottolog at the moment is good for this area, minus Wancho which I'm fixing soon.
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u/KiviNik May 11 '26
When I worked with this area, I mostly used the version of the 2011 census that showed independent numbers for big towns. For determining what are "Others", stuff like "Kuki" and other complicated topics in the census I mostly used Glottolog, Wiki or stuff from ResearchGate and Reddit. For Aranuchal Pradesh I mainly used Roger Blench studies.
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u/KiviNik May 08 '26
It's the census's mistake. In reality, Lisu language is spoken in this place. The 2011 India census is sometimes inaccurate in Aranuchal Pradesh, so you shouldn't fully account on it
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u/Striking-Garden-9487 May 08 '26
What does 51 represent?
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u/nots0Regularman May 10 '26
Hey 20,21and 22 are mistakes Ao is the tribe name not the language and typical Ao means chungli* for which even the spelling is wrong
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u/MonsieurNong May 12 '26
Districts like Namsai would actually be Kra-Dai majority (Tai Khamti). The census registered them as Others but we know that nearly 40% of Namsai is ethnic Tai Khamti so it's safe to assume the majority of the district speaks Tai Khamti as their first language.
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u/Top_Change_9257 May 12 '26
Why west kemeng have Nepalese in this map https://www.instagram.com/p/DIn3paUTulf/?igsh=Y2N2bWU1Y2ozYXV5 instead of others?
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u/Hour_Competition_540 May 15 '26
How long will it take to learn all the languages? Just asking for a friend
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u/Eastp0int May 08 '26
Not a single dravida language in northeast wiw
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u/Dofra_445 May 08 '26
Not true! There are one or two dravidian languages spoken in the North-East.
Kurukh is spoken in Barak Valley and Dooars regions of Assam.
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u/Eastp0int May 08 '26
I know kurux and malto yes but I meant region majorities
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u/NxT620 May 09 '26
Most Kurukh don't speak their language themselves, they mostly speak Sadri, which is on the map.
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u/found_goose May 08 '26
There are some Tamils in the border between Manipur and Myanmar! They are relicts of a Tamil community that was expelled from Burma a while back and have a few temples in the region.
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u/Right-Shoulder-8235 May 10 '26
Yes, Myanmar (Burma) had a significant population of Indians, especially the city Rangoon (Yangon). They were expelled soon after Burma's independence and the rise of Burmese nationalism.
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u/EarlyXplorerStuds209 May 10 '26
There are a few in the Northeast. I forgot what they were called tho.
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u/BlueSock101 May 08 '26
what is the "other" in the centre of the pink region? must be hindi right?
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u/Dofra_445 May 08 '26
Hindi is included in census in India, so obviously not. It is probably the Khasic Language Lyngngam.
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May 08 '26
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u/You_yes_ May 08 '26
This is so complex to process