Telugu

Dravidian language native to South India

Telugu (Telugu: తెలుగు) is a language spoken in southern India and parts of Malaysia. It is the official language of the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It is one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of the Republic of India. Telugu is the second most spoken language in India and 15th largest spoken language in the world. As it is one of the oldest languages in the world, the government of India gave it the status of a classical language.

Telugu
తెలుగు
The word "Telugu" in Telugu script
Native toIndia
RegionAndhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Yanam
EthnicityTelugu people
Native speakers
81 million (2011)[1][2]
L2 speakers: 11 million[1]
Dravidian
  • South-Central
    • Telugu
Early form
Old Telugu
Telugu script
Telugu Braille
Official status
Official language in
 India  USA
 Saudi Arabia
 UAE
 Australia
 Pakistan
 Mauritius
 Fiji
 Malaysia
 Thailand
Language codes
ISO 639-1te
ISO 639-2tel
ISO 639-3tel
tel
Glottologtelu1262  Telugu
In dark blue, Telugu is spoken by a majority. In light blue, it is spoken by a significant minority.
Part of a series on
Constitutionally recognised languages of India
Category
Scheduled Languages

A
Assamese
B
Bengali
Bodo
D
Dogri
G
Gujarati
H
Hindi
K
Kannada
Kashmiri
Konkani
M
Maithili
Malayalam
Marathi
Meitei (Manipuri)
N
Nepali
O
Odia (Oriya)
P
Punjabi
S
Sanskrit
Santali
Sindhi
T
Tamil
Telugu
U
Urdu

Related

Official languages of India
Languages with official status in India

Spoken Telugu

References

change
  1. 1.0 1.1 Telugu at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
  2. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2011". censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  3. "West Bengal shows 'Mamata' to Telugus". The Hans India. 2020-12-24. Archived from the original on 23 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-31.