New Indo-Aryan languages

Also known as: Modern Indo-Aryan languages

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July 19, 2026

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New Indo-Aryan languages are a subgroup of the Indo-Aryan languages, which are part of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. These languages are spoken by over 800 million people, primarily in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.12

New Indo-Aryan languages evolved from Middle Indo-Aryan, continuing trends such as changes in vowel sequences and the shortening of final vowels. Noun cases were further reduced, and nominal forms became more integrated into the verb system. Literary forms of these languages often diverge from colloquial speech, with some favoring Sanskritic vocabulary (like High Hindi) and others utilizing Perso-Arabic words (like literary Urdu). Most New Indo-Aryan languages use scripts derived from the ancient Brāhmī script, such as Devanāgarī for Hindi and Marathi.34

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Indo-Aryan languages
General characteristics
A wide variety of New Indo-Aryan languages are currently in use. According to the 2001 census of India, Indo-Aryan languages accounted for more than 790,625,000 speakers, or more than 75 percent of the population. By 2003 the constitution of India included 22 officially recognized, or Scheduled, languages. However, this…
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A wide variety of New Indo-Aryan languages are currently in use. According to the 2001 census of India, Indo-Aryan languages accounted for more than 790,625,000 speakers, or more than 75 percent of the population. By 2003 the constitution of India included 22 officially recognized, or Scheduled, languages. However, this…
Read More