This map, edited by Joseph E. Schwartzberg in 1978, is part of A Historical Atlas of South Asia (A historical atlas of South Asia).
The map shows the linguistic distribution of the Hindustan region. Given the high complexity, the author uses different colours to distinguish the main families in the region:
- Altaic languages (in brown), such as Turkmen or Uzbek.
- Austroasiatic languages (in dark green), such as the Munda languages.
- Dravidian languages (in dark blue), such as Tamil, Telugu, or Kannada.
- Indo-European languages (in light blue), such as Hindi, Pashto or Persian (Farsi).
- Malayo-Polynesian languages (in green).
- Semitic languages (in light green).
- Sino-Tibetan languages (in pink), such as Burmese or Tibetan (Bodi) languages.
- Kra-Dai languages (in maroon), such as Thai or chan.
The map also incorporates a detailed division of branches within each family, represented by lines and dots. In turn, within each branch, languages are represented by black labels, and dialects of each language by red labels.
The data is mainly drawn from the 1961 census of India and Pakistan, although it also incorporates information from other censuses and various academic articles between 1950 and 1973.
Sources
- A Historical Atlas of South Asia
- Language Families and Branches, Languages and Dialects (archived)
- Language Families and Branches, Languages and Dialects (archived)
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