telugu

Telugu (; తెలుగు, Telugu pronunciation: [ˈteluɡu]) is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most spoken Dravidian language and one of the few languages that has primary official status in more than one Indian state, alongside Hindi and Bengali. Telugu is also a linguistic minority in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala and the union territories of Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is one of six languages designated as classical language (of India) by the government of India.With nearly 81 million speakers as per the 2011 census, Telugu is the fourth most used language in India and 15th in the Ethnologue list of languages by number of native speakers. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language family and one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of the Republic of India. It is also the fastest-growing language in the United States, where there is a large Telugu-speaking community. Roughly 10,000 pre-colonial inscriptions exist in the Telugu language.

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