Language

1. With reference to India, the terms 'Halbi, Ho and Kui' Pertain to: [U.P.S.C.(Pre) 2021]

(a) dance forms of Northwest India
(b) musical instruments
(c) pre-historic cave paintings
(d) tribal languages

Correct Answer: (d) tribal languages

Solution:Halbi, Ho and Kui are the languages of the tribes. The Halbi language is mainly of Bastar, Chhattisgarh, its speakers are the Rajmuria, Halba, Mahar, Parja, Lohra tribes spread from Odisha to Maharashtra. Ho is the language of the Munda family, which is spoken by tribe like Ho, Munda, Koi etc. It's main area is West Singhbhum, Jharkhand, while the speakers spred from Odisha to Maharashtra. Kui is the language to the Dravidian family. It is mainly spoken by the Kui tribe in Kandhamal, Odisha.

2. Which Indian language, is spoken maximum in the world after Hindi? [Jharkhand P.C.S.(Pre) 2021]

(a) Tamil
(b) Bengali
(c) Malayalam
(d) Telugu

Correct Answer: (b) Bengali

Solution:According to ethnologue 2021, Bengali Indian language is the most spoken language in the world after Hindi among the given options. There are a total of 267.65 millions uses of the Bengali language globally.

3. Most widely spoken language after Hindi, in the Indian sub continent, is- [U.P.S.C.(Pre) 1993]

(a) Urdu
(b) Bengali
(c) Telugu
(d) Tamil

Correct Answer: (b) Bengali

Solution:Bengali is the most spoken language in the Indian subcontinent after Hindi. Bengali also known by its endonym Bangla, is a classical Indo-Aryan language from the Indo-European language family native to the Bengal region of South Asia. Bengali was accorded the status of a classical language by the government of India on 3 October 2024. It is the second most spoken and fourth fastest growing language in India, following Hindi in the first place, Kashmiri in the second place, and Meitei (Manipuri), along with Gujarati, in the third place, according to the 2011 census of India.

4. Most widely spoken language after Hindi in India, is [M.P.P.C.S. (Pre) 2005]

(a) Bengali
(b) Telugu
(c) Tamil
(d) Marathi

Correct Answer: (a) Bengali

Solution:Bengali is the most spoken language in the Indian subcontinent after Hindi. Bengali also known by its endonym Bangla, is a classical Indo-Aryan language from the Indo-European language family native to the Bengal region of South Asia. Bengali was accorded the status of a classical language by the government of India on 3 October 2024. It is the second most spoken and fourth fastest growing language in India, following Hindi in the first place, Kashmiri in the second place, and Meitei (Manipuri), along with Gujarati, in the third place, according to the 2011 census of India.

5. Which one of the following is the largest linguistic group of India? [Chhattisgarh P.C.S. (Pre) 2015]

Correct Answer: (b) Indo-Aryan

Solution:The largest linguistic group of India is Indo-Aryan. This is most important family of Indian languages and comprises of all the principal languages including Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Rajasthani, Assamese, Odiya, Kashmiri, Urdu, and Sanskrit.

6. Which one of the following belongs to the Austric group? [U.P.S.C.(Pre) 1998]

(a) Marathi
(b) Ladakhi
(c) Khasi
(d) Tamil

Correct Answer: (c) Khasi

Solution:The language of Austric group (Austro-Asiatic) are Khasi, Santhali, Mundari and Bhumij etc. It is language spoken by the Indian tribes.

7. Consider the map given below: [U.P.S.C.(Pre) 1997]

The predominant language spoken in the area marked A, B, C and D are respectively:

(a) Brajbhasha, Bhojpuri, Maithili and Awadhi
(b) Awadhi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, and Brajbhasha
(c) Brajbhasha, Awadhi, Bhojpuri and Maithili
(d) Maithili, Bhojpuri, Brajbhasha and Awadhi

Correct Answer: (c) Brajbhasha, Awadhi, Bhojpuri and Maithili

Solution:In the area marked as 'A', Brajbhasha is spoken. In the area marked 'B', Awadhi is spoken. In the area marked 'C' Bhojpuri is spoken, and in area marked as 'D', Maithili is spoken which is the area of North Bihar.

8. Which of the following was given the classical language status in 2014? [Uttarakhand P.C.S. (Pre) 2016]

(a) Odiya
(b) Gujarati
(c) Dongari
(d) Bangla

Correct Answer: (a) Odiya

Solution:Odiya became the sixth language of the country to get classical language status on 20 Feb, 2014. Classical language status was given to Tamil in 2004, Sanskrit in 2005, Telugu and Kannada in 2008 and Malayalam in 2013.