South Asian ethnic groups

South Asian ethnic groups are ethnolinguistic composition of the diverse population of South Asia, including the nations of India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.[1] Afghans, however, are generally not included among South Asian ethnic groups[2][3][4][5][6]

The majority of the population fall within three large linguistic groups, Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, and Iranic peoples. Indian society is traditionally divided into castes or clans, that are based primarily on labour divisions, and these categories have had no official status since independence in 1947, except for the scheduled castes and tribes which remain registered for the purpose of affirmative action. In today's India, the population is categorised in terms of the 1,652 mother tongues spoken.

These groups are also further subdivided into numerous sub-groups, castes, and tribes. Indo-Aryans form the predominant ethno-linguistic group in India (North India, East India, West India, Central India), Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Dravidians form the predominant ethno-linguistic group in southern India and the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka, and a small pocket in Pakistan. The Iranic peoples also have a significant presence in South Asia, the large majority of whom are located in Pakistan, with heavy concentrations in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Dardic peoples are classified as belonging to the Indo-Aryan language group,[7] forming a minority among the Indo-Aryans, though are also sometimes classified as external to the Indo-Aryan branch still.[8] They are found in northern Pakistan (Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) and in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, India.

Minority groups not falling within either large group mostly speak languages belonging to the Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman language families, and mostly live around Ladakh and Northeast India, Nepal, Bhutan and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The Andamanese (Sentinel, Onge, Jarawa, Great Andamanese) live on some of the Andaman Islands and speak a language isolate, as do the Kusunda in central Nepal,[9] the Vedda in Sri Lanka, and the Nihali of central India, who number about 5,000 people. The people of the Hunza valley in Pakistan are another distinct population. They speak Burushaski, a language isolate.

The traditions of different ethnic groups in South Asia have diverged, influenced by external cultures, especially in the northwestern parts of South Asia and also in the border regions and busy ports, where there are greater levels of contact with external cultures. There is also a lot of genetic diversity within the region. For example, most of the ethnic groups of the northeastern parts of South Asia are genetically related to peoples of East or Southeast Asia. There are also genetically isolated groups who have not been genetically influenced by other groups such as the Jarawa people of the Andaman Islands. The largest ethno-linguistic group in South Asia are the Indo-Aryans, numbering around 1 billion, and the largest sub-group are the native speakers of Hindi languages, numbering more than 470 million.

These groups are based solely on a linguistic basis and not on a genetic basis.

List of ethnic groups on the basis of language
South Asian language families

Indo-Aryan people
The extent of Indo-Aryan languages in South Asia

Dardic people

The Dardic languages are largely seen as Indo-Aryan, but are sometimes seen as a separate Indo-Iranian branch.

Iranic people

Nuristani people

Dravidian people

Austroasiatic people

Tibeto-Burmese people
  Sino-Tibetan languages
  Indo-European languages
  Dravidian languages
  Altaic Languages
  3 groups:
  Austronesian languages
  Austroasiatic languages

Andamanese and Nicobarese groups

Semitic people

Tai people

Turkic peoples

Afro-Asian groups

European and Eurasian people

Austronesian people

Chinese

Linguistically isolate groups

Diaspora

Many South Asian ethnic groups and nationalities have substantial diasporas outside of South Asia.

See also Bangladeshi diaspora, Indian diaspora, Nepalese diaspora, Pakistani diaspora, Punjabi diaspora, Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, Tamil diaspora.

Two (or possibly three) other people groups have ethnic and linguistic ties with the region:

See also

National demographics:

References
  1. "UN Geoscheme".
  2. Danico, Mary Yu (2014). Asian American Society: An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. p. 838. ISBN 978-1-4522-8189-6.
  3. Bhopal, Raj (2004). "Glossary of terms relating to ethnicity and race: for reflection and debate". Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 58 (6): 441–445. doi:10.1136/jech.2003.013466. PMC 1732794. PMID 15143107.
  4. "Language and the BSA: Ethnicity & Race". British Sociological Association. March 2005. Archived from the original on 27 April 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  5. Sarwal, Amit (2012). Bridging Imaginations: South Asian Diaspora in Australia. Readworthy Publications. ISBN 978-81-935345-4-0.
  6. Lindsay, Colin (2001). "The South Asian Community" (PDF). Profiles of Ethnic Communities in Canada. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  7. G. Morgenstierne Irano-Dardica. Wiesbaden 1973; Morgenstierne, G. Indo-Iranian frontier languages. (Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning. Publ. Ser. B: Skrifter, no. 11, 35, 40) Oslo: H. Aschehoug, 1929 sqq, reprint Oslo 1973, C. Masica The Indo-Aryan languages, New York 1991, p. 21; R.L. Trail and G.R. Cooper, Kalasha Dictionary, Islamabad & High Wycombe 1999 p. xi; The Indo-Aryan languages, edited by George Cardona and Dhanesh Jain. London, New York: Routledge, 2003
  8. G.A. Grierson, The Pisaca Languages of North-Western India, Asiatic Society, London, 1906, repr. Delhi 1969, p. 4-6; still repeated in: History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Ahmad Hasan Dani, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson, János Harmatta, Boris Abramovich Litvinovskiĭ, Clifford, 1999
  9. D.E. Watters, Notes on Kusunda (a language isolate of Nepal), Kathmandu 2005
  10. Yasmin Saikia (9 November 2004). Fragmented Memories. ISBN 0822333732.

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