G. N. Devy is the chief editor of the PLSI series. He taught at the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, till 1996 before leaving to set up the Bhasha Research Centre in Baroda and the Adivasi Akademi at Tejgadh, where he worked towards conserving and promoting the languages and culture of indigenous and nomadic communities. Apart from being awarded the Padma Shree, he has received many awards for his work in literature and language conservation.

L. Ramamoorthy heads the linguistic-data-consortium for Indian languages at the Central Institute of Indian languages, Mysore. He was earlier associated with the Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture as Director-in-charge. His academic interests are sociolinguistics, language planning and language technology.

G. Ravisankar is Associate Professor in Linguistics at the Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture. His areas of specialisation are phonetics, phonology intonation studies, translation and speech synthesis.

The People’s Linguistic Survey of India
The National Editorial Collective
List of Volumes
Acknowledgements
Foreword
A Nation Proud of Its Language Diversity: Chief Editor’s Introduction
Introduction to the Volume
Contributors to the Volume
An Appeal to Readers
List of Languages Covered in this Volume
1. Introduction
2. Tamil
3. Telugu
4. Malayalam
5. French
6. Cultural and Spiritual Aspects of Puducherry
Index

List of tables and figures
Table I: Distribution of Indian Languages
Figure I: Distribution of Indian Languages
Figure II: Speakers of Scheduled Languages in Puducherry
Figure III: Map of the Union Territory of Puducherry—Puducherry and Karaikal
Figure IV: Map of the Union Territory of Puducherry—Yanam and Mahe
Figure 6.1: The Coromandel Coast
Figure 6.2: A View of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram