The People’s Linguistic Survey of India provides an overview of the extant and dying languages of India, as perceived by their speakers. It is the culmination of a nation-wide survey of languages, documented by linguists, writers, social activists and, most importantly, members of different speech communities. The work chronicles the evolution of these languages until 2011, and incorporates their socio-political and cultural dimensions. Critically, it encapsulates the world view of the speakers of the languages.
The state of West Bengal is unique in that the languages spoken in the state belong to four different language families––Austroasiatic, Dravidian, Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman. The geographical location of the state and its contiguity with other states and countries contributes to the wide variety and richness of languages in the state. The Languages of West Bengal documents not only the five Scheduled languages spoken in the state (Bangla, Bodo, Santhali, Nepali and Urdu) but also 23 Non-Scheduled languages spoken there. This volume also includes a chapter on nine endangered languages of north Bengal.