The Tribal People of India speak languages which are different not only from those of non-tribal India but also from one another.
The tribal languages may be classified into three main groups,
- The Dravidian Language,
- Austric Language, and
- Sino-Tibetan Language.
The tribal languages of the Dravidian group include the following:
- Gond people speaks Gondi Language,
- Kui is spoken by the Kondh Tribe,
- Kurukh language is spoken by the Oraon Tribe,
- Malto language is spoken by the Mal Paharia Tribes,
- and others.
Under tribal languages of the Austric group are included Santali, Mundari, Ho, Kharia, Bhumij, Korku, Savara, Gadaba, Khasi and Nicobarese.
Tribal languages of the Sino-Tibetan group may be sub-divided into two branches—Tibeto-Burman and Siamese-Chinese. But the majority of the languages belong to the Tibeto-Burman branch which includes Murmi, Magari, Lepcha, Bodo, Abor, Miri, Dafla, Mikir, Naga, Lushai, etc. Khamti comes under the Siamese-Chinese branch.