This is an English version of the author's
French work, Atlas géographique des langues et
des ethnies de l'Inde et du Subcontinent, (Les
Presses de l'Université Laval, Québec,
1976.) Since it was originally based on data from the 1971
(or even earlier) censuses of India, Nepal, Pakistan, and
Sri Lanka (and since Bangladesh was part of Pakistan in
1971, and Bhutan data were not reliable earlier), it has
been updated to include data from various regional census
sources, mostly those conducted in 1981 and 1991. One notes
that there are various censuses of Nepal (1952/54, 1971,
1981, 1991) cited, but that Sri Lanka does not seem to
have done one since 1953. The cartographic techniques have
also benefited from this updating, with new methods of
representation not previously available. This makes it
possible to compare various increases of speakers and languages
in various parts of the subcontinent, in tables added for
this purpose. This version also includes a very useful
bibliography of sources – not only various censuses,
but also other studies of language distribution, language
classification, ethnicity, and language issues. There are
also a language classification and plate index, a subject
and author index, and material on the diffusion of South
Asian languages and scripts outside the subcontinent proper.