Editing Andaman and Nicobar Islands (section)

===Languages===
The Andamanese people speak about a dozen endangered Andamanese languages, which belong to two families, [[Great Andamanese languages|Great Andamanese]] and [[Ongan languages|Ongan]] that are unrelated to each other or to any other language group.<ref>{{cite journal |first=S |last=Manoharan |year=1983 |title=Subgrouping Andamanese group of languages |journal=International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics |volume=12 |pages=82–95}}</ref> There are two unattested languages: [[Sentinelese language|Sentinelese]], spoken by Sentinelese people, who refuse contact with outsiders, which might be related to Ongan as per [[Anvita Abbi]] and [[Jangil]], which became extinct in the 1920s.<ref>{{cite web |last=Abbi |first=Anvita |date=20 April 2020 |title=The Pandemic Also Threatens Endangered Languages |work=Scientific American |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/the-pandemic-also-threatens-endangered-languages/ |access-date=28 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Webber |first=George |date=20 May 2013 |title=George Webber's Lonely Islands, Chapter 8: The Tribes |url=http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter8/text8.htm#jangil |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520161055/http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter8/text8.htm#jangil |access-date=29 December 2023 |archive-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> Indigenous to the Nicobar Islands are the [[Shompen language]], spoken by Shompen people and the five [[Nicobarese languages]], which form part of the [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]] language family and are spoken by about {{sigfig|28912|2}} people or 7.6% of the population.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lal |first=Parmanand |year=1977 |title=Great Nicobar Island: study in human ecology |publisher=Anthropological Survey of India}}</ref><ref name="Lang"/>

The majority of the population, however, are speakers of immigrant languages which include [[Bengali language|Bengali]] (28.5%), [[Tamil language|Tamil]] (15.2%), [[Telugu language|Telugu]] (13.2%), [[Hindi]] (12.9%), [[Malayalam]] (7.2%). [[Sadri language|Sadri]] (5.5%), and [[Kurukh language|Kurukh]] (4%).<ref name="Lang">{{cite report |title=C-16: Population by mother tongue, India - 2011 |work=Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/10191 |access-date=7 November 2022 |archive-date=14 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014173010/https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/10191 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Hindi]] is the official language of the region, while English is declared an additional official language for communication purposes.<ref>{{cite report |url=http://164.100.166.181/annualreport/52ndReport_CLM_English.pdf |title=Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 52nd report (July 2014 to June 2015) |pages=49–53 |publisher=Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, [[Government of India]] |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref>