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THE PEOPLE
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LANGUAGE
Marathi is the principal language and is the mother-tongue of more than 83 per cent of the population in the district. In rural areas Marathi speakers account for 85 per cent of the population. They constitute 72.4 per cent of the population in urban areas. The Marathi spoken by the peasantry and artisan classes in various talukas differs from place to place in accent and intonation but the written language used by all Marathi speaking people is uniform. The script as in other places is Devanagari. The modi script which was taught in primary schools formerly is no longer in use except for keeping accounts by the merchants. Kannada language comes next and accounts for 8.8 per cent of the total population in the district. Urdu has the third largest number of speakers and accounts for 5.8 per cent of the total population of the district. It is generally used by the Muslim population, with a mixture of Marathi. The speakers of all other languages are concentrated in urban areas. Telugu is an exception and its speakers are fairly distributed over rural and urban areas. They include Wadars—stone quarry workers, whose mother-tongue Wadari is akin to Telugu.
The comparative position of the different languages spoken in the district in 1961 shows a variation from that in 1951. The proportion of Marathi speakers increased from 82.50 to 82.84, that of Kannada speakers decreased by 1.35 per cent and in case of Urdu increased from 5.38 per cent to 5.83 per cent.
Among foreign languages English holds an important place. It is understood and used by a majority from the educated class. It is still taught as a compulsory language in secondary and high schools and also in colleges. As a medium of instruction, it is fast being replaced by Marathi everywhere except in Science Colleges. However, the circulation of English newspapers in towns like Sangli, Miraj, Madhavnagar and Kirloskarvadi reveals its place in the diurnal affairs of the people.
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