Konkani is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-European family of languages spoken in the Konkan coast of India. It has approximately 7.6 million speakers of its two individual languages, Konkani and Goan Konkani.Konkani is the official language in the Indian state of Goa and is also one of the Official languages of India. Konkani does not have a unique script. Scripts of the other languages native to the regions its speakers inhabit are used. Devanagari has been mandated as the

official script.
The Consonants in Konkani are similar to Marathi.The Konkani language is spoken widely in the Western Coastal region of India known as Konkan. This consists of the Konkan division of Maharashtra, Goa, South Canara, North Canara and some pockets in Kerala. Each region has a different dialect, pronunciation style, vocabulary, tone and sometimes, significant differences in grammar.

The Census Department of India, 1991 figures put the number of Konkani speakers in India as 1,760,607 making up 0.21% of India's population. Out of these, 602,606 were in Goa, 706,397 in Karnataka, 312,618 in Maharashtra and 64,008 in Kerala.[4] It ranks 15th in the list of Scheduled Languages by strength. According to the 2001 estimates of the The Census Department of India, there are 2,489,015 Konkani speakers in India.[5] A very large number of Konkanis stay outside India, either as expatriates or citizens of other countries (NRIs). Determining their numbers is difficult.

History
The Konkani language developed primarily in Gomantak (now Goa) in the Konkan, the narrow strip of land between the Sahyadri mountains and the Arabian Sea on the western coast of India. There are two theories regarding the origins of Konkani. One theory states that the Brahmins who resided along the banks of the Saraswati river must have migrated to Gomantak, when seismic activity in the Himalayas made the river run underground around 1900 BC. They brought their own dialect of Shauraseni Prakrit, which over time evolved into modern Konkani. But most of the language experts believe that Konkani originated from Maharashtri Prakrit, and was highly influneced by Marathi,Tulu, Kannada and later by Arabic, Persian and Portuguese.

Early years
Konkani as a language flourished in Goa. It is believed that the Brahmi script may have been used initially for writing in Konkani but it fell into disuse. It is also believed that Brahmi gave way to the Devanagari script. However, no evidence has been found to support these claims.
Other Konkani communities came into being with their own dialects of Konkani. The Konkani Muslim communities of Ratnagiri and Bhatkal came about due to a mixture of intermarriage of Arab seafarers and locals as well as conversions of Hindus to Islam.

The Hindus of Goa had been using Marathi as a language of religious ceremonies from a long time. Also the interaction between Marathis and Konkanis in the past, that had resulted in Konkanis being bilingual with Marathi, now cemented the status of Marathi as the liturgical and literary language of Hindus in Goa, including Konkanis. Similarly, upper class Christians used Konkani only to communicate with the lower classes and poor, using Portuguese in social gatherings. The use of Portuguese led to the influence of Portuguese in Konkani, especially in the dialects spoken by the Christians.

Meanwhile, the migrant communities outside Goa kept Konkani alive, and the language became more fragmented. The Devanagari script came into use in Maharashtra, while Kannada Script was used by migrants to Karnataka.

 

Official language status
All this did not change anything in Goa. Finally fed up with the delay, Konkani lovers launched an agitation demanding official status to Konkani in 1986. The agitation turned violent in various places, resulting in the death of six agitators. Finally, on 4 February 1987, the Goa Legislative Assembly passed the Official Language Bill making Konkani the Official Language of Goa.

Konkani was included in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution of India, as per the Seventy-First Amendment on 31 August 1992, adding it to the list of National Languages.

Scripts
Konkani is written in a number of scripts. Devanagari is the official script for Konkani in Goa, whereas Roman script is also popular in Goa. Amongst the Konkani population of Karnataka, the Kannada script is used. Malayalam script is used by the Konkani community in Kerala state, centered on the cities of Cochin and Kozhikode. Arabic script is used by Konkani Muslims in coastal Maharashtra and Bhatkal taluka of Karnataka to write Konkani.

Dialects
Despite having a small population, Konkani language shows varieties of dialects. The dialect of Konkani can easily be classified according to the region, religion, caste and local tongue influence. Different researchers have classified the dialects differently. N. G. Kalelkar's classification is based on the historical events and cultural ties of the speakers and he has broadly classified the dialects into three main groups:

Northern Konkani: These are the dialects mainly spoken in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra with strong cultural ties to Marathi.

Central Konkani: It is the dialects spoken in Goa, where Konkani came in close contact with Portuguese language and culture.

Southern Konkani: The dialects which are spoken in the Canara region of Karnataka which came in close contact with Tulu and Kannada.