Linguistic diversity and biodiversity

•Rich linguistic diversity and bio-diversity in India posed to threats.•Major and minor languages need to be strengthened.•Requirement of coordinated mechanism between state and center.•Awareness about bio and linguistic diversity need to be spread.

The paper provides a detailed description of the relationship between linguistic diversity and biological diversity (biodiversity henceforth). For the sake of ease of the presentation the paper has been organized into sections. Each section begins with a question. In Section 2 that follows the Introduction, diversity and its various types have been described. The third section deals with attitude, in general, toward diversity. Section 4 compares linguistic diversity with biodiversity, while Section 5 compares the pace of extinction between language and living organism. Sections 6 and 7 discuss linguistic diversity across the world and in India, respectively. Linguistic landscape in India has been discussed with reference to diversity in language and script and features of Indian multilingualism. The next three Sections 8-10 attempt to answer the questions, such as - why linguistic diversity occurs, how is it assessed and how languages are lost? Consequences of language loss and concern for language revitalization have been discussed in the last two Sections 11 and 12 of the paper.