Bihari languages
Bihari is a subgroup of the Indo-Aryan languages that is usually included in the Eastern branch of Indo-Aryan. The Bihari languages are mainly spoken in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and also in Nepal. The most widely spoken language of Bihar is Maithili. Maithili, along with its dialects Angika and Bajjika, is spoken in 20 districts. Magahi is the second most spoken Bihari language, spoken in at least 10 districts.
Despite the large number of speakers of these languages, only Maithili has been constitutionally recognised in India, which gained constitutional status via the 92nd amendment to the Constitution of India, of 2003.
Both Maithili and Bhojpuri have constitutional recognition in Nepal.
In Bihar, Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters. These languages were legally absorbed under the overarching label Hindi in the 1961 Census. Such state and national politics are creating conditions for language endangerments. After independence Hindi was given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950. Hindi was displaced as the sole official language of Bihar in 1981, when Urdu was accorded the status of the second official language.
Speakers
The number of speakers of Bihari languages is difficult to indicate because of unreliable sources. In the urban region most educated speakers of the language name Hindi as their language because this is what they use in formal contexts and believe it to be the appropriate response because of unawareness. The educated and the urban population of the region return Hindi as the generic name for their language.Some major languages and dialects
| Language | ISO 639-3 | Scripts | No. of speakers | Geographical distribution |
| Angika | anp | Devanagari; previously Anga Lipi | 743,600 | Eastern Bihar, North-eastern Jharkhand, West Bengal and Eastern Madhesh |
| Bajjika | – | Devanagari; previously Tirhuta | 8,738,000 | North-Central Bihar and Eastern Madhesh |
| Bhojpuri | bho | Devanagari; previously Kaithi | 39,519,400 | Western Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Northwestern Jharkhand, Northern Chhattisgarh, Northeastern Madhya Pradesh and Central Madhesh |
| Khortha | N.A. | Tirhuta script, Devanagari | 8.04 million | North-eastern Jharkhand |
| Kudmali | kyw | Devanagari, Chis | 556,809 | South-Eastern Jharkhand, West Bengal |
| Magahi | mah | Anga Lipi; Kaithi and Devanagari | 14,035,600 | South Bihar |
| Maithili | mai | Tirhuta, Kaithi and Devanagari | 33,890,000 | Northern and eastern Bihar, Jharkhand and Eastern Madhesh |
| Panchpargania | tdb | Devanagari, sometimes Bengali and Kaithi | 274,000 | West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam |
| Nagpuri | sck | Devanagari | 5.1 million | West-central Jharkhand North-eastern Chhattisgarh Northern Odisha |