- ^ Chenchu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
| South |
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| South-Central |
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| Central |
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| North |
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| Proto-languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Italics indicate extinct languages (no surviving native speakers and no spoken descendant) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chenchu | |
|---|---|
| చెంచు | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Andhra Pradesh (highest concentration in Kurnool district, Prakasam district, Guntur district), Telangana (Mahabubnagar district), Karnataka and Orissa |
| Ethnicity | Chenchu people |
Native speakers | 26,000 (2007)[1] |
Dravidian
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| Telugu alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cde |
| Glottolog | chen1255 |
Chenchu language is a Dravidian language which belongs to the Telugu branch of its South-Central family. This language is spoken mostly in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states in India by about 280,764 people (1981 census) of the Chenchu Aboriginal forests hunter-gatherer tribe. It is also called Chenchukulam, Chenchwar, Chenswar or Choncharu.