Telugu (English: /ˈtɛlʊɡuː/; తెలుగు [teluɡu]) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Union Territory of Puducherry (Yanam) by the Telugu people. It stands alongside Hindi, English as one of the few languages with primary official language status in more than one Indian state. Telugu is also a linguistic minority in the states of Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra. It is one of six languages designated a classical language of India by the country's government. Telugu ranks 4th among the languages with the highest number of native speakers in India, with 6.7 percent at the 2011 census, and fifteenth in the Ethnologue list of most widely-spoken languages worldwide. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language family. It is one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of the Republic of India.. It is also USA's fastest growing language. There is a large Telugu speaking community in the USA Roughly 10,000 pre-colonial inscriptions exist in the Telugu language.