Kannada ( , ) or Canarese/Kanarese , is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Kannada people in the South Indian state of Karnataka, and by linguistic minorities in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala, and Goa. The language has roughly 40 million native speakers who are called Kannadigas . It is one of the scheduled languages of India and the official and administrative language of the state of Karnataka.