The Northern Dravidian languages are a branch (Zvelebil 1990:56) of the Dravidian languages that includes Brahui, Kurukh and Malto. (There have been slight differences in the way the Dravidian languages are grouped by various Dravidian linguists: See Subrahmanyam 1983, Zvelebil 1990, Krishnamurthi 2003). It is further divided into Kurukh–Malto and Brahui.

Northern Dravidian is characterized by the retraction of Proto Dravidian *k to /q/ before vowels other than /i(:)/ and later spirantizing in Brahui and Kurukh, in return the *c also retracted to /k/ in the same environment.^[1]

Initial *w's became b likely due to influence from eastern Indo Aryan languages. Brahui also has a voiceless lateral which formed after the merge of *ḷ to *l as there are words from both of them but the conditions of the split are not clear.^[1]

The Dravidian languages form a close-knit family. Most scholars agree on four groups:^[2]

Brahui: براہوئی; also known as Brahvi or Brohi) is a Dravidian language spoken by the Brahui people who are mainly found in the central Balochistan Province of Pakistan, with smaller communities of speakers scattered in parts of Iranian Baluchestan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan (around Merv) and by expatriate Brahui communities in Iraq, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. It is isolated from the nearest Dravidian-speaking neighbouring population of South India by a distance of more than 1,500 kilometres (930 mi). The Kalat, Khuzdar, Mastung, Quetta, Bolan, Nasirabad, Nushki, and Kharan districts of Balochistan Province are predominantly Brahui-speaking.

Kurukh (Kurux, Oraon or Uranw) is a North Dravidian language spoken by the Kurukh (Oraon) and Kisan people of East India. It is spoken by about two million people in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and Tripura, as well as by 65,000 in northern Bangladesh, 28,600 of a dialect called Uranw in Nepal and about 5,000 in Bhutan. The most closely related language to Kurukh is Malto; together with Brahui, all three languages form the North Dravidian branch of the Dravidian language family.