Assamese language
Assamese or Asamiya (অসমীয়া [ɔxɔmija] ⓘ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language. It serves as a lingua franca of the wider region and has over 15 million native speakers according to Ethnologue.
| Assamese | |
|---|---|
| |
| অসমীয়া | |
The word "Ôxômiya" in the Assamese alphabet | |
| Pronunciation | [ɔxɔmija] ⓘ |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland |
| Ethnicity | Assamese |
Native speakers | 15 million (2011 census) |
Early forms | |
| Dialects |
|
| Bengali–Assamese script (Assamese alphabet) Ahom script (historical) Assamese Braille Latin script (Nagamese and Nefamese) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | India |
| Regulated by | Asam Sahitya Sabha (Literary Society of Assam) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | as |
| ISO 639-2 | asm |
| ISO 639-3 | asm |
| Glottolog | assa1263 |
| Linguasphere | 59-AAF-w |
Geographic distribution of Assamese language in India. | |
| Part of a series on | |
|---|---|
|
| |
| Constitutionally recognised languages of India | |
| Category | |
| 22 Official Languages of the Indian Republic | |
| Related | |
Nefamese, an Assamese-based pidgin in Arunachal Pradesh, was used as the lingua franca till it was replaced by Hindi; and Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language, continues to be widely used in Nagaland. The Kamtapuri language of Rangpur division of Bangladesh and the Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri districts of India are linguistically closer to Assamese, though the speakers identify with the Bengali culture and the literary language. In the past, it was the court language of the Ahom kingdom from the 17th century.
Along with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, Assamese evolved at least before the 7th century CE from the middle Indo-Aryan Magadhi Prakrit. Its sister languages include Angika, Bengali, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Chakma, Chittagonian, Hajong, Rajbangsi, Maithili, Rohingya and Sylheti. It is written in the Assamese alphabet, an abugida system, from left to right, with many typographic ligatures.