Assamese language

Assamese
Assamese
Asamiya; Ôxômiya;
অসমীয়া
	The word "Ôxômiya" in the Assamese alphabet
Pronunciation	[ɔxɔmija] ⓘ
Native to	India
Region	Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya; Nagaland;
Ethnicity	Assamese
Native speakers	15 million (2011 census)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Eastern Bengali–Assamese Kamrupa Assamese; ; ; ; ; ;
Early forms	Magadhi Prakrit Magadhan Apabhraṃśa Kamarupi Prakrit Old Assamese ; ; ;
Dialects	Eastern, Central, Kamrupi, Goalpariya;
Writing system	Bengali–Assamese script; Ahom script (historical); Assamese Braille; Latin script (Nagamese and Nefamese);
Official status
Official language in	India Assam; ;
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
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Assamese^[a] or Asamiya (অসমীয়া [ɔxɔmija] ^ⓘ)^[5] 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^[6] and has over 15 million native speakers according to Ethnologue.^[1]

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,^[7] continues to be widely used in Nagaland. The Kamtapuri language of Rangpur division of Bangladesh and the Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri districts of India is linguistically closer to Assamese, though the speakers identify with the Bengali culture and the literary language.^[8] In the past, it was the court language of the Ahom kingdom from the 17th century.^[9]

Along with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, Assamese evolved at least before the 7th century CE^[10] from the middle Indo-Aryan Magadhi Prakrit.^[11] 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.

^ ^a ^b Assamese at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ "SEAlang Library Ahom Lexicography". sealang.net.
^ Bhattacharjya, Dwijen (2001). The genesis and development of Nagamese: Its social history and linguistic structure (PhD). City University of New York. ProQuest 304688285.
^ "Assamese". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020.
^ Assamese is an anglicized term used for the language, but scholars have also used Asamiya (Moral 1992, Goswami & Tamuli 2003) or Asomiya as a close approximation of /ɔxɔmijɑ/, the word used by the speakers for their language. (Mahanta 2012:217)
^ "Axomiya is the major language spoken in Assam, and serves almost as a lingua franca among the different speech communities in the whole area." (Goswami 2003:394)
^ Masica (1993, p. 5)
^ "...Rajbangshi dialect of the Rangpur Division (Bangladesh), and the adjacent Indian Districts of Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar, has been classed with Bengali because its speakers identify with the Bengali culture and literary language, although it is linguistically closer to Assamese." (Masica 1993, p. 25)
^ Cite error: The named reference ahom-court-language was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Sen, Sukumar (1975), Grammatical sketches of Indian languages with comparative vocabulary and texts, Volume 1, P 31
^ Cite error: The named reference kakati41p9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[e25-1] Assamese at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)

[2] "SEAlang Library Ahom Lexicography". sealang.net.

[:1-3] Bhattacharjya, Dwijen (2001). The genesis and development of Nagamese: Its social history and linguistic structure (PhD). City University of New York. ProQuest 304688285.

[4] "Assamese". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020.

[6] Assamese is an anglicized term used for the language, but scholars have also used Asamiya (Moral 1992, Goswami & Tamuli 2003) or Asomiya as a close approximation of /ɔxɔmijɑ/, the word used by the speakers for their language. (Mahanta 2012:217)

[7] "Axomiya is the major language spoken in Assam, and serves almost as a lingua franca among the different speech communities in the whole area." (Goswami 2003:394)

[8] Masica (1993, p. 5)

[9] "...Rajbangshi dialect of the Rangpur Division (Bangladesh), and the adjacent Indian Districts of Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar, has been classed with Bengali because its speakers identify with the Bengali culture and literary language, although it is linguistically closer to Assamese." (Masica 1993, p. 25)

[ahom-court-language-10] Cite error: The named reference ahom-court-language was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[11] Sen, Sukumar (1975), Grammatical sketches of Indian languages with comparative vocabulary and texts, Volume 1, P 31

[kakati41p9-12] Cite error: The named reference kakati41p9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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Assamese
Asamiya Ôxômiya
অসমীয়া
The word "Ôxômiya" in the Assamese alphabet
Pronunciation	[ɔxɔmija] ^ⓘ
Native to	India
Region	Assam Arunachal Pradesh Meghalaya Nagaland
Ethnicity	Assamese
Native speakers	15 million (2011 census)^[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Eastern Bengali–Assamese Kamrupa Assamese
Early forms	Magadhi Prakrit Magadhan Apabhraṃśa Kamarupi Prakrit Old Assamese
Dialects	Eastern, Central, Kamrupi, Goalpariya
Writing system	Bengali–Assamese script Ahom script (historical)^[2] Assamese Braille Latin script (Nagamese and Nefamese)^[3]
Official status
Official language in	India Assam
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
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.