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Assamese language

Assamese
Asamiya
অসমীয়া
Oxomiya in Oxomiya Lipi.svg
Assamese (Ôxômiya) in Assamese script
Region Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland
Native speakers
15 million (2007)
Dialects
Eastern Nagari (Assamese)
Assamese Braille
Official status
Official language in
 India (Assam)
Regulated by Asam Sahitya Sabha (literature/rhetorical congress of Assam)
Language codes
ISO 639-1 as
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3
Glottolog assa1263
Linguasphere 59-AAF-w
Assamese literature
Asamiya literature
(By category)
Asamiya
Asamiya literary history
History of Asamiya literature
Asamiya language authors
List of Asamiya writers
Asamiya Writers
WritersDramatists & PlaywrightsPoets
Forms
BooksBuranjisPoetry
Institution & Awards
Assam Sahitya Sabha
Assam Ratna
Assam Valley Literary Award
Kamal Kumari National Award
Related Portals


Genealogically, Assamese belongs to the group of Eastern Indo-Aryan languages

Assamese, Asamiya or Ôxômiya (English pronunciation: /ˌæsəˈmz/; Assamese: অসমীয়া, Ôxômiya, pronounced: [ɔˈxɔmija]) is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the state of Assam, where it is an official language. The easternmost of the Indo-Aryan languages, it is spoken by over 13 million native speakers, and serves as a lingua franca in the region. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in Nagaland and parts of Assam. Nefamese is an Assamese-based pidgin used in Arunachal Pradesh. Small pockets of Assamese speakers can be found in Bangladesh. In the past, it was the court language of the Ahom kingdom from the 17th century.

The origin of Assamese language is not clear. Some believe that it originated from Kamarupi Prakrit used in ancient Kamarupa Kingdom. However it is believe that along with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, Assamese evolved at least before 7th century A.D from the Magadhi Prakrit, which developed from dialects similar to, but in some ways more archaic than Vedic Sanskrit. Its sister languages include Bengali, Odia,Chittagonian, Sylheti and Angika. It is written in the Assamese script, an abugida system, from left to right, with a large number of typographic ligatures.


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