Assamese () or Asamiya ( ) is an
Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-eastern Indian state of
Assam
Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...
, where it is an official language. It has long served as a ''
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...
'' in parts of
Northeast India
Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...
.
["Axomiya is the major language spoken in Assam, and serves almost as a lingua franca among the different speech communities in the whole area." ] It has over 15 million
native speakers and 8.3 million
second language speakers according to ''
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...
''.
Nefamese, an Assamese-based
pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified form of contact language that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn f ...
in
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...
, was used as a lingua franca till it was replaced by
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
; and
Nagamese, an Assamese-based
Creole language
A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable form of contact language that develops from the process of different languages simplifying and mixing into a new form (often a pidgin), and then that form expanding and elaborating into a full-fl ...
, continues to be widely used in
Nagaland
Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...
. The
Kamtapuri language of
Rangpur division
Rangpur Division (; ;
) is a first-level Divisions of Bangladesh, administrative division of Bangladesh. It covers the northernmost part of the country with a population of about 18 million inhabitants within an area of . Rangpur Division shar ...
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. 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
Magadhi Prakrit (''Māgadhī'') is of one of the three Dramatic Prakrits, the written languages of Ancient India following the decline of Pali. It was a vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan language, replacing earlier Vedic Sanskrit.
History and over ...
.
Its sister languages include
Angika,
Bengali,
Bishnupriya Manipuri,
Noakhali
Noakhali District (), historically known as Bhulua (), is a Districts of Bangladesh, district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in Chattogram Division. It was established as a district in 1821, and officially named Noakhali in 1868. The distr ...
,
Chakma,
Chittagonian,
Hajong,
Rajbangsi,
Maithili,
Rohingya and
Sylheti. It is written in the
Assamese alphabet, an
abugida
An abugida (; from Geʽez: , )sometimes also called alphasyllabary, neosyllabary, or pseudo-alphabetis a segmental Writing systems#Segmental writing system, writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as units; each unit ...
system, from left to right, with many
typographic ligature
In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes or letters are joined to form a single glyph. Examples are the characters and used in English and French, in which the letters and are joined for the first ligature ...
s.
Assamese was designated as a
classical Indian language by the
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...
on 3 October 2024 on account of its antiquity and literary traditions.
History

Assamese originated in
Old Indo-Aryan dialects, though the exact nature of its origin and growth is not clear yet. It is generally believed that Assamese and the
Kamatapuri lects derive from the
Kamarupi dialect of Eastern
Magadhi Prakrit
Magadhi Prakrit (''Māgadhī'') is of one of the three Dramatic Prakrits, the written languages of Ancient India following the decline of Pali. It was a vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan language, replacing earlier Vedic Sanskrit.
History and over ...
["Dr. S. K. Chatterji basing his conclusions on the materials accumulated in LSI, Part I, and other monographs on the Bengali dialects, divides Eastern Mag. Pkt. and Ap. into four dialect groups. (1) Raddha dialects which comprehend Western Bengali which gives standard Bengali colloquial and Oriya in the South West. (2) Varendra dialects of North Central Bengal. (3) Kumarupa dialects which comprehend Assamese and the dialects of North Bengal. (4) Vanga dialects which comprehend the dialects of East Bengal (ODBL VolI p140)." ] though some authors contest a close connection of Assamese with Magadhi Prakrit. The Indo-Aryan, which appeared in the 4th–5th century in Assam,
was probably spoken in the new settlements of
Kamarupa
Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was (along with Davaka) the first historical kingdom of Assam. The Kamrupa word first appeared in the ...
—in urban centers and along the
Brahmaputra river—surrounded by Tibeto-Burman and Austroasiatic communities. Kakati's (1941) assertion that Assamese has an
Austroasiatic substrate is generally assumed—which suggests that when the Indo-Aryan centers formed in the 4th–5th centuries CE, there were substantial Austroasiatic speakers that later accepted the Indo-Aryan
vernacular
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
.
["While Kakati's assertion of an Austroasiatic substrate needs to be re-established on the basis of more systematic evidence, it is consistent with the general assumption that the lower Brahmaputra drainage was originally Austroasiatic speaking. It also implies the existence of a substantial Austroasiatic speaking population till the time of spread of Aryan culture into Assam, i.e. it implies that up until the 4th-5th centuries CE and probably much later Tibeto-Burman languages had not completely supplanted Austroasiatic languages." ] Based on the 7th-century Chinese traveller
Xuanzang
Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...
's observations, suggests that the Indo-Aryan vernacular differentiated itself in Kamarupa before it did in Bengal, and that these differences could be attributed to non-Indo-Aryan speakers adopting the language. The newly differentiated vernacular, from which Assamese eventually emerged, is evident in the
Prakritisms present in the Sanskrit of the
Kamarupa inscriptions.
Magadhan and Gauda-Kamarupa stages
The earliest forms of Assamese in literature are found in the 9th-century Buddhist verses called
Charyapada the language of which bear
affinities with Assamese (as well as Bengali, Maithili and Odia) and which belongs to a period when the Prakrit was at the cusp of differentiating into regional languages. The spirit and expressiveness of the ''Charyadas'' are today found in the folk songs called ''Deh-Bicarar Git''.
In the 12th-14th century works of Ramai Pundit (''Sunya Puran''), Boru Chandidas (''Krishna Kirtan''), Sukur Mamud (''Gopichandrar Gan''), Durllava Mullik (''Gobindachandrar Git'') and Bhavani Das (''Mainamatir Gan'') Assamese grammatical peculiarities coexist with features from
Bengali language
Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...
. Though the Gauda-Kamarupa stage is generally accepted and partially supported by recent linguistic research, it has not been fully reconstructed.
Early Assamese
A distinctly Assamese literary form appeared first in the 13th-century in the courts of the
Kamata kingdom when Hema Sarasvati composed the poem ''Prahlāda Carita''. In the 14th-century,
Madhava Kandali translated the
Ramayana
The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...
into Assamese (
Saptakanda Ramayana) in the court of
Mahamanikya, a
Kachari king from central Assam. Though the Assamese idiom in these works is fully individualised, some archaic forms and conjunctive particles too are found.
This period corresponds to the common stage of
proto-Kamta and early Assamese.
The emergence of
Sankardev's
Ekasarana Dharma in the 15th century triggered a
revival in language and literature. Sankardev produced many translated works and created new literary forms—''
Borgeets'' (songs), ''
Ankia Naat'' (one-act plays)—infusing them with
Brajavali idioms; and these were sustained by his followers
Madhavdev and others in the 15th and subsequent centuries. In these writings the 13th/14th-century archaic forms are no longer found. Sankardev pioneered a prose-style of writing in the ''Ankia Naat''. This was further developed by
Bhattadeva who translated the
Bhagavata Purana
The ''Bhagavata Purana'' (; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam)'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' () or simply ''Bhagavata (Bhāgavata)'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen major Puranas (''Mahapuranas'') and one ...
and
Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu texts, Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the Hindu epic, epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Ind ...
into Assamese prose. Bhattadev's prose was classical and restrained, with a high usage of Sanskrit forms and expressions in an Assamese syntax; and though subsequent authors tried to follow this style, it soon fell into disuse.
In this writing the first person future tense ending ''-m'' (''korim'': "will do"; ''kham'': "will eat") is seen for the first time.
Middle Assamese
The language moved to the court of the
Ahom kingdom in the seventeenth century,
["Incidentally, literate Ahoms retained the Tai language and script well until the end of the 17th century. In that century of Ahom-Mughal conflicts, this language first coexisted with and then was progressively replaced by Assamese (Asamiya) at and outside the Court." ] where it became the state language. In parallel, the proselytising
Ekasarana dharma converted many Bodo-Kachari peoples and there emerged many new Assamese speakers who were speakers of Tibeto-Burman languages. This period saw the emergence of different styles of secular prose in medicine, astrology, arithmetic, dance, music, besides religious biographies and the archaic prose of magical charms.
Most importantly this was also when Assamese developed a standardised prose in the
Buranjis—documents related to the Ahom state dealing with diplomatic writings, administrative records and general history.
The language of the Buranjis is nearly modern with some minor differences in grammar and with a pre-modern orthography. The Assamese plural suffixes (''-bor'', ''-hat'') and the conjunctive participles (''-gai'': ''dharile-gai''; ''-hi'': ''pale-hi'', ''baril-hi'') become well established.
The Buranjis, dealing with statecraft, was also the vehicle by which Arabic and Persian elements crept into the language in abundance.
Due to the influence of the Ahom state the speech in eastern Assam took a homogeneous and standard form. The general
schwa deletion that occurs in the final position of words came into use in this period.
Modern Assamese
The modern period of Assamese begins with printing—the publication of the Assamese Bible in 1813 from the
Serampore Mission Press. But after the British
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
(EIC)
removed the Burmese in 1826 and took complete administrative control of Assam in 1836, it filled administrative positions with people from Bengal, and introduced
Bengali language
Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...
in its offices, schools and courts. The EIC had earlier promoted the development of Bengali to replace Persian, the language of administration in Mughal India, and maintained that Assamese was a dialect of Bengali.
Amidst this loss of status the
American Baptist Mission (ABM) established a press in Sibsagar in 1846 leading to publications of an Assamese periodical (''
Orunodoi''), the first Assamese grammar by
Nathan Brown (1846), and the first Assamese-English dictionary by
Miles Bronson (1863).
The ABM argued strongly with the EIC officials in an intense debate in the 1850s to reinstate Assamese. Among the local personalities
Anandaram Dhekial Phukan drew up an extensive catalogue of medieval Assamese literature (among other works) and pioneered the effort among the natives to reinstate Assamese in Assam. Though this effort was not immediately successful the administration eventually declared Assamese the official vernacular in 1873 on the eve of Assam becoming a
Chief Commissioner's Province in 1874.
Standardisation
In the extant medieval Assamese manuscripts the orthography was not uniform. The ABM had evolved a
phonemic orthography based on a contracted set of characters. Working independently
Hemchandra Barua provided an etymological orthography and his etymological dictionary, ''
Hemkosh'', was published posthumously. He also provided a Sanskritised approach to the language in his ''Asamiya Bhaxar Byakaran'' ("Grammar of the Assamese Language") (1859, 1873). Barua's approach was adopted by the ''
Asamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha'' (1888, "Assamese Language Development Society") that emerged in
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
among Assamese students led by
Lakshminath Bezbaroa. The ''Society'' published a periodical ''
Jonaki'' and the period of its publication, ''Jonaki era'', saw spirited negotiations on language standardisation. What emerged at the end of those negotiations was a standard close to the language of the Buranjis with the Sanskritised orthography of Hemchandra Barua.
As the political and commercial center moved to
Guwahati
Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...
in the mid-twentieth century, of which
Dispur the capital of Assam is a suburb and which is situated at the border between the western and central dialect speaking regions, standard Assamese used in media and communications today is a neutral blend of the eastern variety without its distinctive features. This core is further embellished with
Goalpariya and
Kamrupi idioms and forms.
Geographical distribution
Assamese is native to
Assam
Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...
. It is also spoken in states of
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...
,
Meghalaya
Meghalaya (; "the abode of clouds") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeast India. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the Assam: the United Khasi Hills an ...
and
Nagaland
Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...
. The
Bengali-Assamese script can be found in of present-day
Burma
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
. The
Pashupatinath Temple in
Nepal
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
also has inscriptions in Bengali-Assamese script showing its influence in the past.
There is a significant Assamese-speaking diaspora worldwide.
Official status
Assamese is the
official
An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...
language of Assam, and one of the 22
official languages recognised by the
Republic of India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by ...
. The Assam Secretariat functions in Assamese.
Phonology
The Assamese phonemic inventory consists of eight
vowel
A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
s, ten
diphthongs
A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
, and twenty-three
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
s (including two
semivowel
In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. Examples of semivowels in English are ''y ...
s).
[Assamese](_blank)
, Resource Centre for Indian Language Technology Solutions, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.
Consonant clusters
Alveolar stops
The Assamese
phoneme
A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...
inventory is unique in the group of
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east ...
as it lacks a dental-retroflex distinction among the
coronal stops as well as the lack of postalveolar affricates and fricatives. Historically, the
dental and
retroflex
A retroflex () or cacuminal () consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consona ...
series merged into
alveolar stops. This makes Assamese resemble non-Indic languages of
Northeast India
Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...
(such as
Austroasiatic and
Sino-Tibetan languages
Sino-Tibetan (also referred to as Trans-Himalayan) is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. Around 1.4 billion people speak a Sino-Tibetan language. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 ...
). The only other language to have fronted retroflex stops into alveolars is the closely related group of eastern
dialects
A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...
of
Bengali (although a contrast with dental stops remains in those dialects). is normally realised as or .
Voiceless velar fricative
Assamese is unusual among Eastern Indo-Aryan languages for the presence of (realised as or , depending on the speaker and speech register), due historically to the MIA sibilants'
lenition
In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...
to (initially) and (non-initially). The use of the voiceless velar fricative is heavy in the eastern Assamese dialects and decreases progressively to the west—from
Kamrupi to eastern
Goalparia, and disappears completely in western Goalpariya. The change of to and then to has been attributed to Tibeto-Burman influence by
Suniti Kumar Chatterjee.
In some cases, can even merge with or (''akhɔr'' → ''axɔr'' "a letter (of an alphabet)").
Velar nasal
Assamese,
Odia, and
Bengali, in contrast to other
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east ...
, use the
velar nasal
The voiced velar nasal, also known as eng, engma, or agma (from Greek 'fragment'), is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''E ...
(the
English ''ng'' in ''sing'') extensively. While in many languages, the velar nasal is commonly restricted to preceding
velar sounds, in Assamese it can occur intervocalically.
This is another feature it shares with other languages of
Northeast India
Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...
, though in Assamese the velar nasal never occurs word-initially.
Vowel inventory
Eastern Indic languages like Assamese, Bengali,
Sylheti, and Odia do not have a vowel length distinction, but have a wide set of
back rounded vowels. In the case of Assamese, there are four back rounded vowels that contrast phonemically, as demonstrated by the minimal set: ''kola'' ('deaf'), ''kóla'' ('black'), ''kwla'' ('lap'), and ''kula'' ('winnowing fan'). The
near-close near-back rounded vowel is unique in this branch of the language family. But in lower Assam, ও is pronounced the same as অ' (ó): compare ''kwla'' and ''mwr'' .
Vowel harmony
Assamese has
vowel harmony
In phonology, vowel harmony is a phonological rule in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – must share certain distinctive features (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, meaning tha ...
. The vowels
and
cause the preceding mid vowels and the high back vowels to change to
and
and
respectively. Assamese is one of the few languages spoken in India which exhibit a systematic process of vowel harmony.
Schwa deletion
The inherent vowel in standard Assamese, //, follows deletion rules analogous to "
schwa deletion" in other Indian languages. Assamese follows a slightly different set of "schwa deletion" rules for its modern standard and early varieties. In the modern standard // is generally deleted in the final position unless it is (1) /w/ (); or (2) /j/ () after higher vowels like /i/ () or /u/ (); though there are a few additional exceptions. The rule for deleting the final // was not followed in
Early Assamese.
The initial // is never deleted.
Writing system
Modern Assamese uses the
Assamese alphabet. In medieval times, the script came in three varieties: ''Bamuniya'', ''Garhgaya'', and ''Kaitheli/Lakhari'', which developed from the
Kamarupi script. It very closely resembles the
Mithilakshar script of the
Maithili language
Maithili ( , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of India and Nepal. It is native to the Mithila region, which encompasses parts of the eastern Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand as well as Nepal's Koshi Province, Koshi and Madhesh P ...
, as well as the
Bengali alphabet
The Bengali script or Bangla alphabet (, romanized: ''Bāṅlā bôrṇômālā'') is the standard writing system used to write the Bengali language, and has historically been used to write Sanskrit within Bengal. An estimated 300 million ...
.
There is a strong literary tradition from early times. Examples can be seen in edicts, land grants and copper plates of medieval kings. Assam had its own manuscript writing system on the bark of the ''
saanchi'' tree in which religious texts and chronicles were written, as opposed to the pan-Indian system of
Palm leaf manuscript
Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves. Palm leaves were used as writing materials in the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia dating back to the 5th century BCE. Their use began in South Asia and spread to oth ...
writing. The present-day spellings in Assamese are not necessarily phonetic. ''
Hemkosh'' ( ), the second Assamese dictionary, introduced spellings based on
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, which are now the standard.
Assamese has also historically been written using the
Arabic script
The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...
by
Assamese Muslims. One example is ''Tariqul Haq Fi Bayane Nurul Haq'' by
Zulqad Ali (1796–1891) of
Sivasagar, which is one of the oldest works in modern Assamese prose.
In the early 1970s, it was agreed upon that the Roman script was to be the standard writing system for
Nagamese Creole.
In January 2020, the Assam government announced that Assamese would be a mandatory language for government job eligibility.
Sample text
The following is a portion from the story ''Silonir ziekor xadhu (The tale of the kite's daughter)'', written by
Lakshminath Bezbaruah
Lakshminath Bezbarua (; 14 October 1864 - March 26,1938) was an Indian poet, novelist and playwright of modern Assamese literature. Commonly known as the father of the Assamese Short story, short story. He was one of the literary stalwarts of th ...
in his book
Burhi Aair Xadhu:
Morphology and grammar
The Assamese language has the following characteristic morphological features:
* Gender and number are not grammatically marked.
* There is a lexical distinction of gender in the third person pronoun.
* Transitive verbs are distinguished from intransitive.
* The agentive case is overtly marked as distinct from the accusative.
* Kinship nouns are inflected for personal pronominal possession.
* Adverbs can be derived from the verb roots.
* A passive construction may be employed idiomatically.
Negation process
Verbs in Assamese are negated by adding before the verb, with picking up the initial vowel of the verb. For example:
* 'do(es) not want' (1st, 2nd and 3rd persons)
* 'will not write' (1st person)
* 'will not nibble' (1st person)
* 'does not count' (3rd person)
* 'do not do' (2nd person)
Classifiers
Assamese has a large collection of
classifiers, which are used extensively for different kinds of objects, acquired from the
Sino-Tibetan languages
Sino-Tibetan (also referred to as Trans-Himalayan) is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. Around 1.4 billion people speak a Sino-Tibetan language. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 ...
. A few examples of the most extensive and elaborate use of classifiers are given below:
*"''zɔn''" is used to signify a person, male with some amount of respect
**E.g., manuh-''zɔn'' – "the man"
*"''zɔni''" (female) is used after a noun or pronoun to indicate human beings
**E.g., manuh-''zɔni'' – "the woman"
*"''zɔni''" is also used to express the non-human feminine
**E.g., sɔɹai ''zɔni'' – "the bird", pɔɹuwa-''zɔni'' – "the ant"
*"''zɔna''" and "''gɔɹaki''" are used to express high respect for both man and woman
**E.g., kɔbi-''zɔna'' – "the poet", gʊxaɪ-''zɔna'' – "the goddess", rastrapati-''gɔɹaki'' – "the president", tiɹʊta-''gɔɹaki'' – "the woman"
*"''tʊ''" has three forms: ''tʊ'', ''ta'', ''ti''
**(a) tʊ: is used to specify something, although the case of someone, e.g., loɹa-''tʊ'' – "the particular boy", is impolite
**(b) ta: is used only after numerals, e.g., ɛ''ta'', du''ta'', tini''ta'' – "one, two, three"
**(c) ti: is the diminutive form, e.g., kesua-''ti'' – "the infant, besides expressing more affection or attachment to
*"''kɔsa''", "''mɔtʰa''" and "''taɹ''" are used for things in bunches
**E.g., sabi-''kɔsa'' – "the bunch of key", saul-''mɔtʰa'' – "a handful of rice", suli-''taɹi'' or suli ''kɔsa'' – "the bunch of hair"
*''dal'', ''dali'', are used after nouns to indicate something long but round and solid
**E.g., bãʱ-''dal'' – "the bamboo", katʰ-''dal'' – "the piece of wood", bãʱ-''dali'' – "the piece of bamboo"
In Assamese, classifiers are generally used in the ''numeral + classifier + noun'' (e.g. ejon manuh 'one man') or the ''noun + numeral + classifier'' (e.g. manuh ejon 'one man') forms.
Nominalization
Most verbs can be converted into nouns by the addition of the suffix . For example, ('to eat') can be converted to khaon ('good eating').
Grammatical cases
Assamese has 8
grammatical case
A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and Numeral (linguistics), numerals) that corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a Nominal group (functional grammar), n ...
s:
Pronouns
m=''male'', f=''female'', n=''neuter.'', *=''the person or object is near.'', **=''the person or object is far.'', v =''very familiar, inferior'', f=''familiar'', p=''polite'', e=''ergative form''.
Tense
With consonant ending verb likh (write) and vowel ending verb kha (eat, drink, consume).
For different types of verbs.
{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" align="center" style="font-size:80%"
, -
!rowspan="2", Tense
!rowspan="2", Person
!colspan="2", tho "put"
!colspan="2", kha "consume"
!colspan="2", pi "drink"
!colspan="2", de "give"
!colspan="2", dhu "wash"
!colspan="2", kor "do"
!colspan="2", randh "cook"
!colspan="2", ah "come"
, -
!+
!-
!+
!-
!+
!-
!+
!-
!+
!-
!+
!-
!+
!-
!+
!-
, -
!rowspan="4", Simple Present
!1stper.
, thoü
, nothoü
, khaü
, nakhaü ~ nekhaü
, piü
, nipiü
, diü
, nidiü
, dhüü
, nüdhüü
, korü
, nokorü
, randhü
, narandhü ~ nerandhü
, ahü
, nahü
, -
!2ndper.inf.
, thoo
, nothoo
, khao
, nakhao ~ nekhao
, pio
, nipio
, dio
, nidio
, dhüo
, nüdhüo
, koro
, nokoro
, randho
, narandho ~ nerandho
, aho
, naho
, -
!2ndper.pol.
, thüa
, nüthüa
, khüa
, nükhüa
, pia
, nipia
, dia
, nidia
, dhüa
, nüdhüa
, kora
, nokora
, randha
, narandha ~ nerandha
, aha
, naha
, -
!2ndper.hon.&3rdper.
, thoe
, nothoe
, khae
, nakhae ~ nekhae
, pie
, nipie
, die
, nidie
, dhüe
, nüdhüe
, kore
, nokore
, randhe
, narandhe ~ nerandhe
, ahe
, nahe
, -
!rowspan="4", Present continuous
!1st per.
, thói asw
, rowspan="4", thoi thoka nai
, khai asw
, rowspan="4", khai thoka nai
, pi asu
, rowspan="4", pi thoka nai
, di asw
, rowspan="4", di thoka nai
, dhui asw
, rowspan="4", dhui thoka nai
, kori asw
, rowspan="4", kóri thoka nai
, randhi asw
, rowspan="4", randhi thoka nai
, ahi asw
, rowspan="4", ahi thoka nai
, -
!2ndper.inf.
, thoi aso
, khai aso
, pi aso
, di aso
, dhui aso
, kori aso
, randhi aso
, ahi aso
, -
!2ndper.pol.
, thoi asa
, khai asa
, pi asa
, di asa
, dhui asa
, kori asa
, randhi asa
, ahi asa
, -
!2ndper.hon.&3rdper.
, thoi ase
, khai ase
, pi ase
, di ase
, dhui ase
, kori ase
, randhi ase
, ahi ase
, -
!rowspan="4", Present Perfect
!1st per.
, thoisw
, rowspan="4", thwa nai
, khaisw
, rowspan="4", khwa nai
, pisw
, rowspan="4", pia nai
, disw
, rowspan="4", dia nai
, dhui asw
, rowspan="4", dhwa nai
, korisw
, rowspan="4", kora nai
, randhisw
, rowspan="4", rondha nai
, ahi asw
, rowspan="4", oha nai
, -
!2ndper.inf.
, thóisó
, khaisó
, pisó
, disó
, dhuisó
, kórisó
, randhisó
, ahisó
, -
!2nd per. pol.
, thoisa
, khaisa
, pisa
, disa
, dhuisa
, korisa
, randhisa
, ahisa
, -
!2nd per. hon. & 3rd per.
, thoise
, khaise
, pise
, dise
, dhuise
, korise
, randhise
, ahise
, -
!rowspan="4", Recent Past
!1st per.
, thölw
, nothölw
, khalw
, nakhalw ~ nekhalw
, pilw
, nipilw
, dilw
, nidilw
, dhulw
, nudhulw
, korilw
, nokórilw
, randhilw
, narandhilw ~ nerandhilw
, ahilw
, nahilw
, -
!2nd per. inf.
, thöli
, nothöli
, khali
, nakhali ~ nekhali
, pili
, nipili
, dili
, nidili
, dhuli
, nudhuli
, kórili
, nókórili
, randhili
, narandhili ~ nerandhili
, ahilw
, nahilw
, -
!2nd per. pol.
, thöla
, nothöla
, khala
, nakhala ~ nekhala
, pila
, nipila
, dila
, nidila
, dhula
, nudhula
, kórila
, nókórila
, randhila
, narandhila ~ nerandhila
, ahila
, nahila
, -
!2ndper.hon.&3rdper.
, thöle
, nothöle
, khale
, nakhale ~ nekhale
, pile
, nipile
, dile
, nidile
, dhule
, nudhule
, kórile
, nókórile
, randhile
, narandhile ~ nerandhile
, ahile / ahil
tr
, nahile / nahil
tr
, -
!rowspan="4", Distant Past
!1st per.
, thoisilw
, nothoisilw ~ thwa nasilw
, khaisilw
, nakhaisilw ~ nekhaisilw ~ khwa nasilw
, pisilw
, nipisilw ~ pia nasilw
, disilw
, nidisilw ~ dia nasilw
, dhuisilw
, nudhuisilw ~ dhüa nasilw
, kórisilw
, nókórisilw ~ kora nasilw
, randhisilw
, narandhisilw ~ nerandhisilw ~ rondha nasilw
, ahisilw
, nahisilw ~ oha nasilw
, -
!2nd per. inf.
, thoisili
, nothóisili ~ thwa nasili
, khaisili
, nakhaisili ~ nekhaisili ~ khwa nasili
, pisili
, nipisili ~ pia nasili
, disili
, nidisili ~ dia nasili
, dhuisili
, nudhuisili ~ dhwa nasili
, korisili
, nokorisili ~ kora nasili
, randhisili
, narandhisili ~ nerandhisili ~ rondha nasili
, ahisili
, nahisili ~ oha nasili
, -
!2nd per. pol.
, thoisila
, nothóisila ~ thwa nasila
, khaisila
, nakhaisila ~ nekhaisila ~ khüa nasila
, pisila
, nipisila ~ pia nasila
, disila
, nidisila ~ dia nasila
, dhuisila
, nudhuisila ~ dhwa nasila
, korisila
, nokorisila ~ kora nasila
, randhisila
, narandhisila ~ nerandhisila ~ rondha nasila
, ahisila
, nahisila ~ oha nasila
, -
!2nd per. hon. & 3rd per.
, thoisile
, nothoisile ~ thwa nasile
, khaisile
, nakhaisile ~ nekhaisile ~ khwa nasile
, pisile
, nipisile ~ pia nasile
, disile
, nidisile ~ dia nasile
, dhuisile
, nudhuisile ~ dhüa nasile
, korisile
, nokorisile ~ kora nasile
, randhisile
, narandhisile ~ nerandhisile ~ rondha nasile
, ahisile
, nahisile ~ oha nasile
, -
, -
!rowspan="4", Past continuous
!1st per.
, thoi asilw
, thoi thoka nasilw
, khai asilw
, khai thoka nasilw
, pi asilw
, pi thoka nasilw
, di asilw
, di thoka nasilw
, dhui asils
, dhui thoka nasils
, kori asils
, kori thoka nasils
, randhi asils
, randhi thoka nasils
, ahi asils
, ahi thoka nasils
, -
!2nd per. inf.
, thoi asili
, thoi thoka nasili
, khai asili
, khai thoka nasili
, pi asili
, pi thoka nasili
, di asili
, di thoka nasili
, dhui asili
, dhui thoka nasili
, kori asili
, kori thoka nasili
, randhi asili
, randhi thoka nasili
, ahi asili
, ahi thoka nasili
, -
!2nd per. pol.
, thoi asila
, thoi thoka nasila
, khai asila
, khai thoka nasila
, pi asila
, pi thoka nasila
, di asila
, di thoka nasila
, dhui asila
, dhui thoka nasila
, kori asila
, kori thoka nasila
, randhi asila
, randhi thoka nasila
, ahi asila
, ahi thoka nasila
, -
!2nd per. hon. & 3rd per.
, thoi asil(e)
, thoi thoka nasil(e)
, khai asil(e)
, khai thoka nasil(e)
, pi asil(e)
, pi thoka nasil(e)
, di asil(e)
, di thoka nasil(e)
, dhui asil(e)
, dhui thoka nasil(e)
, kori asil(e)
, kori thoka nasil(e)
, randhi asil(e)
, randhi thoka nasil(e)
, ahi asil{e)
, ahi thoka nasil(e)
, -
!rowspan="4", Simple Future
!1st per.
, thöm
, nothöm
, kham
, nakham ~ nekham
, pim
, nipim
, dim
, nidim
, dhum
, nudhum
, korim
, nokorim
, randhim
, narandhim ~ nerandhim
, ahim
, nahim
, -
!2nd per. inf.
, thöbi
, nothöbi
, khabi
, nakhabi ~ nekhabi
, pibi
, nipibi
, dibi
, nidibi
, dhubi
, nudhubi
, koribi
, nokoribi
, randhibi
, narandhibi ~ nerandhibi
, ahibi
, nahibi
, -
!2nd per. pol.
, thöba
, nothöba
, khaba
, nakhaba ~ nekhaba
, piba
, nipiba
, diba
, nidiba
, dhuba
, nudhuba
, koriba
, nókóriba
, randhiba
, narandhiba ~ nerandhiba
, ahiba
, nahiba
, -
!2ndper.hon.&3rdper.
, thöbo
, nothöbo
, khabo
, nakhabo ~ nekhabo
, pibo
, nipibo
, dibo
, nidibo
, dhubo
, nudhubo
, koribo
, nokoribo
, randhibo
, narandhibo ~ nerandhibo
, ahibo
, nahibo
, -
!rowspan="4", Future continuous
!1st per.
, thoi thakim
, thoi nathakim/nethakim
, khai thakim
, khai nathakim/nethakim
, pi thakim
, pi nathakim/nethakim
, di thakim
, di nathakim/nethakim
, dhui thakim
, dhui nathakim/nethakim
, kori thakim
, kori nathakim/nethakim
, randhi thakim
, randhi nathakim/nethakim
, ahi thakim
, ahi nathakim/nethakim
, -
!2nd per. inf.
, thoi thakibi
, thoi nathakibi/nethakibi
, khai thakibi
, khai nathakibi/nethakibi
, pi thakibi
, pi nathakibi/nethakibi
, di thakibi
, di nathakibi/nethakibi
, dhui thakibi
, dhui nathakibi/nethakibi
, kori thakibi
, kori nathakibi/nethakibi
, randhi thakibi
, randhi nathakibi/nethakibi
, ahi thakibi
, ahi nathakibi/nethakibi
, -
!2nd per. pol.
, thoi thakiba
, thoi nathakiba/nethakiba
, khai thakiba
, khai nathakiba/nethakiba
, pi thakiba
, pi nathakiba/nethakiba
, di thakiba
, di nathakiba/nethakiba
, dhui thakiba
, dhui nathakiba/nethakiba
, kori thakiba
, kori nathakiba/nethakiba
, randhi thakiba
, randhi nathakiba/nethakiba
, ahi thakiba
, ahi nathakiba/nethakiba
, -
!2ndper.hon.&3rdper.
, thoi thakibo
, thoi nathakibo/nethakibo
, khai thakibo
, khai nathakibo/nethakibo
, pi thakibo
, pi nathakibo/nethakibo
, di thakibo
, di nathakibo/nethakibo
, dhui thakibo
, dhui nathakibo/nethakibo
, kori thakibo
, kori nathakibo/nethakibo
, randhi thakibo
, randhi nathakibo/nethakibo
, ahi thakibo
, ahi nathakibo/nethakibo
, -
Relationship suffixes
{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" align="center" style="font-size:80%"
, -
! Persons !! Suffix !! Example !! English translation
, -
! 1st person
, none
, Mwr/Amar ma, bap, kokai, vai, ba, voni
, My/Our mother, father, elder-brother, younger-brother, elder-sister, younger-sister
, -
! 2nd person
(very familiar; inferior)
, -(e)r
, Twr/Tohõtor mar, baper, kokaier, vaier, bar, vonier
, Your/Your(pl) mother, father, elder-brother, younger-brother, elder-sister, younger-sister
, -
! 2nd person
familiar
, -(e)ra
, Twmar/Twmalwkor mara, bapera, kokaiera, vaiera, bara, voniera
, Your/Your(pl) mother, father, elder-brother, younger-brother, elder-sister, younger-sister
, -
! 2nd person
formal;
3rd person
, -(e)k
, Apwnar/Apwnalwkor/Tar/Tair/Xihotõr/Tewr mak, bapek, kokaiek, bhaiek, bak, voniek
, Your/Your(pl)/His/Her/Their/His~Her(formal) mother, father, elder-brother, younger-brother, elder-sister, younger-sister
Kinship Terms
Some Assamese Kinship Terms with IPA and English Equivalents
{, class="wikitable"
!Sr. No.
!Assamese Word
!IPA
!English Word
, -
, 1
, দেউতা
, /dɛuta/
, Father
, -
, 2
, আই/মা
, /ai/ /mɑ/
, Mother
, -
, 3
, দাদা
, /dada/
, Elder Brother
, -
, 4
, ভাই
, /bhai/
, Younger Brother
, -
, 5
, বাইদেউ
, /bɑɪ.dɛʊ/
, Elder Sister
, -
, 6
, ভনী
, /bhɔni/
, Younger Sister
, -
, 7
, পুতেক
, /putɛk/
, Son
, -
, 8
, জীয়ৰী
, /ziːɔɾi/
, Daughter
, -
, 9
, ককা
, /kɔka/
, Paternal Grandfather
, -
, 10
, আইতা
, /aita/
, Paternal Grandmother
, -
, 11
, কাকা
, /kaka/
, Uncle (Father’s younger brother)
, -
, 12
, খুৰা
, /kʰuɾa/
, Uncle (Father’s elder brother)
, -
, 13
, খুৰী
, /kʰuɾi/
, Aunt (Father’s brother’s wife)
, -
, 14
, পেহা
, /peɦa/
, Uncle (Father’s younger sister’s husband)
, -
, 15
, পেহী
, /pɛ.ɦi/
, Aunt (Father’s younger sister)
, -
, 16
, কাকা
, /kɔka/
, Maternal Grandfather
, -
, 17
, আইতা
, /aita/
, Maternal Grandmother
, -
, 18
, মামা
, /mɑː.mɑː/
, Uncle (Mother’s brother)
, -
, 19
, মামী
, /ma.mi/
, Aunt (Mother’s brother’s wife)
, -
, 20
, মহা
, /mɔ.ɦaˈ/
, Uncle (Mother’s younger sister’s husband)
, -
, 21
, মাহী
, /ma.ɦi/
, Aunt (Mother’s younger sister)
, -
, 22
, শহুৰ
, /xoɦʊɾ/
, Father-in-law
, -
, 23
, শাহু
, /xa.ɦu/
, Mother-in-law
, -
, 24
, দেওৰ
, /d̪eː.ɔɾ/
, Brother-in-law (Husband’s younger brother)
, -
, 25
, ননদ
, / nɔnɔd /
, Sister-in-law (Husband’s younger sister)
, -
, 26
, খুলশালি
, /K
hulxali/
, Brother-in-law (Wife’s younger brother)
, -
, 27
, খুলশালি
, /K
hulxali/
, Sister-in-law (Wife’s younger sister)
Dialects
Regional dialects
The language has quite a few regional variations. Banikanta Kakati identified two broad
dialect
A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
s which he named (1) Eastern and (2) Western dialects,
["Assamese may be divided dialectically into Eastern and Western Assamese" ] of which the eastern dialect is homogeneous, and prevalent to the east of Guwahati, and the western dialect is heterogeneous. However, recent linguistic studies have identified four dialect groups and one dialect isolate listed below from east to west to south:
* Eastern group in and around the undivided Sivasagar district (
Golaghat,
Jorhat
Jorhat ( /) is a major city in Upper Assam division, Upper Assam and among the fastest growing urban centres in the state of Assam in India.
Etymology
Jorhat ("jor" means twin and "hat" means market) means two hats or mandis - "Masorhaat" and ...
,
Majuli,
Charaideo and
Sivasagar) and the former undivided Lakhimpur district (
Dibrugarh
Dibrugarh () is a city in the Indian state of Assam, located 435 kms east of the state capital Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of the Dibrugarh district in Upper Assam. Dibrugarh also serves as the headquarters of the Sonowal Kach ...
,
Tinsukia,
Lakhimpur and
Dhemaji. Standard Assamese is based on the Eastern group.
* Central group spoken in
Nagaon,
Sonitpur,
Morigaon districts and adjoining areas
*
Kamrupi group in the
Kamrup region: (
Barpetia,
Nalbariya, Palasbaria)
*
Goalpariya group in the
Goalpara region: (Ghulliya, Jharuwa, Caruwa)
*
Cachar dialect (Dehan) in
Cachar district of
Barak valley
Samples
Collected from the book, ''Assamese – Its formation and development''.
The text below is from the
Parable of the Prodigal Son
The Parable of the Prodigal Son (also known as the parable of the Two Brothers, Lost Son, Loving Father, or of the Forgiving Father; ) is one of the parables of Jesus in the Bible, appearing in Luke 15:11–32. In Luke 15, Jesus tells this sto ...
. The translations are of different versions of the English translations:
Non-regional dialects
Assamese does not have many caste- or occupation-based dialects. In the nineteenth century, the Eastern dialect became the standard dialect because it witnessed more literary activity and it was more uniform from east of Guwahati to Sadiya, whereas the western dialects were more heterogeneous. Since the nineteenth century, the center of literary activity (as well as of politics and commerce) has shifted to Guwahati; as a result, the standard dialect has evolved considerably away from the largely rural Eastern dialects and has become more urban and acquired western dialectal elements.
Most literary activity takes place in this dialect, and is often called the ''likhito-bhaxa'', though regional dialects are often used in novels and other creative works.
In addition to the regional variants, sub-regional, community-based dialects are also prevalent, namely:
* Standard dialect influenced by surrounding centers.
* ''Bhakatiya'' dialect highly polite, a sattra-based dialect with a different set of nominals, pronominals, and verbal forms, as well as a preference for euphemism; indirect and passive expressions. Some of these features are used in the standard dialect on very formal occasions.
* The fisherman community has a dialect that is used in the central and eastern region.
* The astrologer community of Darrang district has a dialect called ''thar'' that is coded and secretive. The ''ratikhowa'' and ''bhitarpanthiya'' secretive cult-based Vaisnava groups too have their own dialects.
* The Muslim community have their own dialectal preference, with their own kinship, custom, and religious terms, with those in east Assam having distinct phonetic features.
* The urban adolescent and youth communities (for example, Guwahati) have exotic, hybrid and local slangs.
* Ethnic speech communities that use Assamese as a second language, often use dialects that are influenced heavily by the pronunciation, intonation, stress, vocabulary and syntax of their respective first languages (''Mising Eastern Assamese'', ''Bodo Central Kamrupi'', ''Rabha Eastern Goalpariya'' etc.).
Two independent pidgins/creoles, associated with the Assamese language, are
Nagamese (used by
Naga groups) and
Nefamese (used in Arunachal Pradesh).
Literature
There is a growing and strong body of literature in this language.
The first characteristics of this language are seen in the
Charyapadas composed in between the eighth and twelfth centuries. The first examples emerged in writings of court poets in the fourteenth century, the finest example of which is Madhav Kandali's
Saptakanda Ramayana. The popular ballad in the form of Ojapali is also regarded as well-crafted. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw a flourishing of
Vaishnavite literature, leading up to the emergence of modern forms of literature in the late nineteenth century.
See also
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Assamese Manipuri language
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Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east ...
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Languages of India
Languages of India belong to several list of language families, language families, the major ones being the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indian people, Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians; both fami ...
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Languages with official status in India
, 22 languages have been classified as scheduled languages under the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. There is no national language of India.
While the constitution was adopted in 1950, article 343 declared that Hindi would be th ...
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List of Indian languages by total speakers
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List of languages by number of native speakers
This is a list of languages by number of native speakers.
All such rankings of human languages ranked by their number of native speakers should be used with caution, because it is not possible to devise a coherent set of linguistic criteria f ...
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Personalities from Western Assam
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Assamese Language Movement
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Assamese people
The Assamese people are a socio- ethnic linguistic identity that has been described at various times as nationalistic or micro-nationalistic. This group is often associated with the Assamese language, the easternmost Indo-Aryan language, an ...
Notes
References
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External links
Assamese languageat ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
''
Axamiyaa Bhaaxaar Moulik Bisar by Mr Devananda Bharali (PDF)Candrakānta abhidhāna : Asamiyi sabdara butpatti aru udaharanere Asamiya-Ingraji dui bhashara artha thaka abhidhana.second ed. Guwahati : Guwahati Bisbabidyalaya, 1962.
A Dictionary in Assamese and English(1867) First Assamese dictionary by
Miles Bronson from (books.google.com)
Assamese proverbs, published 1896
{{DEFAULTSORT:Assamese Language
Classical Language in India
Eastern Indo-Aryan languages
Official languages of India
Languages of Bangladesh
Official languages of Assam
Subject–object–verb languages
Indo-Aryan languages