Editing Assamese language (section)

{{Short description|Indo-Aryan language of India}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Assamese
| altname          = {{hlist|Asamiya|Ôxômiya}}
| nativename       = {{lang|as|অসমীয়া}}
| image            = Oxomiya in Oxomiya Lipi.svg
| imagecaption     = The word "Ôxômiya" in the [[Assamese alphabet]]
| state            = [[Languages of India|India]]
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|as|ɔxɔmija||As-অসমীয়া.oga}}
| states           = [[Official languages of India|India]]
| region           = [[Northeast India]] 
*[[Assam]]
*[[Arunachal Pradesh]]
*[[Meghalaya]]
*[[Nagaland]]<ref name="ReferenceA">"Axomiya is the major language spoken in Assam, and serves almost as a lingua franca among the different speech communities in the whole area." {{harvcol|Goswami|2003|pp=394}}</ref>
| ethnicity        = [[Assamese people|Assamese]]
| speakers         = [[first language|L1]]: {{sigfig|15.327990|2}} million
| speakers2        = [[second language|L2]]: {{sigfig|8.320240|2}} million (2011)<ref name="e28|asm">{{e28|asm}}</ref><br/>Total: {{sigfig|23.648230|2}} million (2011)<ref name="e28|asm">{{e28|asm}}</ref>
| date             = 2011
| ref              = <ref name="e28|asm">{{e28|asm}}</ref>
| speakers_label   = Speakers
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3             = [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]
| fam4             = [[Eastern Indo-Aryan languages|Eastern]]
| fam5             = [[Bengali–Assamese languages|Bengali–Assamese]]
| ancestor         = [[Magadhi Prakrit]]
| ancestor2        = [[Magadhan languages|Magadhan]] [[Apabhraṃśa]]
| ancestor3        = [[Kamarupi Prakrit]]
| ancestor4        = [[Early Assamese]]
| script           = *[[Bengali–Assamese script]] ([[Assamese alphabet]])<ref name="Bora 1981 5, 53">{{cite book |last=Bora |first=Mahendra |year=1981 |title=The Evolution of the Assamese Script |location=Jorhat, Assam |publisher=[[Asam Sahitya Sabha]] |pages=5, 53 |oclc=59775640}}</ref> 
*[[Bharati Braille|Assamese Braille]]<br />[[Latin script]] ([[Nagamese creole|Nagamese]] and [[Nefamese]])<ref name=":1">{{cite thesis |last=Bhattacharjya |first=Dwijen |date=2001 |title=The genesis and development of Nagamese: Its social history and linguistic structure |type=PhD |publisher=City University of New York |id={{ProQuest|304688285}}}}</ref>
| nation           = *[[Official languages of India|India]]
**[[Assam]]
| agency           = [[Asam Sahitya Sabha]] (Literary Society of Assam)
| dia1             = 
* Eastern
* Central
* [[Kamrupi dialect|Kamrupi]]
* [[Goalpariya dialect|Goalpariya]]<ref name="Kakati 1941 16">"Assamese may be divided dialectically into Eastern and Western Assamese" {{harv|Kakati|1941|p=16}}</ref>
* [[Dehan dialect|Dehan]]<ref>"the Cachar dialect is closely related to the Kamrupi dialect and the Standard 
Assamese" {{harv|Bhattacharya|2003|p=11}}</ref> 
| map              = File:Geographical distribution of Assamese language.png
| mapcaption       = Geographic distribution of Assamese language in India
| iso1             = as
| iso2             = asm
| iso3             = asm
| glotto           = assa1263
| glottorefname    = Assamese
| lingua           = 59-AAF-w
| notice           = IPA
}}

{{Contains special characters|Indic}}
{{Contains special characters|Assamese}}
'''Assamese''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|æ|s|ə|ˈ|m|iː|z}})<ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Assamese |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322182537/https://www.lexico.com/definition/assamese |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 March 2020 |title=Assamese |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> or '''Asamiya''' ({{lang|as|অসমীয়া}} {{IPA|as|ɔxɔmija||As-অসমীয়া.oga}})<ref>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. {{harvcol|Mahanta|2012|p=217}}</ref> is an [[Indo-Aryan language]] spoken mainly in the north-eastern Indian state of [[Assam]], where it is an official language. It has long served as a ''[[lingua franca]]'' in parts of [[Northeast India]].<ref name="Nagamese">{{Cite thesis|title=The genesis and development of Nagamese: Its social history and linguistic structure |last=Bhattacharjya |first=Dwijen |date=2001 |publisher=City University of New York |type=PhD |language=en |id={{ProQuest |304688285}}}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="ReferenceA">"Axomiya is the major language spoken in Assam, and serves almost as a lingua franca among the different speech communities in the whole area." {{harvcol|Goswami|2003|pp=394}}</ref> It has over 15 million [[native speakers]] and 8.3 million [[second language|second language speakers]] according to ''[[Ethnologue]]''.<ref name="e28|asm">{{e28|asm}}</ref>

[[Nefamese]], an Assamese-based [[pidgin]] in [[Arunachal Pradesh]], was used as a lingua franca till it was replaced by [[Hindi language|Hindi]]; and [[Nagamese Creole|Nagamese]], an Assamese-based [[Creole language]],<ref>{{harvtxt|Masica|1993|p=5}}</ref> continues to be widely used in [[Nagaland]]. The [[Kamtapuri language]] of [[Rangpur division]] of Bangladesh and the [[Cooch Behar district|Cooch Behar]] and [[Jalpaiguri district|Jalpaiguri]] districts of India is linguistically closer to Assamese, though the speakers identify with the Bengali culture and the literary language.<ref>"...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." {{harv|Masica|1993|p=25}}</ref> In the past, it was the court language of the [[Ahom kingdom]] from the 17th century.<ref name="ahom-court-language"/>

Along with other [[Eastern Indo-Aryan languages]], Assamese evolved at least before the 7th century CE<ref>Sen, Sukumar (1975), ''Grammatical sketches of Indian languages with comparative vocabulary and texts, Volume 1'', P 31</ref> from the middle Indo-Aryan [[Magadhi Prakrit]].<ref name="kakati41p9"/> Its sister languages include [[Angika]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Bishnupriya Manipuri language|Bishnupriya Manipuri]], [[Noakhali language|Noakhali]], [[Chakma language|Chakma]], [[Chittagonian language|Chittagonian]], [[Hajong language|Hajong]], [[Kamtapuri language|Rajbangsi]], [[Maithili language|Maithili]], [[Rohingya language|Rohingya]] and [[Sylheti language|Sylheti]]. It is written in the [[Assamese alphabet]], an [[abugida]] system, from left to right, with many [[typographic ligature]]s.

Assamese was designated as a [[Classical languages of India|classical Indian language]] by the [[Government of India]] on 3 October 2024 on account of its antiquity and literary traditions.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kumar |first1=Vivek |last2=Roy |first2=Suryagni |date=3 October 2024 |title=Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, Bengali now among classical languages |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/marathi-pali-prakrit-assamese-bengali-classical-languages-2610800-2024-10-03 |work=India Today |access-date=3 October 2024}}</ref>