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{{Infobox Language
|name=Assamese
|nativename={{lang-Assamese2|অসমীয়া}} {{translit-Assamese2|''Ôxômiya''}}
|states=[[India]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Bhutan]] & [[USA]] (DE, NJ & NY)
|region=[[Assam]]
|speakers=13,079,696  (in 1991)<ref name="assamese-figures">http://www.censusindia.net/cendat/language/lang_table1.PDF Retrieved on June 5,2007</ref>
|rank=52
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=[[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
|fam3=[[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]
|fam4=[[List of Eastern Indo-Aryan languages|Eastern Group]]
|fam5=Bengali-Assamese
|script=[[Assamese script]]
|nation={{IND}} ([[Assam]])
|iso1=as|iso2=asm|iso3=asm
|notice=Indic}}

'''Assamese''' ({{lang-Assamese2|অসমীয়া}} ''{{translit-Assamese2|Ôxômiya}}'') ({{IPA2|ɔxɔmija}}) is an   Indo-Aryan language spoken in the [[States and territories of India|state]] of [[Assam]] in northeast [[India]]. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of [[Arunachal Pradesh]] and other [[North-East India|northeast]] Indian states. Small pockets of Assamese speakers can be found in [[Bhutan]] and [[Bangladesh]]. The easternmost of [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] languages, it is spoken by over 13 million people.<ref name="assamese-figures"/>

The English word "Assamese" is built on the same principle as "Japanese", "Taiwanese", etc. It is based on the English word "Assam" by which the tract consisting of the Brahmaputra valley is known. The people call their state ''{{translit-Assamese2|Ôxôm}}'' and their language ''{{translit-Assamese2|Ôxômiya}}''.

== Formation of Assamese ==
Assamese and the cognate languages, [[Bengali language|Bengali]] and [[Oriya language|Oriya]], developed from [[Magadhi Prakrit]], the eastern branch of the [[Apabhramsa language|Apabhramsa]] that followed [[Prakrit]].  Though the earliest compositions in Assamese exist from the [[13th century]], the earliest relics of the language can be found in paleographic records of the [[Kamarupa Kingdom]] from the [[17th century]] to the [[12th century]].<ref>{{Harvcol|Medhi|1988|pp=67-63}}</ref>  Assamese language features have been discovered in the [[9th century]] [[Charyapada]], which are Buddhist verses discovered in [[1907]] in Nepal, and which came from the end of the Apabhramsa period.  Early compositions matured in the [[14th century]], during the reign of the [[Kamata kingdom|Kamata]] king Durlabhnarayana of the [[Khen dynasty]], when [[Madhav Kandali]] composed the [[Kotha Ramayana]].  Since the time of the Charyapada Assamese has been influenced by the languages belonging to the [[Sino-Tibetan]] and [[Austroasiatic]] families.

Assamese became the court language in the [[Ahom kingdom]] by the [[17th century]].<ref>Guha, Amalendu ''[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0970-0293(198312)11%3A12%3C3%3ATAPSAE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W The Ahom Political Sysem]'' Social Scientist, Vol 11, No. 12 (Dec., 1983), pp3-34.</ref>


== See also ==
* [[Charyapada]]
* [[Languages of India]]
* [[List of national languages of India]]
* [[List of Indian languages by total speakers]]
* [[List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers]]

==External links==
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=kCtXYo4Za_0C A Dictionary in Assamese and English] (1867) First Assamese dictionary by Miles Bronson from (books.google.com)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book
  | last = Medhi
  | first = Kaliram
  | title = Assamese Grammar and the Origin of Assamese Language
  | publisher = Publication Board, Assam
  | date = 1988
  | location = Guwahati}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==

{{InterWiki|code=as}}

*[http://www.xobdo.org English-Assamese Online Dictionary]
* [http://web.archive.org/20030504025307/www.geocities.com/bipuljyoti/authors/jyotiprasad.html The Creative Visionary: Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla (1903-1951)]
*[http://www.assam.org/assam/language/assamlang.html Assamese Language and Literature ]
*[http://www.language-museum.com/a/assamese.php Assamese Language Sample]
*[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=asm Ethnologue report for Assamese]
*[http://www.xophura.org/ Xophura - Collection of writings in Assamese]
*[http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/vowelsandconsonants/appendix/languages/assamese/assamese.html Assamese] - [[UCLA]] Phonetics Lab Data

{{Indo-Iranian languages}}

[[Category:Eastern Indo-Aryan languages]]
[[Category:Languages of India]]
[[Category:Languages of North East India]]
[[Category:Languages of Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Assamese language| ]]
[[Category:Assam]]