Rangpuri language

Rangpuri
Kamta (India)
Rangpuri (Bangladesh)
Rajbanshi (Nepal)
Native to Bangladesh,
India,
Nepal
Native speakers
 15 million (2007)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Variously:
rkt – Kamta/Rangpuri
rjs – Rajbanshi
kyv – Kayort[3]
Glottolog rang1265  (Rangpuri)[4]
rajb1243  (Rajbanshi)[5]

Rangpuri is an Indic language spoken by ten million Rajbongshi people in Bangladesh, five million in India, and 130,000 Rajbanshi and Tajpuria in Nepal. Many are bilingual in either Bengali or Assamese. There is a strong language movement in West Bengal.

Names

Rangpuri goes by numerous names. In Bangladesh, these include Rangpuri, Bahe Bangla, Ancholit Bangla, Kamta, Polia. In India, there is Kamtapuri, Dutta, Rajbangsi, Rajbansi, Rajbanshi, Rajbongshi, Goalparia, surjapuri, Koch Rajbanshi. Another name of the language is Tajpuri. In Assam it is known as Kochrajbongshi. In Bihar it is known as Surjapuri.

Dialects

The main dialects are Western Rajbanshi, Central Rajbanshi, Eastern Rajbanshi and Hill Rajbanshi (also known as Koch language).

The Central dialect has the majority of speakers and is quite uniform. There are publications in this language. The Western dialect has more diversity. Lexical similarity is 77 to 89% between the three dialects. The version spoken in the hills has some influence of the local tribal languages and differs quite a bit from the other three. Rajbonshi shares 48 to 55% of its vocabulary with Bengali, and 43 to 49% with Maithili and Nepali.

References

  1. ↑ Kamta/Rangpuri at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Rajbanshi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Kayort[2] at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
  3. ↑ Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
  4. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Rangpuri". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  5. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Rajbanshi". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
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