Number of speakers and language vitality

The current, 2022 edition of Ethnolgue insdicates that the number of people speaking Atong, or its "user population"  is 10,000. This total number is made up of the number of speakers in India (4,600), and the number of speakers in Bangladesh (5400 by calculation). Bangladesh is not mentioned here by Ethnologue, but since Bangladesh is the only other country where Atong is spoken, this can be inferred. Atong is currently classified as a mid-sized, endangered language, while its EGIDS level in its primary country (not specifically mentioned anythere but by inference this should be Bangladesh) is 6b, which means 'threatened'. It has been mentioned by Majewicz (2021:14), that the number of speakers as given by Ethnologue has not changed since 2009. Majewicz (idem) also refers to spkeaker statistics pubished by others about Atong, which suggest that the number of Atong speakers is less than 10,000. However, while the number of speakers provided by Ethnologue has remained the same of the years, the vitality status of the language has gotten worse over the years. It would be good to find out, if this is in any way possible, firstly, how many speakers of Atong there currently are in both India and Bangladesh; and secondly, what the level of language transmission to the next generation is, so that the vitality status of the language can be presented with more accuracy. Whoever might go out into the field to establish these numbers should be careful not to count as Atong speakers those people who identify as Atong but do not speak the language.

Reference

Majewicz, Alfred F. Seino van Breugel. 2021. Review: A dictionary of Atong, a Tibeto-Burman language of Northeast India and Bangladesh. Lingua Posnaniensis LXIII (1). 113-118.