Bishnupuriya

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A language of India

ISO 639-3
bpy
Alternate Names
Bishnupria Manipuri, Bishnupriya, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Bisna Puriya
User Population

79,600 in India (2011 census). Total users in all countries: 119,600.

Location

Assam state: Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj districts; north Tripura state.

Language Maps
Language Status

5* (Developing).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Outer Languages, Eastern, Bengali-Assamese
Dialects

Madai Gang (Leimanai), Rajar Gang (Ningthaunai). Though once regarded as a Bengali-Meitei creole, it retains pre-Bengali features (Masica 1991). Lexical similarity: 81%–85% between dialects in Bangladesh, 41%–45% with Bengali [ben].

Typology

SOV; postpositions, articles before noun heads, question word before the verb, affixes indicate case of noun phrase; CV, CVC, CVV, CCV, VC, VCV; nontonal.

Language Use

Also use Bengali [ben]. Also use English [eng].

Language Development

Literacy rate in L2: 80%. Literature. Radio. Videos. Grammar. Bible portions: 1995–2011. Agency: Bishnupuriya Language and Development Organisation.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Bishnupuriya
Writing

Bengali (Bangla) script [Beng].

Other Comments

Reported to also live in three villages in Myanmar but these villages cannot be identified. Hindu.

Also spoken in:

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