Chakma language


Chakma language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Chakma and Daingnet people. Its better-known closest relatives are Assamese, Hajong, Bengali, Chittagonian, and Bishnupriya Manipuri of Manipur, Tanchangya, and Sylheti. It is spoken by nearly 310,000 people in southeast Bangladesh in Chittagong Hill Tracts, and another 300,000 in India in Assam and Tripura and 40,265 in Mizoram. It is written using the Chakma script, which is also called Ajhā pāṭh, sometimes romanised Ojhopath. Literacy in Chakma script is low.
It is officially recognised by neither the Bangladesh government nor the Indian government, the only two countries where local Chakma people live. It is the official language in the Chakma Autonomous District Council which consists of the Tuichawng constituency of Lawngtlai district in Mizoram.
Although there were no Chakma language radio or television stations as of 2011, the language has a presence in social media and on YouTube. The Hill Education Chakma Script website provides tutorials, videos, e-books, and Chakma language forums.
In 2012, the Government of Tripura announced it would "introduce Chakma language in Chakma script in primary schools of Tripura. Imparting of education up to elementary stage in mother tongue is a national policy. To begin with Chakma language subjects in its own scripts will be introduced in 58 primary schools in Chakma concentrated areas."
"In preparation for the January 2014 education season, the national curriculum and textbook board has already started printing books in six languages... Chakma, Kokborok, Marma, Santal, Sadri and Achik."
Mor Thengari was Bangladesh's first Chakma-language movie. However, it was banned in Bangladesh.

Phonology

Chakma has eight distinct vowels.
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Medieval Chakma

The Chakma and Daingnet people now speak what may be considered divergent dialects of Magadhi Prakrit. However, this is due to language shift from an Oxomiya language; that medieval language may have been related to Sak or Chairel.