Rangpuri language


Rajbangshi, Rangpuri, or Kamatapuri, is a Bengali-Assamese language spoken by the Rajbongshi people in India and Bangladesh, and Rajbanshi and Tajpuria in Nepal. Many are bilingual in either Bengali or Assamese.

Names

Rangpuri goes by numerous names. In Bangladesh, these include Rangpuri, Kamtapuri, Rajbongshi, and Polia. In India, there is Kamtapuri, Rajbongshi, Rajbanshi, Goalparia, Surjapuri, Koch Rajbanshi. In Nepal it is known as Rajbanshi or Tajpuriya. In Assam it is known as Koch-Rajbongshi and Goalpariya. In Bihar it is known as Surjapuri or Rajbanshi.

Dialects

The main dialects are Western Rajbanshi, Central Rajbanshi, and Eastern Rajbanshi.
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. Rajbonshi shares 48 to 55% of its vocabulary with Assamese and Bengali and 43 to 49% with Maithili and Nepali.

Comparison with related languages