Chakma language

Chakma
Daingnet
𑄌𑄋𑄴𑄟𑄳𑄦 𑄞𑄌𑄴
Native to Bangladesh, India, Burma
Region Chittagong Hill Tracts, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura
Ethnicity Chakma, Daingnet
Native speakers
 330,000 in Bengal (2007)[1]
also in Burma
Chakma script, Bengali script
Language codes
ISO 639-3 ccp
Glottolog chak1266[2]

Chakma language (Changma Vaj or 𑄌𑄋𑄴𑄟𑄳𑄦 𑄞𑄌𑄴) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Chakma and Daingnet people. Its better-known closest relatives are Bengali, Assamese, Chittagonian and Rohingya of Arakan, Bishnupriya Manipuri of Manipur, Tanchangya, and Sylheti. It is spoken by nearly 310,000 people in southeast Bangladesh near Chittagong City, 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.

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.[3]

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."[4]

"In preparation for the January 2014 education season, the national curriculum and textbook board has already started printing books in six languages ... Chakma, Kokborok (Tripura community), Marma, Santal, Sadri (Orao community) and Achik."[5]

Mor Thengari was Bangladesh's first Chakma-language movie. However, it was banned in Bangladesh.[6]

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 a Oxomiya language; that medieval language may have been related to Sak[7] or Chairel.[8]

Script

Chakma script

References

  1. ↑ Chakma at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Chakma". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ "Languages: Online Activism To Save Chakma Language". Rising Voices. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  4. ↑ Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network (31 August 2012). "Chakma script to be introduced in Tripura". E-Pao! Headlines. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  5. ↑ Chowdhury, K. R. (21 May 2013). "Native tongue offers ethnic children a good start". khabarsouthasia.com. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  6. ↑ https://globalvoices.org/2015/12/11/bangladeshs-censor-board-blocks-the-countrys-first-chakma-language-film/
  7. ↑ Beckwith, Christopher I. (2002). Medieval Oxomiya Languages. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-12424-0.
  8. ↑ Voegelin, Charles Frederick & Florence Marie Robinett Voegelin. 1977. Classification and Index of the World's Languages. New York: Elsevier. ISBN 0-444-00155-7

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