Bengali language
Bengali is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It developed from a language called Pali. Bengali is spoken in Bangladesh and in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, parts of Assam and Jharkhand and in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
| Bengali | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangla বাংলা | ||||
 "Bangla" in Bengali script | ||||
| Pronunciation | [ˈbaŋla] ( listen) | |||
| Region | Bangladesh and India | |||
| Ethnicity | Bengali people | |||
| Native speakers | 150–300 million (2017)[1][2][3] (L1 plus L2 speakers) | |||
| Language family | ||||
| Early forms: | Abahattha
| |||
| Dialects | see Bengali dialects
| |||
| Writing system | Eastern Nagari script (Bengali alphabet) Bengali Braille | |||
| Official status | ||||
| Official language in |  Bangladesh India (in West Bengal, Tripura and Barak Valley) | |||
| Regulated by | Bangla Academy Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi | |||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-1 | bn | |||
| ISO 639-2 | ben | |||
| ISO 639-3 | ben | |||
| Linguasphere | 59-AAF-u | |||
 Bengali speaking region of South Asia | ||||
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| Part of a series on | |
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| Constitutionally recognised languages of India | |
| Category | |
| Scheduled Languages | |
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Official languages of India
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This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Bengali language edition. |
There are about 220 million native speakers and about 250 million total speakers of Bengali. It is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, ranking seventh.[4]
Most people in Bangladesh speak Bengali, and many famous books and poems are written in Bengali. Rabindranath Tagore was a famous poet who wrote in Bengali. Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The national anthems of both India and Bangladesh were written by Tagore in this language.[5]
Bengali Language Media
Bengali Language mural at Hamtramck, Michigan
Geographical distribution of the Bengali/Bangla language in the world.* Primary language*
An example of handwritten Bengali script. Part of a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1926 in Hungary.
The Library of Whitechapel in East London with the word "বাংলা" illuminated in its front.
Photo of a page from a Sylheti Nagri book written in the 1800s.
References
- ↑ The CBalto-onstitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bdMinistry of Law, The People's Republic of Bangladesh. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ↑ Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength - 2011 (29 June 2018)Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
- ↑ Bengali at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018)
- ↑ Statistical Summaries (2012)Ethnologue. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
- ↑ Statement by Hon'ble Foreign Minister on Second Bangladesh-India Track II dialogue at BRAC Centre on 07 August, 2005Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Bangladesh. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
