Contents

Chakma language

Chakma
Changhma, Daingnet
𑄌𑄋𑄴𑄟𑄳𑄦 𑄞𑄌𑄴
'Changmha Bhach' in Chakma script
Native to	Bangladesh and India
Region	Chittagong Hill Tracts CADC, Mizoram Tripura Arunachal Pradesh
Ethnicity	Chakma, Daingnet
Native speakers	483,299 in Bangladesh (2022)[1] 228,000 in India (2011)[2]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Eastern Bengali–Assamese Chakma
Writing system	Chakma script, Latin script, Bengali script[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ccp
Glottolog	chak1266
IETF	ccp

Chakma (/ˈtʃɑːkmə/; autonym: 𑄌𑄋𑄴𑄟𑄳𑄦 𑄞𑄌𑄴, Changhma Bhach) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Chakma and Daingnet people. The language has common features with other languages in the region like the Chittagonian, Tanchangya, Arakanese and others. It has 483,299 speakers in Bangladesh^[1] primarily the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and another 230,000 in India, including 97,000 in Mizoram,^[3] Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. It is written using the Chakma script, but literacy in this script is low.

It is officially recognized by the government of Tripura in India and also by the government of Bangladesh. In India, it is also spoken primarily in the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) which consists of the Tuichawng constituency of Lawngtlai districtinMizoram and many places in Tripura.

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.^[4]

In 2012, the government of Tripura announced the implementation of Chakma language in Chakma Script (orAjhā Pāṭh) in primary schools of Tripura. Imparting of education up to the elementary stage in the mother tongue is a national policy. To begin with, Chakma language subjects in its own scripts has been introduced in 87 primary schools in Chakma concentrated areas in Tripura."^[5][6]

"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."^[7]

Mor Thengari (My Bicycle) was Bangladesh's first Chakma-language movie. However, it was banned in Bangladesh due to its controversial plot.^[8]

• /p/ can be heard as [ɸ] in intervocalic and word-final positions.
• /t k/ can be heard as [t̪ʰ x] in word-initial and intervocalic positions.
• A/ʃ/ sound is rare, and in some cases, is a free variant sound of /s/.^[9][10]

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 Tibeto-Burman language; that medieval language may have been related to Sak^[11]orChairel^[12] (and therefore of the Brahmaputran branch).

The Chakma script is an abugida that belongs to the Brahmic family of scripts. Chakma evolved from the Burmese script, which was ultimately derived from Pallava.^[13][14][15]

The following is a sample text in Chakma of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:^[16]

The Chakma language is being taught in many government and private schools in India (Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh) and Bangladesh. The Chakma language was officially introduced in primary schools by the government of Tripura under The Directorate of Kokborok & Other Minority Languages in 2004 through Bengali script and since 2013 through Chakma script (also known as Ajhā Pāṭh). Presently, the Chakma language is being taught in 87 schools.^[6]

1. ^ ^{a b} "Table A-1.4 Ethnic Population by Group and Sex" (PDF). Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. 2021. p. 33. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2022.

^ ^{a b} Chakma languageatEthnologue (25th ed., 2022)

• Cāṅmā, Cirajyoti and Maṅgal Cāṅgmā. 1982. Cāṅmār āg pudhi (Chakma primer). Rāṅamāṭi:Cāṅmābhāṣā Prakāśanā Pariṣad.
• Khisa, Bhagadatta. 2001. Cāṅmā pattham pāt (Chakma primer.) Rāṅamāṭi: Tribal Cultural Institute(TCI).
• Singā. 2004. Phagadāṅ

Chakma language testofWikipediaatWikimedia Incubator

Media related to Chakma language at Wikimedia Commons

• Unicode Font for the language
• Chakma Script Archived 15 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine
• Chakma Bangla Blog
• Chakma Prototype Keyboard
• Chakma Unicode Converter
• Available Chakma Unicode Font
• "Chakma alphabet, pronunciation and language". Omniglot. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
• Nawaz, Ali (2012). "Tribal Languages". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
• "Honour for writers". The Telegraph – Calcutta (Kolkata). 7 January 2009. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2012.

• Definitions from Wiktionary
• Media from Commons
• News from Wikinews
• Texts from Wikisource
• Textbooks from Wikibooks
• Resources from Wikiversity
• Travel guides from Wikivoyage
• Data from Wikidata