Meitei language

"Manipuri language" redirects here. For the Meitei-Bengali creole language, see Bishnupriya Manipuri.
This article is about the sole official language of Manipur. For other speech forms, see languages of Manipur.
Unless otherwise specified, Meitei in this article is written in Meitei Mayek.

Meitei
Manipuri
ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ • মৈতৈলোন • Meiteilon
Meitei Lon written in Meitei script
Native toManipur, Assam and Tripura
RegionNortheast India and Neighbouring areas of Bangladesh and Myanmar
EthnicityMeitei people
Total speakersL1 & L2 combined: 3 million[1]
L1 only: 1.8 million (2003–2011)[2]
Early forms
Dialects
Official status
Official language in
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byDirectorate of Language Planning and Implementation, Manipur
Development body
Language codes
ISO 639-2mni
ISO 639-3Either:
mni – Manipuri
omp – Old Manipuri
Glottologmani1292  Manipuri
meit1246  Meitei (standard dialect)
loii1241  Loi (Chakpa dialect)
pang1284  Pangal (Muslim dialect)
  Regions where Meitei is official and educational language
  Regions where Meitei is recognised and educational language but not official
  Regions where Meitei is not recognised and not official but educational
  Regions where Meitei is recognised but not official and educational
  Regions with significant Meitei speaking minorities
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Meetei Mayek
This article contains the Meitei alphabet. Without proper rendering support, you may see errors in display.

Meitei (/ˈmeɪteɪ/;[4] ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ, Eastern Nagari script: মৈতৈলোন্, [mejtejlon] (IPA), romanized: meiteilon) also known as Manipuri (ꯃꯅꯤꯄꯨꯔꯤ, Eastern Nagari script: মণিপুরী, [mɐnipuɾi] (IPA)), is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and an additional official language in four districts of Assam. It is one of the constitutionally scheduled official languages of the Indian Republic.[5] Meitei is the most widely-spoken Tibeto-Burman language of India and the third most widely spoken language of northeast India after Assamese and Bengali.[6] There are 1.76 million Meitei native speakers in India according to the 2011 census, 1.52 million of whom are found in the state of Manipur, where they represent the majority of its population. There are smaller communities in neighbouring Indian states, such as Assam (168,000), Tripura (24,000), Nagaland (9,500), and elsewhere in the country (37,500). The language is also spoken by smaller groups in neighbouring Myanmar[7] and Bangladesh.[2]

Meitei and Gujarati jointly hold the third place among the fastest growing languages of India, following Hindi and Kashmiri.[8]

Meitei is not endangered: its status has been assessed as safe by Ethnologue (where it is assigned to EGIDS level 2 "provincial language").[2] However, it is considered vulnerable by UNESCO.[9]

The Manipuri language is associated with the Ningthouja dynasty (Mangangs), the Khuman dynasty, the Moirangs, the Angoms, the Luwangs, the Chengleis (Sarang-Leishangthems), and the Khaba-Nganbas. Each had their respective distinct dialects and were politically independent from one another. Later, all of them fell under the dominion of the Ningthouja dynasty, changing their status of being independent "ethnicities" into those of "clans" of the collective Meitei community. The Ningthouja dialect was predominant,[10][11][12] and received heavy influences from the speech forms of the other groups.[13][14][15]

Meitei is one of the advanced literary languages recognised by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.

  1. ^ Chelliah, Shobhana Lakshmi; Ray, Sohini (23 June 2000). "Discovering Tibeto-Burman Linguistic History Through Pre 20th Century Meithei Manuscripts". UNT Digital Library. University of North Texas (UNT). University of North Texas Libraries. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Manipuri at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
    Old Manipuri at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  3. ^ "Meitei | Ethnologue". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  4. ^ "Meithei". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 14 October 2022. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Britannica_Meitei_language was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Language – India, States and Union Territories" (PDF). Census of India 2011. Office of the Registrar General. pp. 13–14. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  7. ^ Sunil, Oinam (14 July 2015). "Manipuris in Mandalay see ray of hope in Modi". The Times of India.
  8. ^ R, Aishwaryaa (6 June 2019). "What census data reveals about use of Indian languages". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  9. ^ Moseley, C., ed. (2010). Atlas of the world's languages in danger (3rd ed). Paris: UNESCO Publishing. pp. 44–45 and elsewhere.
  10. ^ Singh, Dr Th Suresh (2 June 2014). The Endless Kabaw Valley: British Created Visious Cycle of Manipur, Burma and India. Quills Ink Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 978-93-84318-00-0.
  11. ^ Sanajaoba, Naorem (1988). Manipur, Past and Present: The Heritage and Ordeals of a Civilization. Mittal Publications. p. 10. ISBN 978-81-7099-853-2.
  12. ^ Miri, Mrinal (2003). Linguistic Situation in North-East India. Concept Publishing Company. p. 77. ISBN 978-81-8069-026-6.
  13. ^ Singh, Chungkham Yashwanta (2000). Manipuri Grammar. Rajesh Publications. pp. 2, 202. ISBN 978-81-85891-33-0.
  14. ^ Ayyappappanikkar (1997). Medieval Indian Literature: Surveys and selections. Sahitya Akademi. p. 333. ISBN 978-81-260-0365-5.
  15. ^ "Aspects of Manipuri language and its literary traditions By Ahanthem Homen". e-pao.net. Retrieved 22 May 2024.