The Tanchangya language is one of the eleven indigenous languages spoken in the
Chittagong Hill Tracts
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, refers to the three hilly districts within the Chittagong Division in southeastern Bangladesh, bordering India and Myanmar (Burma) in the east: Kh ...
,
Mizoram,
Tripura
Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
, and
Rakhine State
Rakhine State ( ; , ; ), formerly known as Arakan State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Re ...
. Despite the common belief that it is a
Tibeto-Burman language, it is categorized as a
Indo-Aryan language. It is closely related to
Chakma and
Chittagonian. It is primarily spoken by the Tanchangyas people.
Vocabulary
Tanchangya has many words from
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east ...
. It also maintains some Burmanised words, particularly in Buddhist terminologies.
Ancient Tanchangya
The original words of Tanchangya are believed to be from ancient Tanchangya.
[Roti Kanta Tanchangya (2000): 62-65]
Tibeto-Burman
Tanchangay belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family; hence, many Buddhist terms can be found in Tanchangya.
Foreign words
In Tanchangya, words derived from Arabic, Portuguese, and English can be found.
Chakma
Outside of the Tanchangya tribe, there is a common belief that there is no difference between Tanchangya and the Chakma language.
References
External links
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{{Eastern Indo-Aryan languages
Eastern Indo-Aryan languages
Languages of Bangladesh