Meitei language information

Meitei
Meitei
Manipuri
ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ • মৈতৈলোন • Meiteilon
	Meitei Lon written in Meitei script
Native to	Manipur, Assam and Tripura
Region	Northeast India and Neighbouring areas of Bangladesh and Myanmar
Ethnicity	Meitei people
Total speakers	L1 & L2 combined: 3 million; L1 only: 1.8 million (2003–2011)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Central Tibeto-Burman Meitei; ; ;
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Tibeto-Burman Old Manipuri ; ;
Dialects	Chakpa/Loi; Meitei Pangal;
Writing system	Meetei Mayek; Bengali script; Latin alphabet (unofficial);
Official status
Official language in	India (scheduled official) Manipur (main official); Assam (additional official); ;
Recognised minority; language in	Tripura; Bangladesh; Myanmar; ;
Regulated by	Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation, Manipur
Development body	Ministry of Culture (India); Sahitya Akademi; Central Institute of Indian Languages; Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation; Manipuri Sahitya Parishad;
Language codes
ISO 639-2	mni
ISO 639-3	Either:; mni – Manipuri; omp – Old Manipuri
Glottolog	mani1292 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.

This article contains the Meitei alphabet. Without proper rendering support, you may see errors in display.

Meitei (ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ, Eastern Nagari script: মৈতৈলোন্, romanized: meiteilon),^[4] also known as Manipuri (ꯃꯅꯤꯄꯨꯔꯤ, Eastern Nagari script: মণিপুরী, /mænᵻˈpʊəri/ (IPA)), is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and one of the official languages 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 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. Most of these, or 1.52 million, are found in the state of Manipur, where they represent 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, 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] but is considered vulnerable by UNESCO.^[9]

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

^ 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.
^ ^a ^b ^c Manipuri at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
Old Manipuri at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ "Meitei | Ethnologue". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ "Meithei". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 14 October 2022. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ Cite error: The named reference Britannica_Meitei_language was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "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.
^ Sunil, Oinam (14 July 2015). "Manipuris in Mandalay see ray of hope in Modi". The Times of India.
^ R, Aishwaryaa (6 June 2019). "What census data reveals about use of Indian languages". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
^ Moseley, C., ed. (2010). Atlas of the world's languages in danger (3rd ed). Paris: UNESCO Publishing. pp. 44–45 and elsewhere.

[Chelliah-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.

[e25-2] Manipuri at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
Old Manipuri at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)

[ethnologue_mni-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.)

[Britannica_Meitei_language-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.

Meitei language information

and 28 Related for: Meitei language information

Meitei language

Meitei people

Meitei language in Bangladesh

Meitei script

Meitei language movement

Languages of India

Meitei culture

Meitei

Manipur

Classicism in Meitei culture

Meitei Pangals

Meitei cinema

Official scripts of India

Meitei Hindus

Meitei classical language movement

Manipuri Language Festival

Women in Meitei culture

Tangkhul language

Meitei mythology

Linguistic history of India

Sanamahism

Meitei literature

Meitei folktales

Loiyumpa Silyel

Maram language

Ancient Meitei literature

Bengali language

Naoriya Phulo script

Meitei
Manipuri
ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ • মৈতৈলোন • Meiteilon
Meitei Lon written in Meitei script
Native to	Manipur, Assam and Tripura
Region	Northeast India and Neighbouring areas of Bangladesh and Myanmar
Ethnicity	Meitei people
Total speakers	L1 & L2 combined: 3 million^[1] L1 only: 1.8 million (2003–2011)^[2]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Central Tibeto-Burman Meitei
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Tibeto-Burman Old Manipuri
Dialects	Chakpa/Loi Meitei Pangal^[3]
Writing system	Meetei Mayek Bengali script Latin alphabet (unofficial)
Official status
Official language in	India (scheduled official) Manipur (main official) Assam (additional official)
Recognised minority language in	Tripura Bangladesh Myanmar
Regulated by	Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation, Manipur
Development body	Ministry of Culture (India) Sahitya Akademi Central Institute of Indian Languages Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation Manipuri Sahitya Parishad
Language codes
ISO 639-2	`mni`
ISO 639-3	Either: `mni` – Manipuri `omp` – Old Manipuri
Glottolog	`mani1292` 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.