Meitei language
| Meitei | |
|---|---|
| Manipuri, Meetei, Meithei | |
| ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ মৈতৈলোন • Meiteilon | |
 Meitei Lon written in Meitei script | |
| Pronunciation | [mejtej loːn] |
| Native to | India, Bangladesh |
| Region | Manipur, Assam, Tripura |
| Ethnicity | Meitei |
Native speakers | 1.8 million (2003–2011) |
Early forms | |
Standard forms |
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| Dialects |
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| Official status | |
Official language in | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Regulated by | Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation, Manipur |
| Development body | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | mni |
| ISO 639-3 | mni |
| Glottolog | mani1292 Manipuri |
 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 | |
Meitei (/ˈmeɪteɪ/ ⓘ; ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ pronounced [mejtejlon]), also known as Manipuri (ꯃꯅꯤꯄꯨꯔꯤ pronounced [mənipuɾi]), 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. 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. 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 and Bangladesh.
Meitei and Gujarati jointly hold the third place among the fastest growing languages of India, following Hindi and Kashmiri.
Meitei is not endangered: its status has been assessed as safe by Ethnologue (where it is assigned to EGIDS level 2 "provincial language"). However, it is considered vulnerable by UNESCO.
Imphal dialect, also known as Standard Manipuri, is the standard dialect of Meitei language, and is natively spoken in Imphal, the capital city of Manipur state, and around the Greater Imphal administrative zone, and is used in administration, education, media, literature, widely across the state and abroad.
Meitei serves as the lingua sacra (holy and sacred language) of Sanamahism, the indigenous religion of Manipur, through its liturgical register, Amailon, which is used in the traditional rites and rituals of Sanamahists.
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, and received heavy influences from the speech forms of the other groups.
Meitei is one of the advanced literary languages recognised by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.
Meitei is the only non-tribal Indian language in the Sino–Tibetan language family. It is the only Sino-Tibetan language of India whose literary tradition is well established before the starting of the colonial times.
The use of writing systems in Tibeto-Burman languages appears to be very restricted. Meitei (or Manipuri) is one of four Tibeto-Burman languages with an old written tradition (the other three being Tibetan, Burmese, and Newar).