Pronunciation [m̥a] Ethnicity Hmar | Native to India Native speakers 100,000 (2011 census) | |
Region Mizoram, Manipur, and Assam Language family Sino-Tibetan
(Tibeto-Burman)
Mizo
Central
Hmar | ||
The Hmar language belongs to the Sinlung (Zo People) branch of the Tibeto-Burman family of languages. The speakers of the language are also known as Hmar. According to the official 2011 Census of India, there are 100000 Hmar speakers in Assam.
Hmar is a recognised language in the School curriculum of Assam, Manipur and Mizoram, and also recently recognised as one of the Modern Indian Languages (MIL) at Manipur University. Board of Secondary Education, Assam has also included Hmar as an MIL in its matriculation syllabus from 2005. Both Manipur University and Assam University, Silchar has also permitted HMAR LANGUAGE to be studied as Modern Indian Language in the Graduation level.
Geographical distribution
Hmar is spoken in the following locations (Ethnologue).
Although Hmar speakers are scattered over a vast area in Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Chittagong Hill tracts, and NC Hills and Cachar districts of Assam state, India, there doesn't appear to be any dialectal distinction. There is no homogeneous settlement of Hmar speakers alone. In Manipur, Hmar exhibits partial mutual intelligibility with the other Kukish dialects of the area including Thadou, Paite, Vaiphei, Simte, Kom and Gangte languages.