Assamese language in the past. There are also significant Assamese-speaking communities in Australia, Dubai, the United Kingdom, Canada, Nepal and the United States. Assamese is the official language of Assam, and one of the 23 official languages recognised by the Republic of India. The Assam Secretariat functions in Assamese. The Assamese phonemic inventory consists of eight vowels, ten diphthongs, and twenty-three consonants (including two semivowels). Consonant clusters in Assamese include thirty three pure consonant letters in the Assamese alphabet. Each letter represents a single sound with an inherent vowel, the short vowel . The first twenty-five consonants letters are called "sparxa barna"
Assamese literature century period, scarce examples of the language exist. The "Charyapada"s, the Buddhist ballads of 8th-10th century some of whose composers were from Kamarupa and the language of which bear strong affitinities with Assamese (beside Bengali, Maithili and Oriya), are considered the first examples of Assamese literature. The spirit of the "Charyapadas" are found in later-day "Deh-Bicaror Geet" and other aphorisms; and some of the ragas found their way to the 15th-16th century "Borgeets". In the 12th-14th century period the works of Ramai Pundit ("Sunya Puran"), Boru Chandidas ("Krishna Kirtan"), Sukur Mamud ("Gopichandrar Gan"), Durllava Mullik ("Gobindachandrar Git") and Bhavani Das