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"
History of Assamese literature Assamese Language" for which he obtained a reward of Rs. 500. He was the author of a treatise called “Notes on the marriage system of the people of Assam” and of two farcical plays the "Kania Kirtan" which exposed the vice of excessive opium eating, and "Bahire Rangchang Bhitare Kowan Bhuturi" which was a satire on the contemporary Assamese Society. Hem Chandra also edited the "Assam News" at Guwahati for some time. The first Anglo-Assamese dictionary was compiled by a student of Cotton College in the year 1910, Makhan Lal Chaliha of Chiring Chapori, which was found in the British