Assamese language Assamese language Assamese () (also Asamiya) is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language. It is the easternmost Indo-European language; spoken by over 15 million speakers, and serves as a "lingua franca" in the region. Nefamese is an Assamese-based pidgin used in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in Nagaland. Small pockets of Assamese speakers can be found in Bangladesh. The non-linguistic Bengali dialects of Sylhet and North Bengal are linguistically closer to Assamese, though the speakers identify with the Bengali culture and the
Assamese literature to use this dialect in translating the Bible in 1813. The Missionaries established the first printing press in Sibsagar in 1836 and started using the local Asamiya dialect for writing purposes. In 1846 they started a monthly periodical called "Arunodoi", and in 1848, Nathan Brown published the first book on Assamese grammar. The Missionaries published the first Assamese-English Dictionary compiled by M. Bronson in 1867. One of the major contributions of the American Baptist missionaries to the Assamese language is the reintroduction of Assamese as the official language in Assam. In 1848 missionary Nathan Brown published a treatise on the