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 language features: Verbs in Assamese are negativized by adding before the verb, with picking up the initial vowel of the verb. For example: Assamese has a huge collection of classifiers, which are used extensively for different kinds of objects, acquired from Sino-Tibetan languages. A few examples of the most extensive and elaborate use of classifiers given below: In Assamese, classifiers are generally used in the "numeral + classifier + noun" (e.g. 'one man') or the "noun + numeral + classifier" (e.g. 'one man') forms. Most verbs can be converted into nouns by the addition of the suffix . For example, ('to