"असमियाभाषा" इत्यस्य संस्करणे भेदः

'''असमिया (অসমীয়াঅসমীয়া)''' आर्य-भाषा परिवारस्‍य एका भाषा. Itis the language spoken by the natives of the state of [[Assam]] in northeast [[India]]. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of [[Arunachal Pradesh]] and other norteast Indian states. Small pockets of Assamese speakers can be found in [[Bhutan]] and [[Bangladesh]]. The eastern most of [[Indo-European]] languages, it is spoken by over 20 million people.

The language descends from classical [[Sanskrit]] via the eastern branch of [[Prakrit]]. Assamese, along with [[Oriya]] and [[Bengali]], is believed to have developed from Magahi apabhramsa . Written records relating to Assamese language can be traced to 6th/7th century AD when [[Kamarupa]] (''the ancient name of Assam'') was ruled by the Varman dynasty. Since then over the passage of the centuries it has been influenced by the languages and dialects of tribes that migrated from south eastern parts of [[Asia]]. Among these, primarily it was the [[Ahom]] tribe, that ruled Assam for over 600 years until 1824 AD. It is from the word Ahom that the Assamese or Axomiya language derives its name. Other big tribes like the Boro's and the Kachari's have also lended charm to the language.

The Assamese script derives it's ancestry to [[Nagari]], an earlier form of [[Devanagari]] script which is used in India's national language [[Hindi]]. The script is very similar to [[Bengali script]] with some minor differences. The spellings in Assamese are not necessarily phonetic. ''Hemkox'', the first Assamese dictionary introduced spellings based on Sanskrit which are now the standard.

Assamese phonetics has two distinguishing features ''vis-a-vis'' the other [[Indic]] languages of the [[Indo-European]] family. The absence of the [[retroflex]] sound and the presence of the [[voiceless velar fricative]]. As an example of the second, some Assamese prefer ''Axomiya'' to ''Asomiya'' while writing the name of their language.

=== Early Assamese (6th to 15th century AD) ===

This period may again be split into (a) Pre–Vaishnavite and (b) Vaishnative sub- periods. The earliest known Assamese writer is Hema Saraswati, who wrote a small poem "PrahradaPrahrada Charita". In the time of the king Indranarayana of Kamatapur, the son of Durlabhanarayana, the two poets Harihara Vipra and Kaviratna Saraswati composed Asvamedha Parva and Jayadratha Vadha respectively. Another poet named Rudra Kandali translated 'Drona Parva' into Assamese. But the most well-known poet of the Pre-Vaishnavite sub period is Madhava Kandali, who rendered the entire Ramayana into Assamese verse under the patronage of Mahamanikya, a kachari king of Jayantapura.

=== Middle Assamese (16th to 19th Century AD) ===

[[ISO 639]]-1: as<br />

ISO 639-2: asm<br />