Angika

Angika is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Eastern group (Bihari branch) of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European language family. * ISO 639-3: anp * Glottocode: angi1238

Speakers

According to the 2011 Census of India, there are approximately 743,112 speakers who returned Angika as their mother tongue, although some scholarly estimates and cultural organizations suggest a significantly higher number of speakers who may have registered under Hindi.

Distribution in India

Angika is primarily spoken in the traditional Anga region of eastern India. * Bihar: Principal districts include Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger, Jamui, Lakhisarai, and Khagaria. * Jharkhand: Major presence in the Santhal Pargana division, including Dumka, Godda, Deoghar, and Sahibganj districts. * Other Regions: Significant diaspora and border communities exist in parts of West Bengal and adjoining areas of Nepal.

Major Grammatical Features

• Phonology: Features a typical Indo-Aryan consonant inventory with a contrast between retroflex and dental consonants, as well as aspirated and unaspirated stops. Vowel nasalization is phonemic. Like other Bihari languages, Angika exhibits a prominent use of the inherent vowel /ə/ and vowel-shortening processes in non-initial syllables.
• Morphology: Nominal morphology is largely analytical, employing postpositions to mark grammatical relations and case. Verbs are highly inflected, displaying complex agreement systems that mark not only the subject's person, number, and honorific status but also, in certain contexts, the honorificity of the object or referent.
• Syntax: The default word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). It is a split-ergative language where agent-marking varies based on aspectual distinctions, and it heavily employs conjunctive participles and compound verb constructions to denote continuous or sequential actions.

Further Reading

• Search for more details on the Wikipedia Angika Language Page.
• Detailed genetic and bibliographical resources can be accessed via Glottolog 5.0.