Sylheti

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A language of Bangladesh

ISO 639-3
syl
Alternate Names
Sileti, Siloti, Srihattia, Sylhetti, Sylhetti Bangla, Syloti, Syloty
Population

7,000,000 in Bangladesh. Population total all countries: 10,300,000.

Location

Sylhet, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Moulvibazar districts. Also in Canada, India, Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States.

Language Maps
Language Status

3 (Wider communication).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern zone, Bengali-Assamese
Dialects

Similar to Bengali [ben] and Assamese [asm]. Lexical similarity: 70% with Bengali.

Language Use

1,500,000 L2 speakers. All ages. Also use Bengali [ben], primarily men. Bengali used in education and media.

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 35%. Educated can read Bengali. Few women are educated. Bible portions: 1993.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Sylheti
Writing
Bengali script. Latin script. Syloti Nagri script, no longer in use.
Other Comments

Muslim, Hindu.

Also spoken in:

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