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Garo

A language of India

ISO 639-3: grt

Population	780,000 in India (2007). Population total all countries: 900,000.
Region	Meghalaya, Garo Hills District; West Assam, Goalpara, Kamrup, Karbi Anglong districts; Nagaland, Kohima District; Tripura, South Tripura District, Udaipur Subdivision; North Tripura District, Kamalpur, Kailasahar subdivisions; West Tripura District, Sadar Subdivision; West Bengal, Jalpaiguri and Koch Bihar districts. Also in Bangladesh.
Alternate names	Garrow, Mande, Mandi
Dialects	A’beng (A’bengya, Am’beng), A’chick (A’chik), Achik (A’we, Chisak, Dual, Matchi), Dacca, Ganching, Kamrup. Achik is the standardized dialect in India. A’beng dialect used in Bangladesh, but is not mutually intelligible. Most similar to Koch [kdq].
Classification	Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Jingpho-Konyak-Bodo, Konyak-Bodo-Garo, Bodo-Garo, Garo
Language use	Official language. Awe dialect, spoken in Assam, has few remaining speakers. Most use standard Garo.
Language development	Literacy rate in L2: 55% for Meghalaya. General level of education is low compared to Khasi [kha]. Taught in primary schools. Films. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible: 1924–1994.
Writing system	Bengali script. Latin script.
Comments	A Scheduled Tribe. Official language in Meghalaya only. Christian.

Also spoken in:

Bangladesh

Language name	Garo
Population	120,000 in Bangladesh (2005).
Region	Mymensingh plains, Tangail Sherpur, Madhupur, Jamelpur, Netrakona, Sylhet, Dhaka.
Language map	Bangladesh
Alternate names	Garrow, Mande, Mandi
Dialects	Abeng, Achik, Brak, Chibok, Dual.
Language use	All ages. Parents want their children to read and write Garo.
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: 25%. Literacy rate in L2: 90% in Bengali [ben].
Comments	Abeng dialect is spoken but writing is in Achik. Christian.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

AHMAD, Sayed; KIM, Amy; KIM, Seung; SANGMA, Mridul, authors. 2012. "The Garos of Bangladesh: A Sociolinguistic Survey."  

KONDAKOV, Alexander, author. 2011. "Koch Survey Wordlists and Sociolinguistic Questionnaire."