List of endangered languages in Bangladesh


hosts a number of endangered languages that are defined as languages at risk of falling out of use, generally because it has few surviving speakers. If it loses all of its native speakers, it becomes an extinct language. UNESCO defines four levels of language endangerment between "safe" and "extinct":
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data from 2011, the country has 27 "small anthropological groups" consisting of 17,84,000 people in total. Ethnologists in Bangladesh and indigenous leaders claim that 48 indigenous communities, a total of 5 million people, are present in Bangladesh. They host 4 language families with 30 ethno-languages. 12-18 of them are endangered at varying degrees. International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka, a government institute, launched a project to reservation and mobilization of 37 languages. Only 4 of the target languages have their own scripts — Chakma, Marma, Mru, and Meithei. Some other indigenous communities, especially the 2 lakh people living in Rajshahi, use a language called "Sadri" adopting alphabets from Hindi, Bangla, Urdu and other languages. It is used in the Sylhet tea garden area by Telegu, Santhali, Nepali and Rai communities as a lingua franca.
The Hill Tracts, a forested upland area in southeastern Bangladesh, is home to more than a dozen indigenous peoples. 50% of the indigenous people of there have no formal schooling; less than 8% complete primary education, and only 2% completes secondary. Most of the children don't understand the instructions written in Bengali. In north-eastern Bangladesh, Hari, Banai, Dalui, and Rajbongshi indigenous communities have started to use Bengali leaving their native languages due to the lack of social and economical recognition.

List

LanguageCountriesSpeakersStatusCommentsRef
Bishnupriya Manipuri CreoleIndia, Bangladesh115,000Vulnerable
BawmBangladesh14,000Definitely endangered
ChakBangladesh5,500Definitely endangered
Asho ChinMyanmar, Bangladesh2,340Definitely endangered
Chin, FalamMyanmar, Bangladesh120,000Vulnerable
Chin, HakaMyanmar, Bangladesh446,264Vulnerable
HajongBangladesh, India68,000Vulnerable
KhasiIndia, Bangladesh865,000Definitely endangered
KodaBangladesh, India1,600Severely endangered
Kok BorokBangladesh, India695,000Vulnerable
KuruxBangladesh14,000Definitely endangered
MarmaBangladesh166,500Vulnerable
MegamBangladesh6,870Severely endangered
MruBangladesh51,230Definitely endangered
PangkhuaBangladesh2,730Severely endangered
PnarIndia, Bangladesh88,000Definitely endangered
Sadri, OraonBangladesh166,000Vulnerable
Sauria PahariaIndia, Bangladesh117,000Definitely endangered

In addition to this list International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka counts a number of other languages as endangered including Lushai, Khumi, Khiyang, Rengmatia, and Patra.