Bangla language

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Bangla or Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit languages.

Bangla is native to the people residing in eastern South Asia known as Bengal, that is broadly occupied by Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. With nearly 230 million total speakers, Bangla is one of the most spoken languages (ranking 5th[1] or 6th[2] in the world). Bangla is the primary language spoken in Bangladesh and is the second most spoken language in India.[3][4] Along with Assamese, it is geographically the most eastern of the Indo-Iranian languages.

The Bangla language, has a long and rich literary and cultural tradition and binds together a culturally and religiously diverse region. In 1952, when Bangladesh was actually included in Pakistan and called East Pakistan, this strong sense of identity led to the Bengali Language Movement. During that movement, thousands of people fought and became martyrs on February 21. This day has now been declared as the International Mother Language Day.

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  3. Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed. (2005). Languages of India. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition.. SIL International. Retrieved on 2006-11-17.
  4. Languages in Descending Order of Strength - India, States and Union Territories - 1991 Census. Census Data Online 1. Office of the Registrar General, India. Retrieved on 2006-11-19.