Meitei

Meitei (/ˈmeɪteɪ/; ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ pronounced [mejtejlon]), also known as Manipuri (ꯃꯅꯤꯄꯨꯔꯤ pronounced [mənipuɾi]), is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and an additional official language in four districts of Assam. It is one of the constitutionally scheduled official languages of the Indian Republic. Meitei is the most widely-spoken Tibeto-Burman language of India and the third most widely spoken language of northeast India after Assamese and Bengali. There are 1.76 million Meitei native speakers in India according to the 2011 census, 1.52 million of whom are found in the state of Manipur, where they represent the majority of its population. There are smaller communities in neighbouring Indian states, such as Assam (168,000), Tripura (24,000), Nagaland (9,500), and elsewhere in the country (37,500). The language is also spoken by smaller groups in neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Meitei and Gujarati jointly hold the third place among the fastest growing languages of India, following Hindi and Kashmiri.