Surjapuri is an Indo-Aryan language of the Bengali-Assamese branch, spoken in Eastern India, in the Kosi-Seemanchal region, including some eastern parts of Purnia division (Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, and Araria districts) of Bihar, parts of Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal and Goalpara Division of Assam in India, as well as parts of Thakurgaon district in Bangladesh and Jhapa district in Nepal. It possesses similarities with Kamatapuri, Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, Urdu, and Hindi.
Geographical distribution Surjapuri is mainly spoken in some parts of Purnia division (Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, and Araria districts) of Bihar. It is also spoken in West Bengal (some parts of Islampur subdivision of Uttar Dinajpur district and Jalpaiguri division in northern Bengal region), Bangladesh (Thakurgaon District) as well as in parts of eastern Nepal of Jhapa District and Morang District.
Related languages Surjapuri is associated with the Kamtapuri language (and its dialects Goalpariya, Rajbanshi and Koch Rajbangshi) spoken in North Bengal and Western Assam, as well as with Assamese, Bengali, and Maithili.
Pronouns Source: Singular Plural nominative oblique nominative oblique 1st person mũi mo- hāmrā hāmsā-, hāmcā- 2nd person tũi to- tumrā, tomrā tumsā-, tomsā- 3rd person proximal yāhāy yahā- emrā, erā ismā-, isā- distal wahā̃y wahā- amrā, worā usmā-, usā-
Surjapuri has the oblique plural suffixes: sā (hamsā-, tomsā-) and smā (ismā-, usmā-). They are also seen in Early Assamese as: sā (āmāsā-, tomāsā-) and sambā (esambā-, tesambā-) and their occurrences are similar.
Phonology Consonants LabialDental/AlveolarRetroflexPost-alv./PalatalVelarGlottalNasalStop/AffricateFricativeTapLateralApproximant
Vowels FrontCentralBackHighMidLow
Nasalisation is also phonemic. /i, e/ in medial and initial form are heard as [ɪ, ɛ].
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