Kokborok is a Bodo-Garo language — closer to Bodo and Dimasa in Assam and to Garo in Meghalaya than to the Kuki-Chin languages of the hills immediately east, which is one of the region's more counter-intuitive facts. Its name is its own description: kok, language, and borok, people. It has been an official language of the state since 1979, is taught to degree level, and is written in both Bengali and Roman script. Beside it, in the same small territory, sit Bengali as the majority language, Chakma from the Indo-Aryan family with its own Brahmic script, Mog from the Arakanese branch of Burmese, Halam and Darlong from Kuki-Chin, and Mizo on the Jampui ridge. Few Indian regions of this size carry languages from this many branches.
Kokborok (Debbarma standard)Trans-Himalayan, Bodo-Garo
The Debbarma variety functions as the standard, with Reang, Noatia, Jamatia, Koloi and Rupini as the principal other dialects — mutually intelligible in most pairings, and differing most in vocabulary for farming and kinship.
बोलने वाले: Around 13 lakh speakers recorded in and around this region at the 2011 Census
Reang (Bru) KokborokTrans-Himalayan, Bodo-Garo
The dialect of the region's second-largest indigenous community, and the language of the Hojagiri song repertoire.
Bengali of the western plainIndo-Aryan, Eastern
Continuous with the speech of the Meghna floodplain rather than with Kolkata Bengali, carrying eastern vocabulary and a distinct intonation, and the language of the region's print and administrative culture since the Manikya period.
ChakmaIndo-Aryan, Eastern
Related to the Bengali of the Chittagong region but written in its own Brahmic script, and carried by a Buddhist community whose calendar runs on Bizu rather than on either of the region's other new years.
Mog (Marma)Trans-Himalayan, Burmese (Arakanese)
An Arakanese variety, written historically in Burmese script, belonging to a community that arrived from across the Bay rather than along the ranges.
Halam, Darlong and the Kuki-Chin varietiesTrans-Himalayan, Kuki-Chin
Spoken by communities settled across the central and northern hills, and linguistically part of the continuum that runs east through Mizoram to the Chin Hills.
Mizo on the Jampui ridgeTrans-Himalayan, Kuki-Chin
The language of the ridge-top villages at the northern end of the region, and of their Cheraw and hymn tradition.