- Halbi language
Infobox Language
name=Halbi
nativename=
states=India
region=Madhya Pradesh ,Chhattisgarh ,Andhra Pradesh ,Orissa andMaharashtra
speakers=500,000 (2000)
rank=
familycolor=Indo-European
fam2=Indo-Iranian
fam3=Indo-Aryan
fam4=Eastern Group
fam5=Bengali-Assamese
script=
nation=
iso3=hlbHalbi (also Bastari, Halba, Halvas, Halabi, Halvi, Mahari, Mehari) is an Eastern zone Indo-Aryan language of the Bengali-Assamese subgroup, spoken by about 500,000 individuals across the central part of
India . It uses SOV word order (subject-object-verb), makes strong use of affixes, and places adjectives before nouns. It is often used as a trade language, but there is a low literacy rate.The Mehari dialect is mutually intelligible with the other dialects only with difficulty. There are an estimated 200,000 second-language speakers (as of 2001). Schooled males are fluent in
Hindi . Some first language speakers useBhatri as second language.Halbi is written in the
Devanagari script.External links
*ethnologue|code=hlb
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