[2][3] Spoken natively by an estimated 4 million people in the Indian northeastern state of Nagaland, it developed primarily as a means of marketplace and trade communication.
Despite the official language of the state being English, Nagamese functions as a lingua franca and is spoken by nearly all Nagaland inhabitants.
It is also used in mass media as well as in official state-regulated domains, including news and radio stations, education and political and governmental spheres.
[2][4] Nagamese primarily developed as a lingua franca because of the contact in the barter trade centres in the plains of Assam between members of different Naga linguistic group communicating with Assamese traders and one another.
[2] Additionally, there is evidence of language contact interactions between the indigenous, Ahom rulers and various Naga groups regarding revenue and tax collection, treaty negotiation, administrative purposes and warfare.
[3] With the increased interest and emphasis on education, teachers often used Nagamese in classroom teachings, discussions, and proper explanations of the subject matter.
[3] He consulted with Naga leaders and relevant authorities regarding whether the Devanagari, Assamese, Roman or Bengali scripts should be made standard.
As the population was predominantly Christianized under the British and was generally familiar with the Roman script by texts that the missionaries had brought, it was considered the most favourable.