Khasi (Ka Ktien Khasi) is an Austroasiatic language with just over a million speakers in north-east India, primarily the Khasi people in the state of Meghalaya. It has associate official status in some districts of this state. The closest relatives of Khasi are the other languages in the Khasic group of the Shillong Plateau; these include Pnar, Lyngngam and War. Khasi is written using the Latin script. In the first half of the 19th century, attempts to write Khasi in Bengali-Assamese script met with little success. A sizeable number of books have been published in Khasi, including novels, poetry, religious works, school textbooks and non-fiction.