, states=India , region=

Western Odisha Western Odisha or the western part of Odisha, India, extending from the Kalahandi district in the south to the Sundargarh district in the north. History Historically It's a region of 'Greater Kalinga' & ruled by various dynastys. * Mahamegha ...

, image=

, imagecaption= 'Sambalpuri' in Odia script , speakers = million , date = 2011 census , ref= , familycolor=Indo-European , fam2= Indo-Iranian , fam3= Indo-Aryan , fam4= Eastern , fam5=

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

, script=

, iso3=spv , glotto=samb1325 , glottoname=Sambalpuri , glotto2=west2384 , glottoname2=Western Oriya , glottorefname2=Western Oriya , map = Sambalpuri speaking areas.png , mapcaption= Sambalpuri speaking areas(dialect continuum in green) in Odisha and Chhattisgarh Sambalpuri is an Indo-Aryan language variety spoken in

western Odisha Western Odisha or the western part of Odisha, India, extending from the Kalahandi district in the south to the Sundargarh district in the north. History Historically It's a region of 'Greater Kalinga' & ruled by various dynastys. * Mahamegha ...

, India. It is alternatively known as Western Odia, and as Kosali (with variants ''Kosli'', ''Koshal'' and ''Koshali''), a recently popularised but controversial term, which draws on an association with the historical region of Dakshina Kosala, whose territories also included the present-day Sambalpur region. Its speakers usually perceive it as a separate language, while outsiders have seen it as a dialect of

, and standard Odia is used by Sambalpuri speakers for formal communication. A 2006 survey of the varieties spoken in four villages found out that they share three-quarters of their basic vocabulary with Standard Odia.

Geographical Distribution

There were million people in India who declared their language to be Sambalpuri at the 2011 census, almost all of them residents in

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. These speakers were mostly concetrated in the districts of

Bargarh Bargarh is a city and municipality in Bargarh district in the state of odisha in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bargarh District. Bargarh is popularly known for intensive cultivation of 'paddy', therefore called "Bhata Hand ...

( speakers), Subarnapur (), Balangir (), Sambalpur (), Jharsuguda (), Nuapada (), Baudh (), and

Sundargarh Sundergarh is a town in Sundergarh district of the Indian state of Odisha. As of 2011 census, the municipality had a population of 45,036. Sundargarh is recognized as an industrial district in Odisha. Steel, fertilizer, cement, ferrovanadium, ...

().

Script

The inscriptions and literary works from the

region used the Odia script, which is attested through the inscriptions like the Stambeswari stone inscription of 1268 CE laid by the Eastern Ganga monarch Bhanu Deva I at Sonepur and the Meghla grant and Gobindpur charter of Raja Prithvi Sing of

Sonepur State Sonepur also known as Sonpur State, was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. Its ruler was entitled to a nine gun salute. Formerly it was placed under the Central India Agency, but in 1905 it was transferred ...

and also through the major epic Kosalananda Kavya composed during the 17th century Chauhan rule under Raja Baliar Singh of the

Sambalpur State Sambalpur State, also known as Hirakhand Kingdom was a sovereign state founded in the 1570 CE. It ruled over a vast kingdom spread across Western Odisha and Eastern Chhattisgarh in central-eastern India prior to the Maratha occupation in 1800 AD ...

, which was written in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

in Odia script. The

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...

script may have been used in the past, (the Hindi language was mandated in administration and education in Sambalpur for the brief period 18951901)

Phonology

Sambalpuri has 28 consonant phonemes, 2 semivowel phonemes and 5 vowel phonemes. There are no long vowels in Sambalpuri just like Standard Odia. Sambalpuri shows loss of retroflex consonants like retroflex unaspirated nasal(

voiced retroflex nasal The voiced retroflex nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is n`. Like all the retroflex conson ...

) () and voiced retroflex lateral approximant () which are present in Standard Odia.

Characteristics

The following is a list of features and comparison with Standard Odia: Some key features include- * r-insertion: insertion or paragogue of /r/ at the end of Sambalpuri verbs * Word Medial Vowel Deletion - Syncope of certain word medial vowels, with exceptions seen in -ai diphthongs. * Vowel Harmony - a shift of /o/ to /u/. This is also seen in the

Baleswari Odia , states=India , region=Odisha ( Baleswar, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Kendujhar) , ethnicity= Odias , familycolor=Indo-European , fam2= Indo-Iranian , fam3= Indo-Aryan , fam4=Eastern , fam5= Odia , script= Odia , glotto=nort2660 , glottorefname=North Ba ...

dialect and to an extent the

Ganjami Odia , states=India , region=Odisha (Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal) , ethnicity=Odias , familycolor=Indo-European , fam2= Indo-Iranian , fam3= Indo-Aryan , fam4=Eastern , fam5= Odia , script= Odia , glotto=sout2666 , glottoname=Southern Oriya , glottoref ...

dialect. * Word Final Vowel Deletion - Apocope of word-final schwa (see

Schwa deletion In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it r ...

). Word Medial Vowel Deletion- Syncope Exceptions to Word Medial Vowel Deletion- seen in '-ai' diphthongs Vowel Harmony- 'o' to 'u' phoneme shift, feature also seen in

dialect Lengthening of Vowel Sound - vowels which appear in between consonants take their longer counterpart Consonant shift- shift of 'ṇ' and 'ḷ' phonemes to 'n' and 'l' Word Final Vowel Deletion(

Apocope)- a characteristic feature of Sambalpuri Sambalpuri words

Language movement

There has been a language movement campaigning for the recognition of the language. Its main objective has been the inclusion of the language into the

8th schedule There is no national language in India. However, article 343(1) of the Indian constitution specifically mentions that, "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official pur ...

of the Indian constitution.

Literature

* Satya Narayan Bohidar– writer and pioneer of Sambalpuri literature. Notable works include Ṭikcaham̐rā (1975), Sambalapurī bhāshāra sabda-bibhaba : bā, Saṃkshipta Sambalapurī byākaraṇa o racanā (1977) *

Prayag Dutta Joshi Prayag Dutta Joshi was an Indian writer and Sambalpuri language (allegedly also known as ''Kosli'') activist. He was born on 25 February 1913 to Shri Chandrasekhar Patjoshi and Smt. Brundabati Devi in Khariar, Nuapada Nuapada is a town in we ...

- Sambalpuri writer *Nil Madhab Panigrahi– Wrote Mahabharat Katha * Haldhar Nag– Famous Sambalpuri poet and popularly known as "Lok kabi Ratna". His notable Sambalpuri works are- ''Lokgeet'', ''Samparda'', ''Krushnaguru'', ''Mahasati Urmila'', ''Tara Mandodari'', ''Achhia'', ''Bacchhar'', ''Siri Somalai'', ''Veer Surendra Sai'', ''Karamsani'', ''Rasia Kavi'', ''Prem Paechan''. His works has been compiled into "Lokakabi Haladhar Granthabali" and "Surata". He was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

in 2016. *Prafulla Kumar Tripathy– Compiled the Sambalpuri-Odia Dictionary- 'Samalpuri Odia Shabdakosha' (2001). *Hema Chandra Acharya- Wrote 'Ram Raha' (2001), the Sambalpuri version of the Ramayana.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links and further reading

*
Registered newspapers and magazines published in Kosli language
* {{Western Orissa Languages of Odisha Odia language Eastern Indo-Aryan languages