Kalahandia is a dialect of
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 ...
spoken in the region of
Kalahandi
Kalahandi (locally pronounced ''Kalahani'') is a district of Odisha in India. Archaeological evidence of Stone Age and Iron Age human settlement has been recovered from the region. Asurgarh offered an advanced, well civilised, cultured and ur ...
and
Nuapada
Nuapada is a town in western region of Odisha state of eastern India. It is the headquarter of Nuapada district. Nuapada district was carved out of the undivided Kalahandi district on 27 March 1993. It is on the western border of Odisha with Chh ...
district of
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 ...
state in India. Local weekly Odia newspaper such as ''Arjji'' and ''Kalahandi Express'' publish articles in standard Odia Form and Kalahandia Odia Form.
Distinguishing features
Kalahandia Odia is distinct from standard Odia in terms of vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. The vocabulary is a little mixture of standard Odia words and
Sambalpuri words spoken with a distinct accent and cadence. Unlike standard Odia, in Kalahandia the final "a" sound is silent (e.g. Ghar ଘର୍ instead of Ghara ଘର). It has a typical vowel sound "ae" (as in marbu kaen ମରବୁ କାଏଁ) which is lacking in standard mainstream Odia. In verbs the "b" sound is replaced with "m" (as in Jimi ଜିମି instead of Jibi ଯିବି). Often the final vowel sound of mainstrem Odia is shifted to the middle of a word after modification (e.g. Aji ଆଜି becomes Aej ଆଏଜ୍ and Rajya ରାଜ୍ୟ becomes Raej ରାଏଜ୍).
Published work on Kalahandia
*''Kalahandia Dhaga''
*''Kalahandia Dictionary''
*''Kalahandia Ghumura Songs''
Bibliography
*
*
References
{{Odia language
Eastern Indo-Aryan languages
Languages of Odisha
Odia language
Kalahandi district