Kalahandia is a dialect of Odia spoken in the region of Kalahandi and Nuapada district of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

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 mainstream 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

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References

{{Odia language Eastern Indo-Aryan languages Languages of Odisha Odia language Kalahandi district