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Desia language

Desia,^[1] also DesiyaorDesia OdiaorKoraputi OdiaorSouthwestern Odia, is an Indo-Aryan language variety (sociolinguistically considered as a dialect of Odia) spoken in Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Malkangiri districts Odisha and in the hilly regions of Vishakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts of Andhra Pradesh.^[2] The variant spoken in Koraput is called Koraputia.

Desia serves as the lingua franca among the different ethnic groups in the area^[3] and is the major regional tribal-non-tribal dialect continuum of the undivided Koraput district of the Southwestern Odisha region.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Phonology[edit]

Desia variety has 21 consonant phonemes, 2 semivowel phonemes and 6 vowel phonemes.^[9]

There are no long vowels in Desia just like Standard Odia.

Desia shows the loss of retroflex consonant like voiced retroflex lateral approximant [ɭ] (ଳ) which are present in Standard Odia, and a limited usage of retroflex unaspirated nasal (voiced retroflex nasal) ɳ (ଣ).^[10]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Masica, Colin (1991). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2.