Oriya

Oriya is a member of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It shares many features with Assamese and Bengali. It is spoken as a first language by 31 million people most of whom live in the Indian state of Orissa, although there are also significant Oriya-speaking populations in West Bengal and Jharkhand. (Ethnologue).

Oriya is thought to have descended from a Prakrit spoken in Eastern India over 1,500 years ago. Of all the languages spoken in Northern India, Oriya shows the least influence of Persian and Arabic. However, it shows significant Buddhist and Jain influences. Oriya has a strong literary heritage dating back to the 13th century.

Oriya is one of the 22 official languages and 14 regional languages of India. It is the medium of everyday communication in Orissa and is also used in education, government, business and the media.

Dialects
Oriya has the following major regional dialects, each of which can be further subdivided into smaller ones:

•   Mughalbandi, also referred to as Oriya Proper, or Standard Oriya
•   Southern
•   Northwestern
•   Western
•   North Balasore
•   Midnapore
•   Halbi

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