Linguistic Survey of India – Orissa

The Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) is an ongoing project of the Government of India that aims to document and study how languages have changed in the country over the years. It considers shifts in society, administrative regions and the reorganisation of states based on linguistic identity. This project has been undertaken by the Language Division, Office of the Registrar General, Government of India.Part of this project is the Linguistic Survey of India – Orissa which studies 27 languages and dialects spoken in Orissa (now Odisha). The survey was carried out between 1981 and 2000.The survey works on the census framework according to which ‘language’ and ‘mother tongue’ are ‘co-terminus’ or mean the same. The volume presents sketches of 27 languages: Oriya, Sambalpuri, Bhatri, Desia (Proja), Relli, Bhuyan, KeLa, Laria, Binjhia and Sadan/Sadri (Indo-Aryan family); Bhumji, Bonda, Didei, Gadaba (Gutob), Ho, Juang, Kharia, Mundari, Parengi, Santali, Savara (Austro-Asiatic family); and Khond/Kondh, Kisan, Koya, Kui, Kuvi, Gadaba (Ollari) (Dravidian family). This selection of the languages is based on regional importance, the number of speakers and the locations where the survey was conducted.The present-day LSI is an extension of the survey first proposed by George Abraham Grierson, an Irish linguist who documented Indian languages during the pre-Independence era. This survey “complements and supplements” Grierson’s survey conducted when the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and present-day Bangladesh were part of the same province called the Bengal Presidency.The document is divided into four main chapters. The first chapter introduces Grierson’s linguistic study and outlines the history, demography and administrative divisions of the state...