A Descriptive Grammar of Ollari Gadaba

Ollari Gadaba is a Central Dravidian language and has less than ten thousand native speakers. The language has various other names such as Gadaba, San Gadaba, San? Gadaba, Pottangi Ollar Gadaba, Ollaro, Hallari, Allar, and Hollar Gadaba. There is another Gadaba language called Gutob Gadaba that belongs to the Munda family of languages. Speakers of both Ollari Gadaba and Gutob Gadaba are similar in culture but different in linguistic affiliation. As a result, both the languages are categorized under a common or generic name prevalent in the respective areas. The present work mainly focuses on the aspects of phonology, morphology, basic syntax and convergence features of Ollari Gadaba. It also highlights the ethno-linguistic background of the language and discusses the convergence features i.e. how Munda and Indo-Aryan languages have influenced this language at various levels. The grammar is based on the field data collected from the native speakers of Pottangi, Semiliguda and Nandapur blocks of the Koraput district. Due to the influence of Odia the official language of the Odisha State, this language has lost many lexical items and grammatical features and this is dealt with detailed and ample examples.