Koda, also known as Kora, Kaora, Korali, Korati, Kore, Mudi, or Mudikora,[2] is an endangered Munda language of India and Bangladesh spoken by the Kora. The Kora mainly live in West Bengal, in the districts of Paschim Medinipur and Bankura, with a few in neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand. In 2005, there were 1,300 speakers in the Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh, though many said that Bengali was their best language. Koda is closely related to the Kol language.

Koda
কোডা
Native toIndia, Bangladesh
Ethnicity2.5 lakh Kora
Native speakers
47,268 (2011 census)[1]
Austroasiatic
  • Munda
    • North
      • Kherwarian
        • Mundaric
          • Koda
Language codes
ISO 639-3cdz
Glottologkoda1236
ELPKoda

Kim et al. (2010)[3] considers Koda and Kol to be Mundari cluster languages. Koda-speaking villages include Kundang and Krishnupur in Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh, while Kol villages include Babudaing village.

Koda verbs are inflected for tense-aspect-mood and person, number, finite/infinite, subject/object, possessor, animacy and transitivity. In recent times Koda is code-mixing with Bangla: including vocabulary replacement and greater adoption of Bengali syntax. These processes are seen more in younger speakers.[4]

Shamim (2021)[5] presents a description of the phonology and morphology of Koda. It also presents a study of Koda in the context of language contact.

Phonology

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Consonants

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Consonants[6]
Bilabial Dental/
Alveolar
Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless unaspirated p ʈ c k ʔ
aspirated () (t̪ʰ) (ʈʰ) () ()
voiced unaspirated b ɖ ɟ g
aspirated () (d̪ʱ) (ɖʱ) (ɟʱ) ()
Fricative ʃ h
Nasal m n ŋ
Tap ɾ
Approximant l
  • The non-labial aspirated consonants (/t̪ʰ, d̪ʱ, ʈʰ, ɖʱ, cʰ, ɟʱ, kʰ, gʱ/) are found primarily in Bengali loanwords.[7]

Vowels

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Vowels[8]
Front Back
Close i u
Mid ɛ ɔ
Open ɑ
  • Vowel length and nasalization are not contrastive.[9] Nasal vowels in Bengali loanwords lose their nasality.[10]
  • Non-open vowels /ɛ, i, ɔ, u/ become semivowels [ɛ̯, i̯, ɔ̯, u̯] between vowels.[11]
  • /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ raise to [e] and [o] when the next syllable contains a close vowel.[11]

Notes

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  1. ^ "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  2. ^ Simons, Gary F; Fennig, Charles D, eds. (2018). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (21st ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
  3. ^ Kim, Seung; Kim, Amy; Ahmad, Sayed; Sangma, Mridul (April 2010). The Santali Cluster in Bangladesh: A Sociolinguistic Survey (PDF) (Report). SIL Electronic Survey Report. Vol. 2010–006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  4. ^ Lahiri, Bornini (2020). "Effect of Bangla on Koda verbs". Queries in Structure of Language. Central Institute of Indian Languages & Linguistic Society of India. pp. 131–137. ISBN 9788194649977. OCLC 1419790634.
  5. ^ Shamim 2021.
  6. ^ Shamim 2021, p. 52.
  7. ^ Shamim 2021, p. 55.
  8. ^ Shamim 2021, p. 46.
  9. ^ Shamim 2021, p. 22.
  10. ^ Shamim 2021, p. 50.
  11. ^ a b Shamim 2021, p. 47.

References

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