Odia (ଓଡ଼ିଆ), also known as Oriya, belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family, and it can be traced back over a thousand years when written records of this script could be found as early as 7th century. During the early period the language was primarily used in Jain and Buddhist texts.
At present, Odia is the official language of the Indian state of Odisha, and it is also spoken as a second language in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
The Odia language has 52 letters. It can be broken down into vowels and consonants. A vowel and a consonant can be combined to make up the Odia script to write the Odia language. The combination of the two are also known as `matra (ମାତ୍ର)`. Below is the breakdown of the Oriya letters.
In Odia vowel are called `Swarabarna (ସ୍ଵରବର୍ଣ୍ଣ)`. There are 12 independent, 9 dependent and 2 two part dependent vowel letters.
The vowels can either be written as independent letter or combined with consonant letter. Vowels can be added before or after the consonants and consequently change the shape of the consonant letter.
Consonant in Odia are also called `Byanjan Barna (ବ୍ୟଞ୍ଜନ ବର୍ଣ)`. There are 40 consonant letters in Odia.
The consonant and vowels in Oriya are combined to make a final sound. Each consonant has a unique form and the shape of the consonant changes depending on the vowel letter attached to it.
The Odia language has its own numeric symbols to represent numbers and fractions. The number can be combined to form number of any size and length.
In the past, the Odia numeral system were used in mathematics for counting and adding number. At present, however, either Hindu or Latin numeral systems are used.
There are 52 letters in Odia script. Out of them, 12 are vowel letters and remaining 52 letters are consonants.
In Odia, there are 12 vowel and 40 consonant letters.
Odia is a Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the Indian state of Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.
Odia is spoken by over 42 million people around the world. In the Indian states of Odisha alone, it is spoken by 27 million native speakers as a first language and another 5 million use it as a second language.