Lodhi language
Lodhi is a Munda language or an Indo-Aryan dialect cluster of India. Ethnologue notes high levels of lexical similarity with Oriya, Bengali and Kharia Thar which is spoken only by one quarter of ethnic Lodhi in Orissa. However, while admitting that Lodhi is related to Sora, a Munda language, Ethnologue also classifies Lodhi as an Indic language and it is considered a variety of Hindi in the Indian census. It may be that there are both Munda and Indic varieties subsumed under the name Lodhi.
However, Anderson suggests that Lodhi of northern Orissa may be an Indo-Aryan lect rather than endangered Munda language; some members use the autonym Sabar or Sabara.
Locations
Lodhi is spoken in:- Morada and Suliapada, Sadar subdivision, Mayurbhanj district, Odisha
- Sora block, Balasore district, Odisha
- Binpur and Kharagpur-I blocks in West Medinipur district, West Bengal
- Jharkhand
Status
Since the Lodha live in multilingual communities in frequent contact with peoples such as the Kharia, Bengali and Bhumij almost all Lodha are bilingual and can speak Bengali. In addition to bilingualism the multilingualism of the Lodha means that the Lodhi language is only used within the home or amongst the tribe. The Lodhi language is declining as now most of its speakers are elderly with the younger population switching to Bengali.The Lodhi language is neither a subject nor a medium of instruction in any of the schools. It is not used in the judicial or in government system. In the religious and cultural ceremonies, the Lodhi language is sparingly used. Instead of Lodha Bengali is used instead.
Lodhi is a mostly unwritten language but when it needs to be written the Devanagari script is used.
Phonology
Vowels
All phonemes can occur in either the beginning, middle, or the end of a world.The 4 diphthongs that are used are: /eu/ /oi/ /ua/ /ui/.
Morphology
The lexicon of Lodhi is divided into 2 groups: the vast majority of words are in the first group which is made up of predicates, complements of predicates and as modifiers, and a second smaller group which serves to indicate things like tense, person, and number.Nouns
Nouns in Lodhi are distinguished by grammatical number, grammatical gender, and case; and can only be used at the head of a predicate phrase. They are divided by animacy into two groups: animate, and inanimate; animate nouns include words like Lebuki and biloiki while inanimate nouns are words like daru.Number
Words in Lodhi are divided by three types of number: singular, dual, and plural. Singular words are unmarked, dual words are marked with the suffix -kiyar, and plural words are marked with the suffix -ki.| Lodhi | English | |
| Singular | lebu | man |
| Dual | lebukiyar | two men |
| Plural | lebuki | men |
The dual can also be used in combination with a personal name refers to that person and a person who is related to him or her in some fashion, usually by marriage; while the plural is also often found to denote approximation between two things.
Gender
Lodhi does not have grammatical gender but it does have natural gender where words for things which have a gender use either use a word with the gender within the definition ex. konselu and kõpuu, or the suffix -ay can be added to make a word from its female version to its male version ex. saw vs. saway. Inanimate objects do not have any gender associated with them.Case
Lodhi has 3 cases: nominative, locative, and possessive.Nominative is unmarked ex. dʰaru, bi:or
Locative is marked with the suffix -te ex. oʔ oʔte
Possessive is marked with 1 of 3 suffixes depending on the grammatical person of the possession
| Lodhi | example | English | |
| 1st Person | -im | emga'im | my mother |
| 2nd person | -m | emgam | your mother |
| 3rd Person | -te | emgate | his mother |
Postpositions
There are many postposition in Lodhi with the most popular being.| Lodhi | English |
| bahart | outside of |
| mugamte | in front of |
| kunabte | behind |
| toblute | on top of, above |
| mo jhite | amidst, among |
| tutate | under, below |
Adjectives
Adjectives in Lodhi are divided into 2 groups: simple adjectives and derived pronouns. Simple adjective are all mono-morphophonetic.Derived adjectives are derived by adding either -i, -e, or -te to the end of a simple adjective to get a new adjective with a related but different definition. Examples include dhoa vs. dhoate, mati vs. maite, and des vs. desi.
Verbs
In Lodhi the verbs ending in personal suffix are finite Verbs and those which do not end in personal suffix and which carry participle suffix or infinitive suffix are non-finite Verbs. Additionally the verbs contain aspect and/ or tense or imperative suffixes or the gerundial suffix.Tense
There are four tenses in Lodhi: past, present, future, and continuous.Mood
Imperative mood is only used in the second person and is marked via the infix -na- as in the word com vs. conam.Perfect participle is marked via the suffix -kon ex. co vs. cokon
The infinitive is marked marked with the suffix -na ex. co vs. ''cona''