Language Variation in Odisha – Switching and Mixing of Codes

Abstract

Language is a complex social, cultural and geographical phenomenon. Language being a system of systems is also celebrate as an abstraction of abstractions. These abstractions being in shape of dialects, sociolects and idiolects etc. must be studied thoroughly in order to get a comprehensive view. Hence, besides what linguistic components form language, it becomes important to note that in which geographical area it is spoken and in which society and culture it is used. In the present paper the topic of discourse is Odia language, spoken in the Eastern part of India. A sociolinguistic study of this language shows how this language being an important Indo-Aryan language and an official language of the state of Odisha which is placed in the VIIIth schedule of the Indian constitution, also exhibits a considerable variation across the state. Extensive examples have been presented to confirm the sociolinguistic study. The contact and relationship of the users, the dialectical variation, the context and purpose of the discourse are highlighted to show the typical code switching and code mixing phenomenon prevailing in this multilingual state along with the factors involved in such processes.