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Friday, April 13, 2012

Commonly Mispronounced Words 31 - Odisha and Odia

The Orissa assembly passed a resolution in 2008 to change the name of the state to Odisha and the name of the language to Odia. This finally received Presidential assent on November 4th 2011. But unfortunately the way it is written has created a serious disconnect between the way Hindi speakers say it now and the change that was desired. 

The change desired was replacing the 'r' sound in Orissa and Oriya with the 'd' sound. But because they used  श  while writing it in Hindi ओड़िशा  - the problem started. Now this is pronounced as 'sha' (palatal or तालव्य) in Hindi. But in Odia it is pronounced as 'sa'. Hence you heard all news anchors and newsreaders calling it ODisha. 

So the correct pronunciation of the state is oh-D-sah (ओड़िसा) and the language is oh-D-ah (ओड़िआ). 

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