Baleswari Odia (), also Northern Odia or North Balasore Odia, is a variety of Odia spoken in the northern regions of Indian state of Odisha. It is spoken in the districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj (commonly called Mayurbhanjia) and Kendujhar (commonly called Kendujharia).
It has linguistic variations to standard Odia. While the dialects spoken in these districts vary with regional influences and influences from different local community and tribal language groups, the Baleswari Odia from the northern coastal Balasore region has a distinct accent with some similarity with the nearby Medinipuri dialect of Odia and Bengali. The dialect in Bhadrak district have more similarity with the standard Odia.
Features Baleswari substitutes () for a frequently used word () meaning 'what' and () for () meaning 'why'. Most of the syllables which are pronounced as "o" in Standard Odia are pronounced as "u" in Baleswaria such as () is pronounced as .
The following is a list of major words in Baleswari:
+ Grammatical differences Standard Odia Baleswari Odia Meaning Feature () () shall be () () have been () () to there () () mine 1p sing Pronoun, oblique, Genitive case () () like Postposition () () your 2p sing Pronoun, oblique, Genitive case () () both () () third () () Why Adverb () () Where? Adverb (), () () Where at/in Adverb () () What Adverb () () Some () () Where Adverb () () from Baleswar Locative case
+ Vowel Harmony — o to u phoneme shift — Nouns. Standard Odia Baleswari Odia Meaning () () thirst () () person () () hunger () () bridge () () dhoti () () swing () () boy () () girl () () theft () () peel () () padlock () () leg () () upside down () () Odisha () () Odia () () pointed gourd
+ Vowel Harmony — o to u phoneme shift — Verbs Standard Odia Baleswari Odia Meaning () () to suck () () to sleep () () to stop () () to attach () () to turn () () bring up () () to swallow () () join () () to descend
+ Baleswari Odia words, verbs and expressions Standard Odia Baleswari Odia Meaning () () go () () salt () () to hide () () daughter () () blister () () light () () throw away () () to hide () () going to eat () () going to sleep () () cloth () () to remove () () to move () () ship () () foam () () tasteless () () to appear () () to strike () () book () () tobacco () () level up () () raw coconut () () bald () () stipend () () hailstone () () dragonfly () () to delay () ( milkman () () strangulation () () influence () () to become curled/crisped () () afternoon () () small () () tortoise () () gate () () to stumble () () this way or that way
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