Native to India Native speakers 8,000 (2000) Glottolog bodo1267 | Region Odisha, Andhra Pradesh ISO 639-3 gbj | |
Language family Austroasiatic
Munda
Koraput
Remo
Gutob | ||
The Gutob or Bodo Gadaba language is a Munda language of India, with the greatest concentrations of speakers being found in Koraput district of Odisha and Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh. It is also known simply as the Gadaba language, but it is different from the Dravidian Gadaba language. Other names for the Bodo Gadaba language include Gadba, Gutop, Gudwa, Godwa, Gadwa, and Boi Gadaba.
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Classification
The Gutob language belongs to the South Munda subgroup of the Munda branch of the Austroasiatic language family. It is most closely related to the Bondo language.
Distribution
Gutob is spoken across southern Odisha and adjacent districts of northern Andhra Pradesh, and is concentrated primarily in Lamptaput block, Koraput district, southern Odisha (Griffiths 2008:634). In recent centuries, Gutob speakers have also migrated to the plains of Andhra Pradesh as well as Rayagada District, including near the town Majiguda (close to Kalyansinghpur) where they live alongside the Dravidian-speaking Kondhs.
Ethnologue reports the following locations.
Language status
The Gutob language is considered to be either endangered or moribund, due in part to a couple of hydroelectric projects that have displaced Gutob people from their traditional villages and forced them to live as minorities in primarily Desiya-speaking villages.