The Gta language (also Gata, Gataʔ, and Gtaʔ), also known as Gta Asa, Didei or Didayi, is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Didayi people of southernmost Odisha in India. It is notable for its sesquisyllabic phonology and vigesimal numeral system.

Demographics

Gta is spoken by 3,000 people primarily in Malkangiri district, Odisha as well as adjoining areas of Koraput district. According to Anderson (2008), it is spoken by less than 4,500 people. Ethnologue reports the following locations:

Classification and dialects

The Gta language belongs to the South Munda subgroup of the Munda branch of the Austroasiatic language family. Within South Munda, Gta is generally considered to be the first branch off a node that also subsumes the Remo and Gutob languages; this subgroup of South Munda is known as Gutob–Remo–Gataq. It is phonologically and morphologically divergent within that branch. Gta has two main varieties, namely Plains Gta and Hill Gta.

Phonology

Gta has the 5 canonical vowels /a, e, i, o, u/, and sometimes a sixth vowel /æ/. To this can be added several nasalized counterparts: /ã, õ, ũ/ and sometimes /ĩ/. Gta has the following consonants:

Grammar

Nouns

Nouns in Gta are primarily marked for case, number and possession. Nouns also have two forms, one a free full form, the other a bound short form. These latter occur only when the noun is compounded with another noun or a verb for derivational purposes, and are hence labeled "combining forms". The combining form usually involves removing an affix or shortening the noun in some way.

Echo formation

Gtaʔ is also notable for its use of echo words. There are four broad categories of echo forms: The phonological rules for deriving one type of echo word are as follows: Combining forms of nouns occurring with verb stems can be echoed independently of the verb stems; those occurring with noun stems either remain intact or change at par with the main stems.

Numeral system

Gta' numeral system is vigesimal.

Neighboring languages

Gta echo-formation shows some striking similarities with echo-formation in neighboring Munda languages such as Remo and Gorum as well as in the Desia dialect of Oriya spoken in the Koraput Munda region. The most conspicuous feature they have in common with Gta is that echo-words in all three of these languages are also derived from base words by changes in the vowels alone.