Kolami, Southeastern

NIT

vigorous

Dialects: Asifabad, Metla-Kinwat, Naiki, Utnur. Not intelligible with Northwestern Kolami ,. Rao (1950) reports another dialect in Chinnoor and Sirpur taluks of Adilabad District. The Naiki dialect is different from Naikri (Zvelebil 1970:13). Lexical similarity: 85%–88% with Naiki and other Southeastern Kolami dialects, 83% with the Metla-Kinwat and Utnur, 86% with Asifabad and Utnur, 60%–74% with Northwestern Kolami ,.

Genealogy:

Dravidian
Central
Kolami-Naiki

Demographics: 10,000 (1989 F. Blair). 1,500 speakers of Naiki (Van Driem 2007).

Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: Low. Bible portions.

Nation of Origin: India