Transliteration — ଟ୍ରାନ୍ସଲିଟରେଶନ — ŧrānsliṭarēśan

After covering বাংলা (bāŋlā) and മലയാളം (malayāḷaṃ), next up in the series is ଓଡ଼ିଆ (ōṛiā)!

This work would not have been possible with another patient friend, a native speaker. My sincere thanks to you.

Since it is not my native tongue, there might be exceptions that have been missed. Anyone who feels so, can contact me with a brief written explanation, and I will be most happy to add them. You can refer to the বাংলা (bāŋlā) post for help in framing the explanation.

Without further ado, here goes!

• Vowels
  • ଅ : a
  • ଆ : ā
  • ଇ : i
  • ଈ : ī
  • ଉ : u
  • ଊ : ū
  • ଋ : r̥
  • ୠ : l̥
  • ଏ : ē
  • ଐ : ai
  • ଓ : ō
  • ଔ : ou
• Consonants
  • କ : k
  • ଖ : kʰ
  • ଗ : g
  • ଘ : gʰ
  • ଙ : ŋ
  • ଚ : c
  • ଛ : cʰ
  • ଜ : j
  • ଝ : jʰ
  • ଞ : ñ
  • ଟ : ŧ
  • ଠ : ŧʰ
  • ଡ : đ
  • ଢ : đʰ
  • ଣ : ṇ
  • ତ : t
  • ଥ : tʰ
  • ଦ : d
  • ଧ : dʰ
  • ନ : n
  • ପ : p
  • ଫ : pʰ
  • ବ : b
  • ଭ : bʰ
  • ମ : m
  • ଯ : y
  • ର : r
  • ଳ : ḷ
  • ୱ : v
  • ଶ : ś
  • ଷ : ṣ
  • ସ : s
  • ହ : h
  •  ଂ : ṃ
  •  ଃ : ḥ
  •  ଁ : ŋ
  • ্ : eliminate the implied ଅ/a sound at the end of whichever consonant it appears after.
• Special consonants
  • ଡ଼ : ṛ
  • ଢ଼ : ṛʰ
  • ୟ :  ẏ
  • ଲ : l
  • କ୍ଷ : kṣ

Some points to be noted, are as follows.

1. ଯ/y is pronounced as ଜ/j, just like in বাংলা (bāŋlā) [see Point #5 below the mapping].
   ୟ/ẏ explicitly maps to the य/y in other saṃskr̥t-influenced languages, again similar to bāŋlā.
   Just like in bāŋlā, when appearing in combination with other consonants, both appear and sound similarly, like the ୟ/ẏ.
   
2. In ड़/ଡ଼ and ढ़/ଢ଼, the effect of the ର/r with the role of the tongue is much more highlighted than in saṃskr̥t. This is another similarity to bāŋlā [Point #6], where I had taken the effect into account by writing them respectively as ṛ and ṛʰ instead of the saṃskr̥t way of writing them as ḍ and ḍʰ respectively.
3. Thus, using ṭ for ଟ/ट  like in other saṃskr̥t-influenced languages may confuse the transliterator/reader (henceforth simply “user”), hence this letter is represented (like in bāŋlā) as ŧ.
4. କ୍ଷ/kṣ
   1. It is not pronounced like क्ष/kṣ is pronounced in saṃskr̥t or हिंदी. It is closer to the ক্ষ/kṣ sound in bāŋlā, but is heavier than that. I found no better way to represent this and not confuse users so I leave it at that.
   2. In some cases, it is pronounced as ଖ/kʰ (just like in bāŋlā, see Point#9). In such cases, it will be written as kʰ, for example, କ୍ଷୌର will be written as kʰoura instead of kṣoura.
5. In some cases, ଣ is pronounced as ନ, and must be transliterated accordingly. For example, ଗଣ୍ଯ is pronounced as ଗନ୍ଯ, hence will be written as ganẏa, not gaṇẏa.
6. There are times when ্ may not be explicitly be added, but implied. In such cases, the transliterator has to be careful in eliminating the otherwise implied ଅ/a sound. For examples: [a] ଗଞ୍ଜାମ is pronounced as ଗଞ୍ଜାମ୍, hence written as gañjām instead of gañjāma; [b] ଦାମ is pronounced as ଦାମ୍, hence to be written as dām and not dāma.
7. This rule makes this language unique, because in this respect, it is neither like हिंदी/मराठी, nor like saṃskr̥t, nor like bāŋlā. In combination sounds, both ବ/b and ୱ/v are written similarly, for example ମ୍ + ବ = ମ୍ବ (mb) as well as ମ୍ + ୱ = ମ୍ବ (mv). Hence, the transliterator needs to be careful on which one is being pronounced, and transliterate accordingly. Although in most cases ୱ/v is pronounced, for example, ଶ୍ + ୱ = ଶ୍ବ as in ଶ୍ବାସ/śvāsa, there are certain cases where ବ/b is pronounced, for example ମ୍ + ବ = ମ୍ବ as in ଆମ୍ବ/āmba.

Examples of standard words that I use quite often are given below.

• ōṛiśā
• ōṛiā
• bʰubanēśvara
• purī
• bālēśvara
• kaŧaka
• gañjām