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Koya Language
Belonging to the Gondi-Kui group of languages, Koya is a Dravidian language, precisely south-central, and is often considered to be a dialect of the Gondi language. However, it distinctly varies in multiple ways when compared to all the Gondi dialects.
It is mainly spoken by some people in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, precisely by the tribal community in Integrated Tribal Development Agency, in Bhadrachalam in the Khamman district; the ITDA in Kotaramachandrapuram in the West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, then also the ITDA in Rampachodavaram in the East Godavari district.
Other than the southern regions, Koya is also spoken by some minor groups in the central state of Chhattisgarh. According to the 2001 census of India, there are more than approximately 3,60,000 native speakers of the language.
Coming to the script of the Koya language, write ups are mainly written using Latin scripts, Oriya script, Telugu script, as well as the Devanagiri script. The language is well endorsed through text books, mainly in the state of Andhra Pradesh through policies by the state’s government, in more than around 50 primary schools.
Although it is often confused with Ngom and Gyele languages, Koya has over the year developed its own recognition and is now known by its name.