The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.
SIL code: NIT
ISO 639-2: dra
| Population | 10,000 (1989 F. Blair). |
| Region | Andhra Pradesh, Adilabad District; Maharashtra, Chandrapur, and Nanded districts. |
| Dialects | METLA-KINWAT, UTNUR, ASIFABAD, NAIKI. |
| Classification | Dravidian, Central, Kolami-Naiki. |
| Comments | Not intelligible with Northwestern Kolami. Rao (1950) reports another dialect in Chinnoor and Sirpur taluks of Adilabad District. Naiki is different from Naikri (Zvelebil 1970.13). 85% to 88% lexical similarity between Naiki and other Southeastern Kolami dialects; 83% between Metla-Kinwat and Utnur; 86% between Asifabad and Utnur; 60% to 74% with Northwestern Kolami. People in Maharashtra are not functionally bilingual in Telugu or Marathi. The Arakh speak the Naiki dialect as mother tongue. Literacy rate in second language: Low. |
