Savara language

The Sora language is part of the Austroasiatic language family. More locally, however, it is a part of the Munda languages which include other tribal languages in close proximity to Sora. Sora is unique because although it is surrounded by the Indo-Aryan language Oriya and the Dravidian language Telugu, Sora is more closely related to the languages of Southeast Asia such as Khmer in Cambodia than it is to the predominant languages of India. Moreover, Sora contains very little formal literature but has an abundance of folk tales and traditions. Most of their passed down knowledge is of the oral tradition. Compared to other languages in the Munda family, Sora is decreasing within the Sora tribe at a faster rate. Most speakers are concentrated in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh but smaller communities also exist in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Bihar.

Speakers are concentrated mainly in Ganjam District, Gajapati District (central Gumma Hills region (Gumma Block), etc.), and Rayagada District, but are also found in adjacent areas such as Koraput and Phulbani districts; other communities exist in northern Andhra Pradesh (Vizianagaram District and Srikakulam District), Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and the Plains Division of Assam.

The Sora language has faced a wavelike pattern of usage—that is the number of people who speak Sora climbed steadily for decades before crashing down. In fact the number of people who spoke Sora went from 157 thousand in 1901 to 166 thousand in 1911. In 1921, this number marginally rose to 168 thousand and kept climbing. In 1931, speaker numbers jumped to 194 thousand but in 1951, a period of exponential growth occurred with speaker numbers jumping to 256 thousand. in 1961, numbers topped at 265 thousand speakers before crashing down in 1971 when speaker numbers drop back down to 221 thousand.