TRIBAL LANGUAGES OF KARNATAKA

Karnataka has a sizable number of tribal communities. Some of them are present in their traditional habitats within a forest or in its periphery. Others are nomadic and they have traveled with their language. All these communities have been exposed to the forces of modernization and their languages are truly endangered. Many of these languages have retained some salient features of their proto language and a proper analysis of these languages could lead to a better understanding of Kannada. Some of these languages are spoken out side the preview of present day Karnataka in places such as Nilagiri and Coiambattore districts of Tamilnadu. Most people belonging to these tribes have now become bi-lingual and they speak Kannada, Tamil, Telugu or Malayalam depending on their region.

The important tribal communities and the languages spoken by them are listed below with ancillary details when available:

No.	Tribe	Language	Place	Pop.
1	baDaga	baDaga	Nilagiri dist.	3 lakhs
2	beTTa kuruba	beTTa kurumba	Mysore dist.	32000
3	iruLa	iruLa,Independent language	Old Mysore State	5200
4	hakki pikki	vAgari	Nomads
5	tODa	tODa, tuda	Nilagiri Hills	1600
6	koraga	koraga	South Canara District Basket Weavers	1000
7	kOTa	kOTa, nearer to Tamil and Maleyalam	Nilagiri, Agriculture	1500
8	jEnu kuruba	several dialects	Nilagiri hills	5000
9	sOliga
10.	beLAri	beLAri	Near kundApura, South Canara dist, Basket weavers	50 families

Further Readings and Links:

1. ‘Mysore Tribes and Castes’, edited by H.V.Nanjunadaiah and L.K. Ananthakrishna Iyer, 1935, Mysore Unibersity, Mysore.

2. ‘Castes and Tribes of Southern India’ by Edgar Thurston and K. Rangachari (7 volumes), 1905, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi.

3. Tribal Demography of Karnataka State, by Basak D.N., 1974, Anthropological Survey of India.

4. ‘Karnāṭaka bhārati Sōliga nuḍi’, Volume 1 by Siddegowda and A.R. Subbukrishna. 1982, Bharateeya Bhasha Samsthana, Mysore.

5. ‘The Koraga Language’, by D.N. Shankara Bhat, 1971, Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute.

6. ‘A Grammar of the Toda language’ by C.U. Shaktivel, 1977, Annamalai University

7. ‘Badaga: A Dravidian Language’ by Ramaswami Balakrishnan, 1999, Annamalai University.

8. ‘The Irula Language’ by Kamil Zvelebil, 1982, Harrassowitz.

9. ‘Coorg Kannada’ (jEnu kuruba dialect) by U. Padmanabha Upadhyaya, 1971, Deccan College Postgraduate and research Institute, Poona.

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