Tulu language
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{{language |name=Tulu |nativename=ತುಳು tuḷu |states=India |region=mainly west coast of Karnataka also spread through Kerala |speakers=1,949,000 |familycolor=Dravidian |fam2=Dravidian |fam3=South-Dravidian |iso2=dra|iso3=tcy|notice=Indic}}
Tulu (ತುಳು tuḷu) is an Dravidian language of India with fewer than two million speakers. Most of its speakers are in the districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi in the west of the state of Karnataka. The original written script of the language, similar to Malayalam script, is rarely used today. It is normally written in the Kannada script.
There is a controversy whether Tulu script originated from Malayalam script or vice versa. However inscriptions available both of Tulu and Malayalam says Tulu is much older language than Malayalam. 19th century German missionaries used the Kannada script to transcribe Tulu works, and it soon fell out of use due to the fact that Tulu was a lingual minority in the princely state of Mysore. Tulu is generally spoken as the local language by the Mangaloreans. Daily use of the language has propelled its popularity to higher than that of Kannada, the state language. The local population relates closely to any tulu speaker and this fact has its own far reaching consequences and it is now a recognized language in the southern districts of Karnataka.
'Bhagavata' (a purana katha) has been half-written in Tulu script by a Brahmin belonging to Udyavara, Udupi, Karnataka. 'Mandara Ramayana' has also been written in Tulu.
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Geographic distribution
There were references in few Malayalam works that the region stretching from Chandragiri river, now part of Kasaragod district of Kerala, to Gokarna, now part of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, was called Tulu Nadu. However, the present day Tulu linguistic boundary is confined to Udupi Taluk of Udupi district. Northern Kasaragod, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district(except Kundapur) are the major Tulu cultural regions.
Tuluvas have a saying, "Oorudu nanjaanda paarad badkodu". A loose translation would be, "If it's tough at home; run away and survive". Tuluvas are true to this character and have migrated to other places in great numbers. Mumbai has a sizeable population of Tuluvas.
The language
Lack of literary works has rendered the precise dating of the origin of this language very difficult. A claim that it predates Tamil is controversial.
The spoken Tulu changes as we move from South to North. There is a common perception that there are only two kinds of Tulu dialects, namely Brahmin and Common. But a study of the language and pronunciation suggests there are four distinct dialects of this language. They are the Brahmin dialect, the Jain dialect, the Common dialect and the Harijan/Tribal dialect.
The Brahmin Dialect - spoken by Shivalli and Sthanika Brahmins - is close to the written language found in the few works of classical literature discovered thus far. The dialect also borrows Sanskrit words and sounds. Even the local Dravidian words are enunciated with retroflex words (unusual in Dravidian languages, where non-retroflex sounds are used).
The Jain Dialect - spoken by the Jains in the northern part of Tulu nadu. This includes surroundings of Karkala. They have a distinct dialect where the initial t and s have been replaced by letter h. As an example, the word tare (head) is pronounced as hare. Saadi (path) is haadi. In the present time this dialect has little in difference from the common dialect.
The Common Dialect - is spoken by the majority of people (non-Brahmins) of Tulu Nadu, and is the dialect of commerce, entertainment and art. It is the language of the Paaddana. It is subdivided into more than five groups as spoken by Bunts, Billavas, Mogaveeras, Gowdas and Kumabaras etc. Due to the similarity in these dialects, they are grouped under the common heading of Common Dialect or Common Tulu. The borrowed Sanskrit words in this dialect are invariably altered to have non-retroflex sounds unlike in the Brahmin dialect where the original Sanskrit pronunciation of the words is retained. This dialect is also sometimes known as Shudra Tulu, which is considered to be derogatory.
The Harijan and Tribal Dialect - is spoken by the Mera, Mansa, Harijan and Tribal people. They closely resemble the Common dialect though in the South they still have maintained their distinction. The sound c replaces the sounds t, s, and c of other dialects. Hence tare is care and saadi is caadi. Onasu (meal) is pronounced onacu. Non-retroflex words are pronounced with retroflex in this dialect. New words like baanaaru (Brahmin), jeerklu/jeerlu (children), dekke/meere/korage (husband) and dikkalu/meerti/korappolu (wife) are also found in this dialect.
Tulu is not taught in schools and Schedule 8B of the Constitution of India does not recognize it as an official language. Since the usage of Tulu is mostly limited to regions in Karnataka and Kerala, most Tulu speakers can usually speak a second language.
Selected Vocabulary
me = yaan
you = ee
you(respectfull) = eer
they = akulu
name = pudar
town = ooru
no = att
yes = andu
why = dayeg
where = volu
what = daada
what's your name = ninna pudar daada ?
where are you ? = volu ullar eer ?
Trivia
- One of the most famous Bollywood actresses Aishwarya Rai is a native speaker of Tulu
- Shilpa Shetty, Shamita Shetty, Sneha Ullal, and Sunil Shetty are also Tulu speakers.
See also
- Languages of India
- List of national languages of India
- List of Indian languages by total speakers
- Vellalar