LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:7 July 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Tribal Languages of Kerala

Ravi Sankar S. Nair, Ph.D.

Preface

Kerala is the land of some of the interesting tribal languages belonging to the Dravidian family. Unlike the Nilgiri tribes or the Bastar tribes, the numerically small tribal population of Kerala had not come under intense investigations of linguists. It was the late Professor Somasekharan Nair who initiated pioneering studies in this field. During the course of his field work he came across tribal speeches like Malamuthan and Tachanadu Mooppan unknown till then. The field investigations conducted by the students of the Department of Linguistics of the University of Kerala are not known outside academic circles.

The present work aims to provide an introductory sketch of some of the tribal languages of Kerala, especially their interesting linguistic features. A few languages like Paniya have been left out as they have been rather well covered in some books and articles published in Malayalam.

The present work is the outcome of an unfinished project on Tribal Languages of Kerala that the author undertook in the International School of Dravidian Linguistics during 1992-97. A preliminary sketch based on available materials was prepared to kick-start this project. This was extended by material collected through fieldwork in some of the languages. The fieldwork part could not be completed as the priorities in ISDL changed and the author was required to attend to the completion of two volumes of the Dravidian Encyclopedia as its Associate Editor.

The sketches of tribal languages done for the project were used for writing articles on tribal languages of Kerala for the third volume of the Dravidian Encyclopedia. More material was collected on some of the languages later but the project as envisaged at the beginning could not be finished due to various academic commitments. The present work is published in the hope that it will not only provide an introduction to these interesting languages, but also kindle the interest of young researchers in this important area where much remains to be done.

The author remembers with great affection and gratitude Professor Somasekharan Nair, whose fervent love for tribal languages and tribal people remains a constant motivation for his students.

Ravi Sankar S Nair
June 2013

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE BOOK IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Ravi Sankar S. Nair, Ph.D.
ravisankarnair101@gmail.com
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