LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:6 June 2018
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.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Ollari Gadaba: An Endangered Dravidian Language

Mendem Bapuji, Ph.D. Research Scholar

Abstract

The vast population of India is composed of different ethnic groups with diverse cultures and languages. In spite of this diversity, languages along with their cultures existed side by side for centuries. Modernization and Globalization have become great threat to these minor and ignored languages of the country. The study on various languages spoken by the different ethnic groups, especially the tribal languages contributed a lot to the linguistic canvas in India and abroad. Ollari Gadaba is a tribal Dravidian language spoken in the border areas of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. There are two sections of the Gadaba community namely, Gutob-Gadaba and Dravidian Gadaba. The former group speaks a Munda language and the latter group speaks Dravidian languages such as Ko??ekor and Ollari. Burrow and Emeneau (1961) treat Ollari Gadaba and Ko??ekor Gadaba as dialects of the same language, but Krishnamurti (2003) kept them apart as languages under the Proto Central Dravidian languages. These Dravidian Gadabas are found in the Vijaynagaram district of Andhra Pradesh and in the Koraput district of Odisha. The language spoken in Koraput is known as Ollari Gadaba and the one spoken in Andhra Pradesh is called as Ko??ekor Gadaba. In this present paper, I would like to discuss the endangerment scenario of Ollari Gadaba and various steps to be taken for the preservation of it.

Keywords: Gadaba, Ethnic groups, Linguistic diversity, Language endangerment, Documentation and Preservation.

Introduction

Ollari Gadabais a tribal Dravidian language spoken by 4000 speakers (2001 Census) in the border areas of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The word Dravida was first used as a language by Kuma:rila-bha??a in his book Tantrava:rttika in seventh century AD by referring to some Tamil words which were wrongly given Sanskrit origin by some contemporary scholars. Then Robert Caldwell (1875: 3-6) was the first to use ‘Dravidian’ as a generic name for the language family (along with Indo-Aryan) spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The new name was an adaptation of a Sanskrit term Dravida which was traditionally used to designate the Tamil language and people in some contexts, and for other South Indian people. Cavalli-Sforza et al. (1994) and Krishnamurti (2003) suggests that Dravidian is not a racial term and suggests that the Dravidians have entered India through northwest two millennia before the Rigveda people entered India by the 15th BCE.

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

MendemBapuji
Ph.D. Research Scholar
Centre for ALTS, University of Hyderabad
mendembapuji@gmail.com

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