Tulu language

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Tulu
ತುಳು
Spoken in: India 
Region: Tulu Nadu mainly west coast of Karnataka also spread through Kerala
Total speakers: fewer than 2 million
Language family: Dravidian
 Dravidian
  South-Dravidian
   Tulu 
Writing system: Kannada script, Tigalari
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: dra
ISO 639-3: tcy
Indic script
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This article is about a language of India. For H. P. Lovecraft's fictional character, see Cthulhu.

Tulu (Kannada script:ತುಳು) is a Dravidian language of India with fewer than two million speakers, known as Tuluvas. Most Tuluvas live in the districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi in the west of the state of Karnataka. It's also spoken in the greater part of the Kasargod district of Kerala. The original written script of the language, similar to Malayalam script, is rarely used today. It is normally written in the Kannada script now. Tulu can be viewed as a variant dialect of Kannada since many words are common in both and are understandable by both speakers and there are few high profile poets like Gopalakrishna Adiga and Shivaram Karanth who have revered place in Kannada literature.Hebbara ,Havika ,Kundagannada(Kundapura) are other variants of Kannada in nearby places which sound similar.

19th century German missionaries used the Kannada script to transcribe Tulu works, but it soon fell out of use due to the fact that Tulu was a minority language 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 in Mangalore higher than Kannada, the state language. The local population relates closely to any Tulu speaker, and this fact has its own far-reaching consequences. Tulu is now a recognized language in the southern districts of Karnataka. Some organizations demand a state called Tulunadu

Modern Tulu is written in the Kannada script. Its contribution to Kannada literature is significant. Soon Tulu will be written in their orginal script Tulu Script. Unicode is an organization which codes the Tulu in Unicode. Tulu Script is same as Malayalam


The 'Bhagavata' (a purana katha) was partially written in Tulu script by a Brahmin[citation needed] belonging to Udyavara, Udupi, Karnataka. 'Mandara Ramayana' was also written in Tulu.

Some inscriptions in Tulu languages are found in and around the village of Barkur. The ruins and inscriptions are in need of preservation.

Contents

[edit] Geographic distribution

There are indications in a few Malayalam works that the region stretching from the Chandragiri river, now part of the 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 Dakshina Kannada and the Udupi district. Northern Kasaragod, Dakshina Kannada and the 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 and Thane in Maharastra state has a sizable population of Tuluvas.


[edit] The language

The paucity of literary works has rendered the precise dating of the origin of this language very difficult. A claim that it predates Tamil is controversial, but Tulu has lot in common with Kannada and also has some relation with Malayalam and Tamil.

Spoken Tulu changes as we move from South to North. There is a common perception that there are only two Tulu dialects, namely Shivalli and Common. But a study of the language and pronunciation suggests there are four distinct dialects of this language: Shivalli, Jain, Common, and Tribal.

Shivalli dialect
Spoken by Tulu Brahmins (also known as Shivallis). Tulu Brahmins are known to be staunchest and most orthodox of all Brahmins in India.
Jain dialect
Spoken by the Jains in the northern part of Tulu Nadu.
Common dialect
Spoken by the majority of people of Tulu Nadu; the dialect of commerce, entertainment and art.
Tribal dialect
Spoken by tribal people; closely resembles the Common dialect.

Tulu is not taught in schools. Schedule 8B of the Constitution of India does not recognize it as an official language.

[edit] Notable speakers of Tulu

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


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