Tulu language
Tulu is a Dravidian language whose speakers are concentrated in 2 coastal districts of Karnataka in southwestern India, and in a part of the Kasaragod district of Kerala. The native speakers of Tulu are referred to as Tuluva or Tulu people and the geographical area is unofficially called as Tulu Nadu.
The Indian census report of 2011 reported a total of 1,846,427 native Tulu speakers in India. The 2001 census had reported a total of 1,722,768 native speakers, According to one estimate reported in 2009, Tulu is spoken by 3 to 5 million speakers in the world. There is some difficulty in counting Tulu speakers who have migrated from their native region as they often get counted as Kannada speakers in Indian Census reports
Separated early from Proto-South Dravidian, Tulu has several features not found in Tamil–Kannada. For example, it has the pluperfect and the future perfect, like French or Spanish, but formed without an auxiliary verb.
Robert Caldwell, in his pioneering work A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages, called this language "peculiar and very interesting". According to him, "Tulu is one of the most highly developed languages of the Dravidian family. It looks as if it had been cultivated for its own sake."
Tulu is the primary spoken language in Tulu Nadu consisting of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district of Karnataka and a part of Kasaragod district of Kerala. Significant number of native tulu speakers are found in Kalasa and Mudigere taluks of Chikkamagaluru district. Non-native speakers of Tulu include those who speak the Beary language, Havyaka and Gowda dialects of Kannada as also Konkani, Koraga resident in the Tulunadu region. Apart from Tulunadu, a significant emigrant population of Tulu speaking people is found in Maharashtra, Bangalore, Chennai, the English-speaking world, and the Gulf countries.
The various medieval inscriptions of Tulu from the 15th century are in the Tulu script. Two Tulu epics named Sri Bhagavato and Kaveri from the 17th century were also written in the same script. However, in modern times the Tulu language is mostly written using the Kannada script. The Tulu language is known for its oral literature in the form of epic poems called Paddana. The Epic of Siri and the legend of Koti and Chennayya belong to this category of Tulu literature.
Classification
Tulu belongs to the southern branch of the family of Dravidian languages. It descends directly from Proto-Southern Dravidian, which in turn descends directly from Proto-Dravidian, the hypothesized mother language from which all Dravidian languages descend. The Tulu language originates in the southern part of India.Etymology
Linguist P. Gururaja Bhat specified in Tulunadu that Tuluva originated from word Turuva turu means cow and hence The place dominated by yadava or cow heard people.Linguists :kn:ಪುರುಷೋತ್ತಮ ಬಿಳಿಮಲೆ|Purushottama Bilimale have suggested that the word "Tulu" means "that which is connected with water". "Tulave" means "watery" in Tulu; and, other water-related words in Tulu include "talipu", "teli", "teLi", "teLpu", "tuLipu", "tulavu", and "tamel". In Kannada, there are words such as tuLuku means "that which has characteristics of water" and toLe In Tamil, thuli means drop of water; and, thulli means the same in Malayalam.
Official status
Tulu is not an official language of India or any other country. Efforts are being made to include Tulu to the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.In December 2009, during First Vishwa Tulu Sammelan organized at Ujire-Dharmastala, then Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa promised to send a fresh proposal on including the Tulu language in the eighth schedule of the constitution.
In August 2017, an online campaign was organized to include Tulu to 8th schedule of constitution
In October 2017, when the prime minister, Narendra Modi visited Dharmasthala Temple same demand was presented in front of him.
Similarly, in 2018, the Member of Parliament from Kasargod constituency P. Karunakaran also rose the same demand for inclusion of Tulu language in the 8th schedule of the constitution.
On 19 February 2020, Mangaluru MLA Vedavyas Kamath, submitted a memorandum to chief minister B S Yediyurappa, and minister for tourism, Kannada and culture C T Ravi, seeking official status for Tulu language.
In February 2020, another MLA from Moodbidri Umanath Kotian urged the state government to put pressure on union government to add Tulu language to the eighth schedule during the assembly session.
History
The oldest available inscriptions in Tulu are from the period between 14th to 15th century AD. These inscriptions are in the Tulu script and are found in areas in and around Barkur which was the capital of Tulu Nadu during the Vijayanagar period. Another group of inscriptions is found in the Ullur Subrahmanya Temple near Kundapura. Many linguists like S.U. Panniyadi and L. V. Ramaswami Iyer as well as, P.S. Subrahmanya, suggested that Tulu is among the oldest languages in the Dravidian family which branched independently from its Proto-Dravidian roots nearly 2000 years ago. This assertion is based on the fact that Tulu still preserves many aspects of the Proto-Dravidian language.This dating of Tulu is also based on the fact that the region where Tulu is natively spoken was known to the ancient Tamils as Tulu Nadu. Also, the Tamil poet Mamular who belongs to the Sangam Age describes Tulu Nadu and its dancing beauties in one of his poems. In the Halmidi inscriptions, one finds mention of the Tulu country as the kingdom of the Alupas. The region was also known to the Greeks of the 2nd century as Tolokoyra. The history of Tulu would not be complete without the mention of the Charition mime, a Greek play belonging to the 2nd century BC. The play's plot centers around the coastal Karnataka, where Tulu is mainly spoken. The play is mostly in Greek, but the Indian characters in the play are seen speaking a language different from Greek.
There is considerable ambiguity regarding the Indian language in the play, though all scholars agree the Indian language is Dravidian, there is considerable dispute over which one. Noted German Indologist Dr. E. Hultzsch was the first to suggest that the language was Dravidian. The dispute regarding the language in the play is yet to be settled, but scholars agree that the dispute arises from the fact that Old Kannada, Old Tamil, and Tulu during the time when the play was written were perhaps dialectical variations of the same, and that over the years they evolved into their present forms as separate languages. Tulu is widely considered one of the richest and well organized for many reasons. Found largely in Karnataka, it is spoken primarily within the Indian state. Dating back several hundred years, the language has developed numerous defining qualities. The Tulu people follow a saying which promotes leaving negative situations and finding newer, more positive ones. The language, however, is not as popular as others which means it could become endangered and extinct very soon. The influence of other mainstream languages is a present danger for the Tulu people. With the right degree of awareness, we can help promote Tulu to more people who may appreciate it and its uniqueness.] Today, it is spoken by nearly 1.8 million people around the globe. Large parts of the language are altered and changed constantly because it is commonly passed down through oral tradition. Oral traditions within Tulu have meant that certain phrases have not always maintained the same meaning or importance.
Geographic distribution
According to Malayalam works like Keralolpathi and Sangam literature in Tamil, the region stretching from the Chandragiri river, now part of the Kasaragod district, Kerala, to Gokarna, now part of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, was ruled by the Alupas and was known as Alva Kheda. This Kingdom was the Homeland of Tulu speaking people.However the present day Tulu linguistic majority area is confined to the region of Tulu Nadu, which comprises the districts of part of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi in the Indian state of Karnataka and the northern part of Kasaragod district of Kerala up to the river Payaswani also known as Chandragiri. The cities of Mangalore, Udupi and Kasaragod being the cultural centres of Tulu culture.
Even today Tulu is widely spoken in the Dakshina Kannada, partially in Udupi district of Karnataka state and to some extent in Kasaragod of Kerala. Efforts are also being made to include Tulu in the list of Official languages of India. As a whole, Tulu is largely contained to the southern part of India. The Indian state of Karnataka is where the language seems to thrive in the present day. Some of the major cities within the Tulu culture include Mangalore and Kasaragod. ] Speakers of the language have reflected interest in spreading to more modern nations such as the United States.
Writing system
The various historical inscriptions of Tulu found around Barkur and Kundapura are in the Tigalari script. The Kannada script has become contemporary script for the Tulu language gradually. All contemporary works and literature are done in the Kannada script. Historically, Brahmins of Tulu Nadu and Havyaka Brahmins used the Tigalari script to write Vedas and other Sanskrit works. The Tigalari script is descended from the Brahmi through the Grantha script. It is a sister script of the Malayalam script. However, very few works written in vernacular languages like Kannada and Tulu are available. Hence, the Tigalari script was employed by Tulu Brahmins to write Tulu and Kannada languages apart from the Kannada script. The National Mission for Manuscripts has conducted several workshops on this script with the help of a scholar, Keladi Gunda Jois. In the 18th century, the use of the Kannada script for writing Tulu and non-availability of print in the Tigalari script contributed to the marginalization of the Tigalari script. The script is studied by few scholars and manuscriptologists for research and religious purposes. Although its contents is largely derived from the Kannada language, there is proof that Tulu may have been before others in the Dravidian family. The Kannada script has become the contemporary script for the Tulu language gradually. All contemporary works and literature are done in the Kannada script.Dialects
Tulu language has four dialects, which are broadly similar, with slight variations.The four dialects are:
;Common Tulu
;Brahmin Tulu
;Jain Dialect
;Girijan Dialect
Spoken characteristics
Phonology
Five short and five long vowels are common in Dravidian languages. Like Kodava Takk, Tulu also has an - or -like vowel, generally occurring word-finally. Kannada script does not have a symbol to specifically represent this vowel, which is often written as a normal e. For example, the first person singular form and the third person singular masculine form of a verb are spelled identically in all tenses, both. ending in e, but are pronounced differently: the terminating e in the former sounds nearly like ‘a’ in the English word ‘man’, while that in the latter like ‘e’ in ‘men’. Paniyadi in his 1932 grammar used a special vowel sign to denote Tulu /ɛ/ in the Kannada script: according to Bhat, he used two telakaṭṭus for this purpose, and the same convention was adopted by Upadhyaya in his 1988 Tulu Lexicon. The long counterpart of this vowel occurs in some words. In all dialects, the pair /e/ and /ɛ/ contrasts.Additionally, like Kodava Takk and Toda, and like Malayalam saṁvr̥tōkāram, Tulu has an -like vowel as a phoneme, which is romanized as ŭ, ɯ, or u̥. Both J. Brigel and A. Männer say that it is pronounced like e in the French je. Bhat describes this phoneme as /ɯ/. However, if it is like Malayalam "half-u", or may be a better description. In the Kannada script, Brigel and Männer used a virama, ್, to denote this vowel. Bhat says a telakaṭṭu is used for this purpose, but apparently he too means a virama.
The following are consonant phonemes in Tulu:
The contrast between and is preserved in the South Common dialect and in the Brahmin dialect, but is lost in several dialects. Additionally, the Brahmin dialect has and. Aspirated consonants are sometimes used in the Brahmin dialect, but are not phonemic. In the Koraga and Holeya dialects, s and ś merge with c . Word-initial consonant clusters are rare and occur mainly in Sanskrit loanwords. As noted in 'Dialects/Varieties', the Tulu alphabet resembles the Malayalam script in many ways. It is also similar to many characters found in the Tigalari alphabet. This is from the same region in the state of Karnataka. The Tigilari and Kannada alhpabets include a stress on vowels with "a" and "o"sounds. ] Other vowels include sounds such as "au" "am" and "ah". Numerous consonants have their own origin from the Dravidian languages like "kha" "gha" "dha" and "jha". These are derived from the Tigalari alphabet.
Morphology
Tulu has five parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, numerals, verbs, and particles.Substantives have three grammatical genders, two numbers, and eight cases. According to Bhat, Tulu has two distinct locative cases. The communicative case is used with verbs like "tell", "speak", "ask", "beseech", "inquire", and denotes at whom a message, an inquiry, or a request is aimed, as in "I told him." or "I speak to them." It is also used to denote relationship with whom it is about, in a context like "I am on good terms with him." or "I have nothing against him." Bhat calls it the sociative case. It is somewhat similar to the comitative case, but different in that it denotes communication or relationship, not physical companionship. The plural suffix is -rŭ, -ḷu, -kuḷu, or -āḍḷu; as, mēji, mējiḷu. The nominative case is unmarked, while the remaining cases are expressed by different suffixes.
The following table shows the declension of a noun, based on Brigel and Bhat : when two forms are given, the one in parentheses is by Bhat, and the other is by Brigel. Some of these differences may be dialectal variations.
| Case | Singular | Meaning | Plural | Meaning |
| Nominative | mara | a tree | marokuḷu | trees |
| Genitive | marata | of a tree | marokuḷe | of trees |
| Dative | maroku | to a tree | marokuḷegŭ | to trees |
| Accusative | maronu | a tree | marokuḷenŭ | trees |
| Locative | maroṭu | in a tree | marokuḷeḍŭ | in trees |
| Locative 2 | — | at or through a tree | — | at or through trees |
| Ablative | maroḍŭdu | from, by, or through a tree | marokuḷeḍŭdŭ | from, by, or through trees |
| Communicative | maraṭa | to a tree | marokuḷeḍa | to trees |
| Vocative | marā | O tree! | marokuḷē | O trees! |
The personal pronouns are irregularly inflected: yānŭ "I" becomes yen- in oblique cases. Tulu makes the distinction between the inclusive and exclusive "we" : nama "we " as opposed to yenkuḷu "we ". For verbs, this distinction does not exist. The personal pronouns of the second person are ī "you " and nikuḷu "you ". Three genders are distinguished in the third person, as well as proximate and remote forms. For example, imbe "he ", āye "he ". The suffix -rŭ makes a polite form of personal pronouns, as in īrŭ "you ", ārŭ "he ".
Postpositions are used usually with a noun in the genitive case, as in guḍḍe-da mittŭ "on the hill".
Tulu verbs have three forms: active, causative, and reflexive.
They conjugate for person, number, gender, tense, mood, and polarity.
Syntax
Each sentence is composed of a subject and a predicate and every sentence is a full speech or thought in words. There is both singular and plural while being expressed in first through third person. There are several exceptions to each of these depending on the instance. For example: the verb has to be in a plural style if there are numerous nominatives within a sentence or of different genders that agree with the previous sentence. The verb may also be omitted in some sentences. Present tense and past tense may change and their perception.Written literature
The written literature of Tulu is not as large as the literature of other literary Dravidian languages such as Tamil. Nevertheless, Tulu is one of only five literary Dravidian languages, the other four being Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. The earliest available Tulu literature that survives to this date is the Tulu translation of the great Sanskrit epic of Mahabharata called Mahabharato. It was written by Arunabja, a poet who lived in Kodavur near Udupi around late 14th to early 15th century AD.Other important literary works in Tulu are:
- Devi Mahatmyam's 1200 AD - Tulu translation
- Sri Bhagavata 1626 AD - written by Vishnu Tunga
- Kaveri
Modern-day Tulu literature is written using the Kannada script. Mandara Ramayana is the most notable piece of modern Tulu literature. Written by Mandara Keshava Bhatt, it received the Sahitya Academy award for best poetry. Madipu, Mogaveera, Saphala and Samparka are popular Tulu periodicals published from Mangalore. The Tulu Sahitya Academy, established by the state government of Karnataka in 1994, as also the Kerala Tulu Academy established by the Indian State Government of Kerala in Manjeshwaram in 2007, are important governmental organisations that promote Tulu literature. Nevertheless, there are numerous organisations spread all over the world with significant Tulu-migrated populations that contribute to Tulu literature. Some notable contributors of Tulu literature are Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, M. K. Seetharam Kulal, Amruta Someshwara, B. A. Viveka Rai, Kedambadi Jattappa Rai, Venkataraja Puninchattaya, Paltadi Ramakrishna Achar, Dr. Sunitha M. Shetty, Dr. Vamana Nandavara, Sri. Balakrishna Shetty Polali.
Oral traditions
The oral traditions of Tulu are one of the major traditions that greatly show the finer aspects of the language. The following are various forms of Tulu oral tradition and literature.- Paddanas: A form of oral epic poem sung in a highly stylised manner during the Hindu rituals of Bhuta Kola and Nagaradhane, which are peculiar to the Tulu people. These Paddanas are mostly legends about gods or historical personalities among the people. The longest of them being Siri Paddana, which is about a woman called Siri who shows strength and integrity during adverse times and in turn attains divinity. The Paddana greatly depicts the independent nature of the Tulu womenfolk. The entire Paddana was written down by Finnish scholar Lauri Honko of the University of Turku and it falls four lines short of Homer's Iliad.
- Riddles: They are another important aspect of Tulu oral traditions. These riddles are largely tongue twisting and mostly deal with kinship and agriculture.
- Bhajans: Bhajans sung in numerous temples across the Tulu region are varied and are dedicated to various gods and goddesses. Most of these are of the Hindu tradition, others being Jain. They are sung in both the Carnatic style as well a style similar to what is used in Yakshagana.
- Kabitol: Songs sung during the cultivation of crops, the traditional occupation of the people. O Bele is considered the finest among them.
Theatre
Presently, eight professional Yakshagana troupes perform Tulu-language Yakshagana not only during the Yakshagana season but also during the off-season in various places in Karnataka and outside. In Mumbai, Tulu Yakshagana is very popular among the Tulu audiences. More than 2,000 Yakshagana artistes take part in the performance in various places in Mumbai annually. Notable performers include Kalladi Koraga Shetty, Pundur Venkatraja Puninchathaya, Guru Bannanje Sanjiva Suvarna and Pathala Venkatramana Bhat.
Tulu plays are among the major entertainment for admirers of art and culture in the Tulu Nadu. Tulu plays, generally centered on the comic genre, are very popular in Mumbai and Bangalore outside Tulu Nadu.
Tulu cinema
The Tulu cinema industry is fairly small; it produces around five films annually. The first film, Enna Thangadi, was released in 1971. Usually these films are released in theatres across the Tulu Nadu region and on DVD. The critically acclaimed film Suddha won the award for Best Indian Film at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema in New Delhi in 2006. As of 2015, Oriyardori Asal has been the most commercially successful Tulu film. Chaali Polilu is the longest-running film in Tulu film history, as well as the highest-grossing film in the Tulu film industry. It has successfully completed 470 days at PVR Cinemas in Mangalore. The 2014 film Madime was reported to be remade in Marathi, thereby becoming the first Tulu film to be remade in another language. Shutterdulai was the first remake in Tulu cinema. Eregla Panodchi is the second remake in Tulu cinemas. A suit for damages of Rs. 2.5 million was filed against the makers of the Telugu film Brahmotsavam for copying the first 36 seconds of the song A...lele...yereg madme by Dr. Vamana Nandaavara found in the Deepanalike CD composed for the Siri channel. Prajavani reported that with its dubbing rights sold to Hindi for 2.1 million, the 2018 movie Umil became the first Tulu movie to achieve the feat. Ashwini Kotiyan became the first female director in the Tulu industry after directing and releasing her first movie Namma Kudla. Brahmashree Narayana Guruswamy released on 2 May 2014 was the 50th Tulu film. Panoda Bodcha marked the 75th release anniversary of a Tulu film. The 100th Tulu movie Karne was released on 16 November 2018.Centres of Tulu study and research
Tulu as a language continues to thrive in coastal Karnataka and Kasaragod in Kerala. Tulu Sahitya Academy, an institute established by the state government of Karnataka, has introduced Tulu as a language in schools around coastal Karnataka, including Alva's High School, Moodbidri; Dattanjaneya High School, Odiyoor; Ramakunjeshwara English-medium High School, Ramakunja; and Vani Composite Pre-University College, Belthangady. Initially started in 16 schools, the language is now taught in over 33 schools, of which 30 are in Dakshina Kannada district. More than 1500 students have opted this language.The Government of Kerala established The Kerala Tulu Academy in 2007.The Academy focuses on the retrieval and Propagation of Tulu Language and Culture in Kerala through various activities such as Organising Seminars and Publishing Tulu periodicals etc.The Academy is based in Hosangadi, Manjeshwar in Kasaragod.
Tulu is also taught as a language at the post graduate level in Mangalore University, and there is a dedicated department for Tulu studies, Translation and Research at Dravidian University in Kuppam Andhra Pradesh.The Government Degree College at Kasaragod in Kerala has also introduced a certificate course in Tulu for the academic year 2009–2010. It has also introduced Tulu as an optional subject in its Kannada post-graduation course. It has adopted syllabi from the books published by the Tulu Sahitya Academy.
German missionaries Revs. Kammerer and Männer were the first people to conduct research on the language. Rev. Krammer collected about 3,000 words and their meanings until he died. Later his work was carried on by Rev. Männer, who completed the research and published the first dictionary of the Tulu language in 1886 with the help of the then Madras government. The effort was incomplete, as it did not cover all aspects of the language. The Govinda Pai Research Centre at MGM College, Udupi started an 18-year Tulu lexicon project in the year 1979.
Different dialects, special vocabularies used for different occupational activities, rituals, and folk literature in the forms of Paād-danāas were included in this project. The Centre has also released a six-volume, trilingual, modestly priced Tulu-Kannada-English lexicon. The Tulu lexicon was awarded the Gundert Award for the best dictionary in the country in 1996. In September 2011, the Academic Council of Mangalore University accepted a proposal, to allow the university and the colleges affiliated to it to offer certificates, diplomas and postgraduate diploma courses in Tulu, both in regular and correspondence modes