ENDANGERED LANGUAGE: A STUDY OF KORAGA
Dr. M. Selvadurai
Senior Resource Person
Central Institute of Classical Tamil
Kamarajar Salai, Chennai-05
Email: selva_ling@rediffmail.com
Cell No.96262866600
11.Introduction
Among the 6542 World Languages, the 2001 Census of India recorded 1,652 of which 203 were Indian major Languages. The census but the number of persons belonging to Scheduled Tribes in India at 84.3 million. There were about 377 major tribal groups accounting for about 8.2% of the total tribal population of India. The of population in Karnataka is 5, 27, 33, 452, : but SC population of Karnataka 85, 63, 930,: ST, population of Karnataka 34, 63,986.
According to 1891 census the total number of Koragas was 192. According to 1971 census the population of Koragas tribal people of Karnataka is 7620 (DLA NEWS) and according 2001 census the total number of Koragas tribal people is 16,071, male-795, female 8120. The population is rural areas Koragas is 11,776, urban areas Koragas is 4295. But now the population of Koraga people is about 20,000 according to the District Panchauat of Dakshina Kannada and also the District Panchauat of Udupi. About twenty thousand speakers in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamilnadu speak Koraga, a dialect of Koraga language of Dravidian family.
Koraga is an endangered Language of Dravidian language family. It is spoken by about twenty thousand speakers mainly in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamilnadu. As a language, Koraga is not confined to any particular geographical boundary. It has benefitted from various sources, absorbed regional colors, and imbibed influence from neighboring languages and dialects. Thus, it has numerous phonological and morphological borrowings from Kannada, and Tulu.
The Koragas are, perhaps, the poorest among the scheduled tribes of Karnataka and Kerala. Koraga is an aboriginal tribe distributed over the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts of Karnataka. Though the Koragas belong to a tribal ethnic group, they are regarded as ceremonially impure and unclean by the local Hindu Society and are considered untouchables by the social groups of the mainstream. No doubt, the Koragas are the most backward among the tribes of Karnataka State in every respect and of late the very existence of the tribe appears to be endangered.
It is generally believed by the surrounding mainstream folks that the Koragas speak the language of their own. However, all the existing records beginning nineteenth to the end of the twentieth century had recorded that, they speak a kind of corrupted or deformed Tulu (D.N.S. Bhat, 1971). However, present Linguistic study recognizes that, there are sizable Koragas who speak their native language.
In Dakshina Kannada, they speak in Tulu and Kannada languages with the other social groups for inter-group communication. But, for intra-group communication they prefer their own language Koraga only. Without any doubt there is a recognizable socialist of Koraga’s Tulu; however, it is different enough from their own tribal tongue.
22. Etymology of the ethnic label ‘Koraga’
There are many possibilities of etymological explanations for the term Koraga. One such possibility proposes that the label is derived form their cultural practice. ‘Kora’ the first part of their tribal name refers to the ‘sun’ and the name might have originated from their traditional worship of the sun.
Another alternative etymological interpretation rises out of Tulu language data. There is a possibility that their name might have been the corrupted form of Koruvar, which in Tulu language means ‘the people of the hills’. However, the etymology of the word Koraga has not yet been focused upon. The root /kor-/ also means ‘bamboo basket’ in the speech of the Koragas. Therefore, it is believed by the people that, their name has been derived from their traditional occupation of basket making.
3. Food pattern – Traditional
The Koragas are non-vegetarians and earlier they used to eat even carcass. A few decades ago, carcass of the cattlece in mainstream communities were donated to Koragas because they used to feed upon it. However, now-a-days, the practice of eating carcass has been abandoned by many Koragas. Fundamentally, Koraga tribe is one of a food gathering type of tribes and not a type of hunting tribes. We do not find hunting weapons with them, as traditional equipments of the tribe. Koraga community is neither a nomadic nor a semi-nomadic type of tribe and food patterns are in accordance with their life-style.
4. Sub-groups
During the field studies, the following 6 groups namely, Onṭi Koragas, Soppu Koragas, Mūḍu Koragas, Tappu Koragas, Dāḍi / Kāda Koragas, Vastra / Kunṭu Koragas and Kappaḍa Koragas have been listed as reported by the present Koragas.
5. Family type
The Koraga family types reveal that like any other social group, joint family system is disappearing among the Koragas. Traditional joint families of the Koragas were not as large as in the main stream Indian society. Nearly two-third of the surveyed sample respondents live in nuclear families and only about one-third live in joint families.
6. Koraga language
Koraga is a tribal language spoken mainly in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts of Karnataka State and Kasaragod District of Kerala State. Koraga language was earlier considered to be a social dialect of Tulu language (D.N.S. Bhat, 1971). However, Ramakrishna T.Shetty (2008) disagrees with the above mentioned fact and has proposed that it is an independent Dravidian language.
Koraga language is divided into a number of distinct dialects, which are separated from one another by both geographical and social factors. According to early research works (D.N.S. Bhat, 1971), there are four different major dialects in Koraga. They are, i) Onti, spoken in Udupi, ii) Tappu spoken in Hebri, iii) Mudu, spoken in Kundapura and iv) Ande, spoken in Mangalore. According to this study most of the Koragas are bilinguals, the other language being Tulu or Kannada. The speakers of the third dialect (i.e., Mudu Koraga) are conversant with only Kannada in addition to their mother tongue. However, Tappu Koragas are multilinguals. They are conversant with both Tulu and Kannada languages apart from their mother tongue.
However, Ramakrishna T. Shetty (2006) has revised this view in his unpublished project report on Koraga dialects and according to him there are five regional dialects within Karnataka, which are as follows:
a North Koraga Dialect
b Northwest Koraga Dialect
c Northeast Koraga Dialect
d Central Koraga Dialect
e South Koraga Dialect
Other than these regional dialects the project report also has suggested that there are Kappaḍa Koraga and Baḍaga Koraga socialists. However, according to the report, these social dialects are not found in all the regional dialects of the Koraga language.
The Language attitude of the Koraga tribe towards their mother tongue is remarkably negative. According to their myths whatever they possess as their cultural traits are inferior to others and in the same way their language too is inferior. Nearly all of the rural folk never use the Koraga language with any other neighboring communities because of their belief that it is dishonousable to speak it.
The Koragas have their highly distinct and unique folk culture and language. Their language is Koraga which has been grouped as a South Dravidian Language. The Koraga language has no script, but very recently a few literates have mostly borrowed the script used for Kannada. The Koragas are bilinguals and multilinguals too. Many are trilinguals knowing Koraga, Tulu and Kannada Languages and a few among there are bilinguals in Koraga and Tulu.
A few decades ago, the multilingual Koragas were those living in Kundapura and Karkala taluks and they were conversant with Koraga, Kannada and Tulu languages. Whereas, the bilingual Koragas were those living in Udupi and Mangalore taluks and they were conversant with only Koraga and Tulu. But, now, the language scenario is different; all the sub groups are increasingly multilingual and mulingualism is affecting their proficiency in the native language considerably.
7. CONCLUSION
Koraga speak their Language only with the people of their own community. But when they contact the people of other communities, they speak the other Language ( i.e oṇti & aṇḍɛ Koragas speck Tulu, mu:ḍu Koragas speak and Tappu Koragas speck either Tulu or Kannada. Language of the Koraga tribe, also, is an endangered language, as already it is suffering language loss and shift, in many areas within their ancestral home of Tulu Nadu, in the present Karnataka State.
Bibliography
1. Ayyappan. 1948. “Report on the Socio-Economic Condition of the Aboriginal Tribes” of the Madras Presidency.
2. Bhat,D.N.S.1971.The Koraga Language .Deccan College Poona.
3. Bhatt, S.C.& Bharagava, G.K. 2005. “Land and People of India States and Union Territories in 36 volumes, Karnataka – Volume 13
4. Hemananda,B.P.& M. Selvadurai. 2004. Comparison of Ethic identity between Koraga and Narikorawas UGC –ASIHSS National Seminar CAS in Linguistics Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar.
| 5. Purushothama Bilimale, 1993. “Koragara Sunkrithi -A cultural study, Deemed College, Pone. |
| 6. Ramakrishna T. Shetty 1978. ‘Koraga Grammar. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis Poona University, Poona. 7. Ramakrishna T. Shetty 2008. ‘Koraga Grammar. Department of Dravidian Computational Linguistics, Dravidian University, Kuppam. |
| 8. Siva Kumar, M. 1994. “An Ethno linguistics Study of Nilgri Tribes” ICSSR Project CAS in Linguistics, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar. |
| 9. Srinivasa Varma,G. 1978. “Kurumba Kannada” ( Pudukkottai Kurumba Dialect) CAS in Linguistics Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar. 10. Selvadurai, M. 2007. Present Status “Culture Activities of Koraga Tribal Community”, unpublished paper presented the 35th All India Conference of Dravidian Linguistics, Thiruvananthapuram & Dept. of Linguistics, Institute of Kannada, University of Mysore. 11. Selvadurai, M. 2007. Present Status “Socio Activities of Koraga Tribal”, in the 29th All Indian Conference Linguistics, Annamalai University, & Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore. 12. Selvadurai, M.2009. Present Status “Introduction-Koraga Tribal Community”, in the International Conference on Dravidian Linguistics & CAS in Linguistics, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar. 13. Vasudevan, C. 1998. Koraga: The primitive Tribe of TuluNadu. Trichur, Kerala, India. |
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