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Kodava language
The Kodava (Kodava: [koɖɐʋɐ], natively: Koḍava takkï, Kodava: [koɖɐʋɐ t̪ɐkːɨ], meaning 'speech of Kodavas', Angloid name: Codava, Coorgi) is a Dravidian language spoken in Kodagu district (Coorg) in Southern Karnataka, India. It is an endangered language. The term Kodava has two related usages. Firstly, it is the name of the Kodava language and culture followed by a number of communities from Kodagu. Secondly, within the Kodava-speaking communities and region (Kodagu), it is a demonym for the dominant Kodava people. Hence, the Kodava language is not only the primary language of the Kodavas but also of many other castes and tribes in Kodagu. The language has two dialects: Mendele (spoken in Northern and Central Kodagu, i.e. outside Kodagu's Kiggat naadu) and Kiggat (spoken in Kiggat naadu, in Southern Kodagu).
Historically, it has been associated to Old Canarese or Hale Kannada However, it has been re-analysed as a language by early 20th century academics. Now it is considered as an intermediate language between Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Tulu in comparative linguistics.
It is traditionally written using the thirke script which is an abugida. The 2011 Census of India reports 96,918 persons who returned Kodava as their mother tongue and 16,939 who returned Coorgi/Kodagu, for a total of 113,857 persons coming under the parent group which is again identified as Coorgi/Kodagu (another name for Kodava) as the mother tongue.
In Kannada, the region was called Kodagu and the people Kodaga. Natively, the people were called Kodava and the land was called Kodavu in the folksongs. Comparative Dravidian studies show that the Kodava language belongs to the South Dravidian language group.
The grammar of Kodagu has been systematically studied and documented since at least around 1867 when Captain R.A. Cole published the seminal work An Elementary Grammar of the Coorg Language.
Dravidian vowel systems contain five vowel qualities i.e. those usually corresponding to a, e, i, o and u., with a short and long variants for each. However, Kodava has two more: the mid and high (close) back unrounded vowels, with corresponding long variants.
Kodava and Kannada share a lack of palatalization of word-initial *k-, which is a feature found in the Tamil-Malayalam branch.
The Kodava (Kodagu) language was popularly written in the Kannada script. Dr. IM Muthanna, developed a script to Kodava Thakk in 1971, and as of 2022, Karnataka Kodava Sahitya Academy, a government body for the development of Kodava Language, accepted the script developed by Dr IM Muthanna as the official script of Kodava Language. It is also widely used across Kodagu, Although around 7 scripts were developed over a period from 1889 to 2008, Only Dr. IM Muthanna's script is considered as the most acceptable script for Kodava Language.
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Kodava language AI simulator
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Kodava language
The Kodava (Kodava: [koɖɐʋɐ], natively: Koḍava takkï, Kodava: [koɖɐʋɐ t̪ɐkːɨ], meaning 'speech of Kodavas', Angloid name: Codava, Coorgi) is a Dravidian language spoken in Kodagu district (Coorg) in Southern Karnataka, India. It is an endangered language. The term Kodava has two related usages. Firstly, it is the name of the Kodava language and culture followed by a number of communities from Kodagu. Secondly, within the Kodava-speaking communities and region (Kodagu), it is a demonym for the dominant Kodava people. Hence, the Kodava language is not only the primary language of the Kodavas but also of many other castes and tribes in Kodagu. The language has two dialects: Mendele (spoken in Northern and Central Kodagu, i.e. outside Kodagu's Kiggat naadu) and Kiggat (spoken in Kiggat naadu, in Southern Kodagu).
Historically, it has been associated to Old Canarese or Hale Kannada However, it has been re-analysed as a language by early 20th century academics. Now it is considered as an intermediate language between Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Tulu in comparative linguistics.
It is traditionally written using the thirke script which is an abugida. The 2011 Census of India reports 96,918 persons who returned Kodava as their mother tongue and 16,939 who returned Coorgi/Kodagu, for a total of 113,857 persons coming under the parent group which is again identified as Coorgi/Kodagu (another name for Kodava) as the mother tongue.
In Kannada, the region was called Kodagu and the people Kodaga. Natively, the people were called Kodava and the land was called Kodavu in the folksongs. Comparative Dravidian studies show that the Kodava language belongs to the South Dravidian language group.
The grammar of Kodagu has been systematically studied and documented since at least around 1867 when Captain R.A. Cole published the seminal work An Elementary Grammar of the Coorg Language.
Dravidian vowel systems contain five vowel qualities i.e. those usually corresponding to a, e, i, o and u., with a short and long variants for each. However, Kodava has two more: the mid and high (close) back unrounded vowels, with corresponding long variants.
Kodava and Kannada share a lack of palatalization of word-initial *k-, which is a feature found in the Tamil-Malayalam branch.
The Kodava (Kodagu) language was popularly written in the Kannada script. Dr. IM Muthanna, developed a script to Kodava Thakk in 1971, and as of 2022, Karnataka Kodava Sahitya Academy, a government body for the development of Kodava Language, accepted the script developed by Dr IM Muthanna as the official script of Kodava Language. It is also widely used across Kodagu, Although around 7 scripts were developed over a period from 1889 to 2008, Only Dr. IM Muthanna's script is considered as the most acceptable script for Kodava Language.