Position of Tulu Language - V

For whatever its worth;

While the NeighborNet network clearly distinguishes three groups, reticulate signal is evident for Tulu, which is located on the edge of the South I subgroup and shows some affinity with Brahui, and Telugu and Koya. 

I've previously argued that Tulu was influenced by Telugu or SD-II languages.

Reference:
A Bayesian Phylogenetic study of the Dravidian Language Family, Kolipakam et al. (2018)

Classical Status for Malayalam

I came across this rather hilarious reason that supposedly clinched the classical status deal for Malayalam.

Mahadevan’s intervention on the Edakkal engraving was decisive in a way. He proffered the reading ‘pazhama’, meaning ‘antiquity’ in Tamil and Malayalam. Coincidentally, just about then, Kerala had set up an experts’ panel to make a case for classical status. Besides litterateurs like O.N.V. Kurup, it included linguist Naduvattom Gopalakrishnan. Now, he had just what he wan­ted. Zeroing in on ‘pazhama’, he ext­ended it, saying the prefixed string was not ‘Sree’ but the Malayalam ‘Ee’ (‘this’). Most advocated caution, Varier even called it a “dangerous interpretation”. But who was to argue against the tide of provisionist history! If you’re looking to prove your antiquity, what could be more fortuitous than to come across a petroglyph that proclaims, precisely, “O! This Antiquity” and putatively joins you to Indus cultures? It’s almost pluperfect: a past that talks of an older past. One neat standing jump on an Indus Valley zebu over the 1,500-year cutoff.

In fact, the author of the article mentions Tulu being left behind. But if Malayalis say 'This Antiquity' and get Rs. 100 crores classical status, Tuluvas can say 'pirak' (archaic/old) and claim the same. In fact, some of the Tulu enthusiasts have observed the origin of the word in the Indus valley region Pirak. Thus Tuluvas are also connected to Indus culture.

Anyway,drab I don't see any reason for not giving classical status to Tulu. 

position of Tulu Language - IV

I'm not fluent in Tulu, the language of my native land. And still less in Malayalam, my hereditary language. By linguistics, I am actually a Kannadiga. But when I converse in Tulu , I tend to mix Malayalam verbs and cases sometimes. Never Kannada, except for nouns. However, I haven't observed that phenomenon vice-versa(no idea if I missed noticing it). I of course don't know if this signifies anything.

Origins of Malayalis - ?.2.0

Nambudiri Brahmins, popularly credited to have turned Tamil into Malayalam by adding Sanskrit words to it, were originally Tamils, according to this new paper. (Via Indo-Eurasian_Research Yahoo Group).

That makes sense to me if I agree with that Tulu Brahmin who claimed they were originally Malayalis who came along with Sankara. That also tells us that Malayalam didn't adopt Tulu Grantha script at a later time. It was already there in Malayalam region before its appearance in Tulu region.

update(22-Jul):If I think about it, I suppose this also accounts for Na, La, in Brahmin dialect of Tulu. Non-brahmin dialect of Tulu lacks these retroflexes.

Position of Tulu Language - III

Bellari:

Bellara is a Scheduled Caste in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu. Singh reports they speak a dialect of Kannada.

Via Ethnologue.com

Note: Bellari is a dialect/variety of Tulu.

Unfortunately, I have no idea how to pronounce 'bellari'. Anyway, I assume the community is called beLLAra and the language is called beLLAri.

The Scheduled castes or the erstwhile untouchable castes, in my opinion, mainly came from two backgrounds.
1. Purity and pollution: The communities engaged in so-called polluting occupations, ie. leather works, scavenging etc... were made outcasts.
2. Tribal origins: Many tribal communities as they made transition from tribal life to mainstream life were included in outcasts in old caste Indian society.(Ironically, I believe, ritual purity of tribals was higher than untouchables!)

Now, consider the community beLLAri and the district in Karnataka bordering Telugu speaking Andhra Pradesh, baLLAri. Is it not possible that a region getting its name from a tribe or vice versa?

Therefore, in my opinion, along with zeTTi, baMTe even beLLAra came from Telugu region to Tulu region.

Position of Tulu Language -II

I have already stated my doubts about Tulu being part of SD-I(Kannada family). In my opinion, it should be part of SD-II(Telugu family). Another blogger Ravi though not necessarily agreeing with me has given me few more examples of Telugu influence in this region (place names) in his comment.

Now let us explore further this region. Though Kannada is a minority language in this area, surprisingly, there are three dialects(whatever that means... or probably means if they standardise the words they would sound like standard Kannada) of Kannada. To make the matters worse at least one dialect, Havyaka, is sort of close to archaic Kannada or probably also to archaic Tamil. I do not know much about other two dialects viz.. Kundakannada (spoken in Kundapura) and Are Bhashe(spoken in Sullia). While Havyaka and Are Bhashe are community specific tongues, Kunda Kannada is a mass language.

So, how come so much diversity in Kannada in a Tulu region? Probably, this BBC report can give us some clues?

Teachers in Cameroon are concerned that the new language frananglais - a mixture of French, English and Creole - is affecting the way students speak and write the country's two official languages.

From nursery to primary and secondary schools, frananglais is fast becoming the lingua franca over Creole (pidgin English) which until recently was the best-known and widely used language across the country.

Francoise Endwin, head of the French department of the Linguistic Centre in Douala says it developed because French and English have a lot of similarities, despite their different syntax.

Jacques Towe, head of the English department of the Linguistic Centre in Douala, says: "Only time will tell what will happen to frananglais. It might develop into a new type of language"

Let us say a Proto-SD-I language was spoken initially in this region. And there was a big migration from Proto-SD-II region to this region(mostly merchants and their bodyguards etc... may be rice farming priests too!). Just as the case in Cameroon, where a Romance language mixes with a Germanic language, an SD-I language mixes with an SD-II language. Just as both English and French are IE tongues, these two are Dravidian languages. Now the question is, to which language tree this new language belongs. That we will come to know if Frananglais becomes a new independent language. But I believe considering SD-I base in this region the new language became part of SD-I family but not really related to any of the other languages in this tree. I say this because according to linguists SD-I does not start with Proto-Kannada-Tulu but with Proto-Kannada-Tamil.

I do find one example in Tulu numbers. "Eight" is enuma in Tulu and enimidi in Telugu. However, other languages in SD-I family have slightly different sound for this number (entu in Kannada, ettu in Tamil/Malayalam).

Another example is communities in this region. I have already talked about Shetty surname. Now, let us consider the community they belong to, "Banta". In Telugu region, Bantu was an erstwhile suicide squad(Now, members of this community are called Mudiraju). This suicide squad of bodyguards was a common feature in South Indian region. In Telugu region they were called Bantu, in Kannada region they were called Garuda, in Malayalam region they were called Chaver and in Tamil region they were called Tamizh. They were the last rung support in an army(or for a feudal chieftain), I believe. Curiously, a Tulu community name finds an echo in Telugu region.

Other day, a Tamil propagandist(a nice chap who helps me with many facts. Of course, I keep the rights to interpret them to myself) told me the dialect of Malayalam spoken in Mangalore region(my own dialect is very close to it) is close to archaic Tamil. Some other Tamil propagandist wrote on the web that Havyaka dialect is close to archaic Tamil. Now, I add these two together. I believe the base language in this region could have been close to Kannada considering so many varieties of it here. The Malayalam(Byari Bhashe) that the person told close to archaic Tamil sort of sounds like Tulu(but intelligible to North Malabar Malayalis). Considering that these two archaic languages are still "alive" I propose a new SD-I language tree.

The root langauge was Proto-Kannada-Malayalam which branched out of Proto-Dravidian in Maharashtra region. This clan migrated along West coastal region. Tulu branched out because of Telugu family language influence. Then Kannada branched out as it spread inland from coastal region. Then Proto-Malayalam-Tamil clan continued their journey along Kaveri river and Tamil branched out in Tamil region. However, few dialects of Kannada and Malayalam still retained their archaic nature in coastal region. I think, the standard Malayalam is in fact a new language heavily influenced by literary Tamil( see b -> v change) of first millennium.

Position of Tulu language

According to linguists, Tulu language branches the earliest from Proto-South-Dravidian-I family. In relation to migration route of Dravidian speakers colonizing South India this can be attributed to Proto-Tuluvas moving along the coastal line whereas Proto-Tamil-Kannada clan spreading inland Karnataka along Krishna river (then moving along Tungabhadra river and finally along Kaveri reaching Tamil Nadu) from SD-I family.

But when I look at various communities of Tulu region I really wonder if that was the case. Consider the case of Bunts, erstwhile landowning community. The majority of Bunts have surname "Shetty". Shetty or its variants Setty, Chetty in South Indian society is the title of merchants. However, Bunts were typically considered as cultivators and never merchant community. In my opinion, changes in socio-political situation might have led many members of this community to cease their trading activities.

The western coast had an active trading relationship with Romans and Semites(probably Chinese too) dating as back as 2000 years. It has been observed that in Kerala society generally merchants from East coast(Tamil Nadu) migrated to North Kerala region and engaged in trading activities. What about Tulu region just north to it?

Considering the position of Tulu language in Dravidian language tree, I would envisage a situation where merchants from Telugu region(Godavari region) migrating to coastal Karnataka region. As time passed and trading activities came down, these Shettys, remained only as landowners. The migration of Shettys(and other people) belonging to SD-II family probably occurred before interior Karnataka region was occupied or Proto-Kannada-Tamil region was still confined to Krishna river region. Of course, this requires a mature Proto-SD-II cultural region in Godavari basin long before Kaveri region (Tamil) . Probably, around 1000-1500 BCE. I don't think this situation impossible considering Proto-Dravidians were already a civilized community by the time they reached South India. Of course, South Indian culture was an amalgamation of Dravidian, IA, Semitic and Austro-Asiatic elements from the beginning.

Note: I believe both IA and Dravidian speakers, had they been only wheat eaters, might have faced tribalization in tropical South India. Michale Witzel et al. argue that the word for "rice" in Dravidian languages is a borrow from either IA or Austro-Asiatic. So, it is highly possible that Dravidian speakers might have been at a greater risk of tribalization as wheat does not grow in South India(if I go by Jared Diamond).

However, this theory requires Tulu being part of SD-II family(which includes Telugu). Probably, it's a mistake including it in SD-I family. I think Tulu might have been part of Telugu family but for the influence of SD-I family it has become a separated, but curiously unrelated, branch in that family. I mean linguists start with Proto-Tamil-Kannada and not with Proto-Tulu-Kannada.

Probably, we can check this further by population genetics. If 30-40% of male lineages in this region belongs to Haplogroup R2(my clan) just like coastal Andhra(Godavari basin) then we can confidently say the male migration to this region was from SD-II family and Tulu should be part of Telugu family. Of course, we have to also look for all those Roman(R1b), Pre-Islamic Semitic (E3b, J1) lineages among Tulu castes.

The Tala people

The question I always wondered was whether the Dravidian speakers had any clannish identity of their own. It is unknown what the people of Indus valley called themselves. Some of the Sumerian and Akkadian texts talk about "Meluhha" which has been identified with Indus valley. But that is still controversial. Also, the identity looks like given one by non Indus valley people just like the name India. More importantly we do not know if Indus valley people spoke Dravidian languages or not. My inclination is the people of Indus valley spoke languages belonging to different families. Therefore, I want to investigate if they had any kind of national identity.

The birth of a nation with consonants:
The one thing(may be two) that caught my eye was consonants "t" and "l" in Telugu, Tulu and Tamil. So let us start constructing the original national identity.

Let me call these people "Tala". The "l" could have been pronounced as retroflex approximant(zh) or alveolar trill(r). Both these are still alive in Tamil and Malayalam and was alive till 12th century in Kannada. In Kannada, retroflex approximant has turned into "La" and alveolar trill has turned into "ra". This gives us the clue for the various sound changes.

Let me group the people who I think were part of Indus valley.

Group 1 : Burushos, Brahui
Group 2 : Tulu , Telugu
Group 3 : Kannada, Tamil, Gonda
Group 4: Kodava
Group 5: Toda

Case 1: Group 2 still shows the oldest unchanged identity. First Group 1 and Group 2 connection.

1. Tulu -> Burusho
Tulu + AN (male or people) -> TuluvAN (vakArAgama sandhi) -> TuruvAsha -> Burusho
Note:I believe "sho" or "sha" basically meant people.
Rule 1: In North, the sound changes are mostly t->b and alveolar trill to "ra".

2. Tulu -> Brahui or Brohi

By rule 1 : Tuluvan -> Buruvan -> Buruva -> Bruva -> Brovi -> Brohi

or
Tuluvan -> Buruvan -> Buruvash(s) -> Buruvah(When you cross Sindh s changes to h) -> Bruha -> Brohi

Let's discuss about Group 3. This is an interesting group. Here etymology of Kannada or Karnataka has been traced to karu + nAdu meaning elevated land. That sounds like given identity and not the self one. I am suspicious of such imaginative identities. In my opinion, Group3 follow the similar pattern.

If you observe Tamil changes to Damida in Prakrit. Therefore, La-Da change is possible. However, one more interesting thing happened here. The "anusvara" came in between "ta" and "la". This anusvara based on succeeding consonant can take "um" or "un" form(though both pronunciations are wrong, but we have to understand people were illiterate).

Also, in the regions of Central India and Karnataka, there were additional changes;
la-> da
ta -> ka
Rule 2: In the region of Karnataka, tala should change to kada.

Tamil:
tala -> ta(m)la -> tamil
Kannada:
tala->kada->ka(n)da->kannada
Gonda:
tala->kada->ka(n)da->konda->gonda

Group 4 is late migrants to the region of Karnataka as a result they do not show insertion of anusvara.
By Rule 2:
tala-> kada->koda(van)

Group 5 is probably late migrants to Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu. They only show la-> da changes.
tala -> tada -> toda

What is Meluhha's original form?
By rule 1:
tuluvan-> buruvan-> buruvash(s)-> buruvahh(west of Sindh s->h) ->muluhha(retroflex approximant making a come back in the place of alveolar trill)-> meluhha (b->m change could be unique to Sumerians and Akkadians)
Note: I have already discussed that the original mother was "abba" or "appa" as it's still in Tulu. You can see, b->m transition is possible in every language just as abba became amma.

Now, the earliest people of Vedic India, Kuru and Puru are within the range of sound change of Tulu.

I think I need another long break.