Koraga (also rendered ''Koragar, Koragara, Korangi)'' is a
Dravidian language
The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant imm ...
spoken by the
Koraga people
The Koraga are a tribal community found mainly in the Dakshina Kannada, Udupi districts of Karnataka and the Kasaragod district of Kerala, south India. These areas in Karnataka, are altogether often referred to as Tulunaad, which roughly correspo ...
, a
Scheduled tribe
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
people of
Dakshina Kannada,
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
, and
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
in South West
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The dialect spoken by the Koraga tribe in Kerala, Mudu Koraga, is divergent enough to not be intelligible with Korra Koraga.
Classification
Koraga is a member of the
Dravidian family of languages.
It is further classified into the Southern Dravidian family. Koraga is a spoken language and generally not written, whenever it is written it makes use of Kannada script. Koraga people are generally conversant in
Tulu and
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
languages and hence use those languages as a medium for producing literature.
Dialects
According to , there are 4 dialects:
*''Onti'' (spoken in
Udupi
Udupi (alternate spelling Udipi; also known as Odipu) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Udupi is situated about north of the educational, commercial and industrial hub of Mangalore and about west of state capital Bangalore by road.
...
)
*''Tappu'' (in
Hebri
Hebri is a town and taluk headquarters in the Udupi district of Karnataka, at the foot of the Western Ghats of India in Karnataka state. It was first inaugurated as a taluk in 2018. It is a main junction and a central point of roads leading to ...
)
*''Mudu'' (in
Kundapura
Kundapur, also called Kundapura, is a coastal town situated in the Udupi district of the state of Karnataka, India. This town was known as Coondapoor while it was part of the erstwhile South Canara district (1862–1947) of the Madras Pres ...
)
*''Ande'' (midway between ''tappu'' and ''onti'' and in
Mangalore
Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...
)
All the speakers who speak ''Mudu'' dialect are bilingual with Kannada language and all speaking ''onti'' dialect are bilingual with Tulu language. This has resulted a strong influence of Kannada on Mudu koraga and also similar influence of Tulu is seen on onti koraga dialect. Majority of negative forms of onti koraga language are borrowed from Tulu language.
Phonology
Vowels
Consonants
References
Bibliography
*
External links
"Koraga language: A primer"
Dravidian languages
Languages of Karnataka
Agglutinative languages
Languages of Kerala
Endangered languages of India
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