Kurumbas-Nilgiris (also known as Kuruba in Karnataka and Kuruma in Kerala), is a group of

Southern Dravidian languages South Dravidian (also called "South Dravidian I") is one of the four major branches of the Dravidian languages family. It includes the literary languages Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Tulu, as well as several non-literary languages such as Bad ...

of the Tamil–Kannada subgroup spoken by the Kurumbas tribes. Some of them are from different branches.

Etymology

Classification

Kannadoid

* Alu Kurumba * Betta Kurumba, also known as Urali Kurumba or Kadu Kurumba * Jennu Kurumba, also known as Ten Kurumba or Kattunaika Together they are known as Kannada Kurumba as they are similar to

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

Irulic

* Attapady Kurumba - also known as Palu Kurumba, a dialect of Muduga as they are mutually intelligible.

Malayalamoid

* Mullu Kurumba, also known as Mullu Kuruma

Geographical distribution

Kannadoid Kurumba languages are spoken at the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. Irulic and Malayalamoid Kurumba languages are spoken in

Wayanad Wayanad () is a district in the north-east of the Indian state of Kerala, with its administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, ...

district of Kerala.

References

* Dravidian languages Languages of Tamil Nadu Languages of Karnataka Languages of Kerala {{Dr-lang-stub