Irula language

Irula is a Dravidian language spoken by the Irulas who inhabit the area of the Nilgiri mountains, in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, India.[3] It is written in the Tamil script.

Irula
இருளா
Native toIndia
RegionNilgiri Mountains
EthnicityIrula
Native speakers
11,870 (2011 census)[1]
Census conflates some speakers with Tamil
Dravidian
Tamil script
Language codes
ISO 639-3iru
Glottologirul1243
ELPIrula[2]

Origins

The language was first described and classified by indologist Kamil Zvelebil, who in 1955 showed that the Irula language is an independent Southern Dravidian language that is akin to Tamil, particularly Old Tamil, with some Kannada-like features. Before that, it was traditionally denied or put to doubt, and Irula was described as a crude or corrupt mixture of Tamil and Kannada.

According to a tentative hypothesis by Kamil Zvelebil, a pre-Dravidian Melanid population that forms the bulk of the Irulas anthropologically began to speak an ancient pre- or proto-Tamil dialect, which was superimposed almost totally on their native (pre-Dravidian) speech. That then became the basis of the language, which must have subsequently been in close contact with the other tribal languages of the Nilgiri area as well as with the large surrounding languages such as Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam.

Phonology

The tables present the vowel[4] and the consonant[5][6] phonemes of Irula.

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Open a aː

All vowels are centralized by certain neighbouring consonants. They are then transcribed [ï ë ä ö ü], etc., but they may be closer to [ɨ ɘ æ ɵ ʉ].

Consonants

Phonemes marked with an asterisk appear only in Zvelebil (2001, p. 157).

Bilabial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ɳ ŋ
Stop/Affricate pb t̪d̪ t*d* ʈɖ tʃdʒ kg
Fricative v s
Approximant
(Lateral)		 ʝ* j
l ɭ
Rhotic r̪ r

References
  1. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Irula.
  3. Perialwar (1979), p. 1.
  4. Perialwar (1979), p. 55.
  5. Perialwar (1979), p. 57.
  6. Zvelebil (2001), p. 157.

Sources
  • Perialwar, R. (1978), A Grammar of Irula, Annamalai University
  • Perialwar, R. (1979), Phonology of Irula with Vocabulary, Annamalai University
  • Zvelebil, Kamil V. (2001), "Irula Phonological System", Nilgiri Areal Studies, Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press, ISBN 80-7184-945-6

Further reading


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