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The Tulu language (-xxˈt̪uɭu; Tulu: or or തുളു ബാസെ, Tuḷu bāse, -xxˈt̪uɭu ˈbɒːsæ [?]) is a Dravidian language spoken by 1.95 million native speakers (1997) mainly in the southwest part of India known as Tulu Nadu. In India, 1.72 million people speak it as their mother tongue (2001), increased by 10 percent over the 1991 census. According to one estimate reported in 2009, Tulu is currently spoken by three to five million native speakers in the world. The native speakers of Tulu are referred to as Tuluva or Tulu people. Separated early from Proto-South Dravidian, Tulu has several features not found in Tamil-Kannada. For example, it has pluperfect and future perfect, like French or Spanish, but formed without an auxiliary verb. Robert Caldwell in his pioneering work A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages called this language “peculiar and very interesting”. According to him, “Tuḷu is one of the most highly developed languages of the Dravidian family. It looks as if it had been cultivated for its own sake”. The language has a lot of written literature, and also has a rich oral literature such as the Siri Epic. It is the primary spoken language in Tulu Nadu, a region which comprises the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada in the west of the state of Karnataka and Kasaragod taluk of Kerala. Apart from Tulu Nadu significant emigrant population of Tuluva people is found in Maharashtra, Bangalore and Gulf countries. Non-native speakers like the Konkani-speaking Mangalorean Catholics, Gowda Saraswath Brahmins and Daivajnas,as well as the Beary people in Tulu Nadu are generally well-versed in the language. The language was originally written using the Tulu script, which is an adaptation of Grantha script. From the beginning of the 20th century the original script was abandoned in favour of the Kannada script. |
