Kota language (India)
| Kota | |
|---|---|
| Kō mānt | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Nilgiri Hills |
| Ethnicity | Kotas |
Native speakers | 930 (2001 census)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kfe |
| Glottolog | kota1263[2] |
Kota is a language of the Dravidian language family with about 9000 native speakers in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu state, India. It is spoken mainly by the tribal Kota people. In the late 19th century, the native speaking population was about 1,100.[3] In 1990, the population was only 930, out of an ethnic population of perhaps 1,400, despite the great increase in the population of the area.[1] The language is 'critically endangered' due to the greater social status of neighbouring languages.[4] The Kota language may have originated from Old Kannada and is closely related to Toda. The Kota population is about 2500. The origin of the name Kota is derived from the Dravida root word 'Ko' meaning Mountain.[5][6]
Phonology[edit]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t̪ | t | ʈ | c (t͡ʃ) | k |
| voiced | b | d̪ | d | ɖ | ɟ (d͡ʒ) | ɡ | |
| Nasal | m | n̪ | ɳ | ɲ | |||
| Approximant | central | ʋ | j | ||||
| lateral | l | ɭ | |||||
| Tap | ɾ | ɽ | |||||
| Fricative | s | ||||||
[s] and [z] occur in free variation with /c (t͡ʃ)/ and /ɟ (d͡ʒ)/. [ʂ] occurs as an allophone of /s/ before retroflexes.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Kota at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Kota (India)". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ^ Caldwell, Robert. 1875. A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Or South-Indian Family of Languages. London: Trübner & Company
- ^ Prema, S. n.d. "Status of Dravidian Tribal Languages in Kerala" University of Kerala
- ^ Raju, Jamuna (30 June 2012). "The Kota Tribes of Nilgiris". Breeks Chatter.
- ^ Narasimhacharya, R. (1990). History of Kannada Language. New Delhi, Madras: Asian Educational Services. p. 37. ISBN 9788120605596.
- ^ Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003). The Dravidian languages (null ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-511-06037-3.
Further reading[edit]
- Emeneau, M.B. 1944. Kota Texts California: University of California Press.
- Emeneau, M. B. (April 2000). "Some Origins of Kota -j(-)". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 120 (2): 231–233. doi:10.2307/605026. JSTOR 605026 – via JSTOR.
- Emeneau, M. B. (June 1969). "Onomatopoetics in the Indian Linguistic Area". Language. 45 (2): 274. doi:10.2307/411660. JSTOR 411660 – via JSTOR.
- Emeneau, M. B. (24 December 2009). "Proto-Dravidian *c-: Toda t-". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 15 (1): 98. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00087280. JSTOR 608887 – via JSTOR.
External links[edit]
- Olympic Song Practice Session in Kota Language & Style
- The hare in the moon and eclipses of the moon
- Kota Swedesh List
Languages spoken in Kerala | ||
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| Non-tribal languages |  | |
| Tribal languages |
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| Other languages and creoles |
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