Badaga language

Badaga is a southern Dravidian language spoken by the Badaga people of the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. The language is closely related to the Kannada language with heavy influence from the Tamil language. Of all the tribal languages spoken in Nilgiris (Badaga, Toda language, Kota language (India)), Badaga is the most spoken language.

Origins

Badaga, like modern Kannada, likely originates from Old Kannada. This is suggested by the fact that Badaga shares many common features with modern Kannada. One such feature shared by both Badaga and Kannada is initial where other Dravidian languages, and Old Kannada, have an initial , a process which began around the 13th century.

Phonology

Badaga has five vowel qualities, , where each of them may be long or short, and until the 1930s they were contrastively half and fully retroflexed, for a total of 30 vowel phonemes.Template:Efn Current speakers only distinguish retroflection of a few vowels.

Example words

IPA	Gloss
	disease
	scar
	sprout
	tiger's den
	to spread out
	to remove
	seven
	tamarind
	bangle
	banana
	to strike
	chisel

Note on transcription: rhoticity Template:Angbr IPA indicates half-retroflexion; doubled Template:Angbr IPA it indicates full retroflexion.

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Stop	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Fricative			Template:IPA link				Template:IPA link
Approximant		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Trill			Template:IPA link

Writing system

Several attempts have been made at constructing an orthography based on English, Kannada and Tamil. The earliest printed book using Kannada script was a Christian work, "Anga Kartagibba Yesu Kristana Olleya Suddiya Pustaka" by Basel Mission Press of Mangaluru in 1890.

File:Badaga script- Vowels and Consonants (jeeva Swara and Dheha Swara).jpg

Use of vowels and consonants of Tamil-Kannada script to create Badaga script

File:Badaga script- Jeevadhehagalu.jpg

Use of Tamil-Kannada script to create Badaga script

Badaga can also be written in the Kannada script and Tamil script.

Linguistic documentation

Badaga has been studied and documented by linguists. Several Badaga-English Dictionaries have been produced since the latter part of the nineteenth century.

A collection of proverbs and other traditional sayings of the Badaga has been collated and edited by Paul Hockings. It is the result of the work of many people, collecting material over many decades.

Relevant literature

• Hockings, Paul. Counsel from the ancients: A study of Badaga proverbs, prayers, omens, and curses. Mouton de Gruyter, 1988. Archive.org
• Hockings, Paul, and Christiane Pilot-Raichoor. A Badaga and English dictionary — glossary and gazetteer. Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 2023. [ISBN 978-93-91928-17-9]

External links

• Online community of Badagas worldwide
• Badaga literature
• A website on the Badaga
• Audio recordings in Badaga, with annotations in trilingual format (Badaga, English, French) Template:Webarchive – transcribed and translated by C. Pilot-Raichoor – site of the Pangloss Collection, CNRS-LACITO