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Language Lineage

Tulu

The first language to leave South Dravidian I, spoken by nearly two million people on the Karnataka coast but mostly written in Kannada script.

c. 1st millennium BCE – presentTulu Nadu, the coastal districts around Mangalore and Udupi in Karnataka and northern Kerala
On this page
  1. The Language of the Coast
  2. Epics, Rituals and a Multilingual Coast
  3. Where it's spoken
  4. Turning points

01

The Language of the Coast

Tulu is the everyday language of the coastal strip around Mangalore and Udupi, a region its speakers call Tulu Nadu. It split from the rest of South Dravidian I earliest, and it kept or developed features found in neither Kannada nor Tamil.

Its literary history is thinner than its neighbours'. A regional script, often called Tigalari, was used for Sanskrit and some Tulu manuscripts from about the 15th century, but Tulu came to be written mainly in Kannada script, and today the language is mostly transmitted orally and through local theatre (Yakshagana) and film. Its speakers have campaigned for official recognition in India's Eighth Schedule of languages.

02

Epics, Rituals and a Multilingual Coast

Tulu's literature has been oral for most of its history, and its richest form is the pāḍdana, a long sung narrative performed by women during the transplanting of rice and by ritual specialists. The best-known tell of the twin heroes Koti and Chennaya and of Siri, a woman who becomes a deity. These songs are closely tied to bhūta kōla, the spirit-worship rituals of the coast, in which a performer embodies a local deity and speaks in Tulu. Folklorists such as Peter Claus recorded and translated many of them in the 20th century.

Tulu Nadu has long been one of the most multilingual parts of India. Tulu shares the coast with Kannada, the language of schooling and administration, with Konkani spoken by Catholic and Gaud Saraswat communities, and with Beary, the language of local Muslims. Many Tulu speakers use three or four languages daily, and Tulu has served as a common spoken language for communities whose home languages differ.

Today Tulu is heard in popular films, the first of which appeared in 1971, in theatre and on radio. Its speakers continue to campaign for inclusion among India's scheduled languages and for greater use of Tulu in schools.

On the map

Where it’s spoken

Spoken todayShading marks whole countries, not the regions within them.
  1. Indiac. 1.8 million

Figures are rough first-language estimates, rounded, from censuses and Ethnologue. Counts for small or scattered communities are especially uncertain.

Rings along the limb

Turning points

Oldest first.

  1. Splitc. 1st millennium BCEContested

    Tulu leaves first

    Tulu separates from the other South Dravidian I languages, which later divide into Kannada and Tamil–Malayalam. The date is approximate.

    Sources (1)
    • Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju. 2003. The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  2. Writingc. 15th century onwardContested

    Tigalari and Kannada script

    Tulu appears in manuscripts in the regional Tigalari script, related to Malayalam script, but later comes to be written mostly in Kannada letters. Efforts to revive a distinct Tulu script continue.

    Sources (1)
    • Steever, Sanford B., ed. 2020. The Dravidian Languages, 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
  3. Revitalization1994 onward

    A Tulu academy

    The Karnataka government establishes an academy for Tulu literature and culture, and speakers press for the language's inclusion among India's scheduled languages.

    Sources (1)
    • Steever, Sanford B., ed. 2020. The Dravidian Languages, 2nd ed. London: Routledge.