Tulu language

Tulu
Tuḷu Bāse, 𑎡𑎻𑎳𑎻 𑎨𑎸𑎱𑏂, ತುಳು ಬಾಸೆ, തുളു ബാസെ[a]
Tulu Bāse written in Tigalari script
Pronunciation[t̪uɭu baːsɛ]
Native toSouthwestern Karnataka and Northern Kerala, India
RegionSouthern India (Tulu Nadu)
EthnicityTuluvas
Native speakers
1,850,000 (2011 census)[4]
Dravidian
Tigalari script
Kannada script
Malayalam script
Language codes
ISO 639-3tcy
Glottologtulu1258
Major distribution of native Tulu speakers in India
Tulu is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger[5]
PersonTuḷuva
PeopleTuḷuver
LanguageTuḷu
CountryTuḷu Nāḍŭ
Tulu is written in a non-Latin script (Kannada or Tulu). Tulu text used in this article is transliterated into the Latin script according to the ISO 15919 standard.
A Tulu speaker.

The Tulu language (Tuḷu Bāse,Tigalari script: 𑎡𑎻𑎳𑎻 𑎨𑎸𑎱𑏂, Kannada script: ತುಳು ಬಾಸೆ, Malayalam script: ത‍ുള‍ു ബാസെ; pronunciation in Tulu: [t̪uɭu baːsɛ])[b] is a Dravidian language[6][7] whose speakers are concentrated in Dakshina Kannada and in the southern part of Udupi of Karnataka in south-western India[8] and also in the northern parts of the Kasaragod district of Kerala. The native speakers of Tulu are referred to as Tuluva or Tulu people and the geographical area is unofficially called Tulu Nadu.

The Indian census report of 2011 reported a total of 1,846,427 native Tulu speakers in India.[4] The 2001 census had reported a total of 1,722,768 native speakers.[9] There is some difficulty in counting Tulu speakers who have migrated from their native region as they are often counted as Kannada speakers in Indian census reports.[1]

Separated early from Proto-South Dravidian,[10] Tulu has several features not found in Tamil–Kannada. For example, it has the pluperfect and the future perfect, like French or Spanish, but formed without an auxiliary verb.

Tulu is the primary spoken language in Tulu Nadu, consisting of the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts in the western part of Karnataka and the northern part of Kasaragod district of Kerala.[1][2][3][11] A significant number of native Tulu speakers are found in Kalasa and Mudigere taluks of Chikkamagaluru district and Tirthahalli, Hosanagar of Shimoga district. Non-native speakers of Tulu include those who are residents in the Tulunadu region but who speak the Beary language, the Havyaka language and also Konkani and Koraga as their mother tongues.[12] Apart from Tulu Nadu, a significant emigrant population of Tulu speakers are found in Maharashtra,[13] Bangalore, Chennai, the English-speaking world, and the Gulf countries.[14][15]

The various medieval inscriptions of Tulu from the 15th century are in the Tulu script.[1] Two Tulu epics named Sri Bhagavato and Kaveri from the 17th century were also written in the same script.[1] The Tulu language is known for its oral literature in the form of epic poems called pardana. The Epic of Siri and the legend of Koti and Chennayya belong to this category of Tulu literature.[1]


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  1. ^ a b c d e f Steever, Sanford B (2015). The Dravidian Languages. Routledge. pp. 158–163. ISBN 9781136911644.
  2. ^ a b Susheela Thomas. "Social Aspects and Dynamics of Convergence". Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
  3. ^ a b [1] Archived 20 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b "ABSTRACT OF SPEAKERS' STRENGTH OF LANGUAGES AND MOTHER TONGUES - 2011" (PDF). censusindia.gov.in. Indian Census 2011, Government of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  5. ^ Moseley, Christopher; Nicolas, Alexander, eds. (2010). Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (PDF) (3rd ed.). Paris: UNESCO. pp. 46–47. ISBN 978-92-3-104096-2. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Five Languages in Karnataka, Including Tulu Vanishing: Unesco". daijiworld.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  7. ^ "UDUPI". Udupitourism.com. Archived from the original on 18 August 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  8. ^ "Tulu Page, Tulu Language, History of Tulu language". nriol.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  9. ^ "Census of India - Statement 1". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
  10. ^ "Language Family Trees: Dravidian, Southern Archived 4 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine", Ethnologue (16th ed.).
  11. ^ "Tulu Nadu, Kasaragod, Kerala, India". Kerala Tourism. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  12. ^ Steever, Sanford B. (1998). The Dravidian Languages. Taylor & Francis. p. 158. ISBN 0-415-10023-2.
  13. ^ "Language in India". Language in India. 5 May 2003. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  14. ^ "Serving Mangaloreans Around The World!". Mangalorean.Com. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  15. ^ "Dr. Veerendra Heggade in Dubai to Unite Tuluvas for Tulu Sammelan". Daijiworld.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2012.