Skip to main content
Government of India

Southern Zone

About the Southern Zone

Encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, the Southern Zone represents one of SPPEL's six regional divisions. Across this linguistically rich area, eighteen distinct languages have been selected for systematic research and documentation.

Resource Persons from SPPEL and CIIL, Mysuru, along with other investigators from various universities and institutions — including the University of Kerala, Annamalai University, Madurai Kamarajar University, University of Mysore and the Anthropological Survey of India, Mysuru — are working on different languages of the zone.

Southern Zone
Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu Telangana
5
States & UTs
20
Languages Documented
10
Field Researchers
10
Principal Investigators
Southern Zone Overview

Documenting the Southern Linguistic Diversity

The Southern Zone encompasses states and union territories with diverse and critical ethnolinguistic communities. Our dedicated research teams work closely with native speakers to document, archive, and revitalize languages that form an essential part of the region's cultural heritage.

  • Comprehensive fieldwork and data collection
  • Development of bilingual dictionaries and grammars
  • Digital archiving in Bhasha Sanchika

States and Languages Documented

20 endangered languages documented across 5 states and union territories.

Andhra Pradesh

Coastal & Rayalaseema

State
3 Languages
BODO GADABA / GUTOB DIDAYI / GATA GORUM

Karnataka

Deccan plateau & Western Ghats

State
5 Languages
BARADI HAKKIPIKKI JENU KURUMBA SIDDI SOLIGA

Kerala

Malabar coast

State
16 Languages
ARANDAN ERAVALLAN JENU KURUMBA KADAR KANIKER GOTTI KUTIYA MALAIMALASAR MALASAR MALAYAN MANNAN MOOPAN MUDUGA MUDUVAN PALIYA PULIYA URALI

Tamil Nadu

Coromandel coast

State
10 Languages
ERAVALLAN JENU KURUMBA KADAR MALAIMALASAR MALASAR MALAYAN MANNAN MUDUVAN PULIYA TODA

Telangana

Deccan plateau

State
2 Languages
THOTI SIDDI

Research Team

Research team assigned to each language — Principal Investigators and their Junior/Senior Resource Persons.

Language
Region
Principal Investigator
Research Team
abc
Prof. sde
ARANADAN
Dr. Rose Mary
JRP Mr. Sam Robert
JRP Mr. Swaraj Prabha
ERAVALLAN
Kerala, Tamilnadu
Dr. Gnanasundaram
HAKKIPIKKI
Karnataka
SPPEL
SRP Dr. Nagaraju S.
JENUKURUBA
SPPEL
KADAR
Kerala, Tamil Nadu
Dr. Chandra Mohan
KANIKKER GOTTI
Dr. Mubarak Ali
KUDIYA
Dr. S. Prema
JRP Ms. Aiswariya G. Shajan
MALASAR
Kerala, Tamil Nadu
SPPEL
SRP Dr. P. Prabakaran
MALAYAN
Kerala, Tamil Nadu
SPPEL
JRP Ms. Jenifer D.
MUDUGA
Kerala
Dr. Ganeshan
SRP Dr. Mummurthy K.
MUDUVAN
Kerala, Tamil Nadu
Dr. Sathyanarayan
SIDDI
Karnataka, Gujarat, Telangana
Dr. B.K. Ravindranath
SRP Dr. M. Vimala
SRP Dr. Tavamani
SOLIGA
Karnataka
SPPEL
JRP Mr. D. Ramesh Bhushan
SPPEL Assistant (BETA)

Hi, I'm the SPPEL Assistant.

Ask me about zones, languages, announcements, workshops, staff, or resources.

👋
Thinking…