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Eravallan Documentation
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A South Dravidian Tribal mother tongue Eravalla, has been discovered, newly
by Prof. V. Gnanasundaram during 2012 (Gnanasundaram, 2012). Eravalla is spoken
by one of the scheduled, forest tribes of Tamil Nadu who live in the Anaimalai hills,
spread over Pollachi and Udumalpet taluks of Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts respectively,
in Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu they live in Karattupathi, udumalpet, Indraputunagar,
Udumalpet, Vipparapathi, Pollachi, Cullipathi, Pollachi etc. Eravallan settlements
in Tamil Nadu and Kerala are contiguous. In Kerala, they live in villages such as
Vellimedu, Anaikkattimedu, Caralapathy, Elluparai, Cappakadu, Kannimari, etc. in
Chitoor taluk of Palakkad district. It is stated that the Eravallan in Kerala are
migrated from the neighbouring Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu (Saraswathi, 2002).
As per 1981 census, the population of Eravallan in Tamil Nadu and Kerala is 2071.
But, as per one survey conducted by Kerala Scheduled Tribe Development (...www.stdd.kerala.gov.in/pdf/SCHEDULED%20TRIBES.pdf),
the population of Eravallan in Kerala (alone) is 4418. ‘Eravallan tribe
is also called by other names such as: Iṟava¸, Iṟavuḷar, eṟavallar, eravāḷar, vilvēṭar
and ampuvilluvēṭar. But as insiders, they call themselves as karivināḷu’
and call their language as karivināḷu paḷama ‘Karivinalu language’.
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Unique aspects of Eravalla
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- Grammatical: Absence of gender, but, presence of number in human
and person distinction in finite verbs are found. That is, gender distinction is
totally absent in the finite verbs. Pro-nominal termination markers denote person
and number only.
- Ethno linguistic: Use of figurative language in the conversation,
between the parents of the boy and the parents of the girl, on the occasion to seek
a girl-bride for the boy-bridegroom. Translation of the Eravalla discourse is as
follows.
Parents of the boy: We understand that a flower has been blossomed
in your house. We have come over here to pluck the flower and take with us.
Parents of the girl: True. In fact, that flower does not belong
to us anymore. You may pay the price, pluck and take away the flower.
Parents of the boy: If, so please tell the price.
- Folk lore: A kind of diglossic aspect is found regarding
Eravallan folklore. Eravallan tribe is bilingual in Eravalla MT and the contact
language Tamil. Seventy percent of the Eravallan basic vocabulary is common with
Tamil basic vocabulary. Eravallan folk stories are narrated in Eravalla MT, where
as Eravallan songs and riddles are narrated only in Tamil.
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Published works
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- 1. A monograph entitled A study of Eravalla (Linguistic, Sociolinguistic and
Folkloristic Aspects with Comparative Eravalla-Tamil Vocabulary) has been published
by the Department of Linguistics, Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
In the monograph: (a) an adhoc sketch grammar of Eravalla is available, (b) the
endangerment aspect and the folkloristic aspects of Eravalla mother tongue are discussed
and (c) a comparative word list of Eravalla-Tamil, with meaning in English and with
available equivalent DED entries are tabulated.
- 2. A monograph in Tamil on the sociological and folkloristic aspects of Eravallan
tribe entitled Iṟavaappalaṅkuṭikaḷin vālviyal by Dr. T. Vijayalatchumi
has been published by Thirukkural Pathippkam, Chennai during 2008.
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Following is the list of published research Papers on Eravalla
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- 1. Gnanasundaram, V. 2010. ‘Seven men and a woman-An Eravalla story’. In Osmania
Papers in Linguistics (Papers in memory of Prof. K. Nagamma Reddy. (Eds.)K. Ramesh
Kumar & Mohammad Ansari. Department of Linguistics, Osmania University, Hyderabad.
- 2. ___________________ 2013. ‘Language Endangerment of Eravalla- A Tribal Mother
tongue’. In Language Endangerment in South Asia. Vol.1. Chief Editor. M. Ganesan.
Centre of Advanced Study, Annamalai University.
- 3. ---------------------------The status of the tribal mother tongue Eravalla: A
dialect or an independent language? (to appear in IJDL)
- 4. ----------------& Vijayan, N. 2015. ‘Bilingualism and Folk Generes in Eravalla;
A new South Dravidian Tribal Language’. In Reflection in Linguistics and Literature
A Commemoration Volume of Prof. Renuga Devi Retirement.(Eds.) Dr. T. Janaki etal.
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Works in SPPEL
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The Following work is in progress.
- 1. Sketch grammar encompassing of Phonology, morphology, morpho- phonemics etc.
Is under preparation.
- 2. The folk stories, two in number and other texts in the form of natural conversation
etc. are to be transcribed.
- 3. Commentary to the Video documentation of Eravallan marriage has to be provided.
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