Kanikkaran language

Kanikkaran is a Dravidian language spoken by about 19,000 Kanikkar tribals in southern India.[1] They dwell in forests and hills of Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts of Kerala, and Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu. It is called malambhāsha, or "hill-language."[2]

Kanikkaran
கணிக்காரன்/കണ്ണിക്കാരൻ
Native toIndia
RegionTamil Nadu, Kanyakumari
EthnicityKanikkaran
Native speakers
19,000 (2007)[1]
Dravidian
Tamil script, Malayalam script
Language codes
ISO 639-3kev
Glottologkani1275

Phonology

Vowels

Kanikkaran has 5 vowels, /a, e, i, o, u/. It demonstrates contrastive vowel length.[2]

Consonants
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar
Stop voiceless p t̪ ʈ c k
voiced b d̪
Nasal m n̪ n ɳ ɲ ŋ
Approximant ʋ l ɭ j
Trill r
Flap ɾ

They use the phoneme /l̩/ occasionally.

Kanikkaran has transformed words in Malayalam starting with /a/ into /e/. aɳcu (5) becomes eɳcu, ari (rice) becomes ei, arivāɭu (sickle) becomes erivāɭu, aluku (split reed) becomes elakku. It also adds a suffix -in or -n after all noun stems, except for nouns ending with -n in accusative.[2]

Grammar
singular plural
1st ɲān ɲāɳkaɭu
2nd īl nīɳkaɭu
3rd avanu/avaɭu avaru

The language cannot use personal terminations, similar to Old Malayalam. Example: pōvā (will not go) and vārā (will not come).[2]

References
  1. Kanikkaran at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Shyam, S.K. (12 December 2017). "Aspects of Life and Language of Kanikkar Tribal Community of Kerala –A Study". Language in India.


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