Kota language (India)

Kota is a language of the Dravidian language family with about 9000 native speakers in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu state, India. It is spoken mainly by the tribal Kota people. In the late 19th century, the native speaking population was about 1,100.[3] In 1990, the population was only 930, out of an ethnic population of perhaps 1,400, despite the great increase in the population of the area.[1] The language is 'critically endangered' due to the greater social status of neighbouring languages.[4] The Kota language may have originated from Tamil-Kannada and is closely related to Toda. The Kota population is about 2500. The origin of the name Kota is derived from the Dravidian root word 'Ko' meaning Mountain.[5][6]

Not to be confused with Kota language (Gabon) or Kota language (Central African Republic).
Kota
Kō mānt
Native toIndia
RegionNilgiri Hills
EthnicityKotas
Native speakers
930 (2001 census)[1]
Dravidian
Language codes
ISO 639-3kfe
Glottologkota1263[2]

Phonology
Consonants[7]
Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar
Plosive voiceless pt̪tʈc (t͡ʃ)k
voiced bd̪dɖɟ (d͡ʒ)ɡ
Nasal mn̪ɳɲ
Approximant central ʋj
lateral lɭ
Tap ɾɽ
Fricative s

[s] and [z] occur in free variation with /c (t͡ʃ)/ and /ɟ (d͡ʒ)/. [ʂ] occurs as an allophone of /s/ before retroflexes.

References
  1. Kota at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Kota (India)". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Caldwell, Robert. 1875. A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Or South-Indian Family of Languages. London: Trübner & Company
  4. Prema, S. n.d. "Status of Dravidian Tribal Languages in Kerala" University of Kerala
  5. Raju, Jamuna (30 June 2012). "The Kota Tribes of Nilgiris". Breeks Chatter. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  6. Narasimhacharya, R. (1990). History of Kannada Language. New Delhi, Madras: Asian Educational Services. p. 37. ISBN 9788120605596.
  7. Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003). The Dravidian languages (null ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-511-06037-3.

Further reading
  • Emeneau, M.B. 1944. Kota Texts California: University of California Press.
  • Emeneau, M. B. (April 2000). "Some Origins of Kota -j(-)". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 120 (2): 231–233. doi:10.2307/605026. JSTOR 605026 – via JSTOR.
  • Emeneau, M. B. (June 1969). "Onomatopoetics in the Indian Linguistic Area". Language. 45 (2): 274. doi:10.2307/411660. JSTOR 411660 – via JSTOR.
  • Emeneau, M. B. (24 December 2009). "Proto-Dravidian *c-: Toda t-". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 15 (1): 98. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00087280. JSTOR 608887 – via JSTOR.
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