Jenu Kurumba language

{{Short description|Dravidian language spoken in India}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{Use Indian English|date=September 2019}}

{{Infobox language

|name = Jenu Kurumba

|nativename = {{lang|xuj|ஜென்னு குரும்பா}}

|states = India

|region = Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala

|speakers = {{sigfig|101,000|1}}

|date = 2011 census

|ref = e25

|familycolor = Dravidian

|fam2 = Southern

|fam3 = Southern I

|fam4 = Tamil–Kannada

|fam5 = Badaga–Kannada

|fam6 = Kannadoid

|iso3= xuj

|script= Tamil script

|glotto=jenn1240

|glottoname=Jennu

|glottorefname=Jennu Kurumba

}}

Jenu Kurumba, also known as Jen Kurumba or Jennu Kurumba, is a Southern Dravidian language of the Tamil–Kannada subgroup spoken by the Jenu Kuruba/Kattunayakan tribe.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023|reason="Jenu Kurumba" is not mentioned on the Kuruba page at all.}} It is often considered to constitute a dialect of Kannada; however, Ethnologue classifies it as a separate language. Jenu Kurumba speakers are situated on the Nilgiri Hills cross-border area between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Mysore and Kodagu districts of Karnataka, and Wayanad district of Kerala. The speakers of the language call it "nama basha" ({{Translation|our language}}).{{Cite web|url=https://www.cepf.net/sites/default/files/56154-ipp-kattunayakan.pdf|title=Indigenous People's Plan: Kattunayakans|work=Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund|access-date=15 March 2022}}