Kanikkaran language

{{Infobox language

|name=Kanikkaran

|nativename=கணிக்காரன்/കണ്ണിക്കാരൻ

|states=India

|region=Tamil Nadu, Kanyakumari

|ethnicity=Kanikkaran

|speakers=19,000

|date=2007

|ref=e25

|familycolor=Dravidian

| fam2 = Southern

| fam3 = Southern I

| fam4 = Tamil–Kannada

| fam5 = Tamil–Kota

| fam6 = Tamil–Toda

| fam7 = Tamil–Irula

| fam8 = Tamil–Kodava–Urali

| fam9 = Tamil–Malayalam

| fam10 = Malayalamoid

| ancestor = Old Tamil

| ancestor2 = Middle Tamil

|script= Tamil script, Malayalam script

|iso3=kev

|glotto=kani1275

|glottorefname=Kanikkaran

}}

Kanikkaran, also known as Kani, is a Dravidian language spoken by about 19,000 Kanikkar tribals in southern India. 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."{{Cite journal|last=Shyam|first=S.K.|date=12 December 2017|title=Aspects of Life and Language of Kanikkar Tribal Community of Kerala –A Study|url=http://www.languageinindia.com/dec2017/syamlanguagekanikar1.html|journal=Language in India}}

Phonology

= Vowels =

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

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! colspan="2" \| !Labial !Dental !Alveolar !Retroflex !Palatal !Velar
colspan="2" \|Nasal \|{{IPAlink\|m}} \|{{IPAlink\|n̪}} \|{{IPAlink\|n}} \|{{IPAlink\|ɳ}} \|{{IPAlink\|ɲ}} \|{{IPAlink\|ŋ}}
rowspan="2" \|Stop !voiceless \|{{IPAlink\|p}} \|{{IPAlink\|t̪}} \| \|{{IPAlink\|ʈ}} \|{{IPAlink\|c}} \|{{IPAlink\|k}}
voiced \|{{IPAlink\|b}} \|{{IPAlink\|d̪}} \| \| \| \|
colspan="2" \|Approximant \|{{IPAlink\|ʋ}} \| \|{{IPAlink\|l}} \|{{IPAlink\|ɭ}} \|{{IPAlink\|j}} \|
colspan="2" \|Trill \| \| \|{{IPAlink\|r}} \| \| \|
colspan="2" \|Flap \| \| \|{{IPAlink\|ɾ}} \| \| \|

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! colspan="2" |

colspan="2" |Nasal

|{{IPAlink|m}}

|{{IPAlink|n̪}}

|{{IPAlink|n}}

|{{IPAlink|ɳ}}

|{{IPAlink|ɲ}}

|{{IPAlink|ŋ}}

rowspan="2" |Stop

!voiceless

|{{IPAlink|p}}

|{{IPAlink|t̪}}

|{{IPAlink|ʈ}}

|{{IPAlink|c}}

|{{IPAlink|k}}

voiced

|{{IPAlink|b}}

|{{IPAlink|d̪}}

colspan="2" |Approximant

|{{IPAlink|ʋ}}

|{{IPAlink|l}}

|{{IPAlink|ɭ}}

|{{IPAlink|j}}

colspan="2" |Trill

|{{IPAlink|r}}

colspan="2" |Flap

|{{IPAlink|ɾ}}

They use the phoneme /l̩/ occasionally.

Kanikkaran has transformed words in Malayalam starting with /a/ into /e/. añcu (5) becomes eñcu, ari (rice) becomes ei, arivāḷu (sickle) becomes erivāḷu, 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.

Grammar

class="wikitable" ! !singular !plural
1st \|ñān \|ñāṇkaḷu
2nd \|īl \|nīṇkaḷu
3rd \|avanu/avaḷu \|avaru

class="wikitable"

!singular

!plural

1st

|ñān

|ñāṇkaḷu

2nd

|īl

|nīṇkaḷu

3rd

|avanu/avaḷu

|avaru

The language cannot use personal terminations, similar to Old Malayalam. Example: pōvā (go or going or let's go) and vārā (will come, or "see you").

References

Category:Dravidian languages

Category:Endangered diaspora languages

Category:Languages of Tamil Nadu

Category:Languages of Kerala