Ravula language

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

{{Infobox language

|name=Ravula

|altname=Yerava, Adiyan

|states=India

|region=Kodagu District, Wayanad District

|ethnicity=41,000 Ravula (2011 census)

|speakers=26,563

|date=2011 census

|ref={{Cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/Language_MTs.html|title=Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011|publisher=Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India|website=www.censusindia.gov.in|access-date=2018-07-07}}

|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

| fam11 = Paniya–Ravula

| ancestor = Old Tamil

| ancestor2 = Middle Tamil

|iso3 = yea

|glotto=ravu1237

|glottorefname=Ravula

}}

Ravula, known locally as Yerava or Adiyan, is a Dravidian language of Karnataka and Kerala spoken by the Adiyar. It is classified under the category Malayalamoid languages in both the linguistics and the Census of India. However their language exhibits a number of peculiarities which marks it off from Malayalam as well as from other tribal speeches in the districts of Kodagu and Wayanad.{{Cite web|url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/11187/12/12_chapter%203.pdf|title=Tribes in Malabar : A Socio-Economic Profile|website=ShodhGanga}} It is spoken by 25,000 Ravulas (locally called Yerava) in Kodagu district of Karnataka and by 1,900 Ravulas (locally called Adiyan) in the adjacent Wayanad district of Kerala.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/language/yea|title=Ravula Language|website=Ethnologue - Languages of the world}} The term 'Yerava' is derived from the Kodava Language or Kannada word Yeravalu meaning borrow.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9hrT4YGBNGEC&q=yerava+language&pg=PA238|title=Words and Worlds: World Languages Review|last=Marti|first=Felix|publisher=Multilingual Matters|year=2005|isbn=9781853598272|pages=238}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hj0yieJ8O2YC&q=Bio-social+Issues+in+Health+yerava&pg=PA506|title=Bio-social Issues in Health|last=Sinha|first=Anil Kishore|publisher=Northern Book Centre|year=2008|isbn=9788172112257|pages=506}}