Tuḷu is considered as one of the five major Dravidian Languages (the other four being Tamizh, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu) It is spoken by about 15 lakh people. The region where this language is spoken is situated on the West Coast extending from the northern part of the South canara district of Karnataka State upto the Kasaragod Taluk of the Kerala State. This region in ancient times was called ‘Tulunad’ (the Tulu country) and the people whose mother tongue is Tulu are called as the Tuluvas. Though Tulu is confined to a small region of India it possesses a very rich vocabulary and has been considered a highly developed languages by the linguists. It also has developed many distinct regional and social dialects. As the area where the Tulu is spoken comprises of many rivers, forests, hills and such other geographical barriers, it made the Tulu people difficult to come in close contact with each other in olden days. This resulted in regional differences in their speech habits. The regions which contributed to the dialect differences are mainly five in number. They are
- South West: The south west part of Tulunaad comprising of the Kasaragod Taluk of Kerala State.
- South East: The south east part of Tulunaadu comprising the Sullia Taluk upto Kodagu (Coorg).
- South Central: This area includes the Puttur, Belthangady and Bantwal Taluks.
- North West: This area includes Mangalore and Udupi Taluks.
- North East: This area includes the Karkal Taluk.
The Tulu Language is bordered by Malayalam on the south and Kannada on the north. As the major part of Tulunaad belongs to Karnataka State and as the official language has been Kannada most of the people whose mother tongue is Tulu can also speak Kannada language. Similarly as the extreme southern part of Tuḷunad is in the Kerala state where the state language is Malayalam most of the Tulu people there can easily converse in Malayalam. In addition to regional dialects Tulu possesses some social dialects also. The Tulu speaking community has many social groupscalled castes like Brahmins, Jains, Bunts, Billavas. Gowdas, Kumbaras, Meras, Mansas, Harijans etc. As there were strict caste barriers the people belonging to different castes were not mingling with each other in olden days. Their separate social institutions, customs, habits, socio-cultural traits religious rites etc, have naturally reflected in their speech habits. Due to this every caste or community developed its own dialect thereby forming different social dialects in Tulu. The various social dialects may be broadly classified into the following catagories:
- Brahmin Dialect: This group includes the dialects of Śivaḷḷi Brahmins and Śiva Brahmins (Sthaanika Brahmins.)
- Jain Dialect: This group contains the dialect of the Jain community
- Common Dialect: This group includes the dialects of Bunts, Billavas, Gowdas, Mogaveeras and such other castes.
- Harijan and Tribal Dialects: This group includes the dialects of Mera, Mansa and such other Harijan communities and the dialects of the tribal communities.
- Markodi: Markodi is a dialect of Tulu language which is spoken by Mavilan tribes.
Brahmin Dialect:
The Brahmin dialect of Tulu is also called Sivalli Tulu, for the Tulu Brahmins are also named Śivaḷḷi Brahmins. Their dialect is highly influenced by the Sanskrit language. Classical education, engagement in religious activities based on the Vedic principles, are a few reasons why the Brahmins have developed their own style of speaking. Because of strict caste barriers the opportunity of medley of their dialect with that of other communities have been much less. A very considerable number of vocabulary items from Sanskrit are used liberally with or without modification in the Brahmin dialect. Sometimes the people speaking the other dialects of Tulu find it a bit difficult to follow the Brahmin dialect. They make a conscious effort to pronounce the borrowed words in their original form though in informal speech the consistency may be relaxed In pronouncing native words also they maintain the distinction between retroflex and non-retroflex sounds of the native (Dravidian) language. Thus abundant borrowing of words especially from Sanskrit, maintenance of a clearcut distinction between ḷ-l, ṇ-n, ś-ṣ-s etc and to a certain extent between aspirated and unaspirated sounds etc. are a few significant features of the Brahmin dialect of Tulu.
Jain dialects:
A greater portion of the Tulu speaking Jain population is found on the northern part of Tulunad. Though the number of Jains are comparatively less, with a few peculiar features they could maintain their dialect of Tulu as distinct from other dialects. As they follow Jainism, the special words or technical terms relating to that religion have inevitably got a place in the Tulu spoken by them. Besides, the initial t_ and s_ of some of the words used in other dialects correspond to h_ in the Jain dialect.
| Common dialect | Jain dialect | Meaning |
| Tarè | Harè | Head |
| Tigalè | Higalè | Chest |
| Taḍpè | Haḍpè | Winnowing pan |
| Taḍamè | Haḍamè | A wooden style |
| Tappu/sappu | Happu | Bunch of leaves |
| Taar/Saar | Haar | A small river |
| Taadi/Saadi | Haadi | A Path |
Common dialect:
The common dialect may be considered a group of more than
five dialects as Bunts’ dialect, Biliava dialect, Mogaveera dialect, Gowda dialect, Kumbara dialect etc. As there is a close affinity among these dialects they are treated as a single dialect group and generally named as common dialect. This is the dialect which is used in public speeches, mass media, public meetings etc and hence this dialect is commonly accepted and called the ‘Common Tuḷu’. This dialect contains a less number of borrowed words especially from Sanskrit when compared to the Brahmin dialect. Besides, this dialect accepts the borrowed words into the languages only after modifying their structure and sounds according to their mother-tongue. The interchange of the sounds ḷ-l, ṇ-n, ṣ-ś-s etc is found in this dialect. But still the southern style of this dialect maintains the distinction between these sounds.
The oral poetry called the Paaḍdana is composed in this dialect; the journals, most of the Tulu writings, novels, dramas, poems are generally written in this dialect. Thus the common Tulu is the most popular one among the Tulu dialects.
Harijan and Tribal dialects:
The Tuḷu spoken by the Harijan and Tribal communities form another class of Tulu dialects. Though these communities are spread all over Tulunad those who settled on the northern of Tulunaadu have almost adopted the common dialect and hence the difference between their dialect and the common dialects are negligible. But those who settled on the southern part of Tulunad are still keeping up a clear distinction in their dialect. The main feature of this dialect is that the sound ca is used almost regularly in correspondence to the sounds ta, sa, ca of other dialects.
| Common dialects | Harijan & Traibal dialect | Meaning |
| Tarè | Carè | Head |
| Taḍpè | Caḍpè | Winnowing pan |
| Sappu | Cappu | Leaf |
| Sammāno | Cammāno | Feast |
| Barso | Barco | Rain |
| Muṇḍāsu | Muṇḍācu | Turban |
| Oṇasu | Oṇacu | Meal |
| Sādi | Cādi | Path, way |
Similarly the people belonging to fhis community opt to use the retroflex sounds ḷ and ṇ for l and n respectively along with the usual use of those sounds.
- Elle – Eḷḷe (Tomorrow)
- Kōlo – Kōḷo (Bhoota worship)
- Āni – Āṇi (At that day/time)
- Ini – Iṇi (Today)
- Bāno – Bāṇo (The sky)
Apart from these sound changes there are a number of socio-
cultural technical terms in this dialects
- Dikke, meere, koragge – husband dikkaḷu, meerti, korappaḷu – wife
- Jeerkḷu/jeerḷu – children
- Cuḷḷel – Marriage
- Baaṇaar – a Brahmin male person
- Baaṇaarèdatti – a Brahmin lady, wife of a Brahmin.
- Muḷḷmuṭṭuṇè – to menstruate for the first time
MARKODI:
Markodi is a dialect of Tulu language which is spoken by Mavilan Tribes within. Since Mavilan people are in Kannur, where Malayalam is a majority language, hence the Markodi dialect is influenced by Malayalam. This dialect is different when compared to other dialects, though it shares similarities with South-west dialect of Tulu. (To know about Mavilans kindly read Mavilan tribe article.)
Scholars who have undertaken research on Tulu have been under the impression that the Brahmin dialect and the non-Brahmin dialects are the only two major dialectal varieties of Tulu.
The following sets of dialect are used in the Thesis of ‘A comparative study of Tulu dialects’
South Brahmin – to represent the Brahmin dialects of South West, South Central and South East region.
South common – to represent the non-Brahmin (the common) dialects of South West, South Central and South East regions.
North Brahmin – to represent the Brahmin dialects of North West and North East regions.
North common – to represent the non-Brahmin (the common) dialects of North West and North East regions.
The reasons and examples that they give to support this classification are –
(1) the sounds ṇ and ḷ of the Brahmin dialect correspond to n and l respectively in common dialect, as
| Brahmin dialect | North common dialect | Meaning |
| Aaṇi | Aani | Nails |
| Paṇ | Pan | To say |
| aḷè | Ale | Buttor milk |
| baḷḷ | ball | Rope |
2) the sounds e and o of the Brahmins dialect correspond to i and u respectively in common dialects, as
| Brahmin Dialect | Common Dialect | Meaning |
| Nela | Nila | Floor |
| Kereṅg | Kireṅg | Sweet potato |
| Posatt | Pusatt | New |
| Kodaṇṭi | Kudaṇṭi | Cudgel |
(3) The initial vowel of the words of Brahmin and South common dialects gets dropped in north common dialects under stated condition as
| South common, Brahmin dialects | North common dialect | Meaning |
| Aḷappu | Lappu | To measure |
| Uṇuppu | Nuppu | Meal |
| Aḍappu | Dappu | To plough |
| Oḷaccil | Laccil | Grove |
| Aḍakk | Dakk | To throw |
There are considerable differences between the south Brahmin and north Brahmin dialects. Similarly the south common and north common dialects show remarkable differences. In many respects the north Brahmin dialect goes with the southern group of dialects thereby making the north common dialect to form another group e.g.
| North Brahmin, South Brahmin, South common | North common | Meaning |
| Kūḷi | Kūli | Teeth |
| Baḷḷ | Ball | Rope |
| Aḍakk/Aḍk | Dakk | To throw |
| Puḷi | Puli | Sour |
| Nela | Nila | Ground |
| Kelañji | Kilañji | Housefly |
In many ways the South brahmin dialect disagrees with North Brahmin dialect and goes with South common and North common dialects.
| North common, South common, South Brahmin | North Brahmin | Meaning |
| Bari | Baḷi | Near |
| Portu | Poḷtu | Time |
On the other hand in many respects the Nb dialect agrees with south common and north common dialects thereby making the south Brahmin dialect a separate group.
| South Brahmin | North Brahmins, North common, South common | Meaning |
| Kuḷpu | Kuḷḷu/Kullu | To sit |
| uṇḍ/iṇḍ | uṇḍu | There is |
In addition to this there are innumerable items and examples which demand the researcher to group south Brahmin and south common dialects together as against the north Brahmin and north common dialect group instead of considering the Brahmin dialects as one group and the common dialects another. A few of the reasons and examples which formed the basis for the new classification are-
| North Brahmin, North common | South Brahmin, South common | Meaning |
| Kaṇḍa | Kaṇḍo | Pillar |
| Deepa | Deepo | Lamp |
| Tōṭa | Tōṭo | Garden |
| Kamba | Kambo | Pillar |
The final -a of the possessive case suffix in South Brahmin and South common corresponds to -o in north Brahmin and north common, as-
| North Common, North Brahmin | South Common, South Brahmin | Meaning |
| Tuḷutta bēlè | Tuḷutto bēlè | Work of Tuḷu |
| Maratta kaar | Maratto kaar | Wooden leg |
| Aayena magè | Aayenō magè | His son |
The voiceless consonants in the case suffixes, past participial suffixes, relative participial suffixes etc. of the south Brahmin and south common dialects correspond to voiced ones in north Brahmin & north common dialects, as –
| South Brahmin, South common | North Brahmin, North common | Meaning |
| Raamaṭa | Raamaḍa | With Raama |
| Kaarụḍụ | Kaarụṭụ | In the leg |
| nīrụṭe | nīrụḍe | Through the water |
| Pōṇṭa | Pōṇḍa | If goes |
| Āṇṭa | Āṇḍa | If becomes |
The case of aphesis is not a Common feature in all the non-
Brahmin dialects. It is confined to north common dialect only and does not occur in south common dialect dialect, as –
| South common | North common | Meaning |
| Aḍakk | Dakk | To throw |
| Aḍappu | Dappu | To plough |
| Aḷappu | Lappu | To measurement |
Along with this there are a number of individual lexical items with a clearcut South-North difference.
Besides these, there are many other items which strengthen the above classification