Language comparison is comparing a language with other languages to understand the relationship among several languages. This process further helps us to determine the uniqueness of the languages being compared. While comparing, choosing a standard word from the appropriate dialect is also important.
Language comparison helps us to determine several factors like influence of other language, corruption and simplification progress, phonological changes, changes in meanings etc. Tulu is a Dravidian language belonging to the South-proto Dravidian family. But Tulu was isolated from the Tamil-Kannada languages group, because of its lesser similarities and uniqueness. Koraga and Kudiya are the languages closer to Tulu.
In this comparison, the cognates of Tulu words are being compared. Cognates are the words having same linguistic origin
Let us start with random comparison:
Word |
Tulu |
Malayalam |
Tamil |
Kannada |
Kodava |
Telugu |
Sour |
puLi |
puLi |
puLi |
huLi |
puLi |
puli |
Eye |
kaNN |
kaNN |
kaN |
kaNNu |
kaNN |
kannu |
Name |
pudar |
pēr |
peyar |
hesaru |
peda |
pēru |
hand |
kai |
kai |
kai |
kai |
kai |
kai |
Arrow |
aṁbu |
aṁbu |
aṁbu |
aṁbu |
aṁbu |
— |
{A} Some words in Tulu language ends up with virama-sound (ụ/ഉ്/ಉ್) similar to Tamil, Malayalam and Kodava languages. whereas in kannada it ends up with the -u sound.
Word |
Tulu |
Malayalam |
Tamil |
Kannada |
Water |
Neer |
Neer* |
Neer* |
Neeru |
Fish |
Meen |
Meen |
Meen |
Meenu |
*Not generally used.
{B} The la & lla phonemes in Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam corresponding to the “ra” phoneme in Tulu.
Words |
Tulu |
Malayalam |
Tamil |
Kannada |
Bow |
Biru |
Villu |
Vil |
Billu |
Tooth |
Paru |
Pallu |
Pal |
Hallu |
Leg |
Kaar |
Kaal |
Kaal |
Kaalu |
Head |
Tarè |
Tala |
Talai |
Tale |
Leaf |
Ire |
Ila |
Ilai |
ele |
{C} The vowel associated with the first letter of a word is “u” in Tulu, Tamil and Malayalam whereas in Kannada and Kodava it is “o”.
Word |
Tulu |
Malayalam |
Tamil |
Kodava |
Kannada |
Foam |
Nurè |
Nura |
Nurai |
Nore |
Nore |
Gas |
Pugè |
Puga |
Pugai |
Poge |
Hoge |
Umbrella |
kuDè |
kuDa |
kuDai |
koDe |
koDe |
Pond |
kuLa/kuLo |
kuLam |
kuLam |
— |
koLa |
{D} In some cases, the vowel associated with the first letter of a word is “o” in Tulu, Tamil and Malayalam whereas in Kannada it is “u”.
Word |
Tulu |
Malayalam |
Tamil |
Kannada |
Powder |
poDi |
poDi |
poDi |
puDi |
{E} The vowel associated with the first letter of the word is “o” in Tulu, which corresponds to “e” in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada.
Word |
Tulu |
Malayalam |
Tamil |
Kannada |
Silver |
*boLLi |
veLLi |
veLLi |
beLLi |
Butter |
*boL-ney |
veNNa |
veNNey |
beNNe |
Flood/Water |
*boLLa |
veLLam |
veLLam |
— |
In some cases, the vowel ”u” corresponding to “e” in Kannada. |
||||
Crop/To grow |
*buLè |
viḷa |
viḷai |
beLe |
*South common dialect of Tulu.
{F} The vowel associated with the first letter of the word is “i” in Tulu, Tamil & Malayalam which corresponds to “e” in Kannada.
Word |
Tulu |
Malayalam |
Tamil |
Kannada |
Cost/price/value |
bilè |
vila |
vilai |
bele |
Shelter |
nilè |
nila |
nilai |
nele |
Ground/Earth |
nila/nilo |
nilam |
nilam |
nela |
Screen |
tirè |
tira |
tirai |
tere |
{G} The first letter or the vowel association with first letter is ā in Tamil, Malayaḷam and Kannada. But in the case of Tulu the first letter or the vowel association with the first letter is ē.
Word |
Tulu |
Malayalam |
Tamil |
Kannada |
Tortoise |
ēmè |
āma |
āmai |
āme |
Goat |
ēḍ |
āḍ |
āḍ |
āḍu |
Milk |
pēr |
pāl |
pāl |
hālu |
Who? |
yēr? |
yār? |
yār? |
yāru? |
{H} The vowel association with first letter is i/ī in Tamil, Malayaḷam and Kannada corresponding to u/ū in Tulu.
Word |
Tulu |
Malayalam |
Tamil |
Kannada |
To fall |
būru |
vīzh |
vīzh |
bīLu |
House/Shelter |
būDu |
vīDu |
vīDu |
bīDu |
Release |
buDu |
viDu |
viDu |
biDu |