Language comparison

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