Kota language (India)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Kota
Kō mānt
Native toIndia
RegionNilgiri Hills
EthnicityKotas
Native speakers
930 (2001 census)[1]
Dravidian
Tamil script
Language codes
ISO 639-3kfe
Glottologkota1263
ELPKota (India)

Kota is a language of the

Tamil-Kannada and is closely related to Toda language. The Kota population is about 2500. The origin of the name Kota is derived from the Dravidian root word 'Ko' meaning Mountain.[4][5]
Traditionally Kota and Toda are seen as from a single branch Toda-Kota which separated from Tamil-Kota but recently Krishnamurti considers it to have diverged first from Tamil-Kota and later Toda as it doesnt have the centralized vowels characterized for Tamil-Toda.

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
short long short long short long
High
i u
Mid e o
Low
a

Kota notably doesn't have central vowels like the other Nilgiri languages, Toda, the closest language also has it.

Consonants

Consonants[6]
Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Post-alv./
Palatal
Velar
Nasal m
ɳ ŋ
Stop
voiceless p
t
ʈ t͡ʃ k
voiced b
d
ɖ d͡ʒ ɡ
Fricative
s
Tap
ɾ ɽ
Approx.
central ʋ j
lateral
l
ɭ

[s] and [z] occur in free variation with /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/. [ʂ] occurs as an allophone of /s/ before retroflexes.

References

  1. ^ a b Kota at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Caldwell, Robert. 1875. A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Or South-Indian Family of Languages. London: Trübner & Company
  3. ^ Prema, S. n.d. "Status of Dravidian Tribal Languages in Kerala" University of Kerala
  4. ^ Raju, Jamuna (30 June 2012). "The Kota Tribes of Nilgiris". Breeks Chatter. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  5. .
  6. .

Further reading

External links