1.1. Related Studies

            During the past few years much have been said about language contact and linguistic convergence. Language contact in a particular region may be due to many reasons, for example, trade, migration, social prestige, dominant Vs. minority languages, political superiority, etc. Also, the two languages in contact may be related languages genetically or unrelated languages. Gumperz (1971) explains of a multilingual setting in a village called Kupwar where the languages of a Dravidian family (Kannada and Telugu) and the members of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family (Marathi and Urdu) are in constant contact. He states that 'the Kupwar varieties have processes of reduction and convergence suggestive of pidginization and creolization'. Although the present situation might not have gone to the extent of pidginization and creolization, it can be undoubtably argues that a considerable amount of reduction at different levels to have taken place leading to grammatical, morphological, phonological and lexical assimilation from Kannada into Tamil. Weinreich (1953) states that 'language contact can result in such far reaching changes that the affected language assumes a different structural type'. Pandit (1972) has worked on Saurashtri spoken in Tamilnadu. He has pointed out some remarkable results causing language contact.

 

            In this linguistic environment, the Tamil speaking minority is maintaining their language mainly at the family domain as well as in the place where the relatives gather. The subjects for the present study are totally not exposed to Tamil orthography and also lost contact with their counterparts in Tamilnadu with the result their knowledge of Tamil is restricted only to spoken and listening skills. Gumperz (1964) states "throughout India and other parts of Asia we identity for many centuries, even in relatively small communities". But, in this situation, though the linguistic identity is maintained to a certain extent, the length of stay and other socio-political factors have contributed much, as a result of which the linguistic identity as well as the language of the immigrant community (Iyengars) are in the process of losing.

 

1.2. Area of the Present Study

            Bangalore , a cosmopolitan city is the capital of Karnataka State . The total population of Tamil speakers in the city in 5,28,284 according to the 1971 Census of India. Among the Tamil speakers, who are the largest minority represents 25.37%. The origin of this largest single Tamil speaking minority can be traced to a broad region around Tamilnadu extending from the Tirunelveli district represents the South to the North Arcot of the northern district of Tamilnadu. Thus the present Iyengars settles in Bangalore have come from geographically contiguous areas of Tamilnadu. Though old Madras Presidency included South Kanara districts        of Karnataka and Bellary and Kollegal Taluk of Mysore district, Bangalore was part of the princely state of Mysore . The period of migration, is not known, However, the existing written and oral literature prevailing amongst them can lead to the conclusion that they must have migrated from different parts of Tamilnadu during the period of vijayanagara empire.

 

1.3. Language situation in Bangalore CIty

            In addition to Kannada which is the official state language of the area, many other languages, viz., Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, English, Etc., are spoken in Bangalore depending upon the area and the linguistic group. Generally both official communication and interaction in the Government and private offices are effected either through the medium of Kannada or through the medium of English. But even in such places the choice of language for interaction cannot easily be determined because the language choice mainly easily be determined because the language choice mainly depends on the linguistic competence of the speakers concerned. Though by the large both Kannada and English are used as public codes, it is not possible to ignore the use of other languages, such as Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Etc. Among these three non-regional languages, Tamil is enjoying a special status owing to the availability of the number of native speakers in Bangalore . Outside the offices also the use of Tamil is predominantly observed in addition to Kannada. For example, in Cantonment area, Tamil is used quite frequently on par with Kannada. This may be due to the fact that Cantonment has more Tamil native speakers than any other part of the City. Most of the private advertisement boards are found carrying both Kannada and English though at times Tamil also is prevalent in advertisements, State Government Officers and other undertakings generally advertise only in Kannada, whereas the Central Government advertisements are generally exhibited both in Kannada and Hindi.

 

            In this linguistic environment, the Tamil speaking Iyengars are maintaining their language (Tamil) mainly at the family domain as well as in the places where the relatives gather.

 

1.4. Distribution and Language Use

            Iyengars are distributed almost in every corner of Bangalore City . But in places, like Malleshwaram, the community   under study is densely populated. In the newly formed extensions, like Jayanagar, Etc., the population is sporadically distributed. Irrespective of the nature of their distribution, it is observed that the nature of contact and interaction among the community is very regular and in many of the family gatherings generally Tamil is used. As indicated earlier, among the educated group both English and Tamil are used frequently. Apart from the fact that the community gathering is entertained thus creating an atmosphere to use Tamil, it is also observed that the opportunities for Iyengars as individuals a\to mingle with the non-Tamil speakers especially Kannada speaking majority are more. As the situation reveals clearly in this linguistic environment, the use of Tamil is restricted to very limited domains only. Though Tamil as a mother tongue is maintained by the Iyengars, due to socio-political reasons which are constantly pressing the minorities as well as the constant linguistic contact (Kannada) situation caused a remarkable change over the Tamil spoken by the group under study when compared to the Tamil spoken in Tamilnadu. In short, owing to the social heterogeneity and exposure to outside linguistic influence, linguistic overlap is extensively found in the Tamil spoken by this group. Also, the reflections of many Kannada features are predominantly noticed in their Tamil speech. The extent of socio-linguistic codes used by the Tamil Iyengars in different sociolinguistic situations led to the extent of convergent features in Tamil spoken by them causing a 'partial shift'.

 

            Depending upon the contextual constraints, varying speech behaviour is noticed among the speech of the Iyengars. For example, outside their house the usual interaction is maintained in Kannada. The children are taught in Kannada at school. None of the Iyengars whom in have contacted irrespective (total 12 sample and checked with 15 individuals) of their socio-economic status, education, age and sex know Tamil to write and read, but still they speck.

 

1.5 Convergence and Language shift

            Convergence can be due to the contact between the languages from the same family or from the different families. Here as indicated earlier, Kannada and Tamil which belong to the 'Dravidian' family of languages are involved. Extensive bilingualism¹, urbanization, regional dominance and the socio-political factors are the main contributing factors for the linguistic convergence and shift. In this linguistic situation, the aspect of convergence is unidirectional. That is, the convergence is towards the direction of the dominant language of the area (Kannada).

 

            Owing to the extent of language contact with respect to the period of stay and the extent of bilingualism prevailing in this socio-linguistic setting, the convergence that has taken place may be grouped into three broad linguistic levels, viz., phonological, lexical and grammatical.

 

            In the case of the Bangalore Iyengar's Tamil (BIT), a type of unconscious language change² is experienced mainly owing to the loss of contact to the Tamil speaking community in Tamilnadu and also due to the non-exposure to the written language. In addition to the above mentioned two factors, it is also possible to say that the limited domains where Tamil is used can also contribute to the phenomenon of language shift. At this juncture, a question may be asked that when Tamil has been maintained for centuries by the Iyengars, of course with convergent elements from Kannada, how it is possible to state that Tamil speakers are under going a partial shift only now? It may be argued that the present period is a transcient period of change. The prevailing linguistic situation is such that among most of the Tamilians even the linguistic identity is also being lost especially among the higher socio-economic strata. Also, it is observed that the younger generation is losing Tamil very fast. Many of them do not know even to speak. To a certain extent they have comprehension in Tamil. It is surprising to note that most of the Tamil Iyengars feel that they are more at ease in Kannada rather than in Tamil. During the parent children interaction, it is commonly observed that though the parents speak in Tamil to their wards, the latter in turn reply either in Kannada or in English. These are all the effective contributing tools for a total language shift in due course.

 

1.6 Sample or Coverage

            For the study on linguistic convergence and langue shift total 12 samples which consist of three variables are taken into consideration. They are length of stay, socio-economic status and education. Socio-economic status was divided into three categories, namely lower (income less than Rs. 250/-), middle (income less than Rs. 1,000/- and above Rs. 500/-) and higher strats (income above Rs. 1,000). Data were collected from the Iyengars after knowing fully their period of stay in Bangalore . Minimum two generations of stay in Bangalore was considered for this stury. Education was grouped into two. That is education upto VII standard was considered as one category and above matriculation as the other category.      

 

1.7. Area of Data Collection

            The data was collected mainly from two areas of Bangalore City , viz., areas where the Iyengars are living (i) in concentrated groups where the possibilities for using their mother tongue even in their neibhbourhood and (ii) in localities where Iyengars are sporadically distributed without any naighbourhood contact to use Tamil. Following I sthe schematic diagram of the samples collected.

 

Concentrated and Scattered Localities

Below VII standard			Above matriculation
Lower	Middle	Higher	Lower	Middle	Higher
*SCE	SCE	SCE	SCE	SCE	SCE

*SCE = Socio - economic strata

 

1.8. Nature of the Data

            Mainly the linguistic data recorded include the full conversations in Tamil. The subject matter for the conversation was selected on the basis of the questions asked about the informant's experience of travel, festival, celebrations, rituals, etc. At times the group discussions of people belonging to a single variant category was also recorded. In addition to the uncontrolled conversations, some words and sentences were also given in English and their equivalence in Tamil was asked. Each sample consists of approximately two to three hours of recorded conversations.

 

1.9. Data Collection Techniques Adopted

            Both the direct interview method and participant observation method were observed to get the information. Through different questions the informants were allowed to enter into natural conversation and the conversation was recorded. All times the group discussions were observed by the researcher and the points were noted. As far as possible the natural speech of the informants was collected.

 

1.10. Problems of Data Collection

             There were many problems faced by the interviewer while collecting the relevant informations. Among the educated group, the problem is that they are very much cautious about the Tamil they use. The researcher felt that the Iyengars consider the type of Tamil used by them is a corrupt form and thus are very much reluctant to converse in Tamil. Also, once they are aware that their speech is being recorded, the informants are further reluctant to talk in Tamil. Another problem faced was the time for the interview. Since most of the informants are employed in different offices in and around Bangalore City , generally, they find time only after 6 P.M. That too they have difficulty in sitting more time with the interviewer after a tiresome work in the offices.

 

1.11 Analytical Technique and Methodology

            The fully transcribed data was compared by keeping in view of the Tamil phonological, morphological, lexical and grammatical systems³, in the sense, each and every convergent feature in all the above mentioned levels was identifies and listed separately. The reduction and addition found in the speech pattern owing to the influence of the dominant language (Kannada) are stated.

 

1.12. Phonological Level

            On looking into the overall phonological pattern in BIT, one can come across certain phonological developments with reference to the Tamil spoken Tamilnadu owing to the influence of Kannada. In short, it is not incorrect to say that the phonology of Kannada has converged into the BIT.

 

1.12.1. Phenomenon of Devoicing

            As per the phonological pattern of spoken Tamil, the intervocalic unvoiced stops get voiced though the orthography continue to show unvoiced symbol. In BIT, this phenomenon is not regularly noticed. In the sense, the intervocalic sounds are pronounced as such without any voicing in many cases.

 

            Tamil                Kannada                      BIT                  Gloss

            Ka-d-e             ka-t-e                          ka-t-e               'story'

            a:-h-ale             a:-k-ale                        a:-k-ale            'not possible'

            pa:-d̥ō               pa:-t-a                         pa:-t-a              'lesson'

 

Transfer:

            It is commonly observed in BIT that the speakers transfer words from one language (Kannada) to another language (Tamil) sometimes with or without any modification in the phonemic pattern of the lexical items borrowed. Also some lexical items are not found in Tamilnadu Tamil, but are quite frequent in Kannada and also used in BIT with an intervocalic voiceless sound.

 

                        ki-t-ikki                                    'window

                        paksi-k-alu                               'birds'

                        jo-t-e                                       'along with'

 

1.12.2. Word initial Voicing

            In certain lexical items which are common to both Tamil and Kannada, the difference noticed is only the word initial sound. T\in such lexical items, the word initial sound is voiceless in Tamil whereas it is voiced in Kannada. That is, they show a correspondence of kàg. But, in the case of BIT, these words have the phonemic pattern of Kannada.

 

                        Tamil                Kannada                      BIT                  Gloss

                        Ka:yam            ga:ya                            ga:ya                'wound'

                        ka:du                gu:du                           gu:du                'nest'

                        kili                    gili                              gili/gini              'parrot'

 

            As indicated earlier, in BIT, the pronunciation of such lexical items are like Kannada with initial voiced sounds. Also, as a result of this variation observed from one language to another where voicing and devoicing are involved, in BIT one can come across certain words pronounced with voiced initial consonants where no such voicing is involved either in Kannada or in Tamil, leading to the phenomenon of hypercorrection.

 

            Tamil                Kannada                      BIT                  Gloss

                        ka:ranam          ka:rana                         ga:rana             'reason'

 

1.12.3. Loss of -m

            The nouns that had word final -m have different reflexes in different Dravidian languages. While both Kannada and Tamil lost this final -m, Tamil (spoken) compensated the loss of this nasal by nasalizing the last vowel (written Tamil has retained the final -m) as in:

                        Tamil                            Kannada

            (Written)          (Spoken)         

            maram              marõ                mara

 

            The BIT has adopted the Kannada pattern and not the Tamil one.

 

            Tamil                Kannada                      BIT                  Gloss

            ka:yõ               ga:ya                            ga:ya                'wound'

            marõ                mara                             mara                 'tree'

            ka:ran̥õ             ka:ran̥a                         ga:ran̥a             'reason'

            payõ                 p^haya/baya                   baya                 'fear'

            pal̥õ                  han̥n̥u                           pala                  'fruit'

            pustahõ            pustaka                        pustaka            'book'

 

1.12.4. Status of the Short Mid Central Unrounded Vowel « in BIT

            The status and the frequency of the short mid central unrounded vowel in BIT is worth investigation because both standard Tamil as well as in the other known dialects of Tamil, the presence of («) is known both at the phonemic as well as at the allophonic levels.

 

            Hiremath (1961) states that in Kannada, "the central vowel [«] has not been pointed out by ancient or modern Kannada grammarians. It is not found even today, in Mysore and Karwar dialects. It is natural to assume therefore that Dharwar dialect has developed this phoneme". Further, Hiremath gives some contrasts of this vowel in all positions. According to William Bright (1058) "« occurs as a separate phoneme only in some idiolects".

 

            In Kannada spoken in Bangalore , this vowel is noticed and also in BIT the occurrence of [«] is frequently observed, this vowel occurs only in the initial position and displaces mainly the front unrounded vowel [a] and [e] of Tamil. Due to the insufficient data it is not possible to say whether this sound is a phoneme or not.

 

            BIT                  Tamil

            «n*gu                        ange                 'there'

            «pd¥itta                     epd¥i               'what kind'

            «nakku           enakku             'for me'

 

            One of  the peculiar characteristic features of Brahmin's Tamil in Tamilnadu is the presence  of an alveolo palatal retroflex [s¥]. This particular sound occurs in some lexical items of Tamil spoken by the Brahmins whereas it is absent among the non-Brahmin speech I\of Tamil. In Kannada there are two sounds which have been given phonemic status. They are the alveolo palatal retroflex [s¥] and the blade alveolar sibilant [s&]. According   to William Bright (1958), in careful speech of Kannada [s&] is replaced by [s8]. though in BIT both the sounds mentioned above are used aby the same individual in his speech variety more frequency as to say that both these sounds are in free variation excepting in the environment where [s] is preceded or followed by a retroflex sound. In such environments always it is pronounced as the alveolo palatal retroflex [s8].

 

                        BIT

                        pas&alu               'child'

                        os&ram               'tall'

                        s&ombeRi           'lazy (person)'

                        a:ka:s&a              'sky'

                        pudus&u 'new'

                        pal8as&u               'old'

                        perus &u  'big'

 

1.12.5. In Retroflex Environments

                        is8t8u                   'likeness'

                        pat8s8i                 'bird'

 

e:--o:

            It is that in certain words the long mid front unrounded vowel [e:] in Tamil becomes long mid back rounded vowel [o:] in BIT.

 

                        Tamil                BIT     

                        e:n8i                   o:n8i                   'ladder'

                        e:ndiru  o:ndiru  'get up'

                        ve:n8u                vo:n8u                'want'

 

            This feature is peculiar to BIT, because the contact language as well as Tamil do not show this vowel shift. An indepth study is needed to establish the reason involved for this feature.

 

 

 

1.13. Lexical Level

            Many lexical items used in BIT are from Kannada and such words are not found in Tamil. Also, in certain lexical items borrowed, even if the phonological structure of the word does not suit the Tamil phonological pattern such words are also taken into BIT without any assimilation. Word initial voicing can be an example for such borrowing. On observing the lexical influence in BIT, it is found that more nouns are taken as such from Kannada into BIT when compared to the other grammatical classes, viz., verb, adverb etc. These lexical items are generally not free variation rather these words are used totally by displacing the Tamil words. Also, it is observed that most of the Tamil Iyengars could not even give the equivalent forms in Tamil and some persons have gone to the extent of saying that these words are Tamil words. In other words, they are not even aware of the displacement of the original lexical item. Following are some of the words used in BIT.

            BIT                  Tamil                           Gloss

            beţţa                 malai,                           ‘hill’ (N)

                                    kunRu

            giņi                   kiļi                                ‘parrot’ (N)

            gu:du                ku:du                            ‘nest’ (N)

            kividu               cevidu                          ‘deaf’ (N)

            koļakku            aļukku              ‘dirt’ (N)

            ja:ņe                 aRiva:ļi             ‘wise’ (N)

            saņņa                cinna                            ‘small’ (Adj)

            hasar                paccai                          ‘green’ (Adj)

            etru                  neţţai                            ‘tall’ (Ajd)

            va:pas               tirumba             ‘(give) back’ (Adj)

            ha:r                   paRa                            ‘fly’ (V)

 

            The lexical items cited above are used freely in BIT.  Following are some of the sentences used with some of the lexical items cited above.

1)      ava etru

‘she is tall’

2)      paţsi en tale me: l ha:riddu

‘bird flew over my head’

3)      na: enakkosaro pudiya shirtge van*gine

‘I have bought new shirts for me’

4)      duţţu va:pas kudu

‘return the money’

5)      paļu hasara ikkiRna

‘the fruit is green’

6)      koļak kayyi

‘dirty hand’

7)      ya:ru eņde jotele varin*go?

‘who will come with me?’

8)      avaņde tambi romba oņņu ja:ņe annu

‘ his brother is not so clever’

9)      ne:ttekki na:yi bogiļkiņdintu

‘ yesterday the dog barked’

10)  budva:ru vartukku a:gRada?

‘ can you come on Wednesday?’

11)  ennu ha:ttu saņņadu

‘my house is small’

 

1.14.        Innovation

The usage of innovative forms are observed in BIT.  It is quite interesting to note that these words have undergone considerable changes.  For example, one such innovation has taken place in the word used by Iyengars for ‘house’.  Iyengars in Tamilnadu use the item ‘a:m’ to denote the meaning ‘house’ ; but generally this word is not pronounced in isolation rather it is always used along with the dative case marker thus a:ttukku ‘ to the house’.  In isolation the term vi:du ‘house’ is commonly used.  But in the case of Iyengars settled in Bangalore , the word a:ttukku, is uniformly used as ha:ttukku with an addition of voiceless velar sound at the initial syllable.  There are two ways to trace the origin of this usage: (i) This could be an instance of hypercorrection, because in Kannada the word initial h of Brahmin dailect gets deleted by the non-Brahmins in many instances.  For example:

                        ha:lu (Brahmin speech)

                        a:lu (non-Brahmin speech)

            Similarly, the form a:ttukku might have been become ha:ttuku in the speech of Iyengars in Bangalore to distinguish them from the non-Brahmins.  (ii) This phenomenon can also be considered as retention; becasue in old Tamil it is referred aham for ‘house’.  In that case the present settlers must have retained the form of an old Tamil and presently using it with a change similar to metathesis.  Whatever be the case, in the absence of an extensive data, at this juncture it is not possible to say the nature of the formation of this word.  Also, this lexical item is pronounced without the accompanying case marker which results into the usage ha:ttu.  Thus the sentence goes,

                                    idu avõ ha:ttu                ‘this is his house’

                                    periya ha:ttu                              ‘big house’

 

This type of usage is not accounted in the speech of Iyengars settled in Tamilnadu.  In this case, following the pattern of the other nouns which can occur in isolation without the dative case marker, BIT has adopted in its vocabulary ha:ttu ‘house’.

 

            Some of the grammatical patterns in BIT show a clear influence of Kannada.  At the first instance if we consider the pronominal terminations (PT) found in standard Kannada and standard Tamil, it is possible to identify certain language specific features.  In BIT, both the PT markers of Tamil as well as of Kannada are frequently used without any conditioning factor involved in such usage.  We can say that they are in free variation.

 

            For example, in Kannada as far as the pronominal termination is concerned, there are two sets, one to denote for the past and future, and the other for the present.  Whereas Tamil has only one type of pronominal termination to denote all the tenses.  If we examine this phenomenon in BIT, we find that BIT has adopted the Kannada pattern even with Tamil verb roots through at times it follows the Tamil pattern.

 

1.15.        The Pronominal Terminations in Kannada can be Indicated as Follows as Against the Tamil

      Kannada                           Tamil  

                        1) hodede                                 aditte:n             ‘I bet’

                            hodeyuvenu              adippe:n                       ‘I will beat’

                            hodittini                                adikkire:n                     ‘I beat’

 

                        2) hodede                                 aditta:y             ‘you (sg.) bet’

                            hodeyuve                              adippa:y                       ‘you (sg.) will beat’

                            hodeyittiye                            adikkira:y                     ‘you (sg.) beat’

                           

                        3) hodedire                               aditti:rkaļ                      ‘you (pl.) bet’

                            hodeyuviri                             adippi:rkaļ                    ‘you (pl.) will beat’

                            hodeyittiri                             adikkiri:rkal                  ‘you beat’

 

                        4) hodedevu                             aditto:m                        ‘we bet’

                            hodeyuvevu              adippo:m                      ‘we will beat’

                            hodeyutteru              adikkiro:m                    ‘we beat’

 

            Thus, the usage of personal termination in BIT is found to be in a liquid state.  In short these types of blend is used in a very loose manner without any conditioning factor involved in the usage.  As a result, the same speaker will use both the type of blend, viz., Kannada verb root plus the Tamil termination and vice-versa in his speech.  Following are some of the examples from BIT where both these types are illustrated.

           

1)      Tamil verb root with Kannada and Tamil PT:

aditt-e:n                                          ‘(I) bet’

adipp-e:n                                        ‘(I) will beat’

aditt-ini                                           ‘(I) beat’

aditt-a                                            ‘you (sg.) bet’

adipp-a                                          ‘you (sg.) will beat’

adikr-a                                           ‘you (sg.) beat’

aditt-i:n*ga                         ‘you (pl.) bet’

adipp-i:n*ga                                   ‘you (pl.) will beat’

aditt-iri                                           ‘you (pl.) beat’

           

2)      Kannada verb root with Tamil PT:

ha:rin-e:n                                        ‘(I) flew’

ha:ruv-e:n                           ‘(I) will fly’

ha:rur-e:n                                        ‘(I) fly’

ha:rin-a                                           ‘you (sg.) flew’

ha:ruv-a                                          ‘you (sg.) will fly’

ha:rur-a                                          ‘you (sg.) fly’

ha:rin-i:n*ga                                    ‘you (pl.) flew’

ha:ruv-i:n*ga                                   ‘you (pl.) will fly’

ha:rur-i:n*ga                                   ‘you (pl.) fly’

 

1.16.        Neuter Termination

In the case of neuter PT, the BIT neutralizes the opposition in number and uses a single form for both.  Though standard spoken Tamil does not use the neuter plural termination, it is strictly followed in the written Tamil.  In spoken Kannada the usage of neuter termination is optional, in the sense both the singular and plural PT are used by the same person.  For example:

            hakki ku:tide                             ‘bird is sitting’

            hakkigaļu ku:tive                       ‘birds are sitting’

            hakkigaļu ku:tide                       ‘birds are sitting’

            danagaļu ide                             ‘cattles are there’

            danagaļu ive                              ‘cattles are there’

                                                            Tamil (Spoken)

            1)  paRavai ukkandirukku                                 ‘bird is sitting’

            2) paRavaikaļella ukkandirukku                        ‘birds (all) are sitting’

            3) ma:du irukkudu                                             ‘cow is there’

            4) ma:dukaļella irukkudu                                   ‘cows are there’

 

            In BIT, irrespective of the number of the neuter subject, the neuter termination –na is used.  This suffix –na may be the retention of the suffix used in written Tamil to express neuter plural.  For instance:

Tamil (Written)

1)      marattilirundu eleyellam vilukinRana

‘leaves are falling from the tree’

2)      paRavai marattinmel uţkarndi-rukkiRadu

‘the bird is sitting on the tree’

 

BIT

1)      marattunu eleyella viļRina

‘leaves are falling from the tree’

2)      paţsi marattumel ukkarna

‘bird is sitting on the tree’

3)      ma:du pul sa:pţkunu nikkiRna

‘cow is grazing’

4)      inda kate nalla ikkiRna

‘this story is good’

5)      mara ro:ţku andakadi ikiRna

‘tree is on that side of the road’

6)      paļu hasara ikkiRna

‘fruit is green’

7)      pu:vu covappa ikkiRna

‘flower is red’

8)      giņihaļu marattumel ikkiRna

‘parrots are on the tree’

9)      oru ma:sattule muppidu na:ļ ikkiRna

‘there are thirty days in a month’

 

Plural:

            Commonly used plural makers in colloquial Tamil are –ga and –kaļ.  Kannada has the suffixes –gal and –kaļ  to denote the number.  BIT has adopted two plural markers, viz., -ge and –gal.  In these, -gal is the suffix sound in Kannada.  In Kannada the suffix –ge is the dative case marker.  But in BIT the suffix –ge is the homophonous form to denote the dative case and plurality.  Also, the occurrence of the suffix –ge seems to have certain restrictions in the sense it will not occur after the –a ending nouns.

 

            Here it is interesting to note that the plural suffix –ga which is commonly used in colloquial Tamil is almost lost its purpose in BIT.  Even if we take the usage pasan*gaļu ‘children’ in BIT, the plural marker –gaļu is prominent than –ga.  Or else we can say that it is the double plural because Tamil has pasan*ga to denote plurality.

 

            Following are some of the illustrations indicating the usage of plural markers.  One should observe that there is no semantic differences noticed in the pairs of sentences involving the two plural markers.

 

1)      pasan*gaļu dino a:duraru/

pasan*ge dino a:duraru

‘children play daily’

 

2)      paţsigaļukku rekke ikiRna/

paţsigekku rekke ikkiRna

‘birds have wings’

           

3)      sele mi:nugaļu perusu/

sale mi:nuge sirisu

‘some fishes are big some are small’

 

            Vowel ending neuter nouns while taking the plural marker the velar fricative h also freely varies with the velar voiced plosive g.  Thus, paļu ‘fruit’ becomes paļohaļu/paļogaļu ‘fruits’ and ele ‘leaf’ becomes elehalu/elegalu ‘leaves’.

 

            This kind of free variation found in BIT may be the relfection of the similar kind of situation observed in Tamil where the phoneme /k/ has two allophones (h) and (k).  In BIT the situation may be /g/ - -    [h] and [g].

 

1.17.        Cases

The accusative and locative case markers used by the BIT do not exactly tally with the ones used by the Tamilnadu Tamil or with the corresponding from of Kannada though BIT forms are closer to the Tamilnadu Tamil forms.  For instance, BIT has –ye, -le respectively for accusative and locative and the corresponding form in Tamilnadu Tamil are –ai  and –il.  Kannada has –annu and –alli to denote the two cases.  A few illustrative examples are cited below.

 

1.17.1    Accusative

1)      ninnannu na:ļe no:dittini (Ka.)

unnai na:ļe pa:kre (Ta.)

onye na:ļekku pa:kRo (BIT)

‘I will see you tomorrow’

 

2)      makkaļu avananna no:duttave (Ka.)

payya avane pa:kira (Ta.)

paslu avanye pa:kRana (BIT)

‘the child sees him’

 

1.17.2.    Locative

avanu maneyalli iddane (Ka.)

ave vi:ţţil irukRa (Ta.)

avo ha:tle ikkiRna (BIT)

‘he is in the house’

 

1.17.3.  Dative

            With regard to the use of the dative case suffixes, BIT has blended and uses the markers found in Tamil as well as in Kannada.  For example, the dative case suffix in Tamil is –kk(u)  and Kannada uses the suffix –kke for –a ending neuter nouns and –ige with all the other nouns.  BIT uses both –kku and –ge as the dative case suffixes.  It is observed that the usage as dative case construction in BIT has some peculiar character owing to the constant influence of Kannada which too has a partially similar dative case suffix as that of Tamil.

 

            It is already discussed under the section on plural that BIT has two plural suffixes, viz., -ge and gaļu of which –ge is a homophonous form common both to denote plurality as well as dative case.

 

            The dative case markers in Kannada are phonologically conditioned whereas in BIT they seemed to be in free variation though it cannot be stated precisely owing to the limited nature of the data.  For instance, Tamil uses avaļukku ‘to her’ which has an equivalent form in Kannada as avaļige ‘to her’.  But BIT has adopted both theses varieties, that is, avaļukku and avaļuge.  Among these two types of usages, the latter form can be the result of convergence because Tamilnadu Tamil does not have this suffix (-ge) to indicate dative case even in its dialectal variations.

 

            BIT

1)  avaļukku/avaļuge mu:ņ peņ pasan*ge ikkiRna           ‘she has three daughters’

2)  maragaļukku maņ po:du                                           ‘put earth to the trees’

3)  pasţigekku so:ru kodu                                                          ‘give rice to the birds’

 

1.17.4.  Ablative

            As far as the ablative case is concerned, BIT has two forms in usage.  Kannada hs –inda and Tamil has –lerundu as ablative case suffixes.  But BIT uses –ina and –anu as ablative case suffixes.

1)      eleyella marattina ki:ļe viļRina

‘the leaves fall from the tree’

2)      avo office anu vaRa

‘he comes from the office’

 

1.17.5.    Genitive

The genitive case in Tamil is marked with –udaya which has the possessive meaning too.  In Kannada –a is the genitive suffix used.  BIT has two genitive suffixes which are in free variation.  They are –de and –da.  This suffix –de can be traced to the –udaya of Tamil and it is used with considerable changes.  Moreover, if we consider the following Kannada sentences involving genitive suffix, it is possible to say that BIT has some influence while using the genitive suffix.

1)      ennudaya piļļai (Ta.) nanna magu (Ka.)                           ‘my child’

eņde/eņda puļļe (BIT)

 

2)      unnudaya pustakam (Ta.)

ninna pustaka (Ka.)                                    ‘your book’

oņde/oņda pustaka (BIT)

3)      en*gaļudaya vi:du (Ta.)

namma mane (Ka.)                         ‘our house’

en*gaļde/en*gaļda ha:ttu (BIT)

 

4)      avaļudaya na:y (Ta.)                       

avaļa na:yi (Ka.)                                         ‘her dog’

avaļde/avaļda na:yi (BIT)

 

1.18.          Numerals

Numerals in BIT follow the pattern of Tamil upto eight.  Nine and the multiples of ten show some phonological features which are not found in Tamil or in Kannada.  For instance, in BIT, number nine is pronounced as ombidu, for which the Tamil and Kannada equivalents will be ombadu and ombattu respectively.  In BIT thus it is observed that the word final –a of the first element of the compound numeral changes into –i.  Following are the comparative examples of the multiples of ten used in Tamil, Kannada and BIT.

Tamil                           Kannada                     BIT                     Gloss

iruvadu             ippattu              iruvidu  ‘twenty’

na:ppadu                      naluvattu                       na:Rpidu           ‘forty’

aRuvadu                       aRuvattu                       aRuvidu            ‘sixty’

emba:du                       embattu                        embidu ‘eighty’

nu:Ru                            nu:Ru                            nu:Ru                ‘hundred’

nu:ttioņņu                      nu:Rondu                      nu:vihoņņu        ‘hundred and one’       

 

 

 

 

1.19.          Tense

1.19.1.    Past Tense

The use of past tense markers in BIT depends on the source of the verb used.  That is, if the verb used in BIT is a Tamil verb, the past tense marker found in Tamil is used while conjugation form will follow the pattern found in Kannada.  For example. The verbs used in BIT for ‘fall’ and ‘write’ are viļu and eļudu respectively.  The corresponding, forms in Kannada are biļu (present) - - - bidda (Past), bare (Present) - - - bareda (Past).  Tamil has the verb viļu and eļudu with the past tense conjugation viļunda and eļudina.  Since BIT has also uses the same verbs as such without any phonological changes, the conjugation will also follow the model adopted in Tamil.

           

            The verb ha:r ‘fly’ is used in BIT and it is borrowed from Kannada.  Therfore the past tense form in BIT is similar to that of the Kannada, i.e., hariddu ‘flew (it)’.  In Tamil the equivalent form is para ‘fly’ and the past tense will be parandadu ‘flew (it)’.

 

1.20.          Negation

The formation of negative sentences in BIT are quite interesting to study.  It could be stated that Kannada structure has converged into the system of BIT and it is very explicit.  But at the same time the pattern of Tamilnadu Tamil is also not fully disappeared in the sense it is also used time and again with lesser frequency.  For example, in Tamilnadu Tamil the future negative is represented by a separate negative marker ma:ţţ, whereas in Kannada both present and future are neutralized.  But, in BIT the future negative marker ma:ţţ is used with lesser frequency.  Otherwise in BIT the system prevailing in Kannada is followed.  In addition to that, it is also observed certain types of innovative usages in BIT.  This usage is neither found in Tamilnadu Tamil not in Kannada.

idu ende ka:ryo annu*              

‘this is not my work’    

(*more details are given at the end of the section)

“When we look into the nature of negative formation in Tamil and Kannada, we find the neutralization of certain tenses.  In Tamil, present tense and past tense are neutralized, thus making the binary distinction of future and non-future.  But, in Kannada, present tense and future tense are neutralized” (Rangan and Gnanasundaram, 1977).

 

                                                Tamil

1)      avan ne:RRu varavillai

‘he did not come yesterday’                  Past

2)      avan inRu varavillai

‘he did not come today’

3)      avan na:ļai varama:ţţa:n             

‘he will not come tomorrow’                 Future

 

                                    Kannada

1)      avanu nine baralilla

‘he did not come yesterday’                  Past

2)      avanu indu baruvadilla

‘he will not come today’

3)      avanu na:ļe baruvadilla                          Future

‘he will not come tomorrow’

 

Tamil:

            The past negative construction in Tamil consists of verb stem + infinitive suffix –a and the negative suffix –le.

            var – a – le                               ‘did not come’

Future negative is formed by replacing the nagative marker –ma:ţţ in the place of –le.

            Var – a – ma:ţţen                      ‘(I) will not come’

 

 

Kannada:

            Kannada has also the similar type of construction found in Tamil.  That is, past negative construction consists of verb stem + infinitive marker –al + the negative marker –illa.

bar – al – illa                                         ‘did not come’ (past)

Also, the past negative construction is formed by the addition of past participial form and the negative marker.

            band – illa                                             ‘did not come’

The non-past is expressed with the verbal noun + negative.

            baruvad – illa                            ‘will not come’

 

            In BIT, it is commonly observed that the past negative is formed by the addition of past participle with the negative marker.  This type of negative construction is not at all found in Tamilnadu Tamil.  Following are some of the examples with similar kind of negative construction as opposed to Kannada.

                                    BIT

1) na:n*ga innu pa:ttille                          past participle + negative

                ‘we have not seen yet’

2) avo# ne:RRekku vandille

                ‘he did not come yesterday’

 

                                    Kannada

1)      na:vu innu no:diyilla

‘we have not seen yet’

2)      avanu ninne bandilla

‘he did not come yesterday’

 

            In TamilNadu Tamil as stated earlier, similar type of negative construction will be formed with infinitive + negative.

1)      na:n*ga innu) pa:kkavillai/pa:kkale

2)      ave) ne:ttu varavillai/varale

In addition to the above mentioned type of negative construction similar to Tamil, BIT has attested another type too where, along with the verb stem, infinitive is added followed by the negative marker.  But, the frequency of this type of negative construction is very low.

na: oņņu collaville                                  ‘I did not say anything’

           

            It may be argued that the latter type of negative construction involving infinitive is in the process of losing from the structure of BIT mainly because of two reasons, viz., (i) low frequency in general usage and (ii) found only among the elder generation speakers.  The younger generation speakers more often use the ppl. + neg. type of construction.  It is observed that the former type of construction is almost not known to them.  Again as stated earlier the use of maţţu to denote future negative is also noticed in BIT though the frequency of use is very less.  This type of construction involving future negative is not found in the structure of Kannada but exactly fit into the structure of Tamilnadu Tamil.

 

Verbal Noun + Negative:

            In BIT, the negative construction with the structure of verbal noun + negative marker denotes both habitual meaning as well as indicates simple future, whereas Tamilnadu Tamil expresses only the habitual meaning with the similar structure.  The expression of simple future negative meaning is absent in Tamilnadu Tamil.  But Kannada expresses both the meanings through this type of negative construction.

                                    BIT

1)      ava ka:ryo paņRadille

‘she does not work’ (used in a habitual sense)

2)      na: iņņekku vardille

‘I will not come today’ (simple future)

 

                        Tamil

1)      avaļ ka:ryam panRadille

The above sentence in Tamil expresses only habitual sense.  But, in tamil the sentence (2) found in BIT is expressed as follows to convey the future notion.

                        na:n innekku varama:tte:n

                        ‘I will not come today’

 

Innovation:

            An innovative term annu which is not found both in Kannada and Tamil is also used frequently in BIT in certain negative constructions.  This term annu is mostly found in simple negative sentences as free form and also freely varies with illa the common negative morpheme.  But, the reverse usage is not possible.  That is, illa when it comes with the verb as a bound form cannot be replaced by annu.

                        idu eņdeka:ryo annu

                        idu eņdeka:ryo illa

                        ‘this is not my work’

 

                        adu paţsi annu/illa

                        ‘that is not a bird’

 

                        ava iņņekku vardille

                        ‘she will not come today’

                        *ava iņņekku vardannu

 

1.21.          Summary and Conclusion

In the preceding sections, we have discussed the convergent features observed in Bangalore Iyengar’s Tamil.  As discussed earlier, we can see the linguistic features from the dominant language (Kannada) have been embedded into BIT in all levels and the mixture of these linguistic features are so high that BIT to a greater extent unintelligible to the Tamil speakers from Tamilnadu.  Moreover, the community under study due to their extended stay in the present linguistic environment are in the process of losing their linguistic identity which will be a strong contributing force for language loss.  In a way BIT at present is undergoing a partial linguistic change, the direction of the change is obviously towards the dominant language.

For example, at the phonological level the word initial voicing in words, like ka:yam (Ta.) > ga:ya (BIT) is noticed in BIT which is not the character of Tamilnadu Tamil,  but prevalent in Kannada.  Also, the intervocalic voicing is observed in BIT which is absent in Tamil.  Introduction of the short mid central unrounded vowel « in BIT from Kannada is another characteristic feature of BIT showing change.

In lexical level also it is found that many words are borrowed from Kannada and are used freely in BIT.

At the morphological level to cite few examples it is not uncommon to find in BIT Tamil verb roots with Kannada personal termination and vice versa.

Cases are the other area where we can notice considerable changes.

 

In addition to the above cited linguistic changes observed in the Tamil spoken by the Iyengar’s, it we look into the language attitude of the community under study, we can observe that those in the higher socio-economic strata have almost lost their linguistic identity and the language.  The middle and the lower socio-economic groups have retained their language and linguistic identity comparatively to a greater extent.  Also, in these groups, age is playing a considerable role in contributing to the lose of their language.  For instance, it is noted that the younger generation speaks Tamil very little and converse mostly in Kannada even with their parents in the family domain even though their parents speak to them in Tamil.  This may be due to the fact that most of them are studying through Kannada medium schools and also the use of Tamil is highly restricted to very limited domains, like house (See, the first section).  Moreover, none of them know to read and write Tamil.

 

As a result of such conditions, in addition to the lexical borrowings from Kannada, convergence at grammatical level also took place.  It is not uncommon to find part of the sentence in BIT has Kannada features and the other part has Tamil forms.  To cite a few examples, the following sentences, like

1)      paļu hasara ikkiRna

‘the fruit is green’

2)      ne:ttekki na:yi bogiļkiņdintu

‘yesterday the dog barked’

3)      budva:ru vartukku a:gRada

‘can you come on wednesday’

 

are quite frequently used in BIT (in the absence of an extensive data it is not possible to give more examples on sentences showing different combinations of Kannada influence).  Among the variables selected for the study, only the age and the socio-economic strata have influence over the language shift/loss and the other variables, such as sex and education did not have any influence in shift/loss of the language.