Language Use And Language Attitudes Among Kani Tribe In Tamil Nadu And Kerala

Abstract

Language as a medium of communication is constantly acquired and mastered involuntarily by the users. Due to that, the complexity of language is to be explained using empirical tools. Tribal language is considered intricate due to its remoteness and scriptless nature. Language dynamics within tribal contexts are complex and diverse. It is influenced and modified by various factors such as historical, social, and cultural aspects. Understanding language dynamics can shed light on language maintenance, language shift, language attitudes and the implications for preserving linguistic diversity and cultural heritage. Kanikkaran or Kani is a scheduled Tribal living in the forest and hilly regions of the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Kani speaks a language known as Malampasai, which means the lang[1]uage of the Hills. The paper discusses the usage and attitude of the tribal language Malampasai among the tribal community, Kanikkaran or Kani, residing in the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The study sheds light on language attitudes, language use and patterns, language within families, language shift, language maintenance, and language adaptation. Kani Malampasai does not have a script of its own, and hence the oral description of the dialect cannot be compared with the scripted form of Tamil and Malayalam; hence, the researcher has considered the oral form of Kani dialect with the existing form of oral language that is used in the neighbourhood. The Kani oral communicative language has more similar words and context in common when compared to the Tamil and Malayalam prevailing in the districts of Kollam, Trivandrum, Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli.