Key facts
- Pronunciation
- [ koɖɐʋɐ t̪ɐkːɨ ]
- Native to
- India
- Region
- Kodagu
- Ethnicity
- Kodava
- Native speakers
- 113,857 (2011 census)
- Language family
- Dravidian South Dravidian South Dravidian I Tamil– Kannada Tamil– Kota Tamil– Toda Tamil–Irula Tamil–Kodava– Urali Kodava
- Writing system
- Kodava Lipi ( Official ) Kannada script Coorgi-Cox alphabet Tamil script Malayalam script Thirke script ( archaic )
- Regulated by
- Karnataka Kodava Sahitya Academy
- Iso 639 3
- kfa
- Glottolog
- koda1255
- Elp
- Kodagu
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
Show 2 more facts
- number of speakers, writers, or signers
- 200000
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Article
The Kodava ( Kodava: [koɖɐʋɐ], natively: Koḍava takkï, Kodava: [koɖɐʋɐ t̪ɐkːɨ], meaning 'speech of Kodavas', Angloid name: Codava, Coorgi) is a Dravidian language spoken in Kodagu district (Coorg) in Southern Karnataka, India. It is an endangered language. The term Kodava has two related usages. Firstly, it is the name of the Kodava language and culture followed by a number of communities from Kodagu. Secondly, within the Kodava-speaking communities and region (Kodagu), it is a demonym for the dominant Kodava people. Hence, the Kodava language is not only the primary language of the Kodavas but also of many other castes and tribes in Kodagu. The language has two dialects: Mendele (spoken in Northern and Central Kodagu, i.e. outside Kodagu's Kiggat naadu) and Kiggat (spoken in Kiggat naadu, in Southern Kodagu).
Historically, it has been associated to Old Canarese or Hale Kannada However, it has been re-analysed as a language by early 20th century academics. Now it is known to be more closely related to Malayalam, Tamil, and Tulu in comparative linguistics.