Kota language (India)

Kota is a language of the Dravidian languages with about 900 native speakers in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu state, India. It is spoken mainly by the tribal Kota people (India). In the late 1800s, the native speaking population was about 1,100.[2] In 1990, the population was only 930, out of an ethnic population of perhaps 1,400, despite the great increase in the population of the area.[1] The language is 'critically endangered' due to the greater social status of neighbouring languages.[3] The Kota language may have originated from 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]

Not to be confused with Kota language (Gabon) or Kota language (Central African Republic).
Kota
Kō mānt
Native toIndia
RegionNilgiri Hills
EthnicityKotas
Native speakers
930 (2001 census)[1]
Tamil script
Language codes
ISO 639-3kfe
Glottologkota1263
ELPKota (India)

Phonology

Vowels
Front Central Back
short long short long short long
High i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Low a aː

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 mn̪ɳŋ
Stop voiceless pt̪tʈt͡ʃk
voiced bd̪dɖd͡ʒɡ
Fricative s
Tap ɾɽ
Approx. central ʋj
lateral lɭ

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

References
  1. 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. Narasimhacharya, R. (1990). History of Kannada Language. New Delhi, Madras: Asian Educational Services. p. 37. ISBN 9788120605596.
  6. Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003). The Dravidian languages (null ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-511-06037-3.

Further reading
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