Copyright by Malavika Leeladhar Shetty 2008 The Dissertation Committee for Malavika Leeladhar Shetty certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Television and the Construction of Tulu Identity in South India Committee: Elizabeth Keating, Co-Supervisor Anthony C. Woodbury, Co-Supervisor Patience L. Epps Robert D. King Keith Walters Qing Zhang Television and the Construction of Tulu Identity in South India by Malavika Leeladhar Shetty, MA; M. Phil Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2008 Dedication To my parents, Lakshmi and Leeladhar N. Shetty, and to my brother, Vikram Shetty Acknowledgements Many people have contributed to the narrative that is this dissertation and it represents the culmination of many conversations with many people on different continents. Let me start with where the seeds of this narrative began: in conversations with my family. Without my parents and my brother who share my passion for the Tulu language and its many beautiful phrases, this dissertation would not have been written. To my parents, who made sure that my brother and I respected and admired the language spoken by them and the close-knit community they belonged to, even if my brother and I did not always appreciate having to speak a different language at home when our friends and neighbors in Bombay were speaking exciting languages that could be seen and heard on radio and TV, I can only say many thanks. I gratefully acknowledge the help of my father, Leeladhar N. Shetty, in transcribing several words in my data that I did not completely understand and for his deep knowledge of the stories and traditions of the South Kannara region. Even while I write the acknowledgments of this completed dissertation, I recognize, fully well, that my knowledge of Tulu is miniscule and incomplete compared to that of my parents and to that of the many people who speak it everyday, both in Bombay and in the South Kannara region. Next, I thank the people of the South Kannara region, both those in academia and those who welcomed me to their homes to talk about Tulu stories, legends, folk tales, or just about this and that. I thank Drs. U. P. Upadhyaya and Susheela P. Upadhyaya who, kindly, shared with me their vast knowledge of Tulu folklore and songs. S. A. Krishnaiah, of the Regional Resources Center for Folk Performing Arts at MGM College v in Udupi, initially pointed me towards watching the TV show that is discussed in this study and, very generously, shared with me some of his recordings. My uncle, Vasanth N. Shetty, shared with me some of his local knowledge of the stories and the subjects discussed on the show. Shriyuth Suvarna made use of his many local connections to help me with setting up interviews. Dr. Shiva Sharan Shetty, the director (programming) of Namma TV, patiently answered my many questions about the logistics involved in broadcasting a Tulu-language channel in the region. Dr. Ganesh Amin Sankamar and Kadri Navaneet Shetty, the moderators of the show Pattanga, not only inspired me with their dedication to the cause of bringing a Tulu-language participatory television program to viewers in the region, but also invited me to watch them conducting the show live at the studios of Namma TV. Despite their busy schedules, they were more than willing to share with me their thoughts and ideas about the role of the show in the region. I hope they can continue broadcasting the show and that Tulu speakers in the region will continue to call in and contribute, through these two very knowledgeable moderators, to the continuing narrative of Tulu stories and Tulu folktales in the region. In Bombay, Dr. Sunitha M. Shetty took the time out to encourage me and talk to me about my study. I thank her for her generosity, her kindness, and as a fellow Tulu female academic, for showing me the way. I also am grateful to the late Dr. Ayesha Banatwala, of the SNDT women’s university in Bombay, who first encouraged me to think about issues related to language and society and whose mentorship, support, and encouragement led to me onto Cambridge where Gillian Brown and the other researchers at the Research Center for English and Applied Linguistics exposed me to the various ways in which conversations could be potent loci for sociolinguistic analysis. vi Next, I come to Austin, where this study was conceived and completed. My first thanks goes to my co-supervisors, Elizabeth Keating and Tony Woodbury. Elizabeth gave me direction, both in my research and in my thinking and, over the course of many conversations, played a large role in shaping how this dissertation is structured. I thank her for her amazing instincts when it comes to analyzing data, her inspirational knowledge and scholarship, her kindness and generosity, and her ability to gently direct me toward asking more questions and toward seeking a more complete explanation in my research without ever telling me what to do. Elizabeth motivated me to think fearlessly, while at the same time, to be rigorous analytically. Needless to say, this dissertation has benefited hugely from her insight, suggestions, and detailed comments. I thank Tony Woodbury, whose class on linguistic description first inspired me to consider writing a grammar of the Tulu language, and who later supported and encouraged me when I decided to change topics. Tony’s scholarship and his commitment to the preservation and documentation of endangered languages will always remain a source of inspiration. I thank him for his insightful comments, his support and encouragement while I was writing this dissertation, and for his ability to guide me towards readings and research that have greatly enhanced this dissertation. I thank Keith Walters, whose teaching made me think about sociolinguistic issues more clearly and completely and whose long-distance encouragement was a constant source of support during the writing of this dissertation. In many ways, Keith laid down the foundation on which this dissertation stands. I found myself, while writing this dissertation, constantly going back to the notes I had taken down in his classes and referring to his recommended readings. While I missed his presence at the University of Texas as I was completing this dissertation, I always knew that Keith was available if I vii needed to talk electronically. I thank him for his incredible energy, enthusiasm, and for being such an inspirational teacher. I thank Qing Zhang for her incisive comments over the course of several conversations. There are several ideas in this dissertation that emerged during classes I took with Qing and during conversations in her office. I thank Patty Epps who carefully and promptly read my last-minute dissertation draft and whose perceptive comments have greatly improved the quality of this work. I thank Robert King for his humor, his knowledge of South Asian linguistic politics, his sage advice, and for his support both during the writing of this dissertation and during my years at the University of Texas at Austin. I thank the National Science Foundation (award number 0418516), the Department of Linguistics, and the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin for making this study logistically possible. I thank our friends in Austin whose friendship, conversations, and food sustained the writing of this dissertation: Alex Teodorescu and Dan Tecuci, Fred Hoyt and Emily Force, Lynda De Jong Boudreault and Ali Boudreault have been our family in Austin; Liberty Lidz, Shannon Finch, and Laura Mahalingappa were the sharers of hopes and disappointments during graduate school and the readers of many pages I have churned out. Our stimulating fifth-floor table conversations and the wonderful meals we shared at the latest vegetarian restaurants in Austin will always be cherished. I thank Anuradha Kulkarni in London and Sameera Khan in Bombay for their friendship and support and for sharing with me through letters, emails, and phone conversations, the challenges, joys, and frustrations of raising children while trying to have a fulfilling intellectual life. I thank my two oldest friends, Anjali Arondekar and Sujata Suri, for sharing with me those viii formative years in Bandra, Bombay when possibilities were endless, and for continuing to be a part of my life. Thanks also to Joanna Mackinder, Deborah Anderson, Svetlana Kurtes, and Dorjana Sirola who were my allies as we explored the medieval magic and intellectual rigor of Cambridge together, and to Lipika Deka for sustaining me with Indian food and conversation during the cold, damp Cambridge winter. Finally, my thanks goes out to Shankar Venkataraman who read and commented on so many pages of this dissertation, provided support and encouragement, and helped in every way he possibly could so that this dissertation could be completed, even while he was completing his own dissertation. In many ways, this dissertation is for Aditi, who grew up while it was being written, and who, I hope, will, one day, appreciate the many beauties of Tulu, as I once did. ix Television and the Construction of Tulu Identity in South India Publication No._____________ Malavika Leeladhar Shetty, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2008 Co-supervisors: Elizabeth Keating and Anthony C. Woodbury Abstract: In India, the 1.7 million speakers of Tulu, a language mainly spoken in the South Kannara region of the South Indian state of Karnataka, have largely been linguistically subsumed by the larger number of Kannada speakers (38 million) around them. In February 2005, Namma TV (‘Our TV’), a new television channel started broadcasting local programs in Tulu in the region.