CENSUS OF INDIA 1971 MONOGRAPH NO.4 SEiuES I LANGUAGE MONOGRAPH (1961 Series) PREFACE: A. MITRA OF THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE REGISTRAR GENERAL AND CENSUS SURVEY OF KONKANI COMMISSIONER, INDIA. IN GENERAL SUPERVISION AND GUIDANCE KERALA R. C. NIGAM. LING UIST. INVESTIGATION AND REPORT KM. J. RA.1ATHI. LANGUAGE DIVISION, OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, INDIA CONTENTS P."-GES Preface-Dr. Asok Mitra Note-Shri R. C. Nigam i-ix ,CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1-18. 2 Phonology. 19-40 3 Morphophonemics 41-43 4 Noun Morphology 44-71 5 Verb Morphology 72-111 6 Negatives 112-114 7 Indeclinables 115-119 8 Derivatives 120-125 9 Syntax 126-142 10 Isogloss Study 143-184 11 Borrowings. :J 185-194 _Apl>ENDlX I Isogloss Material 195-223 _ApPEND IX II (a) Words . 224-264 (b) Unconnected Text 265-304 (c) Connected Text 305-329 A. Cochin Gowd Saraswat Konkani 305-317 B. Trivandrum Kudumbi Konkani 318-329 !MAPS Facing page Map No. I-Distribution of Konkani speaking I Population, 1961 Map No. 2--Major Dialects of Konkani, 1961 . 149 (isogloss differences) Map No. 3-Nortbern Dialect ofKonkani, 1961 149 (isogloss differences) - Map NO.4-Southern Dialect of Konkani, 1961 149 (isogloss differences) Map No. S-Xonkani Dialects, 1961 149 (Gowd Saraswat & Saraswa t VS Kudumbi) PREFACE I am delighted that Shri R. C. Nigam and Miss J. Rajathi are now pubIi~hing their monograph on Konkani, a study that had been decided upon as far back as 1962. The _study on Kanauri in the Himachal Pradesh region, conceived and undertaken about the same time, has just been published. Miss Rajathi's study on Kerala Konkani was completed as eady as 1969 but the printing took a _great deal of tilIle. Her further studies on Konkani In Karnataka and Goa are nearing completion. A new welcome feature in this volume is the series of maps on isoglosses and the statistical analysis of shared cognates and other characteristics. These have been in­ troduced almost for the first time in Indian language studies, at any rate, on such a scale and will prove very helpful to students of linguistics and regional science. My warm thanks and congratulations once again to Shri R. C. Nigam and his colleagues for having so patiently pursued decisions taken so long ago. There would be few instances of such steadfastness in the face of heavy odds and lack of recognition or even of endorsement. For them the work alone~ and littl~ else, has been its own reward and I feel blessed that I started with such colleagues who are quietly and perseveringly extending one of the proudest and most rigorous of Indian traditions: the study of the structure of languages. \ ASOK MITRA _Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110057. 18 June 1976. • NOTE Following the 1961 language census it was felt imperative to study closely several of the languages which are either widespread in contiguous geograpical areas or which are scattered in various parts of the country,l. It was thought necessary to investigate how such languages fared themselves and reacted on others. Konkani with its spread in four Inajor states and union territories of the country, viz.; Kerala~ Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa, was one of the first lan­ guages chosen for this purpose by virtue of its interesting history of migration streams, its literature and script. After the publication of the language report of the 1961 census~ it was decided to start work simultaneously in the sub-Hin1alayan region in the north and in the Kerala region in the south. Kerala was selected for the study of Konkani precisely because very little literature on it exits so far. The survey of Konkani was subsequently extended to Maharashtra~ Karnataka (erstwhile Mysore) and Goa. This report on Kerala is the first in the series. Kumari J. Rajathi, senior technical assistant and a resear­ cher of our unit, took up the work on this project and under­ took extensive surveys of the Konkani speaking areas of Kerala in two field trips, one from June to October in 1965 and the otber from F~bruay to June in 1966. A third short trip of a month's duration was made in 1967 when the materials were checked in the light of the findings available after the analytical studies had been completed at headquarters. Further vocabulary material was collected from Gower Sara swat and Saraswat Brahmin conununities of Calicut during this trip. As no earlier material was available on Konkani of this part of the country, the work had to be initially exploratory in character. On the basis of the 1961 census returns of the Konkani-speaking popUlation, a detailed distribution of speakers was procured from the Trivandrum office of the ..l. Censw; of India. 1961. Vol. I-Part-H-C (ii) Language tables (1964) page: CXXV. ( ii ) Superintendent of Census Operatipns, Kerala. Thereafter a programme of visits to al1 the lnain Konkani settlements was planned. Data collection was done through the detailed informant interview method. Kumari Rajathi took upon her­ self the difficult task of interviewing the informants by visiting most of the settleluents, no matter how hazardous the approach to some of them, checking the nlaterial she had already collected and adding further samples to her stock if she fo und something new. This way the researcher had the advantage of knowing more closely the life style of the people and their surroundings, as also making sure that in a new field which was being surveyed by her for the first time she was not missing anything significant. In the introductory chapter of the report the details of the areas visited and the people interviewed by the researcher have been discussed. Brief descriptions of the peopJe, of their migratory traditions, settlements,' life style and other cultural features are also include d in this chapter. "Konkani was returned from Kerala in four mother-tongue names, viz., Konkani, Kudubi, Moopan and Nawait. 'K udubi­ pronounced Kudumbi by the native speakers-and Moopan Ineant the same speech. Nawait were Bhatkal 'Konkani­ speaking Muslin1s from Mangalore. The returns of Nawait being negligible (42 only) work on their speech was deferred to a future survey of Mysore Konkani. 'Konkani and -KHdUlnbi were eventual1y taken up for detailed investigation_ Analysis . of material, however, did not bring out, as KUlnari Rajathi's study will show, significant dialect differer~ces between Konkani (comprising speeches of Gowd Saraswat and Sara swat Brah­ mins) and Kudumbi (non-Brahmins) in the two dialect areas viz., southern and northern 'Konkani, the former comprising the areas between Trivandrum in the south and Trichur in the north, and the latter the area of Cannanore district. Kozhi­ kode district happens to be the border line area for both, viz,,, the northern and southern dialects of Kerala Konkani, How­ ever, Kumari RaJathi has worked out in nlinute detail the dialect variations both on caste and regional scores and has presented an 'isogloss study' of dialect differences. ( iii) The researcher has provided a detailed descriptive analysIs <'()f the Gowd Saraswat Brahmin dialect of Cochin. The dialect was considered to be the representative dialect of southern Konkani. The reasons were that it had a major concentration of speakers which included a large number. of economically and culturally influential families which had quite important traditions of migrations and which were affili.ated to temples and Devasthanaln of religious importance. This descriptive study is detailed from chapters II to IX, covering discussions. on phonology, morphonemics, noun and verb morphology, negatives, indeclinables, derivatives and syntax. This descriptive study has been made useful..by incorporat­ ing copious illustrative material from the speech to support the oDservations of the researcher on gramJnatical characteris­ tics. Additionally at the end under appendix II a large amount of field data comprising ] ,685 words, 1,224 small sentences, and five connected text samples on Cochin Gowd Saraswat Konkani and four samples on Kudumbi dialect has been listed as refere:.lce material. After the detailed study of the Cochin Gowd Saraswat dialect and after coming to her conclusio)1. that the Gowd Saraswat Branmin dialect including variations of Cochin as well as Kasargod is the representative dialect of Kerala Konkani, the researcher goes into deeper detail and closer cOlnparison of all the nine varieties of -Kera)a Konkani in chapter X and has succeeded through an isogloss study in mapping the Konkani dialect areas bri nging out the 'focal' and 'relic~ areas of different dialects all of which have been illustrated through a set of four maps which provide distribu­ tions of a nUillber of selected phonological and morphological isoglosses. The researcher has put in additional detailed comparisons of data on. the basis of phonological and Olor­ phological characteristics and shared cognate materials and thereby sought to establish the m'ajor, minor or border-line dialects of the "Konkani of Kerala on a regional or caste matrix. The researcher has also attempted statistical calculations ~on the basis of the cognate count of all the eight dialects from ( iv ) which she was able to make comparisons of 215 items con­ sidered cognates and which would not be confused with items of borrowings. These calculations also tend, more or less, to support the researcher's conclusions drawn earlier on the question of dialect differences. Trivandrurn Kudumbi Kon­ kani, however, registers the lowest figure of shared common cognates. This has led the researcher to leave Trivandrurfi Kudumbi's inclusion in Konkani as an unsettled point for the time being. The situation demands a further probe into other peculiarities, particularly important phonological and morphological features and a number of shared cognates. In the secoJ!d part of this chapter Kumari Rajathi com­ pares her material on the Ratnagiri dialect of Marathi with the other dialects of Konkani of Kerala.