Tribal dialects facing threat from main stream languages

Tribal dialects in Idukki district of Kerala, a hub of various tribal communities, are on the verge of extinction due to the increasing influence of main stream languages, a linguistic expert said.
The original spoken languages of tribal communities like Muthuvan and Malapulayan, residing in Chinnar forests of Idukki, were fast disappearing as they were under the influence of Malayalam and Tamil, Dr S A Shanavas, the Head, Department of Linguistics of Kerala University, told PTI.
The department embarked on a field trip and survey at Thalayannankudi and Champakkad regions in the district the other day to train young linguists in documenting endangered languages.

The programme was part of a 10-day national workshop on linguistic field work and documentation.
The expert also pointed out the necessity of immediate documentation of these languages to preserve them for the posterity.