Questions

There are several unanswered questions about Tulu language and Tigalari script. I've listed a few below.

1. What does the double fish emblem of the Alupas mean?
2. Why did the brahmins use Chola Grantha script when Kannada script was readily available?
3. How did people learn how to read and write in the olden days?

More Languages the Better

" HOW THE HUMAN BRAIN PROCESSES LANGUAGE: What parts of the brain control language? There are two primary sections of the brain that relate to language and communication, and if either section becomes damaged, the person will be unable to speak properly. The left frontal cortex of the brain is known as "Broca's Area," after a 19th century physician named Paul Broca. The second section is called "Wernicke's Area," after Broca's contemporary, Karl Wernicke. It is located further back and lower in the brain than Broca's Area, at the tail end of the temporal lobe. These two sections are connected by bundles of nerve fibers. When these connections are damaged, the person can understand language but their speech does not make sense and they cannot repeat words. In most people, both Broca's area and Wernicke's area are found only in the left side of the brain. Scientists have studied how electrical stimulation of these areas of the brain can block language. They have also injected fast-acting anesthetics into the right or left carotid artery. The right artery supplies the right side of the brain, while the left artery supplies the left side. Injecting an anesthetic into either will put that side of the brain to sleep. They found that when the left hemisphere of the brain was asleep, patients were unable to speak when asked questions. But they would be able to answer questions if the right side of the brain was asleep. But even though the left side of the brain is dominant when it comes to language, imaging studies of blood flow in the brain have shown that people with damage on the right side have trouble communicating the emotions involved with language. This disorder is called aprosodia. "

More Here :

Source: http://www.aip.org/dbis/report7.html

Language and Environment

Biodiversity and linguistic diversity

"There is a fundamental linkage between language and traditional knowledge (TK) related to biodiversity. Local and indigenous communities have elaborated complex classification systems for the natural world, reflecting a deep understanding of their local environment. This environmental knowledge is embedded in indigenous names, oral traditions and taxonomies, and can be lost when a community shifts to another language."

Read the rest of this fantastic article here :

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/cultural-diversity/languages-and-multilingualism/endangered-languages/biodiversity-and-linguistic-diversity/

About 97% of the world’s people speak about 4% of the world’s languages

Tigalari Unicode

Efforts are underway to make a comprehensive Tigalari Unicode proposal.

There have been a lot of people who have worked making a standardised Tigalari script. Despite this, Tigalari remains at a stage where it is not accurate or complete.

Tulu script has been called Tigalari in this proposal as this script was also used by the Kannada speaking Havyaka brahmans. The only evidence found so far for an appropriate name for this script has been Tigalari. I would therefore like to propose using the name Tigalari script instead of Tulu script.

If you are interested in collaborating, contributing, funding or knowing more about this, please feel free to contact me at vaishnavimurthy@gmail.com

Learning Tulu

Tulu as optional subject in schools awaits CMs nod
Printed from www.mangalorean.com

Mangalore Dec 16

"All the procedure required to introduce Tulu as an optional subject from 6th standard has been taken up. It just awaits the CM’s signature," said Karnataka Tulu Sahithya Academy President Dr Palthadi Ramakrishna Achar.

 Dr Achar was addressing the gathering after accepting the felicitation from undivided Dakshina Kannada district Vishwakarma Federation on Sunday. Dr Palthadi said that if Tulu is introduced as a subject in the academics, then the struggle for bringing Tulu in the 8th schedule of the constitution will be a bit easier.

 "Tulu literature has a history of 2,000 years and hence there has to be efforts to uphold the glory of rich Tulu," he said. MLC Ganesh Karnik said that the problems that India faced over the past 30 years are so intense that it cannot be compared to the problems faced by other nations. Naxal menace, terror attacks have been tearing the nation apart. All in all India is not healthy at present. Mangalore University Nation Service Scheme Co-ordinator Dr Gananath Yekkar addressing the gathering on ‘Dr Palthadi’s literature and folkart research’, said that research should always compliment the society. "There is nothing wrong in bringing complex folkarts on stage but while doing so one has to remember that he should not insult the original form of the art," he said.

 Vishwakarma Okkoota President S V Achar presided over the programme and said that there is a responsibility to take Tulu at a larger platform mainly because Tulu is losing identity in wake of globalisation.

Felicitation Committee Honorary President G Ramakrishna Achar, P Shivaram Achar, Vice-President Alevoor Yogish Achar, Secretary Dinesh Padubidri and others were present.

 DHNS

Kannada script for Beary and Tulu

"Noted linguist and lexicographer U P Upadhyaya said that there was no need to invent its own script for Beary language, as it could easily be written in Kannada.

Speaking on the topic ‘regionalism in Beary language’ at a programme organised by Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy here on Sunday, he strongly argued that both Beary and Tulu should be written in Kannada, despite the fact that Tulu has its own script.

He warned that using an unfamiliar script for a local language would only lead to the isolation of that language.

The linguist also pointed out that language exists only in dialects and not in script. He went on to describe the script as nothing but a photograph of the spoken word."

Read the full article :

http://coastaldigest.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30050:prefer-kannada-over-tulu-beary-script-linguist&catid=57:news-stories&Itemid=68

Source: http://www.coastaldigest.com
by CD Network, Photos by Ahmed Anwar
Sunday, 18 September 2011 15:41

Sarvamoola Grantha in Tulu Script

"A well-preserved 700-year-old palm leaf manuscript set which belongs to the Palimar Math, a paryaya peetha of Udupi Sri Krishna Math, was the cynosure of all eyes at the Jnana Ganga exhibition organised as part of the World Sanskrit Book Fair which concluded here on Monday.

The 250 manuscripts, said to be some of the oldest discovered yet, has inscriptions written on both sides and contain the entire 39 works of Acharya Madhwa, in the 13th Century Dwaita philosopher."

Link to the rest of the article :

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article1079270.ece

The Hindu; 11 Jan 2011

Pejawar seer and his Tulu signature

"Speaking about this practice that he has sustained from his childhood, 81-year Swamiji says that he does not even remember who exactly taught him to sign his name in Tulu.

“I am not well-versed in the script. I just know to write my name ‘Sri Vishweshwara Theertha Swamiji’ in Tulu. It is the ‘Guruparampare’ (a culture passed down from the teacher to his disciples) that I am following,” said the Seer adding that when he took initiation from his teacher in Pejawar Mutt, his ‘hasthakshara’ (sign) in Tulu was taught.

He did learn few alphabets of Tulu but since it was not of much use, he could not learn more or use it.

However, he recalls that since time immemorial, in the Ashtamutt knowledge of ‘Taulava’ script (that pertaining to Taulava land) was a must because though the ‘vatus’ (young brahmin disciples) were taught Sanskrit hymns, the scripts on the manuscripts were all in Tulu.

“If one goes back to the documents of the ‘Ashtamutt,’ we can find all important verdicts, declarations and accounts pertaining to the Mutts written in Taulava script,” says the Swamiji."

Rest of the article :

Link : http://www.deccanherald.com/content/162889/
DECCAN HERALD 22 May 2011

Found Links

 On Tigalari / Tulu Script                                                                                                    

• http://www.thefullwiki.org/Tulu_script
  
  
• Tulu Language: Its Script and DialectsBy Dr. Neria H. Hebbar
  http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=863
  
  
• The Tulu Script: Origin and Revival
  http://tulu-research.blogspot.com/2007/04/14-tulu-script-origin-and-revival.html
  
  
• http://tuluscript.blogspot.com/
  
  
• Ethnologue
  http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=tcy
  
  
• SEI: Unicode - number 103, By - Michael Everson
  http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/sei/USR.html#n103
  http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/tulu.pdf 
  
  
• Mangalorean - An article about Tulu script + comments
  http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=159435
  
  
  

 General Information about Tulu, Tulunaadu or both                                      

• Excellent Articles on many aspect of Tulunaadu
  http://tulu-research.blogspot.in/
  
  
• Tulu Language
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulu_language
  
  
• Tulu Nadu
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulu_Nadu
  
  
• History of Tulu Nadu
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Tulu_Nadu
  
  

 Tulu Resources Online                                                                                        

• Dictionary :
  http://www.tuluworld.org/dictionary/cgi-bin/web/frame.html
  
  
• Complete scan of the Original Tulu - English Dictiornay by
  Basel Mission:
  http://www.archive.org/stream/tuluenglishdict00unkngoog#page/n14/mode/2up
  
  
• Grammar of Tulunaadu bu Basel Mission:
  http://ia600407.us.archive.org/26/items/grammaroftululan00briguoft/grammaroftululan00briguoft.pdf
  
  
• Learn to Speak Tulu :
  http://www.ourkarnataka.com/learn_thulu/thulu_main.htm
  
  
• Tulu for Travelers :
  http://wikitravel.org/en/Tulu_phrasebook
  
  
• All About Tulu naadu and Cinema (parts 1 - 5) :
  http://abhayatalkies.com/2009/01/21/tulu-nadu-and-cinema-part-1/

Tulu Organisations, Bolgs and Websites                                                           

• Tulu Academy :
  http://www.tuluacademy.org/
  
  
• http://www.mangalore.com/
  
  
• Tulu Tuluvas & Tulunad :
  http://tulutuluvastulunad.blogspot.com/
• Tulu Patero
  (A Philology and Grammar of TuLu Language. by Budha Shivalli. Tanslation, Originally published in TuLu Language)
  http://tulu-language.blogspot.in/  

Organisations Dealing with Languages, International                                 

• Multilingual (Language Computing) [US]
  http://www.multilingual.com/aboutWhat.php
  
  
• Cultural Survival
  (Partnering with Indigenous Peoples to Defend their Lands, Languages and Cultures)[US]
  http://www.culturalsurvival.org/

 
Organisations Dealing with Languages, India                                                

• People's Linguistic Survey [Baroda]
  http://peopleslinguisticsurvey.org/
  
  
• Central Sahitya Academy (National Academy of Letters) [Delhi]
  http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/
  
  
• Central Institute of Indian Languages [Mysore]
  http://www.ciil.org/
  
  
• Bhasha Research & Publication Center [Gujarat]
  http://www.bhasharesearch.org/

• Bhasha India (Microsoft, Empowering Indic Language Computing)
  http://bhashaindia.com