Dravidian Language Varieties
Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:56 am
I figured in addition to the Malayalam lessons thread, I'll start a thread on assorted Dravidian language varieties in case anyone's interested. (This particular post is mostly copied from a few similar posts I wrote a few years ago on a different forum).
This post features a clip from a TV series called [ɲəˈŋa n̪iˈŋa], meaning something like 'our and y'all's' in some nonstandard variety of Malayalam. It has 60 episodes, each of which showcases a language variety spoken either in or very close to Kerala and teaches a few words and phrases in each. Most episodes seem to be for varieties of Malayalam, but there is also at least one episode each for Tulu and Beary, two for Paniya, and apparently even one for a variety of Telugu spoken in northern Kerala!
This is the first episode, about the variety of Malayalam spoken in a village called Puthussery [pud̪uɕˈɕeːɾi] in Palakkad district. One or two of the new words is also used in Thiruvalla, where my parents are from, even though Thiruvalla is not particularly close to Palakkad (possibly closer than the host's hometown, though, since he's apparently from Kozhikode, which is much further north). Another vocabulary item that wasn't too surprising was [kɔjˈjaːka] for 'guava', since Palakkad is very close to Tamil Nadu and the Tamil equivalent AFAIK is something like [kɔjˈjaːpaɭam] (in our variety of Malayalam, and I guess also in the standard variety, it's [ˈpeːɾɛkʲa], which apparently comes from pera meaning 'pear' in Portuguese):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6htWW5353q8
These are the words covered in the video:
[ˈaːʋi] - 'heat'. For us, this means 'steam', and 'heat' is [ˈt͡ʃuːɖɯ].
[t̪aːj] - 'handle'. We would say [piˈɖi] or [pɪˈɖi] like in the video.
[ˈmoːn̪d̪i] - 'evening'. I think we normally say [ˈʋɐjʈɯ] for this; the video uses the slightly more formal/standard equivalents [sən̪ˈd̪ʱja] (from Sanskrit) and [ʋɐjgʊn̪ˈn̪eːɾəm] instead.
([kɛɳɛˈtɪnde]) [pəɭˈɭa] - 'side (of a well)'. I think we would say [ʋəˈɕəm]. (The written text in) the video says [kəˈɾa], which maybe we would use, too, but I'm more familiar with this word in the sense of a border, shore, or riverbank.
[t͡ʃəgɨˈɖiːm t̪oːɳˈɖiːm] - 'bucket and rope'. I think we would say [kɔˈʈejʊm kaˈjərʊm] or, more casually, [kɔˈʈeːm ˈkajrʊm]. The video (text) says [kəˈpijʊm kaˈjərʊm], but I'm more familiar with [kəˈpi] meaning the kind of dough (made of rice flour) we use for making appams.
[ˈmiːrɯ] - The video claims that this word means 'ant(s)'. We say [uˈrumbɯ] or [ʊˈrʊmbɯ]. However, I think my dad said that (he thinks) [ˈmiːrɯ] means a specific kind of ant that we call something else (I don't remember for sure which kind, though; I'm sure he mentioned [ˈt͡ʃoːnɛn] but not whether he said that was the same thing or he said something like "not that one, the other one!" I think "the other one" might be called [iˈrumbɯ] and that the local guy teaching him the word might have been using to translate it into more standard Malayalam only for the host to "correct" him with the generic term [uˈrumbɯ]). IIRC, [ˈt͡ʃoːnɛn] is a big but harmless black ant, and [iˈrumbɯ] is a smaller but much more poisonous red ant but not a fire ant, often seen fighting a [ˈt͡ʃoːnɛn], and my dad used to tell his (younger) brother stories about these two kinds of ants fighting.
[ˈt͡ʃoːʈikʲɯ] - 'down(wards)'. I think we'd say [ˈt̪aːɻe], but the video says [ˈt̪aːɻət̪ɯ], which I'd think of as referring to a location rather than a direction (but I can see it being used for the direction, too).
[ˈt͡ʃən̪d̪ɯ] or [ˈsən̪d̪ɯ] - 'road'. We say [ʋəˈɻi] like in the video.
[jiˈɖɯliʋəɻi] - 'side street'. We say [jiˈɖəʋəɻi] or [jɛˈɖəʋəɻi] like in the video.
[ˈʋeːlit̪əri] or [ˈʋeːlt̪əri] - 'wire fence' (if I understood correctly). We don't really have a word for this, hence the long-winded gloss in the video.
[pəˈsu] instead of [pəˈɕu] for 'cow' is just the same as in Tamil.
[pəˈɳiːm t̪ɔˈɾoːm ilˈleː] - apparently something like 'don't you have any work to do?'. [pəˈɳi ɔn̪ˈn̪um ilˈleː] literally means 'isn't there any work at all?' and is a common expression in Malayalam for 'don't you have anything else/better to do?' [pəˈɳiːm t̪ɔˈɾoːm] sounds like 'work and' + some word I don't recognize.
[pɛˈʈəmma] - 'girl'. We'd say [pɛɳˈkuʈi] like in the video.
[n̪əŋˈgi] - apparently 'tongue sole', a type of fish I'm unfamiliar with even in English. The video seems to suggest that it's more widely known as [ˈmaːn̪d̪a], and the guy says that in Kannur and Kasaragod, in northern Kerala, they say [n̪əŋˈgɯ]. I wouldn't know about any of that.
[t̪əˈla muˈrijɛn məˈt̪i] - 'dried sardines'. We'd say [ɔˈɳəkija məˈt̪i] (literally 'dried sardines') like in the video or maybe [məˈt̪i ɔˈɳəkijəd̪ɯ] (literally 'sardines' + 'that which [unspecified subject] dried'). The written text in the white bubble is more vague and reads [ɔɳəkəˈmiːn], which just means 'dried fish'. [t̪əˈla muˈrijɛn məˈt̪i] sounds like it literally means 'sardines with their heads cut off'!
[t̪umˈmɯn̪n̪ɯ ʋaː] - 'come quick', maybe literally something like 'come so fast it sounds like zoom/[t̪umm]'? We'd say [pɛˈʈɛn̪n̪ɯ ʋaː] like in the video.
[ˈjiːt̪ɯ ʋəˈlikʲʊga] - 'to drag away'. The video text says [ʋəlit͡ʃɛˈɻəkʊga] (this was misspelled; should be [ʋəlit͡ʃɛˈɻɛkʲʊga]). I suppose that's what we'd say, too.
[məˈri] - 'time' (as in one time, two times, three times...). We could say [t̪əˈʋəɳa], the Dravidian word used in the video (for which a cognate is apparently only attested in Tamil), or we could say [ˈpraːʋəɕjəm], which usually seems to be pronounced [ˈpraːʋəɕəm] but is also often pronounced [ˈpraːɕəm] or even just [ˈraːɕəm].
[ˈɖaːʋɯ] - 'lie'. We use this word in our area, too (my dad especially uses this word a lot, but I didn't realize what it actually meant until I asked him about it soon after discovering this video. I always thought it meant exaggerating or insulting or something). The standard Malayalam term seems to be [kəɭˈɭəm], which we also use but can also mean 'theft'. Another less ambiguous word for 'lie' in standard Malayalam, also used in the video, is [n̪ɔˈɳa].
[puˈɭu] - Same as [ˈɖaːʋɯ] but probably more specific to Puthussery since I've never heard this word before
[ʋɛɭɯˈt̪əmma] - 'paternal aunt'. I'm actually not sure what exactly we say for this since I call each of my paternal aunts by a different title/nickname.
[kuˈʈijəpɛn] - 'dad's younger brother'. We say [uˈpaːpɛn]. The host in the video says that where he comes from (Kozhikode, apparently), they say [kuˈʈəpɛn].
[kɔˈʈiːm ˈpuɭɭum] - some kind of kids' game, demonstrated in the video from 17:21 to 18:00. The video just translates this to the equivalent of 'kid and stick'.
[koːˈʈaːj] - 'yawn'. The video translates this as [koːʈɯˈʋaːj], but my dictionary just says [koːʈɯˈʋaː]. I don't remember which of these last two forms we use. [ʋaːj] is usually spelled as if it should be pronounced [ʋaːja] and means 'mouth'. [ˈkoːʈɯga] apparently means 'to bend, twist'.
[ʋəˈɭəm] - The video translates this word as [ˈt͡ʃaːɳəgəm] 'cowdung', but I wasn't aware of [ʋəˈɭəm] as a regionalism and thought it just meant 'fertilizer'. I'm not sure why they chose to include it in this video (does it specifically mean cowdung in this area?).
[ˈpaːsəm] - 'love', I guess. They say it means [ˈsneːhəm], which can mean 'love' but also just 'being nice'. I'm not sure what meaning they were going for here. Tamil has this word as well.
[ˈmuːnd͡ʒi] and [ˈmoːrɯ] - both 'face'. We'd say [muˈkʰəm] formally to match the spelling, but we can also pronounce it [mɔˈgəm] like in the video or even (probably more likely) [mɔˈhəm].
[ˈkuːʈəm ˈkuːɖʊga] - 'to talk, converse, have a conversation'. In other varieties of Malayalam, this means 'to gather around, assemble'. For this meaning, we may use [səmˈsaːɾikʲʊga] as in the video but only as a formal term. Informally, we would say [ʋərˈt̪aːnəm pəˈrejʊga].
[ˈoːd̪əm] - 'dampness'. The video translates this as [ˈiːrpəm]. [n̪əˈnəʋɯ] 'wetness' is another possible (near-)synonym.
[kəɳˈɖəm ˈpuːʈɯga] - 'to plow a field'. For us (and I guess other Malayalees, and probably even in this variety in other contexts), [ˈpuːʈɯga] means 'to lock'. They translate this as [uˈɻɯd̪ɯ məˈrikʲʊga] (literally something like 'to plow and turn over (the soil)'). My dictionary also says just [uˈɻʊga] means 'to plow the field'. I don't remember what term we use.
This post features a clip from a TV series called [ɲəˈŋa n̪iˈŋa], meaning something like 'our and y'all's' in some nonstandard variety of Malayalam. It has 60 episodes, each of which showcases a language variety spoken either in or very close to Kerala and teaches a few words and phrases in each. Most episodes seem to be for varieties of Malayalam, but there is also at least one episode each for Tulu and Beary, two for Paniya, and apparently even one for a variety of Telugu spoken in northern Kerala!
This is the first episode, about the variety of Malayalam spoken in a village called Puthussery [pud̪uɕˈɕeːɾi] in Palakkad district. One or two of the new words is also used in Thiruvalla, where my parents are from, even though Thiruvalla is not particularly close to Palakkad (possibly closer than the host's hometown, though, since he's apparently from Kozhikode, which is much further north). Another vocabulary item that wasn't too surprising was [kɔjˈjaːka] for 'guava', since Palakkad is very close to Tamil Nadu and the Tamil equivalent AFAIK is something like [kɔjˈjaːpaɭam] (in our variety of Malayalam, and I guess also in the standard variety, it's [ˈpeːɾɛkʲa], which apparently comes from pera meaning 'pear' in Portuguese):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6htWW5353q8
These are the words covered in the video:
[ˈaːʋi] - 'heat'. For us, this means 'steam', and 'heat' is [ˈt͡ʃuːɖɯ].
[t̪aːj] - 'handle'. We would say [piˈɖi] or [pɪˈɖi] like in the video.
[ˈmoːn̪d̪i] - 'evening'. I think we normally say [ˈʋɐjʈɯ] for this; the video uses the slightly more formal/standard equivalents [sən̪ˈd̪ʱja] (from Sanskrit) and [ʋɐjgʊn̪ˈn̪eːɾəm] instead.
([kɛɳɛˈtɪnde]) [pəɭˈɭa] - 'side (of a well)'. I think we would say [ʋəˈɕəm]. (The written text in) the video says [kəˈɾa], which maybe we would use, too, but I'm more familiar with this word in the sense of a border, shore, or riverbank.
[t͡ʃəgɨˈɖiːm t̪oːɳˈɖiːm] - 'bucket and rope'. I think we would say [kɔˈʈejʊm kaˈjərʊm] or, more casually, [kɔˈʈeːm ˈkajrʊm]. The video (text) says [kəˈpijʊm kaˈjərʊm], but I'm more familiar with [kəˈpi] meaning the kind of dough (made of rice flour) we use for making appams.
[ˈmiːrɯ] - The video claims that this word means 'ant(s)'. We say [uˈrumbɯ] or [ʊˈrʊmbɯ]. However, I think my dad said that (he thinks) [ˈmiːrɯ] means a specific kind of ant that we call something else (I don't remember for sure which kind, though; I'm sure he mentioned [ˈt͡ʃoːnɛn] but not whether he said that was the same thing or he said something like "not that one, the other one!" I think "the other one" might be called [iˈrumbɯ] and that the local guy teaching him the word might have been using to translate it into more standard Malayalam only for the host to "correct" him with the generic term [uˈrumbɯ]). IIRC, [ˈt͡ʃoːnɛn] is a big but harmless black ant, and [iˈrumbɯ] is a smaller but much more poisonous red ant but not a fire ant, often seen fighting a [ˈt͡ʃoːnɛn], and my dad used to tell his (younger) brother stories about these two kinds of ants fighting.
[ˈt͡ʃoːʈikʲɯ] - 'down(wards)'. I think we'd say [ˈt̪aːɻe], but the video says [ˈt̪aːɻət̪ɯ], which I'd think of as referring to a location rather than a direction (but I can see it being used for the direction, too).
[ˈt͡ʃən̪d̪ɯ] or [ˈsən̪d̪ɯ] - 'road'. We say [ʋəˈɻi] like in the video.
[jiˈɖɯliʋəɻi] - 'side street'. We say [jiˈɖəʋəɻi] or [jɛˈɖəʋəɻi] like in the video.
[ˈʋeːlit̪əri] or [ˈʋeːlt̪əri] - 'wire fence' (if I understood correctly). We don't really have a word for this, hence the long-winded gloss in the video.
[pəˈsu] instead of [pəˈɕu] for 'cow' is just the same as in Tamil.
[pəˈɳiːm t̪ɔˈɾoːm ilˈleː] - apparently something like 'don't you have any work to do?'. [pəˈɳi ɔn̪ˈn̪um ilˈleː] literally means 'isn't there any work at all?' and is a common expression in Malayalam for 'don't you have anything else/better to do?' [pəˈɳiːm t̪ɔˈɾoːm] sounds like 'work and' + some word I don't recognize.
[pɛˈʈəmma] - 'girl'. We'd say [pɛɳˈkuʈi] like in the video.
[n̪əŋˈgi] - apparently 'tongue sole', a type of fish I'm unfamiliar with even in English. The video seems to suggest that it's more widely known as [ˈmaːn̪d̪a], and the guy says that in Kannur and Kasaragod, in northern Kerala, they say [n̪əŋˈgɯ]. I wouldn't know about any of that.
[t̪əˈla muˈrijɛn məˈt̪i] - 'dried sardines'. We'd say [ɔˈɳəkija məˈt̪i] (literally 'dried sardines') like in the video or maybe [məˈt̪i ɔˈɳəkijəd̪ɯ] (literally 'sardines' + 'that which [unspecified subject] dried'). The written text in the white bubble is more vague and reads [ɔɳəkəˈmiːn], which just means 'dried fish'. [t̪əˈla muˈrijɛn məˈt̪i] sounds like it literally means 'sardines with their heads cut off'!
[t̪umˈmɯn̪n̪ɯ ʋaː] - 'come quick', maybe literally something like 'come so fast it sounds like zoom/[t̪umm]'? We'd say [pɛˈʈɛn̪n̪ɯ ʋaː] like in the video.
[ˈjiːt̪ɯ ʋəˈlikʲʊga] - 'to drag away'. The video text says [ʋəlit͡ʃɛˈɻəkʊga] (this was misspelled; should be [ʋəlit͡ʃɛˈɻɛkʲʊga]). I suppose that's what we'd say, too.
[məˈri] - 'time' (as in one time, two times, three times...). We could say [t̪əˈʋəɳa], the Dravidian word used in the video (for which a cognate is apparently only attested in Tamil), or we could say [ˈpraːʋəɕjəm], which usually seems to be pronounced [ˈpraːʋəɕəm] but is also often pronounced [ˈpraːɕəm] or even just [ˈraːɕəm].
[ˈɖaːʋɯ] - 'lie'. We use this word in our area, too (my dad especially uses this word a lot, but I didn't realize what it actually meant until I asked him about it soon after discovering this video. I always thought it meant exaggerating or insulting or something). The standard Malayalam term seems to be [kəɭˈɭəm], which we also use but can also mean 'theft'. Another less ambiguous word for 'lie' in standard Malayalam, also used in the video, is [n̪ɔˈɳa].
[puˈɭu] - Same as [ˈɖaːʋɯ] but probably more specific to Puthussery since I've never heard this word before
[ʋɛɭɯˈt̪əmma] - 'paternal aunt'. I'm actually not sure what exactly we say for this since I call each of my paternal aunts by a different title/nickname.
[kuˈʈijəpɛn] - 'dad's younger brother'. We say [uˈpaːpɛn]. The host in the video says that where he comes from (Kozhikode, apparently), they say [kuˈʈəpɛn].
[kɔˈʈiːm ˈpuɭɭum] - some kind of kids' game, demonstrated in the video from 17:21 to 18:00. The video just translates this to the equivalent of 'kid and stick'.
[koːˈʈaːj] - 'yawn'. The video translates this as [koːʈɯˈʋaːj], but my dictionary just says [koːʈɯˈʋaː]. I don't remember which of these last two forms we use. [ʋaːj] is usually spelled as if it should be pronounced [ʋaːja] and means 'mouth'. [ˈkoːʈɯga] apparently means 'to bend, twist'.
[ʋəˈɭəm] - The video translates this word as [ˈt͡ʃaːɳəgəm] 'cowdung', but I wasn't aware of [ʋəˈɭəm] as a regionalism and thought it just meant 'fertilizer'. I'm not sure why they chose to include it in this video (does it specifically mean cowdung in this area?).
[ˈpaːsəm] - 'love', I guess. They say it means [ˈsneːhəm], which can mean 'love' but also just 'being nice'. I'm not sure what meaning they were going for here. Tamil has this word as well.
[ˈmuːnd͡ʒi] and [ˈmoːrɯ] - both 'face'. We'd say [muˈkʰəm] formally to match the spelling, but we can also pronounce it [mɔˈgəm] like in the video or even (probably more likely) [mɔˈhəm].
[ˈkuːʈəm ˈkuːɖʊga] - 'to talk, converse, have a conversation'. In other varieties of Malayalam, this means 'to gather around, assemble'. For this meaning, we may use [səmˈsaːɾikʲʊga] as in the video but only as a formal term. Informally, we would say [ʋərˈt̪aːnəm pəˈrejʊga].
[ˈoːd̪əm] - 'dampness'. The video translates this as [ˈiːrpəm]. [n̪əˈnəʋɯ] 'wetness' is another possible (near-)synonym.
[kəɳˈɖəm ˈpuːʈɯga] - 'to plow a field'. For us (and I guess other Malayalees, and probably even in this variety in other contexts), [ˈpuːʈɯga] means 'to lock'. They translate this as [uˈɻɯd̪ɯ məˈrikʲʊga] (literally something like 'to plow and turn over (the soil)'). My dictionary also says just [uˈɻʊga] means 'to plow the field'. I don't remember what term we use.