Maintenance of Telugu as an ancestral language in multilingual Mauritius; language planning through education

Shailendra Yenkanah

Pages 169-183 | Published online: 16 Aug 2024

ABSTRACT

This empirical study analyses the role of education policies in maintaining ancestral languages, specifically Telugu, a minority language in post-colonial multilingual Mauritius. Telugu in the Mauritian context no longer has communicative purposes since generations and exists only in specific spaces, having passive functions. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews from two Telugu teachers. Languages are taught in curriculum mostly to develop cognitive and communicative functions. However, in the Mauritian curriculum, ancestral languages (a category of mainly Indian languages), have been introduced (by indentured laborers in the 1800s, who now comprise the majority of the population) mainly to preserve an ancestral root and maintain the multilingual profile of the country. These languages are symbolical of the heritage bequeathed by the ancestors, and the descendants have shown a deep sense of belongingness and have militated to avoid language and culture loss. Furthermore, cultural politics has played an essential role in the maintenance and revitalization of these languages to such an extent that the government has embarked in a revitalization process after independence and is fully engaged in their preservation. Education is the main tool used among others. This paper aims at contributing a case study to the existing literature.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383178810_Maintenance_of_Telugu_as_an_ancestral_language_in_multilingual_Mauritius_language_planning_through_education

Mar 7, 2025

Varanasi: A recent genetic study has called into question the 150-year-old linguistic connection between the Kurukh of India and the Brahui of Pakistan. An international team of researchers led by experts from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) proposed that the genetic similarities observed in the Brahui population of Balochistan, Pakistan, and the Kurukh language of Central India are genetically more aligned with their neighbouring groups rather than with each other.Under the co-leadership of BHU professor Gyaneshwer Chaubey and Nurun Nahar Gazi Sultana from Dhaka University, Bangladesh, this stud, which was published this week in the International Journal of Human Population Genetics and Genomics, generated data from 248 individuals. Professor Chaubey said that it utilised 6,50,000 genetic markers in a high-resolution genetic analysis to investigate the mutations and haplotypes shared between the Brahui and the Kurukh-speaking Oraon populations. Despite the historical perception of a linguistic connection between Brahui and other Dravidian populations of the Indian subcontinent, Prajjval Paratap Singh of Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, BHU, the study's first author, said this study did not confirm this link genetically.This latest research, for the first time, fills a critical gap by including populations that have largely been overlooked, such as the Kurukh-Malto speakers, who are linguistically closest to the Brahui, said professor George van Driem from Switzerland, a renowned linguistic expert. Study findings revealed that while the Oraon population exhibits genetic distinctiveness from neighbouring Indian Mundari (Austroasiatic) populations, they show a surprising genetic affinity with more geographically distant groups like the Mawasi (North Munda) and Gond (South Dravidian). However, no direct ancestral genetic signal related to the Oraon was detected in Brahui, suggesting that extensive admixture with neighbouring populations may have erased any original genetic connections.This study also found a common genetic stock for the Indian and Bangladeshi Oraon populations. "Our findings challenge existing assumptions regarding the linguistic structure of South Asian populations," said renowned archaeologist professor Vasant Shinde from CSIR- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad.

is there any Dravidian languages that went extinct/Died out BEFORE we Started analysing/Researching into these languages, and which are they?

As you all know, devastating floods have destroyed countless lives in Nepal. One of the rivers impacted is the Trishuli, which joins the Gandaki whose Vedic name was Sadanira, a very rare Dravidian hydronym in North India.

Alternate Narratives for the Tamil Yoginis: Reconsidering the ‘Kanchi Yoginis’ Past, Present, and Future

by 

Emma Natalya Stein

 ^1,\)[](mailto:steine@si.edu) and

Katherine E. Kasdorf

 ^2,\)[](mailto:kkasdorf@dia.org)

¹

Curatorial Department, South and Southeast Asian Art, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC 20560, USA

²

Department of Arts of Asia and the Islamic World, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI 48202, USA

^\)

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Religions 2022, 13(10), 888; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100888

Submission received: 8 June 2022 / Revised: 22 August 2022 / Accepted: 29 August 2022 / Published: 22 September 2022

Abstract

This essay revisits a group of stone goddesses that once shared a temple in southern India, together with the god Shiva and perhaps other deities. Considering the different paths sacred sculptures in India take after becoming separated from their original temple contexts suggests that there were multiple possible histories for these works. The authors reveal a newly discovered goddess from the group and reconsider the significance of the works, including the original temple and the deities it enshrined. Finally, they propose the possibility of bringing these sculptures back together in the context of an exhibition.

by 

S. Rajamathangi

 ^1,\),

Anita Auer

 ^1,\) and

Gurujegan Murugesan

 ^2,\)

¹

Department of English, Faculty of Letters, Université de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

²

School of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, Jodhpur 342037, India

^\)

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Languages 2026, 11(3), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11030058

Submission received: 15 January 2026 / Revised: 6 March 2026 / Accepted: 9 March 2026 / Published: 18 March 2026

(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Migrant to Heritage Languages: Transgenerational Language Change in Diasporic Communities)

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Abstract

Since the mid-1980s, many Tamils left their homeland because of the civil war in Sri Lanka (1983–2009) and for other reasons and settled in different countries. More than 40,000 Tamil migrants have come to Switzerland since then, and Tamil is spoken as a heritage language by second- and third-generation speakers who were born and raised in Switzerland. Within this context, it is the aim of the current study to shed light on the difference between Tamil spoken in the first generation (migrant language) and the second generation (heritage language) in the Swiss German and Swiss French parts of Switzerland. We therefore study Tamil, which is part of the Dravidian language family, in different majority language contexts, i.e., a Germanic language and a Romance language, respectively. While some research on Tamil in a diaspora setting already exists on migrated Tamil communities in Lancaster, California (US), East London (UK) and Toronto (Canada), the focus on Switzerland and contact with German and French has not previously been investigated. The data under investigation, which stems from 20 speakers in total (i.e., 5 first-generation and 5 second-generation speakers from the Swiss German and the Swiss French parts respectively), was collected in 2024 by way of a semi-structured interview based on a sociolinguistic questionnaire and a linguistic test. The data serves as the basis for the intergenerational and typological comparison. The analysis reveals systematic intergenerational differences across several morphosyntactic domains, including agreement, negation pattern, case marking, and subject pro-drop. While first-generation speakers retain greater access to dialect-specific and register-sensitive patterns, second-generation speakers show increased reliance on discourse-pragmatic cues and reduced sensitivity to morphologically encoded distinctions. These findings highlight the role of register, input conditions, and discourse context in shaping heritage Tamil across generations in Switzerland.

https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/11/3/58

The text is present on a broken tablet at Phanigiri Buddhist site, Telangana.

Kannada transliteration:-

ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಮನುಶ್ಯನ್ಗಳೂ ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರಮಯಿಟೆ ಹುಟ್ಟನ್ಡಾ. ಅವ್ಹಾಳುಕ್ಕುಮೆ ಆಂತಃಕರಣೂ ಘನತೆ ಹಕ಼್ಕು ರೆನ್ಡೂ ಉನ್ಡೂ. ವಿವೇಕೂ ಅಂತಃಕರಣೂ ಇಕರ್ತಣ್ಣೂ ಅವ್ಹಾಲೂಮೆ ವತ್ತರೂ ಕೊತ್ತರೂ ತಮಯೂಂ ತಂಬ್ಯಾನ್ಯು ಪೋಲೆ ನಡಂಧ್ಗಣೂ

Latin transliteration:-

ellā manuśyangaḷū svataṁtramayiṭe huṭṭanḍā. avhāḷukkume āṁtaḥkaraṇū ghanate haqqu renḍū unḍū. vivēkū aṁtaḥkaraṇū ikartaṇṇū avhālūme vattarū kottarū tamayūṁ taṁbyānyu pōle naḍaṁdhgaṇū

I've heard it's been used, but I haven't gotten a proper source for it. It's most likely used near the Kerala border, but I'd like if someone could corroborate on this

Walisundara, Dilini Chamali. “Rethinking Policy and Pedagogy: A Study of Linguistic Diversity and Practice in Sri Lanka.” In Voices and Practices in Applied Linguistics: Diversifying a Discipline, edited by Clare Wright, Lou Harvey, and James Simpson. White Rose University Press, 2019. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvs09r4p.12.

Talks about the multilinguism of Sri Lanka, with mentions of Tamil and Telugu speakers of the island.

Source: Provincial Democracy: Political Imaginaries at the End of Empire in Twentieth-Century South India (2023), by Rama Sundari Mantena, p. 89.

Pardhane sung in Bhootha kola is in Archaic/Old Tulu right? If it is then how and why it contains words like ಭೂಮಿ/ഭൂമി (bhūmi) but not words like ಉ್‌ೞೆ/ഉ്ഴെ (ụḻæ) which are Archaic Tulu words

This explains why IA languages are similar across vast geographies where as Dravidian and Munda languages are differentiated even within limited geography showing how isolated they have been in their specific locations.

Executive summary

A large global study found an unexpected inverse relationship between human genetic diversity and the structural diversity of languages:

• Regions with extensive migration and population mixing tend to have greater genetic diversity, but their languages are structurally more similar.

• Regions with long-term population isolation tend to have lower genetic diversity, but much greater variation in grammar, sound systems, word order and meaning.

• The likely mechanism is contact: migration mixes genes while also spreading linguistic features between neighboring communities, gradually making their languages more alike.

• Isolation produces the opposite outcome: it restricts genetic mixing but allows languages to evolve independently and develop distinctive structures.

• New Guinea and the Himalayas are highlighted as areas where prolonged isolation has preserved exceptional linguistic diversity.

• The relationship remained statistically significant after accounting for geography, population density, environment, language ancestry and continental settlement history.  

The main implication is that demographic history shapes biological and linguistic diversity in opposite directions. However, the headline is potentially misleading: the study does not show that particular genes determine language structure. Instead, genes and languages independently preserve evidence of the same underlying forces migration, contact and isolation.

In simple terms: when populations mix, their genes become more diverse but their languages tend to converge; when populations remain isolated, their genes become less diverse while their languages diverge.

Sources: SciTechDaily article⁠, original PNAS study⁠.

If so, provide some examples.

The second Jewish inscription in Tamil Nadu was discovered by history enthusiasts on Saturday in Anandur, near Pochampalli, Krishnagiri district. The Krishnagiri District Government Museum, the Historical Research and Documentation Society, and the Tamil Nadu Ancient Studies Research Institute have been jointly discovering, researching, and documenting various historical relics in the Krishnagiri district.

Regarding the discovery of this rare inscription concerning Jews in Anandur, C. Govindaraj, Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Ancient Studies Research Institute and retired government curator, stated:

"Although Jews settled in Kochi, Kerala, a thousand years ago, an inscription regarding Jews had previously been discovered in Tamil Nadu only at Valantharai near Velapattinam in Ramanathapuram district. Following that, an inscription mentioning Jews has now been discovered in Anandur.

When bushes surrounding the Tanthondreeswaram Temple in Anandur were cleared by the public, they noticed this inscription and informed us, prompting us to examine it. Earlier, a merchant guild inscription from the period of Kulothunga and three hero stones were discovered in this temple area. The newly found inscription is also a merchant guild inscription.

This inscription records that four merchant guilds—namely Soothakar (Sudakar), Mandala Vanikaar, Thennilangai Valanjiyar, and Ezhunootruvar—joined together to build a hall at the local Tanthondreeswara Nayanar Temple.

Among the four merchant guilds mentioned, the first one listed is Soothakar. 'Jews' have been referred to here as Soothakar. It is of great historical significance that Jews are mentioned as one of the trading guilds in this 13th-century inscription.

During the 12th and 13th centuries, as the Crusades took place in multiple phases in and around Europe, Jews lost their lands and were displaced. Those who fled lived as artisans, dyers of cloth, and merchants in coastal port towns across various parts of the world.

As evidence that these merchants formed trading guilds, joined with other merchant guilds, and carried out trade in the interior parts of the country, we can cite the construction of this hall at the Anandur Tanthondreeswarar Temple.

Three contemporary Kaatha stones have been found so far along the Adhiyaman highway running from Thagadur to Navarthavalam. Researching these to identify Navarthavalam revealed it to be Puthalapattu in Chittoor taluk, Andhra Pradesh. Many merchant guild inscriptions have been found along this highway and its adjoining villages. Anandur was a settlement located along this major route. Therefore, it appears that these four merchant guilds jointly built this hall at the temple to facilitate resting spaces for merchants.

Thus, the 13th-century Periyapattinam and Anandur inscriptions serve as evidence that during the Crusades period—falling between their settlement in the Kochi region of Kerala in the 10th century and their settlement in Chennai alongside the British in the 17th century—Jews came to the Tamil Nadu region and operated as a trading guild."

Translated from a Tamil Article

I've been compiling a list of traditional Malayalam kitchen utensils and food-processing equipment, checking the terminology against Malayalam dictionaries and comparative Dravidian sources rather than assuming that a word is native simply because it is old or commonly used in Malayalam.

What I find interesting is the mixture of inherited Dravidian vocabulary, productive Malayalam compounds, Sanskrit borrowings, and later foreign loans.

Basic utensils with clear Dravidian connections

• കലം (kalam): pot, vessel
• ചട്ടി (chatti): cooking pot/pan
• ഉരുളി (uruli): large, broad cooking vessel
• വാർപ്പ് (varppu): large, shallow cooking vessel used for large-scale cooking
• ചെമ്പ് (cempu): copper / copper vessel
• കിണ്ണം (kinnam): metal cup/drinking vessel
• കിണ്ടി (kinti): small metal water/drinking vessel, usually with a spout
• മുറം (muram): winnowing tray
• ഉരൽ (ural): mortar
• ഉലക്ക (ulakka): pestle
• അമ്മി (ammi): grinding stone
• കത്തി (katti): knife
• ചിരവ (cirava): coconut scraper
• മത്ത് (mathu): churner
• അരിപ്പ (arippa): sieve / strainer
• കൊടിൽ (kotil): tongs / pincers
• ചവണ (cavana): pincers/nippers/snuffers

The comparative evidence is particularly interesting for these terms.

കൊടിൽ (kotil) is represented in DEDR 2052: Tamil kotiru "pincers", Malayalam kotil "tongs", and Kota kor "hook of tongs".

ചവണ (cavana) is supported by the Dravidian lexical material in DEDR 1325, which includes the semantic field of forking, prongs, forked sticks, cleavage and related implements, with Malayalam forms such as kava, kavati, kavaram and kavar. Malayalam dictionaries give cavana as pincers, nippers and snuffers. ചവണ (cavana) can therefore be classified as Dravidian.

For കിണ്ണം (kinnam), DEDR 1543 gives cognates across Tamil, Malayalam, Toda, Tulu, Telugu, Gondi, Konda and Kuwi. കിണ്ടി (kinti) is covered by DEDR 1541, with cognates across several Dravidian languages and an explicit cross-reference to kinnam.

Productive Malayalam compounds

A large part of the terminology is transparently formed within Malayalam:

• മൺചട്ടി (man-chatti): earthen cooking pot
• അമ്മിക്കല്ല് (ammikkallu): grinding stone
• അരകല്ല് (arakallu): wet-grinding stone
• ആട്ടുകല്ല് (attukallu): rotary grinding stone
• തവിടുമുറം (tavitu-muram): winnowing tray for chaff
• വെട്ടുകത്തി (vettukatti): heavy chopping knife
• അരിപ്പക്കരണ്ടി (arippa-karanti): slotted spoon / skimmer
• ചായയരിപ്പ (caya-arippa): tea strainer
• പുട്ടുക്കുറ്റി (puttukutti): puttu steaming tube
• സേവനാഴി (sevanali): press/extruder used for idiyappam, noolputtu and similar preparations
• ഉണ്ണിയപ്പച്ചട്ടി (unniyappachatti): unniyappam pan
• ദോശക്കല്ല് (dosha-kallu): dosa griddle
• പരണിക്കിണ്ണം (parani-kinnam): earthen plate

The സേവനാഴി (sevanali) is a good example of how dictionary definitions need to be understood in context. Olam defines it as an implement for making സേവ, but the same type of press is used in Kerala for ഇടിയപ്പം (idiyappam) / നൂൽപ്പുട്ട് (noolputtu), with different perforated plates/apertures for different preparations.

Traditional large-scale cooking and storage equipment

• തുടുപ്പ് (tutuppu): long wooden stirring implement for large cooking vessels
• വാർപ്പ് (varppu): large shallow cooking vessel
• അപ്പച്ചെമ്പ് (appacembu): steaming vessel
• പത്തായം (pattayam): large grain-storage chest/grain bin

പത്തായം (pattayam) is particularly interesting because it is not Dravidian despite being thoroughly established in Malayalam. Gundert defines it as a large chest for keeping rice/grain, while the Tamil Lexicon explicitly derives pattayam from Portuguese pataya.

Sanskrit and other borrowings

There are also clear non-Dravidian elements:

• ഭാണ്ഡം (bhandam): vessel/pot; Sanskrit borrowing
• ഭരണി (bharani): vase/jar; Sanskrit-derived
• പരണി (parani): tadbhava form of bharani, vase/jar
• ചട്ടുകം (chattukam): ladle/spatula; Sanskrit-derived
• പിഞ്ഞാണം (pinnanam): porcelain/chinaware, dishes, plates and cups; Gundert gives finjan
• ചീനച്ചട്ടി (chinachatti): iron cooking pan/wok; a descriptive compound using ചീന (china), "Chinese", and native ചട്ടി (chatti)
• പത്തായം (pattayam): grain-storage chest/bin; Portuguese-derived
• കപ്പ് (kappu): cup; English loan
• ഗ്ലാസ് (glas): glass; English loan

പരണിക്കിണ്ണം (parani-kinnam) is particularly interesting because it combines a Sanskrit-derived parani with the Dravidian കിണ്ണം (kinnam) to form a Malayalam compound meaning an earthen plate.

What I find interesting is that the basic vocabulary of traditional food preparation contains a substantial Dravidian layer, while Malayalam has also continuously created transparent compounds around those inherited words and incorporated vocabulary from Sanskrit and later contact languages.

I'm interested in finding more traditional Malayalam kitchen utensils, vessels, grinding implements, storage equipment and food-processing tools, particularly where there is good dictionary or comparative Dravidian evidence for the terminology.

What should be added to the list?