Badaga language

Badagu script
Badagu Barego
Badagu script; Badagu Barego
	Badaga Barego (Alphabet Chart)
Script type	Abugida
Creator	Yogesh Raj Kadasoley
Created	1968
Period	1968–present
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Badaga
Related scripts
Parent systems	Brahmic scripts Original Invention Badagu script; ;
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Badaga
Badaga
படக, ಬಡಗ, ബഡഗ
	The word "Badugu" written in Badagu script
Native to	India
Region	Tamil Nadu (The Nilgiris)
Ethnicity	Badaga
Native speakers	134,000 (2011 census)
Language family	Dravidian Southern Southern I Tamil–Kannada Kannada–Badaga Badaga; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Tamil; Badaga; Kannada;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bfq
Glottolog	bada1257
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Badaga (IPA: [bɐɖɐɡɐ]) is a southern Dravidian language spoken by the Badaga people of the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. The language is closely related to the Kannada language with influence from the Tamil language.^[2] Of all the tribal languages spoken in Nilgiris (Badaga, Toda language, Kota language (India)), Badaga is the most spoken language.

Origins

Badaga, like modern Kannada, likely originates from Old Kannada. This is suggested by the fact that Badaga shares many common features with modern Kannada. One such feature shared by both Badaga and Kannada is initial /h/ where other Dravidian languages, and Old Kannada, have an initial /p/, a process which began around the 13th century.^[3]

Phonology

Badaga has five vowel qualities, /i e a o u/, where each of them may be long or short, and until the 1930s they were contrastively half and fully retroflexed, for a total of 30 vowel phonemes.^[a] Current speakers only distinguish retroflection of a few vowels.^[4]

Example words^[5]
IPA	Gloss
/noː/	disease
/po˞˞ː/	scar
/mo˞e˞/	sprout
/a˞e˞/	tiger's den
/ha˞ːsu/	to spread out
/ka˞˞ːʃu/	to remove
/i˞ːu˞˞/	seven
/hu˞˞ːj/	tamarind
/be˞ː/	bangle
/be˞˞ː/	banana
/huj/	to strike
/u˞˞j/	chisel

Note on transcription: rhoticity ⟨◌˞⟩ indicates half-retroflexion; doubled ⟨◌˞˞⟩ it indicates full retroflexion.


		Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɳ	ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t	ʈ	c	k
Stop	voiced	b	d	ɖ	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative			s				h
Approximant		ʋ	l	ɻ	j
Trill			r

Writing system

Badaga is presently written in the Kannada and Tamil scripts, but they pose difficulties in accurately representing the sounds of Badaga. Several attempts have been made at constructing an orthography based on English, Kannada and Tamil. Among these, the Badagu script developed by Yogesh Raj has seen the most acceptance within the community.

Badagu script

The Badagu script is a Brahmic abugida used to write the Badaga language. It was invented by Yogesh Raj in 1968, and various school primers and educational materials have been published in this script. It has 12 consonants, 27 basic consonants and 16 diacritic markers. Though the predominant script for writing Badaga remains Tamil, community-led efforts have increased its use across Ooty.^[6]

Tamil script

The Badagu language has been written in the Tamil script since 2009, based on orthographic reforms by Anandhan Raju, a native speaker and educator. Tamil remains the predominant script in the Udhagamandalam district.^[7]One unique feature is the usage of the nuqta (single dot below) not used in Tamil to denote allophonic sounds in Badaga.^[8]

Tamil Alphabet for Badaga (Badaga: படக)^[9]
Vowels
அ a IPA: a	ஆ ā IPA: aː	இ i IPA: i
ஈ ī IPA: iː	உ u IPA: u	ஊ ū IPA: uː
எ e IPA: e	ஏ ē IPA: eː	ஐ ai IPA: ai
ஒ o IPA: o	ஓ ō IPA: oː	ஔ au IPA: au
் ṁ IPA: m̃	ஃ ḥ IPA: h	𑌻 nukta
Consonants
க k IPA: ka	க g IPA: ga	ங ṅ IPA: ŋa
ச c IPA: t͡ʃa	ஜ j IPA: d͡ʒa	ஞ ñ IPA: ɲa
ட ṭ IPA: ʈa	ட ḍ IPA: ɖa	ண ṇ IPA: ɳa
த t IPA: t̪a	த d IPA: d̪a	ந n IPA: n̪a
ப p IPA: pa	ப b IPA: ba	ம m IPA: ma	ய y IPA: ja
ர r IPA: ra	ல l IPA: la	வ v IPA: ʋa	ழ ḻ IPA: ɻa
ன ṉ IPA: na	ஸ s IPA: sa	ஹ h IPA: ha	ள ḷ IPA: ɭa

Kannada script

The earliest printed book using Kannada script was a Christian work, "Anga Kartagibba Yesu Kristana Olleya Suddiya Pustaka" by Basel Mission Press of Mangaluru in 1890.^[10] Badaga orthography generally avoids aspirated Kannada letters, instead denoting it through diacritics. The archaic ೞ, and its subjoined form, is used to denote the unique Badaga phoneme /ɻ/. Another unique adaptation for Badaga is the independent Candrabindu sign ಀ to denote the nasalised sound /m̃/.^[11]

Kannada Alphabet for Badaga (Badaga: ಬಡಗ)^[12]
Vowels
ಅ a IPA: a	ಆ ā IPA: aː	ಇ i IPA: i
ಈ ī IPA: iː	ಉ u IPA: u	ಊ ū IPA: uː
ಎ e IPA: e	ಏ ē IPA: eː	ಐ ai IPA: ai
ಒ o IPA: o	ಓ ō IPA: oː	ಔ au IPA: au
ಅಂ aṁ IPA: am̃	ಅಃ aḥ IPA: ah	ಀ ṁ IPA: m̃
Consonants
ಕ k IPA: ka	ಗ g IPA: ga	ಙ ṅ IPA: ŋa
ಚ c IPA: t͡ʃa	ಜ j IPA: d͡ʒa	ಞ ñ IPA: ɲa
ಟ ṭ IPA: ʈa	ಡ ḍ IPA: ɖa	ಣ ṇ IPA: ɳa
ತ t IPA: t̪a	ದ d IPA: d̪a	ನ n IPA: n̪a
ಪ p IPA: pa	ಬ b IPA: ba	ಮ m IPA: ma	ಯ y IPA: ja
ರ r IPA: ra	ಲ l IPA: la	ವ v IPA: ʋa	ೞ ḻ IPA: ɻa
ಶ ś IPA: ʃa	ಸ s IPA: sa	ಹ h IPA: ha	ಳ ḷ IPA: ɭa

Linguistic documentation

Badaga has been studied and documented by linguists. Several Badaga-English Dictionaries have been produced since the latter part of the nineteenth century.^[13]

A collection of proverbs and other traditional sayings of the Badaga has been collated and edited by Paul Hockings.^[14] It is the result of the work of many people, collecting material over many decades.

References

^ Badaga at Ethnologue (24th ed., 2021)
^ Hockings, Paul (2004), "Badaga", in Ember, Carol R.; Ember, Melvin (eds.), Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology: Health and Illness in the World’s Cultures Volume I: Topics Volume II: Cultures, Boston, MA: Springer US, pp. 572–578, doi:10.1007/0-387-29905-x_57, ISBN 978-0-387-29905-1
^ Emeneau, M. B. (1939). "The Vowels of the Badaga Language". Language. 15 (1): 43–47. doi:10.2307/409407. JSTOR 409407. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
^ "Badaga". UCLA Phonetics Lab. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
^ "Word List for Badaga". UCLA Phonetics Lab. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
^ Ager, Simon (16 March 2023). "Badagu alphabet". Omniglot. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
^ Ager, Simon (16 March 2023). "Badaga (படகா / ಬಡಗ)". Omniglot. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
^ Ganesan, N. (3 March 2016). "Badaga Single-dot and Double-dot Signs: Comments on L2/15-256 (L2/16-084)". Retrieved 1 June 2026.
^ "Tamil: Range:0B80–0BF" (PDF). The Unicode Standard, Version 15.1. Unicode, Inc. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
^ The Gospel of Luke in Badaga (PDF). Basel: Basel Mission Press. 1890.
^ "Proposal to encode Kannada Sign Candrabindu" (PDF). Unicode Consortium. 2014.
^ "Kannada: Range: 0C80–0CFF" (PDF). The Unicode Standard, Version 15.1. Unicode, Inc. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
^ Paul Hockings, Christiane Pilot-Raichoor (1992). A Badaga-English Dictionary (Reprint ed.). Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-012677-8.
^ Hockings, Paul. "Counsel from the Ancients." A study of Badaga proverbs, prayers, omens and curses. Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter (1988).

^ Emenau (1931) reports no tokens of /i˞˞/, but suggests this is an accidental gap.

Relevant literature

Hockings, Paul. Counsel from the ancients: A study of Badaga proverbs, prayers, omens, and curses. Mouton de Gruyter, 1988. Archive.org
Hockings, Paul, and Christiane Pilot-Raichoor. A Badaga and English dictionary — glossary and gazetteer. Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 2023. ISBN 978-93-91928-17-9

External links

Online community of Badagas worldwide
Badaga literature
A website on the Badaga
Audio recordings in Badaga, with annotations in trilingual format (Badaga, English, French) Archived 9 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine – transcribed and translated by C. Pilot-Raichoor – site of the Pangloss Collection, CNRS-LACITO

[e24-1] Badaga at Ethnologue (24th ed., 2021)

[2] Hockings, Paul (2004), "Badaga", in Ember, Carol R.; Ember, Melvin (eds.), Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology: Health and Illness in the World’s Cultures Volume I: Topics Volume II: Cultures, Boston, MA: Springer US, pp. 572–578, doi:10.1007/0-387-29905-x_57, ISBN 978-0-387-29905-1

[3] Emeneau, M. B. (1939). "The Vowels of the Badaga Language". Language. 15 (1): 43–47. doi:10.2307/409407. JSTOR 409407. Retrieved 28 February 2024.

[5] "Badaga". UCLA Phonetics Lab. Retrieved 9 May 2013.

[6] "Word List for Badaga". UCLA Phonetics Lab. Retrieved 9 May 2013.

[7] Ager, Simon (16 March 2023). "Badagu alphabet". Omniglot. Retrieved 1 June 2026.

[8] Ager, Simon (16 March 2023). "Badaga (படகா / ಬಡಗ)". Omniglot. Retrieved 1 June 2026.

[Ganesan2016-9] Ganesan, N. (3 March 2016). "Badaga Single-dot and Double-dot Signs: Comments on L2/15-256 (L2/16-084)". Retrieved 1 June 2026.

[UnicodeTamil-10] "Tamil: Range:0B80–0BF" (PDF). The Unicode Standard, Version 15.1. Unicode, Inc. Retrieved 1 June 2026.

[11] The Gospel of Luke in Badaga (PDF). Basel: Basel Mission Press. 1890.

[12] "Proposal to encode Kannada Sign Candrabindu" (PDF). Unicode Consortium. 2014.

[UnicodeKannada-13] "Kannada: Range: 0C80–0CFF" (PDF). The Unicode Standard, Version 15.1. Unicode, Inc. Retrieved 1 June 2026.

[dictionary-14] Paul Hockings, Christiane Pilot-Raichoor (1992). A Badaga-English Dictionary (Reprint ed.). Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-012677-8.

[15] Hockings, Paul. "Counsel from the Ancients." A study of Badaga proverbs, prayers, omens and curses. Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter (1988).

[4] Emenau (1931) reports no tokens of /i˞˞/, but suggests this is an accidental gap.

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