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Koya (also Koi, Koi Gondi, Kavor, Koa, Koitar, Koyato, Kaya, Koyi, Raj Koya) is a South Central Dravidian language of the
Kui-Gondi subgroup. It is variously written in the Oriya, Telugu, Devanagari or Latin script. With 270,994 registered native
speakers, it figures at rank 37 in the 1991 Indian census. Koya is the language spoken by tribal community in Integrated Tribal
Development Agency(ITDA), Bhadrachalam in Khammam District; ITDA, Rampachodavaram, East Godavari District; ITDA, Kotaramachndrapuram,
West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from that there are Koyas in Chattisgarh State. Koya language is a dialect
of Gondi language which is spoken in Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh and in Gondwana region of Central India. There are
textbooks developed in Koya language under Mother Tongue based Multilingual Education Programme by Government of Andhra Pradesh
and implemented in 50 primary schools in Koya habitations. The linguists associated with Rajiv Vidya Mission are in the process
of developing dictionary in Koya language. Dr. Reddy's Foundation the charitable wing of well known pharma company Dr. Reddy's
Laboratories has also developed some story books, Primers, etc. in the Koya language. The people of Koya tribe speak a language
called Koi /kɔɪ/ or Koya /kɔːjə/. Though the origins of Koya community are still unknown, they are said to be the members
of the great Gond community of Dravidian family. So Koya language is considered to be a dialect of Gond language. Even in
the Koi language there are some variants. A small town called Chintoor not far away from the temple town of Bhadrachalam in
Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh; India is considered to be the linguistic center of Koi language and the language spoken
by the tribe in the village is considered to be the finest variant of the language. The author of this article is under the
discedited impression that the Koi language does not have many words. He claims its lexicon to be very limited arguing that
the most important reason for this might be that the Koyas are mainly hunter gatherers and their day to day activities were
therefore very limited. This point of view is known to be false. This language does not have an ancient script and the Telugu
script (Telugu language being the official language of the Indian state of Andhrapradesh) is commonly used to write in this
language. A government sponsored programme called “Rajeev Vidya Mission” has prepared some text books from class I to class
V with the intention of imparting education to tribal children in their mother tongue. All those books are written in Telugu
script. If we want to analyze the word power of any language we need to analyze the daily activities of its speakers and their
requirements of interpersonal communication. As the tribals started adopting modernity, they started using many words which
they borrowed from Telugu. The modern society made them change according to the changing times and they required many more
expressions to put across their ideas. But some decades ago when they were still leading primitive tribal life of hunter gatherers
their daily activities were very much limited, as their major concentration was on their survival. But they managed to code
all the words that were required for their interpersonal communication. The pure native words coded by the ancestors of this
tribe reflect the kind of social life they led and their daily activities. Koya language doesn’t have words to refer to school
and teacher. So they borrowed the words badi/bʌdɪ/ and panthuleen (/pʌnθʊlɪːn/) from Telugu after they came into contact with
the modern society and got to know that such things actually exist. So if we analyze their activities some decades ago the
men folk, after they wake up would take their weapons (bows and arrows) and enter the forest. They search for wild animals
and hunt down if they run into one and bring the carcass of the animal(the wild game) to their hamlet and divide it among
themselves. In addition to hunting they would also gather many things that are edible like wild fruit, honey and leaves that
are useful for different purposes, cut trees for their wood and even collect some herbs that have medicinal qualities. By
evening they reach home and bake their meat on fire and finish their supper. They even collect sap from palm trees called
“Kallu”(palm wine) and get intoxicated and dance for some time before they would go to bed. Even the women would enter the
forest and collect things like firewood, and fruit and take care of their children. As they are primitive and illiterate they
don’t put anything to paper. So they don’t have any script. But the modern world requires every language to have its own script.
Since the Koi language does not have its own script it is being written in many scripts like Telugu, Devnagari and even Roman.
We put the thoughts in Koi to paper based on its phonological analysis. We use the alphabet of some language based on the
sounds the koi words produce. When this scholar visited many koi hamlets for the purpose of research and interacted with them,
he got to know many words. Some words constitute the genuine Koi language, but many others are borrowed from Telugu. The Koi
language has got extremely limited number of words which could be termed as genuinely its own. Here is a set of Koi words
that are genuine and not borrowed from any other language. /wʊndanɑːm/-drinking /θʊŋɑːn/-doing /berə/-big /vɑːtə/-serve, put
/puːnðətʌm/-bathing /eɪθɑː/-gives /mənðɔːʳ/-stay /vɑːθɑː/-comes /nɑː/– mine /jvə/=mother /ɪjɑ:l/=father /mɑ:rʌ/=tree /vəʳse/=squirrel
/ðɑ:ðɑ:l/=brother /nɑ:rʊ/=village /ðəʊdə/=meal /vi:si/=fly /rɔdə/=left /kəʊnðɑ:n/=cattle /keijtʌm/=crying /eite/=crab /veθe/=ant
/pi:ki:d/=girl /peɪkɑ:l/=boy /ʌrɪ/=path /puŋgɑ:ʳ/=flower / /mirʌtəm/= run /nijɪ/=oil Many of the words are basic essential
expressions which have very limited ability to cater to the requirements of the communication needs. If we divide words into
functional words and content words we find all the functional words as genuinely Koi. But most of the content words are borrowed
from Telugu. Now the question may arise as to why they borrowed words only from Telugu? As it has already been mentioned there
are many varieties of Koi language and the language spoken in Chintoor and in its vicinity is considered to be the finest.
Now if we see the geographical location of Chintoor, it is located in Andhrapradesh where the official language is Telugu.
So the tribes who speak Koi language came into contact with the non-trabal communities long back and in this process they
borrowed many words from Telugu which being one of the ancient languages is more sophisticated with a large number of words.
As the years passed by they could not isolate themselves, (In fact they did not want to isolate themselves either) and the
touch with modernity made them go in search of new expressions to meet their communication needs. As they are very near to
Telugu speaking population obviously Telugu language became a major source to borrow words. One of the most significant observations
that have been made is the Koya language does not have its own, native words for numbers and colors. They borrowed the words
they use to refer to colors and numbers from Telugu language. A missionary linguist turned atheist by name Daniel Everett
lived for some decades on the banks of Maici River in the Amazonian rain forest with a tribe which speaks a language called
Piranha and carried out research on that language. Everett published all his research findings in his book Don't Sleep, There
are Snakes. He even stated that Piranha language does not comply with the theory of Recursion which Noam Chomsky said, forms
the main pillar of all languages. Even in case of Koya, though we can't say that it does not comply with recursion theory
as it came under the influence of Telugu language which complies with recursion, the genuine Koya language may not comply
with this theory. As it has been a well known fact, that no language is complete in itself and every language, how much ever
sophisticated, it invariably has to borrow many words from some other languages. With the advent of globalization the concepts
like Global village, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the whole world is one family), and Ubuntu are getting popular and all types of
distances are being narrowed down. So to keep pace with fast evolving global society it became absolutely necessary for every
language to borrow words from and lend words to other languages. Telugu is no exception. It borrowed innumerable words from
the most ancient language Sanskrit and the language of British legacy English. These days when we, Telugu speaking people
hear somebody speaking, we observe the usage of many English words. In fact there are many people who use very few Telugu
words in their so called Telugu conversation. Though Telugu is a well coded language as far as its syntax and phonetics are
concerned, it lacks the richness of the content words to enable the speakers to express effectively in this century of technology
explosion. The same is the case with Koi language. If we take functional words into consideration Koya language has all the
functional words it requires to keep the sentences together. Some of the Functional Words in Koya are given under: /nʌnə/–I
/ʌnɪ/- all /betʃʊ/-how many /beɪlə/-how /begə/- where /nimə/-you /beɪðɪ/-which /beɪke/-from /minðe/-is /bɑːθə/- what /beɪnɔːʳ/-who
/mənθe/-goes Some of the Content Words exclusive to Koi language are given under: /wʊndanɑːm/=drinking /θʊŋɑːn/=doing /berə/=big
/vɑːtə/=serve, put /puːnðətʌm/=bathing /eɪθɑː/=gives /mənðɔːʳ/=stay /vɑːθɑː/=comes /nɑː/= mine / jvə/=mother /ɪjɑ:l/=father
/mɑ:rʌ/=tree /vəʳse/=squirrel /ðɑ:ðɑ:l/=brother /nɑ:rʊ/=village /ðəʊdə/=meal /vi:si/=fly /rɔdə/=left /kəʊnðɑ:n/=cattle /keijtʌm/=crying
/eite/=crab /veθe/=ant /pi:ki:d/=girl /peɪkɑ:l/=boy /ʌrɪ/=path /puŋgɑ:ʳ/=flower / /mirʌtəm/= run /nijɪ/=oil As far as structure
is concerned Koya language has got a structure that is very much similar to the Telugu language. In Koi language they call
a tree as “maara”. Now, if they want to describe the tree with regard to its size i.e. , if they want to say that it is a
big tree they add an adjectival word called “berra”. So when these two expressions are added it becomes “berra maara” (/berʌmɑːrə/)
which means a big tree. In Telugu language we find prakriti and Vikriti words. Vikriti words are the deteriorated forms of
prakriti words. Educated people speak good form (dialect) of the language, but villagers especially uneducated people use
vikriti forms. In other words they use a different dialect. The reason behind using a different form is, these villagers and
uneducated people do not know the correct pronunciation of many words and they even have difficulty in articulation of some
sounds. Here are some examples: The word Vidya(/vɪðjə/) is prakriti form and its vikriti form is (/vɪʒe/). As some people
find it difficult to utter the sound (/ðjə/), they articulate it in its deteriorated form; that is (/ʒe/). If we take another
example /tʃəkənəʊdʊ/, its deteriorated form is /sʌkʌnɔːdʊ/. Here are some of the words in their deteriorated form, in other
words Vikriti that are being used in Koi language: /ʌmə/ /jəvə/ /fʌlɪθʌm/ /pʌlɪθəm/ /ɪsʊkʌ/ /ʊske/ /ɑːtʃærʌm/ /ɑːsɑːrʌm/ /uːtʃə/
/uːsə/ /mʌnʌ rɑːstrʌm/ /mʌnʌrɑːʃətʌm/ /tʃʌnðʌmɑːmə/ /sʌnðʌmɑːmə/ /tʃʌnʊwʊ/ /sʌnʊwʊ/ /hʌmsʌ/ /ʌmsʌ/ So the words that are borrowed
into Koya language are very much similar to Vikriti forms of Telugu language but they are not exactly Vikriti forms. From
the above examples it becomes clear that the Koya speaking people have difficulty in articulating/tʃ/, /h/, /f/. So whenever
they come across these sounds they replace them with /sɑː/, /ɑː/ and /pɑː/ respectively thus changing the words into their
vikriti forms. Another quality we observe in Koi language is; after they came in contact with the non-tribes and modernity
they started consuming and using many products hitherto unknown to them, for example take Chocolate (/tʃɒkələt/). This is
not only a new word for them it is even somewhat difficult to pronounce. In this word there are /tʃ/, /ɒ/, /k/, /ə/, /l/,
/ə/, /t/ seven phonemes and since they don’t know the English sound system they can’t pronounce it correctly. Here mother
tongue influence comes into picture, and they pronounce /tʃ/ as /s/ and the remaining sounds as /æ/, /k/, /l/, /eɪ/, /t/ and
end up pronouncing as /sɑːkleɪt/. So from the above example we can easily come to the conclusion that whenever they borrow
a new word from either Telugu or English they use their koi sounds to pronounce the words, because some of these words may
sound tongue twisters to them as they don’t have a sophisticated phonetic system in their language. Some of the words do not
end with a complete sound. If we take a word that ends with a complete sound like ujjaampu (/ʊdʒɑːmpʊ/) which means example
in Koi, this word ends with vowel sound /u/. But some words like pedder (/peðeɪʳ/) which means name don’t end with complete
sound. The sound it ends with is /r/. In Telugu no consonant sound can stand on its own without the support of a vowel sound.
So if we want to have the consonant sound / r/ this sound should take the support of /ə/. But many of the Koi words end with
incomplete consonant sounds. Some of the examples are: /sʌmpɑːð/ /pədʒæn/ /ʊːdəvɑːl/ In order to compare Telugu language and
Koi language two sentences from Telugu and Koi with their phonetic transcription are given under. When we closely observe
we get to know that there isn’t much difference between these two languages and Koi borrowed many words from Telugu. భారత
దేశము నా మాత్రు భూమి. భారతీయులందరు నా సహొదరులు నేను నా దేశమును ప్రే మిన్చుచున్నాను. /bhɑ:rʌθ deɪʃəmʊ nɑ: mɑ:θrʊ bhʊ:mɪ/ /bhɑ:rʌθɪ:jʊlʌnðərʊ
nɑ: sʌhəʊðərʊlʊ//neɪnʊ nɑːðeɪʃəmʊnʊ preɪmɪntʃʊ tʃʊnɑːnʊ/ బారతదేసేం నన్నపుట్తబూమి. బారతీయుర్కు అందోరు నా తోబుట్టూర్కు. నన్న
నా దేసేతీన్ పేమిస్సోనాను. /bɑːrəθðeɪseɪm nʌnʌ pʊtθbʊːmɪ/ /bɑːrʌθiːjʊrkʊ ʌnðəʊrʊ nɑː θəʊbʊtʊːrkʊ/ /nʌnə nɑːðeɪseɪθiːn peɪmɪsəʊnɑːnʊ/
If we observe the syntax and lexicon and phonemes closely, we get to know that there isn’t much difference between the two
languages. This is because of the changing life style of the Koi tribes. Hitherto they were isolated and now they slowly started
mingling with the other communities and realized the importance of education and joining the mainstream. So some of them started
speaking in Telugu, but many prefer to borrow words from Telugu to bridge the gap between the primitive hunter gatherer language
and the language that is required to meet the demands of the 21st century. Works Cited: Note: This work is completely based
on primary resources involving the researcher’s(V. Ramachandra Reddy) own observations during his field work. No part of this
paper is taken from any publication as there are hardly any secondary resources to quote from. {{#invoke: Navbox | navbox
}}@en |
Names (more)[en] Koya language[eo] Koja lingvo [fr] Koya [pt] Língua koya [ta] கோயா மொழி |
Language type : Living
Technical notes
This page is providing structured data for the language Koya. |
ISO 639 CodesISO 639-3 : kffLinked Data URIshttp://lexvo.org/id/iso639-3/kffhttp://dbpedia.org/resource/ISO_639:kff More URIs at sameas.org SourcesAuthority documentation for ISO 639 identifier: kffFreebase ISO 639-3 : kff GeoNames.org Country Information Publications Office of the European Union Metadata Registry : Countries and Languages |