G. N. Devy is the chief editor of the PLSI series. He taught at the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, till 1996 before leaving to set up the Bhasha Research Centre in Baroda and the Adivasi Akademi at Tejgadh, where he worked towards conserving and promoting the languages and culture of indigenous and nomadic communities. Apart from being awarded the Padma Shree, he has received many awards for his work in literature and language conservation.

V. Gnanasundaram is a former Professor cum Deputy Director of CIIL, Mysore. He has had a long and successful career in the field of linguistics and has worked primarily on endangered tribal languages. He has conducted a survey of indigenous mother tongues spoken in the tribal communities of Tamil Nadu. He has publications in India as well as abroad.

K.Rangan is former Professor and Head of the Department of Linguistics, Tamil University, Thanjavur. His research interests include phonology and sociolinguistics. He has been a visiting scientist at the Department of Linguistics, MIT. He has publications in both English and Tamil.

The People’s Linguistic Survey of India

The National Editorial Collective

List of Volumes

Acknowledgements

Foreword

A Nation Proud of Its Language Diversity: Chief Editor’s Introduction

Introduction to the Volume

Contributors to the Volume

An Appeal to Readers

A Note on the Scripts used in Tamil Nadu

The Process of Compilation of the PLSI, Tamil Nadu

List of Languages Covered in this Volume

List of Abbreviations

PART I: SCHEDULED LANGUAGE

1. Tamil

V. Gnanasundaram, K. Rangan, Rm. Sundaram, P. R. Subramanian and A. Karthikeyan

PART II: NON-SCHEDULED LANGUAGES

2. Saurashtra

V. Renuga Devi

3. Thanjavur Marathi

Kamal K. Sridhar

PART III: TRIBAL LANGUAGES

4. Be??a ku?umba

V. Gnanasundaram and C. Sivashanmugan

5. Eravalla (Karinavi?u)

V. Gnanasundaram

6. Iru?a (Ëru?a)

R. Perialwar and V. Gnanasundaram

7. Kadar

S. Suresh and V. Gnanasundaram

8. Kalrayan Malayali

K. Annadurai

9. Kanikkaran

R. Muralidharan

10. Kattunaicka

R. Muralidharan and K. Rangan

11. Kollimala Tamil Dialect

K. Karunakaran

12. Kota

K. Rangan

13. Muduva

V. Gnanasundaram

14. Mulluku?umba

Robert Sathya Joseph

15. Pachamalai Malayali

A. Karthikeyan

16. Palu Ku?umba

M. Balakumar

17. Toda

K. Rangan

18. Ura?i

Sam Mohanlal and V. Gnanasundaram

19. Vagri Boli

Sreenivasa Varma

20. Villiyan (I?ular)

V. Gnanasundaram

Index 437