Konkani Language

Konkani () is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Konkani people, primarily in the Konkan region, along the western coast of India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages mentioned in the Indian Constitution, and the official language of the Indian state of Goa. It is a minority language in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat & Damaon, Diu & Silvassa.

Konkani is a member of the Southern Indo-Aryan language group. It retains elements of Vedic structures and shows similarities with both Western and Eastern Indo-Aryan languages. The first Konkani inscription is dated 1187 A.D.

There are many Konkani dialects spoken along and beyond the Konkan region, from Damaon in the north to Carwar in the south, most of which are only partially and mutually intelligible with one another due to a lack of linguistic contact and exchanges with the standard and principal forms of Konkani. It is also spoken by migrants outside of the Konkan proper; in Surat, Cochin, Mangalore, Ahmedabad, Karachi, New Delhi etc. Dialects such as Malvani, Chitpavani, East Indian, Koli & Aagri in coastal Maharashtra; are also threatened by language assimilation into the linguistic majority of non-Konkani states and territories of India.

Classification

Konkani belongs to the Indo-Aryan language branch. It is part of the Marathi-Konkani group of the southern Indo-Aryan languages. It is inflexive, and less distant from Sanskrit as compared to other modern Indo-Aryan languages. Linguists describe Konkani as a fusion of variety of Prakrits. This could be attributed to the confluence of immigrants that the Konkan coast has witnessed over the years.

Names

It is quite possible that Old Konkani was just referred to as ''Prakrit'' by its speakers. Reference to the name ''Konkani'' is not found in literature prior to the 13th century. The first reference of the name ''Konkani'' is in "Abhanga 263" of the 13th century Hindu Marathi saint poet, Namadeva (1270–1350). Konkani has been known by a variety of names: ''Canarim, Concanim, Gomantaki, Bramana,'' and ''Goani''. Learned Marathi speakers tend to call it ''Gomantaki''.

Konkani was commonly referred to as ''Língua Canarim'' by the Portuguese and ''Língua Brahmana'' by Catholic missionaries. The Portuguese later started referring to Konkani as ''Língua Concanim''. The name ''Canarim'' or ''Língua Canarim'', which is how the 16th century European Jesuit Thomas Stephens refers to it in the title of his famous work '' Arte da lingoa Canarim'' has always been intriguing. It is possible that the term is derived from the Persian word for coast, ''kinara''; if so, it would mean "the language of the coast". The problem is that this term overlaps with ''Kanarese'' or Kannada. All the European authors, however, recognised two forms of the language in Goa: the plebeian, called ''Canarim'', and the more regular (used by the educated classes), called ''Língua Canarim Brâmana'' or simply ''Brâmana de Goa''. The latter was the preferred choice of the Europeans, and also of other castes, for writing, sermons, and religious purposes.

There are different views as to the origin of the word Konkan and hence Konkani:
* V. P. Chavan states that the etymology of Konkan and hence Konkani is derived from the Kannada word ''konku'' meaning '''uneven ground'''. The Kannada origin suggests that Konkana might have included Kannada territory and '''uneven ground''' suggests the hilly nature of the territory. ''Konku'' in Kannada also means that which is '''not straight''' and is '''crooked.
* The word Konkan comes from the Kukkana (Kokna) tribe, who were the original inhabitants of the land where Konkani originated.
* According to some texts of Puranas, Parashurama shot his arrow into the sea and commanded the Sea God to recede up to the point where his arrow landed. The new piece of land thus recovered came to be known as Konkan meaning ''piece of earth'' or ''corner of earth'', ''kōṇa'' (corner) + ''kaṇa'' (piece). This legend is mentioned in Sahyadrikhanda of the Skanda Purana.

History

Proposed substrate influences

The substratum of the Konkani language lies in the speech of Austroasiatic tribes called Kurukh, Oraon, and Kukni, whose modern representatives are languages like Kurukh and its dialects including Kurux, Kunrukh, Kunna, and Malto. According to the Indian Anthropological Society, these Australoid tribes speaking Austro-Asiatic or Munda languages who once inhabited Konkan, migrated to Northern India (Chota Nagpur Plateau, Mirzapur) and are not found in Konkan any more. Olivinho Gomes in his essay "Medieval Konkani Literature" also mentions the Mundari substratum. Goan Indologist Anant Shenvi Dhume identified many Austro-Asiatic Munda words in Konkani, like ''mund'', ''mundkar'', ''dhumak'', ''goem-bab''. This substratum is very prominent in Konkani.

The grammatical impact of the Dravidian languages on the structure and syntax of Indo-Aryan languages is difficult to fathom. Some linguists explain this anomaly by arguing that Middle Indo-Aryan and New Indo-Aryan were built on a Dravidian substratum.
Some examples of Konkani words of Dravidian origin are: ''naall'' (coconut), ''madval'' (washerman), ''choru'' (cooked rice) and ''mulo'' (radish). Linguists also suggest that the substratum of Marathi and Konkani is more closely related to Dravidian Kannada.

Prehistory and early development

Migrations of Indo-Aryan vernacular speakers have occurred throughout the history of the Indian west coast. Around 2400 BC the first wave of Indo-Aryans dialect speakers might have occurred, with the second wave appearing around 1000–700 BC. Many spoke old Indo-Aryan vernacular languages, which may be loosely related to Vedic Sanskrit; others still spoke Dravidian and Desi dialects. Thus the ancient Konkani Prakrit was born as a confluence of the Indo-Aryan dialects while accepting many words from Dravidian speech. Some linguists assume Shauraseni to be its progenitor whereas some call it Paisaci. The influence of Paisachi over Konkani can be proved in the findings of Dr. Taraporewala, who in his book ''Elements of Science of Languages'' (Calcutta University) ascertained that Konkani showed many Dardic features that are found in present-day Kashmiri. Thus, the archaic form of old Konkani is referred to as Paishachi by some linguists. This progenitor of Konkani (or Paishachi Apabhramsha) has preserved an older form of phonetic and grammatic development, showing a great variety of verbal forms found in Sanskrit and a large number of grammatical forms that are not found in Marathi. (Examples of this are found in many works like ''Dnyaneshwari'', and ''Leela Charitra''.) Konkani thus developed with overall Sanskrit complexity and grammatical structure, which eventually developed into a lexical fund of its own. The second wave of Indo-Aryans is believed to have been accompanied by Dravidians from the Deccan plateau. Paishachi is also considered to be an Aryan language spoken by Dravidians.

Goa and Konkan were ruled by the Konkan Mauryas and the Bhojas; as a result, numerous migrations occurred from north, east and western India. Immigrants spoke various vernacular languages, which led to a mixture of features of Eastern and Western Prakrit. It was later substantially influenced by Magadhi Prakrit. The overtones of Pali (the liturgical language of the Buddhists) also played a very important role in the development of Konkani Apabhramsha grammar and vocabulary. A major number of linguistic innovations in Konkani are shared with Eastern Indo-Aryan languages like Bengali and Oriya, which have their roots in Magadhi.

Maharashtri Prakrit is the ancestor of Marathi and Konkani, it was the official language of the Satavahana Empire that ruled Goa and Konkan in the early centuries of the Common Era. Under the patronage of the Satavahana Empire, Maharashtri became the most widespread Prakrit of its time. Studying early Maharashtri compilations, many linguists have called Konkani "the first-born daughter of Maharashtri". This old language that was prevalent contemporary to old Marathi is found to be distinct from its counterpart.

The Sauraseni impact on Konkani is not as prominent as that of Maharashtri. Very few Konkani words are found to follow the Sauraseni pattern. Konkani forms are rather more akin to Pali than the corresponding Sauraseni forms. The major Sauraseni influence on Konkani is the ''ao'' sound found at the end of many nouns in Sauraseni, which becomes ''o'' or ''u'' in Konkani. Examples include: ''dando'', ''suno'', ''raakhano'', ''dukh'', ''rukhu'', ''manisu'' (from Prakrit), ''dandao'', ''sunnao'', ''rakkhakao'', ''dukkhao'', ''vukkhao'', ''vrukkhao'', and ''mannisso''. Another example could be the sound of ''ण'' at the beginning of words; it is still retained in many Konkani words of archaic Shauraseni origin, such as णव (nine). Archaic Konkani born out of Shauraseni vernacular Prakrit at the earlier stage of the evolution (and later Maharashtri Prakrit), was commonly spoken until 875 AD, and at its later phase ultimately developed into Apabhramsha, which could be called a predecessor of old Konkani.

Although most of the stone inscriptions and copper plates found in Goa (and other parts of Konkan) from the 2nd century BC to the 10th century AD are in Prakrit-influenced Sanskrit (mostly written in early Brahmi and archaic Dravidian Brahmi), most of the places, grants, agricultural-related terms, and names of some people are in Konkani. This suggests that Konkani was spoken in Goa and Konkan.

Though it belongs to the Indo-Aryan group, Konkani was influenced by a language of the Dravidian family. A branch of the Kadambas, who ruled Goa for a long period, had their roots in Karnataka. Konkani was never used for official purposes. Another reason Kannada influenced Konkani was the proximity of original Konkani-speaking territories to Karnataka. Old Konkani documents show considerable Kannada influence on grammar as well as vocabulary. Like southern Dravidian languages, Konkani has prothetic glides ''y-'' and ''w-''. The Kannada influence is more evident in Konkani syntax. The question markers in ''yes/no'' questions and the negative marker are sentence final. Copula deletion in Konkani is remarkably similar to Kannada. Phrasal verbs are not so commonly used in Indo-Aryan languages; however, Konkani spoken in Dravidian regions has borrowed numerous phrasal verb patterns.

The Kols, Kharwas, Yadavas, and Lothal migrants all settled in Goa during the pre-historic period and later. ''Chavada'', a tribe of warriors (now known as ''Chaddi'' or ''Chaddo''), migrated to Goa from Saurashtra, during the 7th and 8th century AD, after their kingdom was destroyed by the Arabs in 740. Royal matrimonial relationships between the two states, as well as trade relationships, had a major impact on Goan society. Many of these groups spoke different Nagar Apabhramsha dialects, which could be seen as precursors of modern Gujarati.
* Konkani and Gujarati have many words in common, not found in Marathi.
* The Konkani ''O'' (as opposed to the Marathi ''A'', which is of different Prakrit origin), is similar to that in Gujarati.
* The case terminations in Konkani, ''lo'', ''li'', and ''le'', and the Gujarati ''no'', ''ni'', and ''ne'' have the same Prakrit roots.
* In both languages the present indicatives have no gender, unlike Marathi.

Early

An inscription at the foot of the colossal Jain monolith Bahubali (The word ''gomateshvara'' apparently comes from Konkani ' which means "beautiful" or "handsome" and ''īśvara'' "lord".) at Shravanabelagola of 981 CE reads, in a variant of Nāgarī: The language of these lines is Konkani according to S.B. Kulkarni (former head of Department of Marathi, Nagpur University) and Jose Pereira (former professor, Fordham University, USA).

Another inscription in Nāgarī, of Shilahara King Aparaditya II of the year 1187 AD in Parel reportedly contains Konkani words, but this has not been reliably verified.

Many stone and copper-plate inscriptions found in Goa and Konkan are written in Konkani. The grammar and the base of such texts is in Konkani, whereas very few verbs are in Marathi. Copper plates found in Ponda dating back to the early 13th century, and from Quepem in the early 14th century, have been written in Goykanadi. One such stone inscription or ''shilalekh'' (written Nāgarī) is found at the Nageshi temple in Goa (dating back to the year 1463 AD). It mentions that the (then) ruler of Goa, Devaraja Gominam, had gifted land to the Nagueshi Maharudra temple when Nanjanna Gosavi was the religious head or ''Pratihasta'' of the state. It mentions words like, ''kullgga'', ''kulaagra'', ''naralel'', ''tambavem'', and ''tilel''.

A piece of hymn dedicated to Lord Narayana attributed to the 12th century AD says: A hymn from the later 16th century goes

Early Konkani was marked by the use of pronouns like ''dzo'', ''jī'', and ''jẽ''. These are replaced in contemporary Konkani by ''koṇa''. The conjunctions ''yedō'' and ''tedō'' ("when" and "then") which were used in early Konkani are no longer in use. The use of ''-viyalẽ'' has been replaced by ''-aylẽ''. The pronoun ''moho'', which is similar to the Brajbhasha word ''mōhē'' has been replaced by ''mākā''.

Medieval

This era was marked by several invasions of Goa and subsequent exodus of some Konkani families to Canara (today's coastal Karnataka), and Cochin.
* Exodus (between 1312–1327) when General Malik Kafur of the Delhi Sultans, Alauddin Khalji, and Muhammed bin Tughlaq destroyed Govepuri and the Kadambas
* Exodus subsequent to 1470 when the Bahamani kingdom captured Goa, and subsequent capture in 1492 by Sultan Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur
* Exodus of converted Muslims to Bijapur-held territory due to the Portuguese conquest of Goa in 1510
* Migration of Hindu converts to Canara in South India after the Christianisation of Goa, the subsequent Goa Inquisition, and the Sackings of Goa and Bombay-Bassein.

These events caused the Konkani language to develop into multiple dialects with multiple scripts. The exodus to coastal Karnataka and Kerala required Konkani speakers in these regions to learn the local languages. This caused penetration of local words into the dialects of Konkani spoken by these speakers. Examples include ''dār'' (door) giving way to the word ''bāgil''. Also, the phoneme "a" in the Salcette dialect was replaced by the phoneme "o".

Other Konkani communities came into being with their own dialects of Konkani. The Konkani Muslim communities of Ratnagiri and Bhatkal came about due to a mixture of intermarriages of Arab seafarers and locals as well as conversions of Hindus to Islam. Another migrant community that picked up Konkani are the Siddis, who are descended from Bantu peoples from South East Africa that were brought to the Indian subcontinent as slaves.

Contemporary

Contemporary Konkani is written in Devanagari, Kannada, Malayalam, Persian, and Roman scripts. It is written by speakers in their native dialects. The Goan Antruz dialect in the Devanagari script has been promulgated as Standard Konkani.

Revival

Konkani language was in decline, due to the use of Portuguese as the official and social language among the Christians, the predominance of Marathi over Konkani among Hindus, and the Konkani Christian-Hindu divide. Seeing this, Vaman Raghunath Varde Valaulikar set about on a mission to unite all Konkanis, Hindus as well as Christians, regardless of caste or religion. He saw this movement not just as a nationalistic movement against Portuguese rule, but also against the pre-eminence of Marathi over Konkani. Almost single-handedly he crusaded, writing a number of works in Konkani. He is regarded as the pioneer of modern Konkani literature and affectionately remembered as Shenoi Goembab. His death anniversary, 9 April, is celebrated as World Konkani Day (Vishwa Konkani Dis).

Madhav Manjunath Shanbhag, an advocate by profession from Karwar, who with a few like-minded companions travelled throughout all the Konkani speaking areas, sought to unite the fragmented Konkani community under the banner of "one language, one script, one literature". He succeeded in organising the first All India Konkani Parishad in Karwar in 1939. Successive Adhiveshans of All India Konkani Parishad were held at various places in subsequent years. 27 annual Adhiveshans of All India Konkani Parishad have been held so far.

Pandu Putti Kolambkar an eminent social worker of Kodibag, Karwar was a close associate of Shri Waman Raghunath Shennoi Varde Valaulikar, strove hard for the upliftment of Konkani in Karwar (North Kanara) and Konkan Patti.

Post-independence period

Following India's independence and its subsequent annexation of Goa in 1961, Goa was absorbed into the Indian Union as a Union Territory, directly under central administration.

However, with the reorganisation of states along linguistic lines, and growing calls from Maharashtra, as well as Marathis in Goa for the merger of Goa into Maharashtra, an intense debate was started in Goa. The main issues discussed were the status of Konkani as an independent language and Goa's future as a part of Maharashtra or as an independent state. The Goa Opinion Poll, a plebiscite, retained Goa as an independent state in 1967. However, English, Hindi, and Marathi continued to be the preferred languages for official communication, while Konkani was sidelined.

Recognition as an independent language

With the continued insistence of some Marathis that Konkani was a dialect of Marathi and not an independent language, the matter was finally placed before the Sahitya Akademi. Suniti Kumar Chatterji, the president of the Akademi appointed a committee of linguistic experts to settle the dispute. On 26 February 1975, the committee came to the conclusion that Konkani was indeed an independent and literary language, classified as an Indo-European language, which in its present state was heavily influenced by the Portuguese language.

Official language status

All this did not change anything in Goa. Finally, fed up with the delay, Konkani activists launched an agitation in 1986, demanding official status for Konkani. The agitation turned violent in various places, resulting in the death of six agitators from the Catholic community: Floriano Vaz from Gogal Margao, Aldrin Fernandes, Mathew Faria, C. J. Dias, John Fernandes, and Joaquim Pereira, all from Agaçaim. Finally, on 4 February 1987, the Goa Legislative Assembly passed the Official Language Bill, making Konkani the official language of Goa.

Konkani was included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India as per the Seventy-First Amendment on 20 August 1992, adding it to the list of official languages.

Geographical distribution

The Konkani language originated and is spoken widely in the western coastal region of India known as Konkan. The native lands historically inhabited by Konkani people include the Konkan division of Maharashtra, the state of Goa and the territory of Daman, the Uttara Kannada, Udupi & Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, along with many districts in Kerala such as Kasaragod, Kochi, Alappuzha, Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam. All of the regions and areas have developed distinct dialects, pronunciation and prose styles, vocabulary, tone and sometimes, significant differences in grammar.

According to the 2001 estimates of the Census Department of India, there were 2,489,016 Konkani speakers in India. The Census Department of India, 2011 figures put the number of Konkani speakers in India as 2,256,502 making up 0.19% of India's population. Out of these, 788,294 were in Karnataka, 964,305 in Goa, 399,255 in Maharashtra, and 69,449 in Kerala. It ranks 19th on the List of Scheduled Languages by strength. The number of Konkani speakers in India fell by 9.34% in the decade 2001-2011. It is the only scheduled language apart from Urdu to have a negative growth rate in the decade. A very large number of Konkanis live outside India, either as expatriates ( NRIs) with work visas or as naturalised citizens and permanent residents of other host countries (immigrants). Determining their numbers is difficult since Konkani is a minority language that is very often not recognised by censuses and surveys of various government agencies and NGOs catering to Indians abroad.

During the days of Portuguese Goa and British rule in Pre-Partition India many Goans and non-Goan Konkani people went to foreign countries as economic migrants to the Portuguese and British Empires, and to the Pakistan of Pre-Partition India. The migratory trend has continued well into the post-colonial era and a significant number of Konkani people are found in Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan, the Persian Gulf countries, Portugal and the European Union, and the British Isles and the rest of the Anglosphere. Many families still continue to speak different Konkani dialects that their ancestors spoke, which are now highly influenced by the languages of the dominant majority.

Current status and issues

The Konkani language has been in danger of dying out over the years for many of the following reasons:
# The fragmentation of Konkani into various, sometimes mutually unintelligible, dialects.
# The Portuguese influence in Goa, especially on Catholics.
# The dominance of Marathi and the large degree of bilingualism of Konkani Hindus in Goa state, the union territory of Damaon& the Konkan division of Maharashtra.
# Progressive inroads made by Urdu

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