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Konkani () is an
Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...
spoken by the Konkani people, primarily in the
Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...
region, along the western coast of India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages mentioned in the
Indian Constitution The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...
, and the official language of the Indian state of
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
. It is a minority language in
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
, Maharashtra,
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
,
Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
& Damaon, Diu & Silvassa. Konkani is a member of the Southern Indo-Aryan language group. It retains elements of
Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
structures and shows similarities with both
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
and
Eastern Indo-Aryan languages The Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Māgadhan languages, are spoken throughout the eastern Indian subcontinent (East India and Assam, Bangladesh), including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal, Tripura, Assam, and Odisha; alongs ...
. The first Konkani inscription is dated 1187 A.D. There are many Konkani dialects spoken along and beyond the Konkan region, from
Damaon Daman is one of the three districts of the Indian union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on the western coast of India, surrounded by Valsad district of Gujarat state on the north, east and south and the Arabian Sea to the ...
in the north to
Carwar Karwar is a seaside city, Tehsil, ''taluka'', and administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district lying at the mouth of the Kali River (Karnataka), Kali river on the Kanara coast of Karnataka state, India. Karwar is a popular tourist de ...
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 Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
,
Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...
, Ahmedabad,
Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
,
New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
etc. Dialects such as Malvani,
Chitpavani Konkani () is an Indo-Aryan languages, 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_of_India, scheduled languages mentioned in the ...
, East Indian, Koli &
Aagri Agri or Aagri ( mr, आगरी) is a dialect of Maharashtrian Konkani which is spoken by members of the Agri (caste). Although it is commonly seen in comedy shows, it is not merely the language of humour but also the distinct dialect closely rel ...
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 The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...
branch. It is part of the Marathi-Konkani group of the southern Indo-Aryan languages. It is inflexive, and less distant from
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
as compared to other modern
Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...
. Linguists describe Konkani as a fusion of variety of
Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
s. 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 Abhanga () is a form of devotional poetry sung in praise of the Hindu god Vitthal, also known as Vithoba. The word "abhang" comes from ''a'' for "non-" and ''bhang'' for "ending" or "interrupting", in other words, a flawless, continuous process, in ...
263" of the 13th century
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
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
Purana Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
s,
Parashurama Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Veerarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. He is believed to be one of the ''Chiranjeevis'' (Immortals), who will appea ...
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 The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...
meaning ''piece of earth'' or ''corner of earth'', ''kōṇa'' (corner) + ''kaṇa'' (piece). This legend is mentioned in
Sahyadrikhanda Sahyādrikhaṇḍa or Sahyadri Khand, written in Sanskrit, and is considered as part of Skandapurāṇa.Shastri, P. (1995) ''Introduction to the Puranas'', New Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, pp.118-20 One of its interpolated versions from 17 ...
of the
Skanda Purana The ''Skanda Purana'' (IAST: Skanda Purāṇa) is the largest '' Mukyapurana'', a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is of Kaumara literature, titled after Skanda, a son of Shiva and Parvati, w ...
.


History


Proposed substrate influences

The substratum of the Konkani language lies in the speech of
Austroasiatic The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are th ...
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 Indian Anthropological Association (IAA) is the representative body of the professional anthropologists in India. Established in 1969, its headquarters are situated within the Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi and associated with W ...
, 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 The radish (''Raphanus raphanistrum'' subsp. ''sativus'') is an edible root vegetable of the family Brassicaceae that was domesticated in Asia prior to Roman times. Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, being mostly eaten raw ...
). 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 Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally preser ...
; 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 Shauraseni Prakrit (, ) was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit. Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in northern medieval India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries, thoug ...
to be its progenitor whereas some call it
Paisaci Paishachi or Paisaci () is a largely unattested literary language of the middle kingdoms of India mentioned in Prakrit and Sanskrit grammars of antiquity. It is generally grouped with the Prakrits, with which it shares some linguistic similarit ...
. 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 The ''Dnyaneshwari'' ( mr, ज्ञानेश्वरी) ( IAST: Jñānēśvarī), also referred to as ''Jnanesvari'', ''Jnaneshwari'' or ''Bhavartha Deepika'' is a commentary on the '' Bhagavad Gita'' written by the Marathi saint and poet ...
'', 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 The Dravidian peoples, or Dravidians, are an ethnolinguistic and cultural group living in South Asia who predominantly speak any of the Dravidian languages. There are around 250 million native speakers of Dravidian languages. Dravidian sp ...
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
Bhoja Bhoja (reigned c. 1010–1055 CE) was an Indian king from the Paramara dynasty. His kingdom was centered around the Malwa region in central India, where his capital Dhara-nagara (modern Dhar) was located. Bhoja fought wars with nearly all ...
s; 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 Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...
(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 The Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Māgadhan languages, are spoken throughout the eastern Indian subcontinent (East India and Assam, Bangladesh), including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal, Tripura, Assam, and Odisha; alongs ...
like
Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
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 Shauraseni Prakrit (, ) was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit. Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in northern medieval India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries, thoug ...
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 Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
. 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 Lothal () was one of the southernmost sites of the ancient Indus Valley civilisation, located in the Bhāl region of the modern state of Gujarāt. Construction of the city is believed to have begun around 2200 BCE. Archaeological Survey of ...
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
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
s 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 indicative The present tense (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present t ...
s have no gender, unlike Marathi.


Early

An inscription at the foot of the colossal Jain monolith
Bahubali Bahubali (), a much revered figure among Jains, was the son of Rishabadeva (the first ''tirthankara'' of Jainism) and the brother of Bharata Chakravartin. He is said to have meditated motionless for a year in a standing posture (''kayotsarg ...
(The word ''gomateshvara'' apparently comes from Konkani ' which means "beautiful" or "handsome" and ''īśvara'' "lord".) at
Shravanabelagola Shravanabelagola () is a town located near Channarayapatna of Hassan district in the Indian state of Karnataka and is from Bengaluru. The Gommateshwara Bahubali statue at Shravanabelagola is one of the most important tirthas (pilgrimage de ...
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 Quepem is a town with a municipal council in South Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. The town is the administrative headquarters of the Quepem taluka (sub-district). History The town was established by a Portuguese noble man Deão J ...
in the early 14th century, have been written in
Goykanadi or Kandavī is a Brahmic script that was once used in the territory of Goa to write Konkani and sometimes Marathi in the Konkan coast. Similarly, it was used by the trading Saraswat and Daivajna families along with the Modi script to mai ...
. 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 Nagueshi or Nagesh is a form of Lord Shiva worshipped by Konkani Hindus in India. The temple lies in verdant surroundings in the Ponda district of Goa. Unlike many other Hindu temple A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian ...
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 Narayana (Sanskrit: नारायण, IAST: ''Nārāyaṇa'') is one of the forms and names of Vishnu, who is in yogic slumber under the celestial waters, referring to the masculine principle. He is also known as Purushottama, and is co ...
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 Kanara, also known as Karavali is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The region comprises three civil districts, ...
(today's coastal Karnataka), and Cochin. * Exodus (between 1312–1327) when General
Malik Kafur Malik Kafur (died 1316), also known as Taj al-Din Izz al-Dawla, was a prominent slave-general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He was captured by Alauddin's general Nusrat Khan during the 1299 invasion of Gujarat, and rose to promin ...
of the Delhi Sultans,
Alauddin Khalji Alaud-Dīn Khaljī, also called Alauddin Khilji or Alauddin Ghilji (), born Ali Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrativ ...
, and Muhammed bin Tughlaq destroyed Govepuri and the Kadambas * Exodus subsequent to 1470 when the
Bahamani The Bahmani Sultanate, or Deccan, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim Indian Kingdom located in the Deccan region. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan,
kingdom captured Goa, and subsequent capture in 1492 by Sultan
Yusuf Adil Shah Yusuf Adil Shah (1450–1510), referred as Adil Khan or Hidalcão by the Portuguese, was the founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty that ruled the Sultanate of Bijapur for nearly two centuries. As the founder of the newly formed Bijapur dynasty (as t ...
of Bijapur * Exodus of converted Muslims to Bijapur-held territory due to the
Portuguese conquest of Goa The Portuguese conquest of Goa occurred when the governor Afonso de Albuquerque captured the city in 1510 from the Adil Shahis. Goa became the capital of the Portuguese State of India which included possessions such as Fort Manuel, the territ ...
in 1510 * Migration of Hindu converts to
Canara Kanara, also known as Karavali is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The region comprises three civil districts, ...
in South India after the Christianisation of Goa, the subsequent
Goa Inquisition The Goa Inquisition ( pt, Inquisição de Goa) was an extension of the Portuguese Inquisition in Portuguese India. Its objective was to enforce Catholic Orthodoxy and allegiance to the Apostolic See of Rome (Pontifex). The inquisition primaril ...
, 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 Bhatkal, is a coastal town in the Uttara Kannada District of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bhatkal lies on National Highway 66, which runs between Mumbai and Kanyakumari, and has Bhatkal railway station which is one of the major railway s ...
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 The Siddi (), also known as the Sheedi, Sidi, or Siddhi, or Habshi are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. They are primarily descended from the Bantu peoples of the Zanj coast in Southeast Africa and Ethiopia, most whom arrived t ...
, who are descended from
Bantu peoples The Bantu peoples, or Bantu, are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. They are native to 24 countries spread over a vast area from Central Africa to Southeast Africa and into Souther ...
from South East Africa that were brought to the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
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 The 1967 Goa status referendum popularly known as the Goa Opinion Poll was a referendum held in newly annexed union territory of Goa and Damaon in India, on 16 January 1967, to deal with the Konkani language agitation and to decide the future ...
, 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 The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...
. 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 Floriano Vaz (8 September 1963 – 20 December 1986) was an Indian writer and activist from Goa. He was the first martyr of the scheduled tribe community who fought for the official status of the Konkani language during the Konkani language ...
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 The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the official languages of the Republic of India. At the time when the Constitution was enacted, inclusion in this list meant that the language was entitled to representation on the Official ...
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 Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...
. The native lands historically inhabited by Konkani people include the
Konkan division The Konkan division is one of the six administrative divisions of Maharashtra state in India. It comprises the northern and central portions of the greater Konkani region, which were absorbed into Maharashtra owing to the States Reorganisat ...
of Maharashtra, the state of
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
and the territory of Daman, the
Uttara Kannada Uttara Kannada is a district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Uttara Kannada District is a major coastal district of Karnataka, and currently holding the title of the largest district in Karnataka. It is bordered by the state of Goa and Bel ...
,
Udupi Udupi (alternate spelling Udipi; also known as Odipu) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Udupi is situated about north of the educational, commercial and industrial hub of Mangalore and about west of state capital Bangalore by road. ...
& Dakshina Kannada districts of
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
, along with many districts in
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
such as Kasaragod,
Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
, Alappuzha,
Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...
and
Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south- ...
. All of the regions and areas have developed distinct
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
s,
pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...
and
prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...
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 Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
, 964,305 in
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
, 399,255 in Maharashtra, and 69,449 in
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
. 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 Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
). Determining their numbers is difficult since Konkani is a
minority language A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) a ...
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 Old Goa ( Konkani: ; pt, Velha Goa, translation='Old Goa') is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa. The ...
and
British rule The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was hims ...
in Pre-Partition India many Goans and non-Goan Konkani people went to foreign countries as economic migrants to the
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
and
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
s, 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 ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...
,
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
,
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
, the
Persian Gulf countries The Arab states of the Persian Gulf refers to a group of Arab states which border the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. ...
,
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
and the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, and the
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern 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 Daman is one of the three districts of the Indian union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on the western coast of India, surrounded by Valsad district of Gujarat state on the north, east and south and the Arabian Sea to the ...
& the
Konkan division The Konkan division is one of the six administrative divisions of Maharashtra state in India. It comprises the northern and central portions of the greater Konkani region, which were absorbed into Maharashtra owing to the States Reorganisat ...
of Maharashtra. # Progressive inroads made by
Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Konkani Muslim community. # Mutual animosity among various religious sects and caste groups; including a secondary status of Konkani culture to religion. # The migration of Konkanis to various parts of India and around the world. # The lack of opportunities to study Konkani in schools and colleges. Even until recently there were few Konkani schools in Goa. Populations outside the native Konkani areas have absolutely no access to Konkani language studies, literature& media. # The preference among Konkani parents to speak to their children in ''potaachi bhaas'' (language of the stomach) over ''maai bhaas'' ( mother tongue). They sometimes speak primarily in English to help their children gain a grip on English in schools. Efforts have been made to stop this downward trend of usage of Konkani, starting with Shenoi Goembab's efforts to revive Konkani. The recognition granted by
Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...
to Konkani and the institution of an annual award for Konkani literature has helped to a certain extent. Some organisations, such as the Konkan Daiz Yatra organised by Konkani Bhasha Mandal, World Konkani Centre& the newer Vishwa Konkani Parishad have laid great stress on uniting all factions of Konkanis.


Opposition


Marathi dispute

José Pereira, in his 1971 work ''Konkani – A Language: A History of the Konkani Marathi Controversy'', pointed to an essay on Indian languages written by John Leyden in 1807, wherein Konkani is called a “dialect of Maharashtra” as an origin of the language controversy. Another linguist to whom this theory is attributed is Grierson. Grierson's work on the languages of India, ''the Linguistic Survey of India'', was regarded as an important reference by other linguists. In his book, Grierson had distinguished between the Konkani spoken in coastal Maharashtra (then, part of Bombay) and the Konkani spoken in Goa as two different languages. He regarded the Konkani spoken in coastal Maharashtra as a dialect of Marathi and not as a dialect of Goan Konkani itself. In his opinion, Goan Konkani was also considered a dialect of Marathi because the religious literature used by the Hindus in Goa was not in Konkani itself, but in Marathi. S. M. Katre's 1966 work, ''The Formation of Konkani'', which utilised the instruments of modern historical and comparative linguistics across six typical Konkani dialects, showed the formation of Konkani to be distinct from that of Marathi. Shenoi Goembab, who played a pivotal role in the Konkani revival movement, rallied against the pre-eminence of Marathi over Konkani amongst Hindus and Portuguese amongst Christians. Goa's accession to India in 1961 came at a time when Indian states were being reorganised along linguistic lines. There were demands to merge Goa with Maharashtra. This was because Goa had a sizeable population of Marathi speakers and Konkani was also considered to be a dialect of Marathi by many. Konkani Goans were opposed to the move. The status of Konkani as an independent language or as a dialect of Marathi had a great political bearing on Goa's merger, which was settled by a plebiscite in 1967 (the
Goa Opinion Poll The 1967 Goa status referendum popularly known as the Goa Opinion Poll was a referendum held in newly annexed union territory of Goa and Damaon in India, on 16 January 1967, to deal with the Konkani language agitation and to decide the future ...
). The
Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...
(a prominent literary organisation in India) recognised it as an independent language in 1975, and subsequently Konkani (in
Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...
script) was made the official language of Goa in 1987.


Karnataka

MLC Ivan D'Souza attempted to speak in Konkani at the
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
state's Legislative Council, but was urged not to by the Chairman D H Shankaramurthy as most of the audience did not know Konkani. Even though Mr D'Souza pleaded that Konkani was amongst the 22 official languages recognised by the Indian Constitution, he was not given permission to continue in Konkani. Even though there are substantial Konkani Catholics in Bengaluru, efforts to celebrate Holy Mass in Konkani have met with opposition by
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
"activists". Konkani Holy Masses has been held in the Sabbhavana and Saccidananda chapels of the Carmelite and Capuchin Fathers respectively, in
Yeswanthpur Yeshwanthpur, officially Yeshwanthpura is a locality in the north western part of Bangalore in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located to the north of Malleshwara and west of Hebbala. The biggest wholesale market of agricultural produce i ...
and
Rajajinagar Rajajinagar, officially Rajajinagara is a residential neighborhood and business hub in the west of Bangalore. It is one of the zones of BBMP. It is bordered by Basaveshwaranagara, Malleshwara Malleshwara (also referred as Malleshwaram) is ...
, Bangalore. These services are under threat from Kannada groups who do not want church services to be held in any other language other than
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
, even though Kannada Catholics constitute only 30% of the Catholic population in the Archdiocese. Konkani activists and associations have been demanding Konkani language mass and services for a long time. It is still the official language of the Mangalore Archdiocese.


Multilingualism

According to the Census Department of India, Konkani speakers show a very high degree of
multilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
. In the 1991 census, as compared to the national average of 19.44% for bilingualism and 7.26% for trilingualism, Konkani speakers scored 74.20% and 44.68% respectively. This makes Konkanis the most multilingual community of India. This has been due to the fact that in most areas where Konkanis have settled, they seldom form a majority of the population and have to interact with others in the local tongue. Another reason for bilingualism has been the lack of schools teaching Konkani as a primary or secondary language. The bilingualism of Konkanis with Marathi in Damaon Goa and Maharashtra has been a source of great discontent because it has led to the belief that Konkani is a dialect of Marathi and hence has no bearing on the future of Goa.


Scripts and dialects

The problems posed by multiple scripts and varying dialects have come as an impediment in the efforts to unite Konkani people. The Goa state's decision to use
Devnagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the a ...
as the official script and the Antruz dialect has been met with opposition both within Goa and outside it. Critics contend that the Antruz dialect is unintelligible to most Goans, let alone other Konkani people outside Goa, and that Devanagari is used very little as compared to Romi Konkani in Goa or Konkani in the
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
script. Prominent among the critics are Konkani Christians in Goa, who were at the forefront of the Konkani agitation in 1986–87 and have for a long time used the Roman script, including producing literature in Roman script. They demanded Roman script be given equal status to Devanagari. In Karnataka, which has the largest number of Konkani speakers after Goa, leading organisations and activists have similarly demanded that Kannada script be made the medium of instruction for Konkani in local schools instead of Devanagari. The government of Karnataka has given its approval for teaching of Konkani as an optional third language from 6th to 10th standard students either in Kannada or Devanagari scripts.


Phonology

The Konkani language has 16 basic vowels (excluding an equal number of long vowels), 36 consonants, 5 semi-vowels, 3 sibilants, 1 aspirate, and many diphthongs. Like the other
Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...
, it has both long and short vowels and syllables with long vowels may appear to be stressed. Different types of nasal vowels are a special feature of the Konkani language. * The
palatal The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...
and alveolar stops are affricates. The palatal glides are truly palatal but otherwise the consonants in the palatal column are alveopalatal. * The voiced/voiceless contrasts are found only in the stops and affricates. The fricatives are all voiceless and the
sonorants In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels are ...
are all voiced. * The initial vowel-syllable is shortened after the aspirates and
fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
s. Many speakers substitute unaspirated consonants for aspirates. * Aspirates in a non-initial position are rare and only occur in careful speech. Palatalisation/non-palatisation is found in all obstruents, except for palatal and alveolars. Where a palatalised alveolar is expected, a palatal is found instead. In the case of sonorants, only unaspirated consonants show this contrast, and among the glides only labeo-velar glides exhibit this. Vowels show a contrast between oral and nasal ones


Vowels

One of the most distinguishing features of Konkani phonology is the use of , the close-mid central vowel, instead of the schwa found in Hindustani and Marathi. Whereas many Indian languages use only one of the three front vowels, represented by the Devanagari grapheme ए, Konkani uses three: , and . Nasalizations exist for all vowels except for .


Consonants

The consonants in Konkani are similar to those in Marathi.


Grammar

Konkani grammar is similar to other Indo-Aryan languages. Notably, Konkani grammar is also influenced by Dravidian languages. It cannot be described as a stress-timed language, nor as a
tonal language Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning – that is, to distinguish or to inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information and to convey emph ...
. * Speech can be classified into any of the following parts: # ''naam'' (
noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
) # ''sarvanaam'' (
pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not c ...
) # ''visheshan'' (
adjective In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...
) # ''kriyapad'' (
verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
) # ''kriyavisheshana'' (
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
) # ''ubhayanvayi avyaya'' # ''shabdayogi avyaya'' # ''kevalaprayogi avyaya'' Like most of the Indo-Aryan languages, Konkani is an SOV language, meaning among other things that not only is the verb found at the end of the clause but also
modifiers In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...
and complements tend to precede the head and
postpositions Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
are far more common than
prepositions Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
. In terms of syntax, Konkani is a ''head-last'' language, unlike English, which is an SVO language. * Almost all the verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and the ''avyaya''s are either ''tatsama'' or ''tadbhava''.


Verbs

Verbs are either ''tatsama'' or ''tadbhava'': *Present indefinite of the auxiliary is fused with
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
of the primary verb, and the auxiliary is partially dropped. When the southern dialects came in contact with Dravidian languages this difference became more prominent in dialects spoken in Karnataka whereas Goan Konkani still retains the original form. For example, "I eat" and "I am eating" sound similar in Goan Konkani, due to loss of auxiliary in colloquial speech. "Hāv khātā" corresponds to "I am eating". On the other hand, in Karnataka Konkani "hāv khātā" corresponds to "I eat", and "hāv khātoāsā" or "hāv khāter āsā" means "I am eating". However the word "jito" (living) is universal, "to jitoāsā" (he is living). * Out of eight
grammatical cases A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In various languages, nom ...
, Konkani has totally lost the dative, the locative, and the
ablative In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; sometimes abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages; it is sometimes used to express motion away from something, among other uses. ...
. It has partially lost the
accusative The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘th ...
and the instrumental cases too. So the preserved cases are: the nominative, the genitive, and the
vocative case In grammar, the vocative case ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed, or occasionally for the noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and nume ...
.


Apabhramsha and metathesis

* Like Marathi and Gujarati, the Konkani language has three genders. During the Middle Ages, most of the Indo-Aryan languages lost their neuter gender, except Maharashtri, in which it is retained much more in Marathi than Konkani. Gender in Konkani is purely grammatical and unconnected to sex. Metathesis is a characteristic of all the middle and modern Indo-Aryan languages including Konkani. Consider the Sanskrit word "स्नुषा" (daughter-in law). Here, the ष is dropped, and स्नु alone is utilised, स्नु-->स/नु and you get the word सुन (metathesis of ''ukar''). * Unlike Sanskrit, ''
anusvara Anusvara (Sanskrit: ') is a symbol used in many Indic scripts to mark a type of nasal sound, typically transliterated . Depending on its location in the word and the language for which it is used, its exact pronunciation can vary. In the context ...
'' has great importance in Konkani. A characteristic of Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, Konkani still retains the ''anusvara'' on the initial or final syllable. Similarly ''
visarga Visarga ( sa, विसर्गः, translit=visargaḥ) means "sending forth, discharge". In Sanskrit phonology ('' ''), ' (also called, equivalently, ' by earlier grammarians) is the name of a phone voiceless glottal fricative, , written as: ...
'', is totally lost and is assimilated with उ and/or ओ. For example, in Sanskrit दीपः becomes दिवो and दुःख becomes दुख. * Konkani retains the pitch accent, which is a direct derivative of Vedic accent, which probably would account for "nasalism" in Konkani. The "breathed" accent is retained in most of the ''tatsama''s than the ''tadbhava''s.
Declension In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence, by way of some inflection. Declensions may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and ...
also affects the accent. * Konkani has lost its passive voice, and now the transitive verbs in their perfects are equivalent to passives. * Konkani has rejected ऋ, ॠ, ऌ, ॡ, ष, and क्ष, which are assimilated with र, ख, ह, श and स. * Sanskrit compound letters are avoided in Konkani. For example, in Sanskrit द्वे, प्राय, गृहस्थ, उद्योत become बे, पिराय, गिरेस्त, and उज्जो respectively in Konkani.


Vocabulary

The vocabulary from Konkani comes from a number of sources. The main source is Prakrits. So Sanskrit as a whole has played a very important part in Konkani vocabulary. Konkani vocabulary is made of (Sanskrit loanwords without change), (evolved Sanskrit words), (indigenous words) and (foreign words). Other sources of vocabulary are Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. Finally, Kannada, Marathi, and Portuguese have enriched its lexical content.


Loanwords

Since Goa was a major trade centre for visiting Arabs and Turks, many Arabic and Persian words infiltrated the Konkani language. A large number of Arabic and Persian words now form an integral part of Konkani vocabulary and are commonly used in day-to-day life; examples are ''karz'' (debt), ''fakt'' (only), ''dusman'' (enemy), and ''barik'' (thin). Single and compound words are found wherein the original meaning has been changed or distorted. Examples include ''mustaiki'' (from Arabic ''mustaid'', meaning "ready"), and ''kapan khairo'' ("eater of one's own shroud", meaning "a miser"). Most of the old Konkani Hindu literature does not show any influence from Portuguese. Even the dialects spoken by the majority of Goan Hindus have a very limited Portuguese influence. On the other hand, dialects spoken by the Catholics from Goa (as well as the Canara to some extent) and their religious literature show a strong Portuguese influence. They contain a number of Portuguese lexical items, but these are almost all religious terms. Even in the context of religious terminology, the missionaries adapted native terms associated with Hindu religious concepts. (For example, ''krupa'' for grace, Y''amakunda'' for hell, V''aikuntha'' for paradise and so on). The syntax used by
Goan Catholics Goan Catholics ( gom, Goenchem Katholik) are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians following the Roman Rite of worship from the Goa state, in the southern part of the Konkan region along the west coast of India. They are Konkan ...
in their literature shows a prominent Portuguese influence. As a result, many Portuguese loanwords are now commonly found in common Konkani speech. The Portuguese influence is also evident in the Marathi–Konkani spoken in the former Northern Konkan district,
Thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven taluk ...
a variant of Konkani used by
East Indians The East Indians, also called East Indian Catholics or Bombay East Indians, are an ethno-religious Indian Christian community native to the Seven Islands of Bombay and the neighbouring Mumbai Metropolitan Area of the Konkan Division. His ...
Catholic community.


Sanskritisation

Konkani is not highly Sanskritised like Marathi, but still retains
Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
and apabhramsa structures, verbal forms, and vocabulary. Though the Goan Hindu dialect is highly Prakritised, numerous Sanskrit loanwords are found, while the Catholic dialect has historically drawn many terms from Portuguese. The Catholic literary dialect has now adopted Sanskritic vocabulary itself, and the Catholic Church has also adopted a
Sanskritisation Sanskritisation (or Sanskritization) is a term in sociology which refers to the process by which castes or tribes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek 'upward' mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the dominant castes or upper ...
policy. Despite the relative unfamiliarity of the recently introduced Sanskritic vocabulary to the new Catholic generations, there has not been wide resistance to the change. On the other hand, southern Konkani dialects, having been influenced by
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
− one of the most Sanskritised languages of Dravidian origin − have undergone re-Sanskritisation over time.


Writing systems

Konkani has been compelled to become a language using a multiplicity of scripts, and not just one single script used everywhere. This has led to an outward splitting up of the same language, which is spoken and understood by all, despite some inevitable dialectal convergences.


Past

The
Brahmi script Brahmi (; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' ...
for Konkani fell into disuse. Later, some inscriptions were written in old Nagari. However, owing to the Portuguese conquest in 1510 and the restrictions imposed by the inquisition, some early form of Devanagari was disused in Goa. The Portuguese promulgated a law banning the use of Konkani and Nagari scripts. Another script, called ''Kandevi'' or ''Goykandi'', was used in Goa since the times of the Kadambas, although it lost its popularity after the 17th century. Kandevi/Goykandi is very different from the
Halekannada Old Kannada or Halegannada ( kn, ಹಳೆಗನ್ನಡ, Haḷegannaḍa) is the Kannada language which transformed from ''Purvada halegannada'' or ''Pre-old Kannada'' during the reign of the Kadambas of Banavasi (ancient royal dynasty of Kar ...
script, with strikingly similar features. Unlike Halekannada, Kandevi/Goykandi letters were usually written with a distinctive horizontal bar, like the Nagari scripts. This script may have been evolved out of the
Kadamba script The Kadamba script is the first writing system devised specifically for writing Kannada and Telugu. It is a descendant of the Brahmi script. The Kadamba script is also known as ''Pre-Old-Kannada script''. The Kadamba script is one of the olde ...
, which was extensively used in Goa and Konkan. The earliest known inscription in Devanagari dates to 1187 AD. The
Roman script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Ital ...
has the oldest preserved and protected literary tradition, beginning from the 16th century.


Present

Konkani is written in five scripts:
Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...
,
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
,
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
,
Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...
, and
Perso-Arabic The Persian alphabet ( fa, الفبای فارسی, Alefbâye Fârsi) is a writing system that is a version of the Arabic script used for the Persian language spoken in Iran ( Western Persian) and Afghanistan (Dari Persian) since the 7th cen ...
.Mother Tongue blues
nbsp;– Madhavi Sardesai
Because Devanagari is the official script used to write Konkani in Goa and Maharashtra, most Konkanis (especially Hindus) in those two states write the language in Devanagari. However, Konkani is widely written in the Roman script (called Romi Konkani) by many Konkanis, (especially Catholics). This is because for many years, all Konkani literature was in the Latin script, and Catholic liturgy and other religious literature has always been in the Roman script. Most people of Karnataka use the Kannada script; however, the Saraswats of
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
use the Devanagari script in the North Kanara district. Malayalam script was used by the Konkani community in Kerala, but there has been a move towards the usage of the Devanagari script in recent years. Konkani Muslims around Bhatkal taluka of Karnataka use Arabic script to write Konkani. There has been to trend towards the usage of the Arabic script among Muslim communities; this coincides with them mixing more Urdu and Arabic words into their Konkani dialects. When the Sahitya Akademi recognised Konkani in 1975 as an independent and literary language, one of the important factors was the literary heritage of Romi Konkani since the year 1556. However, after Konkani in the Devanagari script was made the official language of Goa in 1987, the Sahitya Akademi has supported only writers in the Devanagari script. For a very long time there has been a rising demand for official recognition of Romi Konkani by Catholics in Goa because a sizeable population of the people in Goa use the Roman script. Also a lot of the content on the Internet and the staging of the famed
Tiatr is a type of musical theatre popular in the state of Goa on the west coast of India as well as in Mumbai and with expatriate communities in the Middle East, United Kingdom and other cities where Konkani speakers have a considerable presence. The ...
is written in Romi Konkani. In January 2013, the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court issued a notice to the state government on a
Public Interest Litigation The chief instrument through which judicial activism has flourished in India is public interest litigation (PIL) or social action litigation (SAL). ''Public interest litigation'' (PIL) refers to litigation undertaken to secure public interest and de ...
filed by the Romi Lipi Action Front seeking to amend the Official Language Act to grant official language status to Romi Konkani but has not yet been granted.


Alphabet/''vaṇamāḷha''

The vowels, consonants, and their arrangement are as follows:


Dialects

Konkani, despite having a small population, shows a very high number of
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
s. The dialect tree structure of Konkani can easily be classified according to the region, religion, caste, and local tongue influence. Based on the historical events and cultural ties of the speakers, N. G. Kalelkar has broadly classified the dialects into three main groups: * Northern Konkani: Dialects spoken in the Sindhudurga district of Maharashtra with strong cultural ties to Marathi; i.e. Malvani * Central Konkani: Dialects in Goa and Northern Karnataka, where Konkani came in close contact with Portuguese language and culture and
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
. * Southern Konkani: Dialects spoken in the South Canara region (Mangalore, Udupi) of Karnataka and Kasaragod of Kerala, which came in close contact with Tulu and
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
. Southern Konkani is very similar to Marathi, with few loanwords from Tulu and Kannada, and slight differences in pronunciation.


Goan Konkani

Goan Konkani refers to all the central dialects of the Konkani macrolanguage except for those that fall under
Maharashtrian Konkani Maharashtri Konkani or Konkan Marathi, is a group of Konkanic dialects spoken in the Konkan division of the Konkan region. George Abraham Grierson, a British Indian linguist of the colonial era referred to these dialects as the ''Konkan S ...
and Canarese Konkani. These dialects are collectively assigned the language code under the
ISO 639-3 ISO 639-3:2007, ''Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages'', is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. It defines three-letter codes for ...
classification (since it is sometimes called ''Goan Marathi''). In common usage, Goan Konkani refers collectively only to those dialects of Konkani spoken primarily in the state of
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
, e.g. the Antruz, Bardeskari and Saxtti dialects. But in the broader linguistic context, Goanese Konkani also includes dialects spoken outside the official boundaries of Goa, such as Malvani Konkani, Chitpavani Konkani, and Karwari Konkani.


Organisations

There are organisations working for Konkani but, primarily, these were restricted to individual communities. The All India Konkani Parishad founded on 8 July 1939, provided a common ground for Konkani people from all regions. A new organisation known as Vishwa Konkani Parishad, which aims to be an all-inclusive and pluralistic umbrella organisation for Konkanis around the world, was founded on 11 September 2005. Mandd Sobhann is the premier organisation that is striving hard to preserve, promote, propagate, and enrich the Konkani language and culture. It all began with the experiment called ‘Mandd Sobhann’ – a search for a Konkani identity in Konkani music on 30 November 1986 at Mangalore. What began as a performance titled ‘Mandd Sobhann’, grew into a movement of revival and rejuvenation of Konkani culture; and solidified into an organization called Mandd Sobhann. Today, Mandd Sobhann boasts of all these 3 identities namely - a performance, a movement and an organization.https://www.manddsobhann.org/ The Konkan Daiz Yatra, started in 1939 in
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
, is the oldest Konkani organisation. The Konkani Bhasha Mandal was born in Mumbai on 5 April 1942, during the Third Adhiveshan of All India Konkani Parishad. On 28 December 1984, Goa Konkani Akademi (GKA) was founded by the government of Goa to promote Konkani language, literature, and culture. The Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr (TSKK) is a popular research institute based in the
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
n capital
Panaji Panaji (; also known as Panjim) is the capital of the Indian state of Goa and the headquarters of North Goa district. Previously, it was the territorial capital of the former Portuguese India. It lies on the banks of the Mandovi river estuary ...
. It works on issues related to the Konkani language, literature, culture, and education. The Dalgado Konkani Academy is a popular Konkani organisation based in Panaji. The Konkani Triveni Kala Sangam is one more famed Konkani organisation in
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
, which is engaged in the vocation of patronising Konkani language through the theatre movement. The
government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...
established the Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Akademy on 20 April 1994. The Konkani Ekvott is an umbrella organisation of the Konkani bodies in Goa. The First World Konkani Convention was held in Mangalore in December 1995. The Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation came into being immediately after the World Konkani Convention in 1995. The World Konkani Centre built on a three-acre plot called Konkani Gaon (Konkani Village) at Shakti Nagar,
Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...
was inaugurated on 17 January 2009, "to serve as a nodal agency for the preservation and overall development of Konkani language, art, and culture involving all the Konkani people the world over.” The North American Konkani Association (NAKA) serves to unite Konkanis across the United States and Canada. It serves as a parent organization for smaller Konkani associations in various states. Furthermore, the Konkani Young Adult Group serves as a platform under NAKA to allow young adults across America (18+) of Konkani descent to meet each other and celebrate their heritage. Every 2-4 years, a Konkani Sammelan, where Konkanis from across the continent attend, is held in a different city in the US. A Konkani Youth Convention is held yearly. Past locations have included NYC and Atlanta; the upcoming youth convention is slated to be held in Chicago, IL in June.


Literature

During the
Goa Inquisition The Goa Inquisition ( pt, Inquisição de Goa) was an extension of the Portuguese Inquisition in Portuguese India. Its objective was to enforce Catholic Orthodoxy and allegiance to the Apostolic See of Rome (Pontifex). The inquisition primaril ...
which commenced in 1560, all books found in the Konkani language were burnt, and it is possible that old Konkani literature was destroyed as a consequence. The earliest writer in the history of Konkani language known today is
Krishnadas Shama Krishnadas Shama, a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin and native of Quelossim in Goa, was the author of ''Krishna Charitrakatha.'' According to verses (''ovis'') 245-250 of this work, it was commenced on 25 April 1526, or Vaishakh Shukla of shake 1448 accor ...
from
Quelossim Quelossim is a village in Mormugao taluka, South Goa, India. This village was known as ''Kardalipura'' in ancient times and had a beautiful temple dedicated to the Mother-Goddess Shri Shantadurga and Shri Kavale Math which was shifted to Kaval ...
in Goa. He began writing 25 April 1526, and he authored ''Ramayana'', ''Mahabharata'', and ''Krishnacharitrakatha'' in
prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...
style. The manuscripts have not been found, although transliterations in Roman script are found in
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
in Portugal. The script used by him for his work is not known. The first known printed book in Konkani was written by an English Jesuit priest, Fr. Thomas Stephens in 1622, and entitled '' Doutrina Christam em Lingoa Bramana Canarim'' (Old Portuguese for: ''Christian Doctrine in the Canarese Brahman Language''). The first book exclusively on Konkani grammar, '' Arte da Lingoa Canarim'', was printed in 1640 by Father Stephens in Portuguese.


Media


Radio

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...
started broadcasting Konkani news and other services. Radio Goa Pangim started a Konkani broadcast in 1945. AIR Mumbai and Dharwad later started Konkani broadcasts in the years 1952 and 1965 respectively. Portuguese Radio, Lisbon started services in 1955 for India, East Africa, and Portugal. Similarly
Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populatio ...
,
Alleppey Alappuzha or Alleppey () is the administrative headquarters of Alappuzha district in state of Kerala, India. The Backwaters of Alappuzha are one of the most popular tourist attractions in India which attracts millions of domestic and internat ...
, Trichur, and
Calicut Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...
AIR centres started Konkani broadcasts. In Manglore and Udupi, many weekly news magazines are published in Konkani. ''Rakno'', ''Daize'', and a few others are very famous among the Christian community. Every Roman Catholic parish will publish three or four magazines in a year.


Print

''Udentichem Sallok'' was the first Konkani periodical published in 1888, from Poona, by Eduardo Bruno de Souza. It started as a monthly and then as a fortnightly. It closed down in 1894.


Dailies

''Sanjechem Nokhetr'' was started in 1907 by B. F. Cabral in
Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
, and is the first Concanim newspaper. It contained detailed news of Bombay, as it was published from there. In 1982, "Novem Goem" was a daily edited by Gurunath Kelekar, Dr. F. M. Rebello and Felisio Cardozo. It was started due to people's initiative. In 1989, Fr. Freddy J. da Costa, began a Konkani daily "Goencho Avaz". It became a monthly after one and a half year. Presently there is just a single Konkani daily newspaper, called ''Bhaangar Bhuin''. For a long time, there was another Konkani daily, ''
Sunaparant ''Sunaparant'' ( knn, सुनापरांत,) was a Konkani newspaper in Devanagari script. Based in Goa, India, it operated from 1987 to 2015. It published a special magazine during the Ganesh Chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi ( ISO: ), a ...
'', which was published in Panjim.


Weeklies

''O Luzo-Concanim'' was a Concanim (Konkani)- Portuguese bilingual weekly, begun in 1891, by Aleixo Caitano José Francisco. From 1892 to 1897, ''A Luz, O Bombaim Esse, A Lua, "O Intra Jijent'' and ''O Opinião Nacional'' were bilingual Concanim- Portuguese weeklies published. In 1907, ''O Goano'' was putblished from Bombay by Honorato Furtado and Francis Xavier Furtado. It was a trilingual weekly in Portuguese, Konkani and English. The Society of the Missionaries of Saint Francis Xavier, publish the Konkani weekly (satollem) named '' Vauraddeancho Ixtt''. from Pilar. It was started in 1933 by Fr. Arsencio Fernandes and Fr. Graciano Moraes.


Fortnightly

There is a fortnightly published newspaper since 2007 called ''Kodial Khaber', edited by Venkatesh Baliga Mavinakurve and published by Baliga Publications, Mangalore.


Monthlies

'' Katolik Sovostkai'' was started in 1907 by Roldão Noronha. It later became a fortnightly before ceasing publication. '' Dor Mhoineachi Rotti'' is the oldest running Konkani periodical. It is dedicated to the spreading of the devotion to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This dev ...
, and was initially named Dor Muineachi Rotti Povitra Jesucha Calzachem Devoçãõ Vaddounchi. Note that the til (tilde mark) over ãõ in Devoçãõ is one single til. Fr. Vincent Lobo, from Sangolda in Goa, who was then curator at the St. Patrick's Church in Karachi, began it in 1915, to feed the spiritual thirst and hunger of the large number of Konkani speaking people there, on noticing the absence of Konkani spiritual literature. The name was changed subsequently to "Dor Muiniachi Rotti, Concanim Messenger of the Sacred Heart". On Fr. Vincent Lobo's passing away on 11 November 1922, Fr. António Ludovico Pereira, also from Sangolda, took over the responsibility. Dor Mhoineachi Rotti had an estimated readership of around 12,000 people then. After the passing away of Fr. António Ludovico Pereira on 26 July 1936, Fr. Antanasio Moniz, from Verna, took over. On his passing away in 1953, Fr. Elias D'Souza, from Bodiem,
Tivim Tivim pronounced Thivim, is a village in Nathivim in Bardez, in the North Goa district of Goa, India. It is an important gateway into North Goa as the home to the major railway station in North Goa. Tivim was also the ancestral village of the f ...
in
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
became the fourth editor of Dor Mhoineachi Rotti. After shifting to
Velha Goa Old Goa ( Konkani: ; pt, Velha Goa, translation='Old Goa') is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa. The ...
in
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
around 1964, Fr. Moreno de Souza was editor for around 42 years. Presently the Dor Mhuineachi Rotti is owned by the
Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...
in Goa, edited by Fr. Vasco do Rego, S. J. and printed and published by Fr. Jose Silveira, S.J. on behalf of the Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in Goa. Dor Mhoineachi Rotti will complete 100 years on 1 January 2015. ''Gulab'' is a monthly from Goa. It was started by late Fr. Freddy J. da Costa in 1983, and was printed in colour, then uncommon. Konkani periodicals published in Goa include '' Vauraddeancho Ixtt'' (Roman script, weekly), ''Gulab'' (Roman script, monthly), ''Bimb'' (Devanagari script, monthly), ''Panchkadayi'' (Kannada script, monthly) and ''Poddbimb'' (Roman script, monthly). Konkani periodicals published in Mangalore include "Raknno" (Kannada script, weekly), "DIVO" (Kannada Script, weekly from Mumbai), "Kutmacho Sevak" (Kannada script, monthly), "Dirvem" (Kannada script, monthly),"Amcho Sandesh" (Kannada script, monthly) and "Kajulo" (Kannda script, children's magazine, monthly). Konkani periodical published in Udupi include "Uzwad" (Kannada script, monthly) and Naman Ballok Jezu (Kannada script, monthly). Ekvottavorvim Uzvadd (Devanagari Script, monthly) is published from Belgaum since 1998. Panchkadayi Konkani Monthly magazine from Manipal since 1967.


Digital and audible

The first complete literary website in Konkani started in 2001 using Kannada script was www.maaibhaas.com by Naveen Sequeira of Brahmavara. In 2003 www.daaiz.com started by Valley Quadros Ajekar from Kuwait, this literary portal was instrumental in creating a wider range of readers across the globe, apart from various columns, literary contests, through Ashawadi Prakashan, he published several books in Konkani, including the first e-book 'Sagorachea Vattecheo Zori' released by Gerry DMello Bendur in 2005 at Karkala. www.poinnari.com is the first literaryyy webportal in Konkani using three scripts (Kannada, Nagari and Romi), started in 2015, is also conducted the first National level literary contest in dual scripts in Konkani in 2017. 'Sagorachea Vattecheo Zori' is the first e-book in Konkani, a compilation of 100 poems digitally published by www.daaiz.com and digitally published in 2005 by Ashawadi Prakashan in Karkala. 'Kathadaaiz' is the first digital audio book digitally published in 2018 by www.poinnari.com. This audio book is also available in the YouTube channel of Ashawari Prakashan. 'Pattim Gamvak' is the first e-Novel written in Kannada script Konkani in 2002 by Valley Quadros Ajekar from Kuwait, published in www.maaibhaas.com in 2002-3. 'Veez' is the first digital weekly in Konkani, started in 2018 by Dr.Austine D'Souza Prabhu in Chicago, USA. Veez is the only magazine publishing Konkani in 4 scripts; Kannada, Nagari, Romi and Malayalam.


Television

The Doordarshan centre in Panjim produces Konkani programs, which are broadcast in the evening. Many local Goan channels also broadcast Konkani television programs. These include: Prudent Media, Goa 365, HCN, RDX Goa, and others.


Film


In popular culture

Many Konkani songs of the Goan fisher-folk appear recurrently in a number of
Hindi films Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
. Many Hindi movies feature characters with a Goan Catholic accent. A famous song from the 1957 movie '' Aasha'', contains the Konkani words "mhaka naka" and became extremely popular. Children were chanting "
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"—which can be spelled a number of ways—is a children's counting-out rhyme, used to select a person in games such as tag, or for selecting various other things. It is one of a large group of similar rhymes in which the ...
", which inspired C Ramchandra and his assistant John Gomes to create the first line of the song, "Eena Meena Deeka, De Dai Damanika". Gomes, who was a Goan, added the words "maka naka" (Konkani for "I don't want"). They kept on adding more nonsense rhymes until they ended with "Rum pum po!". An international ad campaign by
Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
for the
2007 Cricket World Cup The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the ...
featured a Konkani song "Rav Patrao Rav" as the background theme. It was based on the tune of an older song "
Bebdo "Bebdo" is a traditional Goan Konkani song composed by Chris Perry and sung by Lorna. It was a part of the album ''Lorna - Unforgettable Hits.'' The song is about a drunkard husband who troubles his wife. Nike ad An international ad campaign b ...
", composed by Chris Perry and sung by
Lorna Cordeiro Lorna Cordeiro, (born 9 August 1944) also known as Lorna, is a Konkani singer from the coastal state of Goa, India, and is popularly known as the "Nightingale of Goa". Early and personal life Lorna was born in Bombay on 9 August 1944 to Ce ...
. The new lyrics were written by Agnello Dias (who worked in the ad agency that made the ad), recomposed by Ram Sampat, and sung by Ella Castellino. A Konkani cultural event, Konkani Nirantari, organised by Mandd Sobhann, was held in
Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...
on 26 and 27 January 2008, and entered the Guinness Book of World Records for holding a 40-hour-long non-stop musical singing marathon, beating a Brazilian musical troupe who had previously held the record of singing non-stop for 36 hours.


See also

*
Canara Konkani Canarese Konkani are a set of dialects spoken by minority Konkani people of the Canara sub-region of Karnataka, and also in Kassergode of Kerala that was part of South Canara.The Constitution Act 1992 (71st Amendment) Kanarese script is the p ...
*
Konkani in the Roman script Konkani in the Roman script, commonly known as Romi Konkani or ''Romi Konknni'' () refers to the writing of the Konkani language in the Roman script. While Konkani is written in five different scripts altogether, Romi Konkani is widely used. Romi ...
*
Konkani Language Agitation The Konkani language agitations were a series of protests and demonstrations in India, concerning the uncertain future and the official status of the Konkani language. They were held by Goans in the then union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu g ...
* Konkani people * Konkani phonology * Konkani Poets * Konkani Script * List of loanwords in Konkani *
Languages of India Languages spoken in India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians, both families together are sometimes known ...
*
Languages with official status in India There is no national language in India. However, article 343(1) of the Indian constitution specifically mentions that, "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official pu ...
*
List of languages by number of native speakers in India India is home to several hundred languages. Most Indians speak a language belonging to the families of the Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European (c. 77%), the Dravidian (c. 20.61%), the Austroasiatic ( Munda) (c. 1.2%), or the Sino-Tibetan (c. 0.8% ...
* Maharashtri * Malvani dialect * Malvani people *
Marathi–Konkani languages The Marathi-Konkani languages are the mainland Southern Indic languages, spoken in Maharashtra and the Konkan region of India. Languages Languages are: Marathi, Konkani, Phudagi, Kadodi (Samvedi), Katkari, Varli and Andh. Several o ...
*
Paisaci Paishachi or Paisaci () is a largely unattested literary language of the middle kingdoms of India mentioned in Prakrit and Sanskrit grammars of antiquity. It is generally grouped with the Prakrits, with which it shares some linguistic similarit ...
* Sahitya Akademi Award to Konkani Writers * World Konkani Centre * World Konkani Hall of Fame


Footnotes


References


Further reading


Romi Konkani: The story of a Goan script, born out of Portuguese influence, which faces possible decline, Karthik Malli (Firstpost)


External links


Vauraddeancho Ixtt
Konkani language site
Konkani News
Konkani language site
Kital
Konkani language site
Chilume.com
Konkani Literature
Niz Goenkar
Konkani-English bilingual site
Learn Goan Konkani online

Read Konkani News online



Learn Mangalorean Catholic Konkani online


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110502055206/http://manglorean.net/konkani/ Online Manglorean Konkani Dictionary Project
Online Konkani (GSB) dictionary

World Konkani Centre, Mangalore

Konkanverter-Konkani script conversion utility
{{DEFAULTSORT:Konkani Language Languages officially written in Indic scripts Languages attested from the 12th century Konkani Southern Indo-Aryan languages Indo-Aryan languages Official languages of India Subject–object–verb languages Konkani languages Languages written in Devanagari Sahitya Akademi recognised languages