Documentation of Betta Kurumba

The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants worldwide for the documentation of endangered languages and knowledge. Grantees create audiovisual collections with transcription and translations of endangered languages and practices. These collections are preserved and made freely available through the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR).

Betta Kurumba is an endangered Dravidian language spoken in the Nilgiri-Wynaad region of southern India. The Betta Kurumbas (pop. 2-6,000) lived for centuries in relative isolation as a forest-gatherer group. Since the 19th century, their homeland has been steadily transformed by the establishment of tea and coffee plantations, drawing in large numbers of immigrants from other Indian regions, who are speakers of politically more dominant languages. This project is part of an ongoing Betta Kurumba documentation project whose outcome will be a multilingual dictionary, a grammar, and a collection of annotated texts based on recordings of speech in various contexts.

Project archive deposit

Material from the project is available here Primary investigator: Gail Coelho

Project Details


Location: India, Southern Asia, Asia Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): SOAS, University of London Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £9,881.00 Commencement Date: 01/2001 Project Status: Completed
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