Badaga, like modern Kannada, likely originates from Old Kannada. This is suggested by the fact that Badaga shares many common features with modern Kannada. One such feature shared by both Badaga and Kannada is initial /h/ where other Dravidian languages, and Old Kannada, have an initial /p/, a process which began around the 13th century.[3]
Phonology
Badaga has five vowel qualities, /ieaou/, where each of them may be long or short, and until the 1930s they were contrastively half and fully retroflexed, for a total of 30 vowel phonemes.[a] Current speakers only distinguish retroflection of a few vowels.[4]
Several attempts have been made at constructing an orthography based on English, Kannada and Tamil. The earliest printed book using Kannada script was a Christian work, "Anga Kartagibba Yesu Kristana Olleya Suddiya Pustaka" by Basel Mission Press of Mangaluru in 1890.[6]
Use of vowels and consonants of Tamil-Kannada script to create Badaga scriptUse of Tamil-Kannada script to create Badaga script
Badaga has been studied and documented by linguists. Several Badaga-English Dictionaries have been produced since the latter part of the nineteenth century.[7]
A collection of proverbs and other traditional sayings of the Badaga has been collated and edited by Paul Hockings.[8] It is the result of the work of many people, collecting material over many decades.
↑ Hockings, Paul (2004), "Badaga", in Ember, Carol R.; Ember, Melvin (eds.), Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology: Health and Illness in the World’s Cultures Volume I: Topics Volume II: Cultures, Boston, MA: Springer US, pp.572–578, doi:10.1007/0-387-29905-x_57, ISBN978-0-387-29905-1
↑ Hockings, Paul. "Counsel from the Ancients." A study of Badaga proverbs, prayers, omens and curses. Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter (1988).
↑ Emenau (1931) reports no tokens of /i˞˞/, but suggests this is an accidental gap.
Relevant literature
Hockings, Paul. Counsel from the ancients: A study of Badaga proverbs, prayers, omens, and curses. Mouton de Gruyter, 1988. Archive.org
Hockings, Paul, and Christiane Pilot-Raichoor. A Badaga and English dictionary — glossary and gazetteer. Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 2023. [ISBN 978-93-91928-17-9]
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