Name	Konkani
Nativename	कोंकणी , Konknni, ಕೊಂಕಣಿ, കൊംകണി
Pronunciation	(standard), (popular)
States	India
Region	Konkan, includes the state of Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra and some parts of Kerala Konkani is also spoken in Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan, Persian Gulf, Lisbon in Portugal
Speakers	3.6 million
Iso2	kok
Iso3	kok
Lc1	gom|ld1Goan Konkani|ll1none
Lc2	knn|ld2Maharashtrian Konkani|ll2none
Familycolor	Indo-European
Fam1	Indo-European
Fam2	Indo-Iranian
Fam3	Indo-Aryan
Fam4	Southern Zone
Fam5	Konkani
Script	Devanagari (official), Roman, Kannada, Malayalam and Arabic
Nation	Goa, India
Agency	Various academies and the Government of Goa
Map	Konkanispeakers.png
Mapcaption	Distribution of native Konkani speakers in India
Notice	Indic
Notice2	IPA }}

Konkani (Devanāgarī: , , Roman script: , , Kannada script: , , Malayalam script: , ) is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-European family of languages and is spoken on the western coast of India. It has approximately 3.6 million speakers. It is one of the official languages of India and is the official language of the Indian state of Goa. And it is a minority language in Karnataka and northern Kerala (Kasaragod district).

Konkani is classified as a southern Indo-Aryan language along with Kadodi and Marathi.

History

Etymology

There are different views as to the origin of the word Konkan and hence Konkani

The word Konkan comes from the Kukkana tribe, who were the original inhabitants of the land Konkani originated from.

According to some Hindu legends, Parashurama shot his arrow into the sea and commanded the Sea God to recede up to the point where his arrow landed. The new piece of land thus recovered came to be known as Konkan meaning ''piece of earth'' or ''corner of earth'',''kōṇa ''(corner)+ ''kaṇa ''(piece).This legend has been mentioned in Sahyadrikhanda of the Skanda Purana.

Roots

The roots of the Konkani language lie in the Indo-Aryan language of the Kukna tribals called Kokni, Kukni or Kukna. They are now concentrated in Nasik, Thane and Dhule. In Gujarat, their major concentration is in Valsad and Dang districts. In Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the Kokna are distributed in 60 villages. It is possible that their ancestors were the first settlers of the Konkan and most probably the seeds of the modern Konkani language are hidden in their ancient speech.

The Proto-Australoids also known as ''Shabars'' who are believed to have come from the west, once formed the aboriginal population of Goa and Konkan. Gaudes, Kunbis, Mahars of Konkan today are supposed to be the modern representatives of Proto-Australoids. Many Konkani words related to agriculture find their roots in Proto-Australoid dialects, e.g.: ''kumeri, mer, zonn, khazzan''.

The later settlers of Goa viz. the Mediterraneans also exerted an impact on this language. Some of their people can be collectively called the Dravidians. Words like ''tandul'', ''narikel'' or ''naall, dholl, madval'' and others have Dravidian origin.

Subsequently, waves of Indo-Aryan dialect speakers have occurred in the history of the Indian west coast. Around 2400 BC the first wave of Indo-Aryans dialect speakers might have occurred, and the second wave in the period 1000-700 BC came and settled in the west coast. Most of them spoke Indo-Aryan Prakrit vernacular languages, akin to Vedic Sanskrit. Thus Konkani was born as a confluence of the Indo-Aryan dialects while accepting many words from the proto-Australoid speech. Proto-Konkani born out of Shauraseni vernacular Prakrit at the earlier stage of the evolution and later Maharashtri prakrit, commonly spoken until 875 CE at its later phase ultimately developed into Apabhramsha which could be called as predecessor old Konkani. Goa was ruled by the Mauryas and the Bhojaa, as a result numerous migrations occurred from North-east and Western India. Immigrants spoke various vernaculars,which led to an admixture of features of Eastern and Western Prakrits. The Sumerians had trade contacts with India dating from 2100 BC. Many Sumerians settled in Goa and Konkan, arriving by sea. The period of Sumerian migration started about 2000 BC, after the first wave of Indo-Aryan speakers settled in Goa. Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions have been found in Goa. Dhume gives many examples of how Sumerian language influenced the native Goan tongue and how the language still retains many Sumerian features and words. It was substantially influenced later by Magadhi Prakrit and the overtones of Pali (the liturgical language of the Buddhists) that played a very important role in development of Konkani Apabhramsha grammar and vocabulary. A major number of linguistic innovations in Konkani are shared with Eastern Indo-Aryan languages like Bengali, Oriya which have its roots in Magadhi.

Maharashtri 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 as ''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 so prominent than 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, e.g.: ''dando'', ''suno'', ''raakhano'' and ''dukh'', ''rukhu'', ''manisu'' from prakrit ''dandao'', ''sunnao'', ''rakkhakao'', ''dukkhao'', ''vukkhao'' or ''vrukkhao'', ''mannisso'' respectively. Another example could be the sound of ''ण'' in the beginning of the words, is still retained in many Konkani words as in archaic Shauraseni. E.g.: णव nine.

This form of old Konkani is referred to as Paishachi apabhramsha by some linguists. This progenitor of Konkani or Paishachi apabhramsha has preserved an older form of phonetic and grammatic development showing greater variety of verbal forms found in Sanskrit and larger number of grammatical forms that are not found in Marathi, examples of which are found in many works like ''Dnyaneshwari'', and ''Leela Charitra''.

The language is endowed with overall Sanskrit complexity and grammatical structure, that developed a lexical fund of its own.

Influences

Kannada Influence

Though it belongs to Indo-Aryan group, Konkani was influenced by Kannada, a member of Dravidian family. The Kadambas who ruled Goa for a long period had their roots in Karnataka thus Konkani was not used for official purposes generally and did not receive royal patronage for some time. Another reason Kannada influence on Konkani is proximity of original Konkani speaking territory to Karnataka.

Old Konkani documents show considerable Kannada influence on grammar as well as the vocabulary. Like southern Dravidian languages Konkani has prothetic glides ''y-'' and ''w-''. 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, Konkani spoken in Dravidian regions has however borrowed numerous phrasal verb patterns.

The table below illustrates some phrasal verbs used in Konkani:

+ Phrasal verbs	Konkani in Goa and North Karnataka !! Konkani in South Karnataka!!Meaning
''bas'' or ''basun sod''	''baisa''	sit down
''randh'' or ''randhun ghe''	''randhun sodi''
''karun ghe''	''kornu dhi''

Konkani and Gujarati

It is said that Gujarat has got many historical ties with the port of Goa, mainly because of trade, and it is also said that many people have migrated to Goa via the port of Dwaraka.

The Kols, Kharwas, Yadavas, and the Lothal migrants settled in Goa during the pre-historic and the later period. ''Chavada'', a tribe of warriors (now known as ''Chaddi'' or ''Chaddo''), migrated to Goa from Saurashtra,during 7th and 8th century CE, after their kingdom was destroyed by the Arabs in 740 AD. Royal matrimonial relationships between the two states, and the trade relationships had a major impact on Goan society which greatly influenced the language as a whole.

Konkani and Gujarati have many words in common, not found in Marathi. Konkani ''O'' (as opposed to Marathi ''A'' which is of different Prakrit origin), is similar to that in Gujarati. The case terminations in Konkani ''lo'', ''li'', ''le'', and Gujarati ''no'', ''ni'', ''ne'' have same Prakrit roots. In both the languages the present indicatives have no gender, unlike Marathi.

Other foreign languages

Goa being a major centre for trade was visited by Arabs, Turks since early times. Thus many Arabic and Persian words infiltrated into Konkani language. A large number of Arabic and Persian words form an integral part of Konkani vocabulary now and commonly used in day to day life by its speakers.e.g.;''dukan''(shop),''karz''(debt),''fakt''(only),''dusman''(enemy),''barik''(thin) etc. Single and compound words are found herein the original meaning is changed or distorted;''mustaiki'',(from Arabic ''Mustaid'' meaning ready),''kapan khairo''-eater of one's own shroud/miser and so on.

Portuguese influence

Most of the old Konkani Hindu literature does not show any influence of the Portuguese language. Even the spoken dialects by the majority of Goan Hindus has a very less Portuguese influence. On the other hand, the spoken dialects of the Catholics from Goa (as well as the Canara to some extent), and their religious literature shows a strong Portuguese influence. They contain a number 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, ''Yamakuna'' for hell, ''Vaikuntha'' for paradise and so on). The syntax used by Goan Catholics in their literature shows a prominent Portuguese influence. As a result, many Portuguese loanwords are now commonly found in vernacular Konkani speech.

The Language

Early Konkani

The earliest inscription in Konkani found in the village of Aravalem, in Goa dated back in the Gupta period in Brahmi script, ascribed to the 2nd Century AD. It reads ''śacipurācyā śirāsi'' (on the top of Shachipura) in the late Brahmi script. Another inscription in Nāgarī, of Shilahara King Aaparditya of the year 1166 AD says: ''ātā̃ jō kōṇṇuyirē śāsanō̃ḷapī̃ tēcyā vēḍhyāta dēvācī bhāla saktumbī āpaḍē̃ tēcī mā̃ya gāḍhavē̃''. An inscription at the foot of the colossal Jain monolith Gomaṭēśvara (Bāhubali) ''Konkani: gomṭo – pretty masc., īśvar – God'' at Shravanabelagola of 981 CE reads ''"śrīcāvuṇḍarājē̃ kara viyālē̃, śrīgaṅgārājē̃ suttālē̃ kara viyālē̃"'' (Chavundaraya got it done, Gangaraya got the surroundings done). Stone and copper-plate inscriptions found in Goa and Konkan are written in an amalgam of Konkani and old-Marathi, written in Nāgarī as well as Goykanadi script. The grammar and the base of such texts is in Konkani, whereas very few verbs are in Marathi. One such stone inscription or ''shilalekh'' is found at the Nageshi temple in Goa (dating back to the year 1463 AD) mentions that the (then) ruler of Goa, Devaraja Gominam, had gifted land to the Nagueshi Maharudra temple when Nanjanna Gosavi was the religious head or the Pratihasta of the state. It mentions words like, ''kullgga'',''kulaagra'', ''naralel'', ''tambavem'', ''tilel''.

A piece of hymn dedicated to lord Narayana attributed to 12th century AD goes ''"jaṇẽ rasataḷavāntũ matsyarūpē̃ vēda āṇiyēlē̃. manuśivāka vāṇiyēlē̃. to saṁsārasāgara tāraṇu. mōhō to rākho nārāyāṇu".'' (The one who brought the Vedas up from the ocean in the form of a fish, from the bottoms of the water and offered it to Manu, he is the one Saviour of the world, that is Narayana my God.). A hymn from later 16th century goes ''vaikuṇṭhācē̃ jhāḍa tu gē phaḷa amṛtācē̃, jīvita rākhilē̃ tuvē̃ manasakuḷācē̃.''

Early Konkani was marked by the use of pronouns like ''dzo / jī / jẽ'' . This is replaced in contemporary Konkani by ''koṇa ''. The conjunctions '' yedō..tedō..'' (when..then...) which were user 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 Brijbhasha word ''mōhē'' has been replaced by ''mākā''.

Medieval Konkani

This era was marked by the invasion of Goa and subsequent exodus to Marhatta territory and Canara (today's coastal Karnaraka) and Cochin.

Hindu exodus ( between 1312–1327 when General Malik Kafur of the Delhi Sultans Alauddin Khilji and Muhammed bin Tughlaq destroyed Govepuri and the Kadambas

Hindu exodus subsequent to 1470 when the Bahamani kingdom captured Goa, and subsequently in 1492 by Sultan Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur

Hindu exodus due to persecution and proselytisation of Hindus by Portuguese Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries subsequent to 1500

Hindu, Muslim and Neo-Catholic Christian exodus during the Inquisition ordered by St. Francis Xavier which was established in 1560 and abolished in 1812.

These events caused the Konkani language to evolve into multiple dialects. The exodus to coastal Karnataka and Kerala required Konkani speakers in these regions to learn the local languages and hence this caused penetration of local words into the dialects of Konkani spoken by these speakers. e.g. the word ''dār'' (door) gave way to the word ''bāgil'' . The phoneme "a" in the Salcette dialect was replaced by the phoneme "o"

Other Konkani communities came into being with their own dialects of Konkani. The Konkani Muslim communities of Ratnagiri and Bhatkal came about due to a mixture of intermarriage of Arab seafarers and locals as well as conversions of Hindus to Islam. Another migrant community that picked up Konkani was the Siddis who were sailor-warriors from Ethiopia.

Contemporary Konkani

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

Geographical distribution

The Konkani language is spoken widely in the Western Coastal region of India known as Konkan. This consists of the Konkan division of Maharashtra, the state of Goa, and the Uttara Kannada (formerly North Canara), Shimoga, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada (formerly South Canara) districts of Karnataka, together with many districts in Kerala(Kasargod, Kochi, Alappuzha, Trivandrum, Kottayam etc.). Each region has a different dialect, pronunciation style, vocabulary, tone and sometimes, significant differences in grammar. The Census Department of India, 1991 figures put the number of Konkani speakers in India as 1,760,607 making up 0.21% of India's population. Out of these, 602,606 were in Goa, 706,397 in Karnataka, 312,618 in Maharashtra and 64,008 in Kerala. It ranks 15th in the list of Scheduled Languages by strength. According to the 2001 estimates of ''The Census Department of India'', there are 2,489,015 Konkani speakers in India. A very large number of Konkanis live outside India, either as expatriates or citizens of other countries (NRIs). Determining their numbers is difficult.

Ethnologue puts the number of Konkani speakers at 3.6 million in 2000.

A significant number of Konkani speakers are found in Kenya and Uganda, Pakistan, Persian Gulf and Portugal. During Portuguese rule many Goans had migrated to these countries. Many families still continue to speak different dialects that their ancestors spoke, which are now highly influenced by the native languages.

Konkani revival

Konkani was in a sorry state, 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 (Viswa Konknni Dis).

Madhav Manjunath Shanbhag, an advocate by profession from Karwar, who with a few like-minded companions travelled in all the Konkani speaking areas, seeking to unite the fragmented Konkani community under the banner of "one language, one script, one literature". He succeeded in organizing the first All India Konkani Parishad in Karwar in 1939 Successive Adhiveshans of All India Konkani Parishad held at various places in the following years. 27 Annual Adhiveshans of All India Konkani Parishad have been held so far. Haradi Rajaram Prabhu (1947–2011), a Bank employee by profession from Tirthahalli shimoga Karnataka, has contributed greatly to the growth of the samaj[Konkani community]. He served as incharge for the newly purchased GSB samaj bhavan between 2005 to 2009 and has worked significantly towards its growth and created great source of income for GSB Konkani community Bangalore during his tenure . His works have been greatly admired by the his contemperories and prominent personalities Mr Dinesh nayak and Mr Upendra nayak who are the leading members of GSB Konkani community at Bangalore during this period. — Haradi Rajaram Prabhu has also worked as social activist,philantrophist and a man of great values and principles.

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 reorganization 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. A plebiscite retained Goa as an independent state in 1967. However, English, Hindi and Marathi continued to be the preferred languages for official communication, while Konkani was sidelined.

Recognition as an independent language

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

Official language status

All this did not change anything in Goa. Finally fed up with the delay, Konkani lovers launched an agitation demanding official status to Konkani in 1986. The agitation turned violent in various places, resulting in the death of six agitators from Catholic Community, Mr. Floriano Vaz from Gogal Margao, Aldrin Fernandes, Mathew Faria, C. J. Dias, John Fernandes and Joaquim Pereira all from Agacaim. 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 Eight Schedule of the Constitution of India, as per the Seventy-First Amendment on 20 August 1992, adding it to the list of National Languages.

Exonyms

Konkani was commonly referred to as ''lingua canarim'' by the Portuguese. It was also known as ''lingua brahmana'' by the Catholic missionaries. Portuguese later started referring to Konkani as ''Lingua Concanim''.

Structure

Phonology

The Konkani language has 16 basic vowels (excluding equal number of long vowels), 36 consonants, 5 semi-vowels, 3 sibilants, 1 aspirate and many diphthongs. Like the other Indo-Aryan languages, 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 and alveolar stops are affricates. The palatal glides are truly palatal but other the consonants in the palatal column are alveopalatal. The voiced/voiceless contrasts is found only in the stops and affricates. The affricates are all voiceless and the sonorants are all voiced. The initial vowel-syllable is shortened after the aspirates and the fricatives. Many speakers substitute unaspirated consonants for aspirates. Aspirates in 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 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 as used in Hindi and Marathi.

Whereas most Indian languages use only one of the three front vowels, represented by the Devanagari grapheme ए (IPA:), Konkani uses three: , and .

Nasalizations exist for all vowels except for .

Consonants

{|class="wikitable" |+Consonants ! ||Labial||Dental||Alveolar||Retroflex||Alveopalatal||Velar||Glottal |-style="text-align:center" !Voicelessstops ||||| ||||||||  |-style="text-align:center" !Voicedstops ||||| ||||||||  |-style="text-align:center" !Voicelessfricatives | || |||| |||| || |-style="text-align:center" !Nasals ||||| ||||||||  |-style="text-align:center" !Liquids ||| || ||| |||| ||  |} The consonants in Konkani are similar to those in Marathi.

Grammar

Konkani grammar has an overall Sanskrit structure and is similar to other Indo-Aryan languages. Notably Konkani grammar is also influenced by Dravidian languages too. Konkani is a language rich in morphology and syntax. It cannot be described as a stress language nor as a tone language. Speech can be classified in any of the following parts: # ''naam'' (noun) # ''sarvanaam'' (pronoun) # ''visheshan'' (adjective) # ''kriyapad'' (verb) # ''kriyavisheshana'' (adverb) # ''ubhayanvayi avyaya'' # ''shabdayogi avyaya'' # ''kevalaprayogi avyaya''

Like most of the Indo-Aryan languages Konkani is SOV language, meaning among other things that can the only the verb that can be found at the end of the clause but also the modifiers and complements tend to precede the head and postpositions are far more common than prepositions. In terms of syntax Konknai is ''head-last'' language unlike English which is SVO language.

Almost all the verbs, adverbs, adjectives and the ''avyaya''s are either ''tatsama'' or ''tadbhava''. The following table illustrates it: {| {| style="text-align:center;border-collapse:separate;border-spacing:5px;background:white;" cellpadding=5px align=left width=70% |+ Verbs and their roots: |- style="font-weight:bold; text-align:center; background:lightgrey;" !align="center"|Konkani verbs !align="center"|Sanskrit/Prakrit Root !align="center"|Translation |- style="background:whitesmoke" |align="center"|वाच vaach (tatsama) |align="center"|वच् vach |align="center"|read |- style="background:whitesmoke" |align="center"|आफय, आपय aafay, aapay (tatsama) |align="center"|आव्हय् aavhay |align="center"|call, summon |- style="background:whitesmoke" |align="center"|रांध raandh (tatsama) |align="center"|रांध् raandh |align="center"|cook |- style="background:whitesmoke" |align="center"|बरय baray (tadbhav) |align="center"|वर्णय् varnay |align="center"|write |- style="background:whitesmoke" |align="center"|व्हर vhar (tadbhav) |align="center"|हर har |align="center"|take away |- style="background:whitesmoke" |align="center"|भक bhak (tadbhav) |align="center"|भक्ष् bhaksh |align="center"|eat |- style="background:whitesmoke" |align="center"|हेड hedd (tadbhav) |align="center"|अट् att |align="center"|roam |- style="background:whitesmoke" |align="center"|ल्हेव lhev (tadbhav) |align="center"|लेह् leh |align="center"|lick |- style="background:whitesmoke" |align="center"| शीन sheen (tadbhav) |align="center"|छिन्न chinna |align="center"|cut |- style="background:whitesmoke" |colspan=5 align="center"|Source:''Koṅkaṇî Dhatukosh'' |} |} Present indefinite of the auxiliary is fused with present participle of the primary verb, and the auxiliary is partially dropped. The southern dialects when came in contact with Dravidian languages this difference became more prominent in dialects spoken in Karnataka whereas Goan Konkani still retains the original form. e.g.: ''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'' Out of eight grammatical casess, Konkani has totally lost the dative, the locative and the ablative. It has partially lost the accusative and the instrumental cases too. So the preserved cases are: the nominative, the genitive and the vocative case.

Some Konkani Apabhramsha rules

Like other languages it has three genders, use of neuter gender is quite unique in Konkani. During the Middle Ages most of the Indo-Aryan languages lost their neuter gender, except Maharashtri, which is very much retained in Konkani than Marathi. Gender in Konkani is purely grammatical and unconnected to sex.

Unlike Sanskrit ''anusvara'' has great importance in Konkani. A characteristic of Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, Konkani still retains the ''anusvara'' on the initial or the final syllable. Similarly ''visarga'', is totally lost and is assimilated with उ and/or ओ; e.g. Sanskrit दीपः becomes दिवो and दुःख becomes दुख . Konkani retains the pitch accent which is a direct derivative of Vedic accent which probabaly would account for ''nasalism'' in Konkani.''Breathed'' accent is retained in most of the ''tatsama''s than the ''tadbhava''s.Declension also affects the accent.

Konkani has lost passive voice and now the transitive verbs in their perfects are equivalent to passives.

Konkani has rejected ऋ, ॠ, ऌ, ॡ, ष, क्ष and are assimilated with र, ख, ह, श and स. Sanskrit compound letters are avoided in Konkani; e.g. Sanskrit द्वे, प्राय, गृहस्थ, उद्योत become बे, पिराय, गिरेस्त, उज्जो respectively in Konkani.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary from Konkani comes from a number of sources.The main source is Prakrits.There are many indications that Konkani is more closer to Sanskrit than any other widely spoken Indian languages.So Sanskrit as a whole has played a very important part in Konkani vocabulary.Konkani vocabulary is made of ''tatsama'' (Sanskrit words without change), ''tadhbhava'' (adapted Sanskrit words), ''deshya'' (indigenous words) and ''antardeshya'' or foreign words.Other sources of vocabulary are Arabic,Persian and Turkish.Finally Kannada,Marathi and Portuguese have enriched its lexical content.

Sanskritisation

Konkani is not highly Sanskritised like Marathi, but it still retains Prakrit and apabhramsha structure, verbal forms and vocabulary. Though Goan Hindu dialect is highly Prakritsed, numerous Sanskrit loan words are found unlike the Catholic dialect which was influenced by Portuguese as they got converted in early 16th century. The catholic literary dialect has now adopted Sanskrit vocabulary again, the Catholic Church has also adopted Sanskritisation policy. Even though recently introduced Sanskritic vocabulary is difficult and unfamiliar to the new catholic generations, they have not revolted. On the other hand, southern Konkani dialects, having been influenced by Kannada, which is one of the most sanskritised language of Dravidian origin, have undergone re-sanskritisation in the due course of time.

Scripts

Past

Brahmi script was originally used but fell into disuse. A script called as ''Kandevi'' or ''Goykandi'' was used in Goa since the times of the Kadambas, although it lost its popularity after 17th century. ''Kandevi/Goykandi'' is very different from the Halekannada 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 Kadamba script which was extensively used in Goa and Konkan. The earliest documents written in this script is found in a petition addressed by Ravala Śeṭī; most probably a Gaunkar of Caraim in the islands of Goa, to the king of Portugal. This 15th century document bears signature in Konkani which says: ''Ravala Śeṭī baraha'' ( Translation: ''writing of Ravala Śeṭī''). The earliest known inscription in Devanagari dates back to 1187 A.D. The Roman script has the oldest preserved and protected literary tradition beginning from the 16th century.

Present

Konkani is today written in five scripts – Devanagari, Roman, Kannada, Malayalam and Perso-Arabic. The Goan Hindus use the Devanagari script in their writings while the Goan Catholics use the Roman script. The Saraswats of Karnataka use the Devanagari script in the North Kanara district, but those in Udupi and South Kanara use the Kannada script. The Karnataka Christians also use the Kannada script. Malayalam script was used by the Konkani community in Kerala, but now there is a move to use the Devanagari script. Konkani Muslims around Bhatkal taluka of Karnataka use Arabic script to write Konkani.

Alphabet or the ''Varṇamāḷha''

The vowels,consonants and their arrangement are:

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Dialects

Konkani, despite having a small population shows a very high number of dialects. The dialect tree structure of Konkani can easily be classified according to the region, religion, caste and local tongue influence.

Other researchers have classified the dialects differently.

;Kalelkar classification 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 Ratnagiri 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.

Southern Konkani: Dialects spoken in the Canara region(Mangalore & Udupi) of Karnataka which came in close contact with Tulu and Kannada.

;Ethnologue (ISO) classification

''Ethnologue'' assigns two ISO 639-3 codes to varieties of Konkani, which it labels a macrolanguage with the code : # Goan Konkani – official recognition as an independent language # Maharashtrian Konkani – no official recognition, treated by some linguists as a dialect of Marathi

Both languages are referred to as Konkani by their respective speakers.

Problems/issues

The Konkani language has been in danger of dying out primarily due to: # The fragmentation of Konkani into various, sometimes mutually unintelligible dialects. # The Portuguese influence in Goa, especially on Catholics. # Strong degree of bilingualism of Konkani Hindus in Goa and coastal Maharashtra with Marathi # Progressive inroads made by Urdu into the Muslim communities. # Mutual animosity among various religious and caste groups; including a secondary status of Konkani culture to religion. # Migration of Konkanis to various parts of India and around the world. # Lack of opportunities to study Konkani in schools and colleges. Even till recently there were few Konkani schools in Goa. Populations outside the native Konkani areas have absolutely no access to Konkani education, even informally. # Preference among Konkani parents to speak to their children in “Potaachi Bhas” (language of the stomach) over “Maaim Bhas”(mother tongue) Konkani; primarily in English to help their children gain a grip over 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. There has been a renewed interest in Konkani Literature. The recognition granted by Sahitya Akademi to Konkani and the institution of an annual award for Konkani literature has helped.

Some organisations such as the Konkan Daiz Yatra, organised by Konkani Bhasha Mandal, Mumbai since 1939 and the newer Vishwa Konkani Parishad have laid great stress on uniting all factions of Konkanis.

Multilingualism

According to the Census Department of India, Konkani speakers show a very high degree of multilingualism. 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.

While bilingualism is not by itself a bad thing, it has been misinterpreted as a sign that Konkani is not a developed language. The bilingualism of Konkanis with Marathi in 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 had a bearing on the future of Goa.

Konkani–Marathi dispute

It has been claimed by some quarters that Konkani is a dialect of Marathi and not an independent language. This has been attributed to several historical reasons (outlined in the History section), the close similarities between Marathi and Konkani, the geographical proximity between Goa and Maharashtra, the strong Marathi influence on Konkani dialects spoken in Maharashtra (such as Malwani), a supposed lack of literature in Konkani and a great degree of bilingualism of Konkani Hindus with respect to Marathi.

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 the error 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 costal Maharashtra (then, part of Bombay Presidency) and the Konkani spoken in Goa as being two different languages. He regarded the Konkani spoken in costal Maharashtra as a dialect of Marathi and not as a dialect of Goan Konkani itself. But, in his opinion, Goan Konkani was also to be considered a dialect of Marathi because the religious literature used by the Hindus in Goa was not in Konkani itself, but in Marathi. Grierson's opinion about Goan Konkani was not based on its linguistics but on the diglossic situation in Goa.

S. M. Katre's 1966 work, ''The Formation of Konkani'', which utilized 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 reorganized along linguistic lines. There were demands to merge Goa with Maharashtra state. 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 Sahitya Akademi (a prominent literary organization in India) recognized it as an independent language in 1975, and subsequently Konkani (in Devanagari script) was made the official language of Goa in 1987.

Script and dialect issues

The problems posed by multiple scripts and varying dialects have come as an impediment in the efforts to unite Konkanis. The decision to use Devanagari as official script and Antruz dialect has met with opposition both within Goa and outside it. The critics contend that Antruz dialect is unintelligible to most Goans, let alone other Konkanis, and that Devanagari is used very little as compared to Roman script in Goa or Kannada script in coastal Karnataka Prominent among the critics are Konkani Catholics in Goa, who have been at the forefront of the Konkani agitation in 1986–87 and have for long used the Roman script including producing literature in Roman script. They are demanding that Roman script be given equal status to Devanagari.

In Karnataka, which has the largest number of Konkanis, leading organisations and activists have similarly demanded that Kannada script be made the medium of instruction for Konkani in local schools instead of Devanagari. 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 script.

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 served the purpose of providing a common ground for Konkani people from all the regions. A new organisation known as Vishwa Konkani Parishad, which aims to be an all-inclusive and pluralistic umbrella organization for Konkanis around the world, was founded on 11 September 2005.

Mandd Sobhann is the premier organization which is striving hard to preserve, promote, propagate and enrich Konkani language and culture.

The Konkan Daiz Yatra, started in 1939 in Mumbai, is the oldest Konkani organisation. The Konkani Bhasha Mandal was born in Mumbai on April 5, 1942 during the Third Adhiveshan of All India Konkani Parishad. On December 28, 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 Goan capital Panaji, which 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, which is engaged in the vocation of patronizing Konkani language through theatre movement. The Government of Karnataka 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 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.”

Literature

The inquisition of Goa is seen as a blot in the history of the Konkani language. According to the orders of the Goan inquisition, it was an offense to remain in possession of books in local languages. All books, whatever their subject matter, written in Konkani, Marathi, or Sanskrit, were seized by the inquisition and burnt on the suspicion that they might deal with idolatry. It is probable that valuable non-religious literature dealing with art, literature, sciences, etc. were destroyed indiscriminately as a consequence. For instance, even before the inquisition orders, in a letter dated 24 November 1548, Fr. Joao de Albuquerque proudly reports his achievement in this direction.

The first writer in the history of Konkani language known to us today is ''Shamaraja''; he was also known as Krishnadas Shama as he was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna. He was born in the 15th century CE in the village of Quellosim in Goa. As per the date mentioned in his ''Shrikrishnacharitrakatha'', he began writing his book on 13th of the Vaishakha month of the Hindu lunar calender, which is 25 April 1526 according to the Gregorian calender. He authored ''Ramayana'', ''Mahabharata'' and ''Krishnacharitrakatha'' in prose style. The manuscripts have not been found, though transliterations in Roman script are found in Braga in Portugal. The script used by him for his work still remains a mystery. ''Vishnudas Nama'' who also takes pen-names like ''Vaishampayana'' and ''Parameshvaraco sharanagat nama'', authored ''Bhishmaparva'' and ''Adiparva'', transliterations of which are found in Public library of Braga in northern Portugal. Another copy of ''Ramayana'' does not bear any author's name, although the name of a certain ''Sadashiva'' has been mentioned.

The first known printed book in Konkani was written by an English Jesuit priest, Fr. Thomas Stephens in 1622, and entitled ''Dovtrina Cristam Em Lingoa Brahmana 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. Similarly, a book named ''A Konkani grammar'', was printed in the year 1882 in Mangalore by Angelo Francesco Saverio Maffei, and describes Canara Konkani grammar.

Broadcast media in Konkani

Radio

All India Radio started broadcasting Konkani news and other services. Radio Goa Panjim started Konkani broadcast in 1945. AIR Mumbai and Dharwad later started it in the years 1952 and 1965 respectively. Portuguese Radio, Lisbon started services in 1955 for India, East Africa and Portuguese. Similarly Trivandrum, Alleppey, Trichur and Calicut AIR centers started Konkani broadcasts.

Miscellanea

There is some disagreement about whether the name “Konkani” was always the accepted name for the language. The earliest reference to the Konkani language comes in a devotional poem by Sant Namdev (c.1270–c.1350 CE) where he has written a stanza in Konkani.

An international ad campaign by Nike for the 2007 Cricket World Cup featured a Konkani song ''Rav Patrao Rav'' as the background theme. It was based on the tune of an older song ''Bebdo'', composed by Chris Perry and sung by Lorna. The new lyrics 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'' held in Mangalore on 26 and 27 January 2008; has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for holding a 40-hour-long non-stop musical singing marathon by beating the Brazilian musical troupe who had previously held the record of singing non-stop for 36 hours.

A Konkani film ''Paltadacho Munis'', or ''The Man Beyond the Bridge'' was selected in the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) among 300 films being played there.

See also

Konkani languages

Konkani Script

Konkani in the Roman script

Konkani Phonology

Sahitya Akademi Award to Konkani Writers

Canara Konkani

Konkani Language Agitation

World Konkani Hall Of Fame

World Konkani Centre

Malvani

Maharashtri

Paisaci

Konkani people

Malvani people

Konkani words from other languages

Languages of India

Languages with official status in India

Linguistic issues in Goa

List of Indian languages by total speakers

Footnotes

References

External links

Konkani Phrasebook at Wikitravel

Learn Goan Konkani online

Learn Mangalorean GSB Konkani online

Learn Mangalorean Catholic Konkani online

The Origins of the Konkani Language

An excellent article on Konkani history and literature by Goa Konkani Academi

Online Manglorean Konkani Dictionary Project

Online Konkani (GSB) dictionary

World Konkani Centre, Mangalore

Category:Konkani Category:Southern Indo-Aryan languages Category:Indo-Aryan languages Category:Languages of India Category:SOV languages

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