Konkani language


Konkani, formerly Concani or Concanese, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Konkani people, primarily in the Konkan region, along the western coast of India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages mentioned in the Indian Constitution, and the official language of the Indian state of Goa. It is also spoken in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat as well as Damaon, Diu & Silvassa.
Konkani is a member of the Southern Indo-Aryan language group. It retains elements of Vedic structures and shows similarities with both Western and Eastern Indo-Aryan languages. The first known Konkani inscription, dated to the 2nd century AD and sometimes claimed as "Old Marathi" is the one at Arvalem; the second oldest Konkani inscription, is one of those at Shravanabelagola, dated to between 981 AD and 1117 AD, it was wrongly touted as "Old Marathi" from the time it was discovered and interpreted. Other Konkani inscriptions are found scattered across the Konkan region, especially from Kurla in Bombay to Ponda, Goa.
Many Konkani dialects are spoken along and beyond the Konkan region, from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; most of which are only partially 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 Nagpore, Surat, Cochin, Mangalore, Ahmedabad, Karachi, New Delhi, etc. Dialects such as Malvani, Chitpavani, and Damani in Maharashtra are threatened by language assimilation into the linguistic majority of non-Konkani states and territories of India.

Classification

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

Names and their etymology

It is quite possible that Old Konkani was just referred to as Prakrit by its speakers. Reference to the name Konkani is not found in literature prior to the 13th century. The first reference of the name Konkani is in "Abhanga 263" of the 13th century Hindu Marathi saint poet, Namadeva. 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, 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 tribe, who were the original inhabitants of the land where Konkani originated.
  • According to some texts of Puranas, Parashurama shot his arrow into the sea and commanded the Sea God to recede up to the point where his arrow landed. The new piece of land thus recovered came to be known as Konkan meaning piece of earth or corner of earth, kōṇa + kaṇa. This legend is mentioned in Sahyadrikhanda of the Skanda Purana.

    History

Proposed substrate influences

The substratum of the Konkani language lies in the speech of Austroasiatic tribes that may have once inhabited the region. According to the Indian Anthropological Society, these Australoid tribes speaking Austro-Asiatic or Munda languages who once inhabited Konkan, migrated to Northern India 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, madval, choru and mulo. 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 1100-700 BC the first wave of Indo-Aryans dialect speakers might have occurred, with the second wave appearing around 700-500 BC. Many spoke old Indo-Aryan vernacular languages, which may be loosely related to Vedic Sanskrit; others still spoke Dravidian and Desi dialects. Thus the ancient Konkani Prakrit was born as a confluence of the Indo-Aryan dialects while accepting many words from Dravidian speech. Some linguists assume Shauraseni to be its progenitor whereas some call it Paisaci. The influence of Paisachi over Konkani can be proved in the findings of Taraporewala, who in his book Elements of Science of Languages 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 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. Konkani thus developed with overall Sanskrit complexity and grammatical structure, which eventually developed into a lexical fund of its own. The second wave of Indo-Aryans is believed to have been accompanied by Dravidians from the Deccan plateau. Paishachi is also considered to be an Aryan language spoken by Dravidians.
Goa and Konkan were ruled by the Konkan Mauryas and the Bhojas; as a result, numerous migrations occurred from north, east and western India. Immigrants spoke various vernacular languages, which led to a mixture of features of Eastern and Western Prakrit. It was later substantially influenced by Magadhi Prakrit. The overtones of Pali also played a very important role in the development of Konkani Apabhramsha grammar and vocabulary. A major number of linguistic innovations in Konkani are shared with Eastern Indo-Aryan languages like Bengali and Oriya, which have their roots in Magadhi.
Maharashtri Prakrit is the ancestor of Marathi and Konkani, it was the official language of the Satavahana Empire that ruled Goa and Konkan in the early centuries of the Common Era. Under the patronage of the Satavahana Empire, Maharashtri became the most widespread Prakrit of its time. Studying early Maharashtri compilations, many linguists have called Konkani "the first-born daughter of Maharashtri". This old language that was prevalent contemporary to old Marathi is found to be distinct from its counterpart.
The Sauraseni impact on Konkani is not as prominent as that of Maharashtri. Very few Konkani words are found to follow the Sauraseni pattern. Konkani forms are rather more akin to Pali than the corresponding Sauraseni forms. The major Sauraseni influence on Konkani is the ao sound found at the end of many nouns in Sauraseni, which becomes o or u in Konkani. Examples include: dando, suno, raakhano, dukh, rukhu, manisu, 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. Archaic Konkani born out of Shauraseni vernacular Prakrit at the earlier stage of the evolution, 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 from the 2nd century BC to the 10th century AD are in Prakrit-influenced Sanskrit, most of the places, grants, agricultural-related terms, and names of some people are in Konkani. This suggests that Konkani was spoken in Goa and Konkan.
Though it belongs to the Indo-Aryan group, Konkani was influenced by a language of the Dravidian family. A branch of the Kadambas, who ruled Goa for a long period, had their roots in Karnataka. Konkani was never used for official purposes. Another reason Kannada influenced Konkani was the proximity of original Konkani-speaking territories to Karnataka. Old Konkani documents show considerable Kannada influence on grammar as well as vocabulary. Like southern Dravidian languages, Konkani has prothetic glides y- and w-. The Kannada influence is more evident in Konkani syntax. The question markers in yes/no questions and the negative marker are sentence final. Copula deletion in Konkani is remarkably similar to Kannada. Phrasal verbs are not so commonly used in Indo-Aryan languages; however, Konkani spoken in Dravidian regions has borrowed numerous phrasal verb patterns.
The Kols, Kharwas, Yadavas, and Lothal migrants all settled in Goa during the pre-historic period and later. Chavada, a tribe of warriors, migrated to Goa from Saurashtra, during the 7th and 8th century AD, after their kingdom was destroyed by the Arabs in 740. Royal matrimonial relationships between the two states, as well as trade relationships, had a major impact on Goan society. Many of these groups spoke different Nagar Apabhramsha dialects, which could be seen as precursors of modern Gujarati.
  • Konkani and Gujarati have many words in common, not found in Marathi.
  • The Konkani O, is similar to that in Gujarati.
  • The case terminations in Konkani, lo, li, and le, and the Gujarati no, ni, and ne have the same Prakrit roots.
  • In both languages the present indicatives have no gender, unlike Marathi.