INTERGENERATIONAL TULUVAS IN MUMBAI : NEGOTIATING A HYBRID LINGUISTIC TULU IDENTITY            

INTRODUCTION

Tulu is an Indian minority language spoken in the coastal region of Karnataka state of South India and Kasaragod district of Kerala. It belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian language family . Tulu language has a rich oral tradition but little has been written in the language. As per the 2011 Census report, in India, Tulu speakers were reported to be spoken by 1,846,427 people. Although Tulu till date has not been included as an official language, efforts are being made to have Tulu included in the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution to secure official recognition for the language. Tulu speakers globally look up to their language as an indicator of their unique culture and identity.

There aren’t any Tulu-medium schools nor is Tulu taught as a subject in schools except in some parts of Mangalore.  The majority of the third-generation Tuluvas who grew up in Mumbai city learn English, Hindi, Marathi, and other languages taught in their schools. Outside their homes, due to the influence of these mainstream languages and the lack of widespread popularity of their native language, they interact and engage with their peers and others in the languages that are more known and acceptable.

RATIONALE

The Tuluvas living in Mumbai have an affiliation to their home language (Tulu) and are comfortable with the other languages predominantly spoken in the city like English, Marathi and Hindi. This makes them embrace multiple languages with ease and they negotiate with the challenges of using these languages as an identity marker in the cosmopolitan setup of Mumbai city.

There is a perception that Tuluvas in Mumbai are moving away from the associations ( i.e cultural, social, traditional, etc.)attached to the Tulu community due to their preference for English, Marathi,Hindi and such other languages spoken in Mumbai owing to the metropolitan and multicultural aspects of the city.

This paper proposes to examine the assumptions related to this and its validity by studying the third-generation Tuluva’s usage of languages and their cultural and traditional attachments to Tulu speaking communities.

RESEARCH CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Linguistic Identity refers to the language a person speaks and how it shapes their cultural identity. It can play a significant role in shaping one’s sense of belonging and can facilitate communication and understanding between different cultures (Darwin and Norton,2015) According to Joseph John, speakers construct their identities by careful choice of the appropriate linguistic features that will convey the specific social information that identifies them as part of a particular speech community.

The first-generation Tulu-speaking community refers to individuals who are the first in their families to migrate to  Mumbai in search of better job opportunities and some for higher education. In most families in Mangalore, we observe at least one or more families who migrated to Mumbai. this generation held on to their culture, customs, and traditions more than the second generation the speaking community.

The second-generation Tulu-speaking community are the offsprings of the initial migrants who settled in Mumbai. They were born or raised in Mumbai by these first-generation migrants from the Tulu-speaking region of Karnataka. They form a significant part of the city’s population in Mumbai and have been influenced by factors such as the search for better educational and employment opportunities as well as exposure to a diverse metropolitan urban life in Mumbai. This exposure has given rise to acceptance of cultural diversity eg inter-community marriages which are more frequent in Mumbai compared to the native region.

The third-generation tulu speaking community in this study refers to those members of the community who grew up in the city of Mumbai since childhood and whose family and themselves continue to maintain a home and have strong ties to the city in terms of schooling and career opportunities as well as interactions with the Mumbaikars on various social, cultural and economic associations that the city offers..This exposure has led to the evolution of a unique cultural identity that has elements of Tulu culture but more acceptance and influences of urban life in Mumbai

LITERATURE REVIEW

The article “Minority Matters: Issues in Minority Languages in India” written by Rajeshwari Pandharipande, discusses the challenges and issues faced by minority languages in India. The article provides insights into the linguistic diversity of India and the struggles encountered by minority languages in the country. To safeguard the minority languages in India, it is important for language planning and documentation and also the need for proactive language practices within ethnic groups and family institutions to promote the continued usage of minority languages. The article talks about the significance of protecting and promoting linguistic diversity in India.

The paper “Language Contact and the Maintenance of the Tulu Language” by Malavika Shetty examines the motivations behind the survival of Tulu, a minority language in South India, language identity and language maintenance movement for achieving official language recognition for Tulu and teaching in schools and other such domains. The paper provides insights into the challenges and dynamics of language maintenance in the context of Tulu. Shetty argues that the lack of codeswitching between Tulu and Kannada has facilitated the maintenance of Tulu in the South Kannara district of South India.

Consuela Wagner’s work “Migration and the Creation of Hybrid Identity: Chances and Challenges” explores the impact of migration on individual identity. how migration leads individuals to confront their self-identity and their adaption to a new culture, leading to the need to redefine their own identity.

The paper is written by Eda Derhemi, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign which focuses on the challenges faced by endangered languages, particularly those spoken by minority groups. The paper analyzes various aspects of the loss of minority languages, whether indigenous or migrant, in the presence of a dominant second language.

“Every family living in a bi/multilingual environment faces the question of what language(s) to speak with their children and must make a decision, consciously or otherwise, about these issues. The opportunity and challenges facing families negotiating the issues of language maintenance and language learning in the home” (Macalister, Mirvahedi, 2017)

In his book “Language Death,” David Crystal discusses the rapid endangerment of many minority languages across the world and the impact on cultural identity in an increasingly globalized culture. He asks the fundamental question, “Why is language death so important and what can be done to reduce its impact? The importance of preserving languages is evident in the preservation of cultural heritage and identity.Language serves as an expression of culture and serves as a means of communicating values, beliefs, and customs, fostering feelings of group identity and solidarity. When a language is lost, an integral part of a culture’s identity is also lost, including its unique form of cultural, spiritual, and intellectual expression. Efforts to preserve and revitalize endangered languages are crucial to maintaining cultural diversity and identity.”The relationship between language and the potential impact on cultural identity can be examined in various contexts, highlighting the positive and negative effects of a person’s perceived dominant language on cultural identity.Efforts to preserve and revitalize endangered languages are crucial to maintaining cultural diversity and identity.

Lev Ari, Lilach, and Nir Cohen’s work “Acculturation Strategies and Ethnic Identity Among Second-Generation Israeli Migrants in the United States” examines the acculturation strategies employed by second-generation Israeli migrants in the United States as part of their ethnic identity formation process and these findings reveal that the acculturation strategies dynamically impact the ethnic identities of second-generation migrants, with each strategy leading to different attitudes towards their homeland, host country cultures, and of the migrants.

After Amnesia: Tradition and Change in Indian Literary Criticism” by G.N. Devy talks about how literary historians believe that amnesia is responsible  for the critical tradition in modern Indian languages.The book provides an insightful exploration of the impact of colonialism on Indian literary criticism and the need for a reevaluation of literary history in India

In his book “A Comparative Grammer of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages” , published in 1856, linguist Robert Caldwell called Tulu “one of the most highly developed languages of the Dravidian family””In this book, Caldwell studied the Dravidian languages, including Tulu. He highlighting its significance and complexity within the linguistic landscape of South India. This recognition by Caldwell highlighted the rich linguistic heritage by acknowleding its cultural importance.