A Script For BADAGA
BADAGA SCRIPT – BADAGA BARAE
It has always been felt that for a language to survive, it should have its own script. It cannot remain only as a spoken language for long. But of course, the script need not be peculiar and specific one pertaining to that particular language.
So too is the necessity of a script for Badaga. Many have attempted to achieve this objective with various degrees of success. But unfortunately, to my knowledge, no records exists, if any. I am no expert on phonetics or languages or much less innovating an unique script. But the urge to have a separate script has convinced me that it is very much possible to ‘ADOPT’ an existing script and ‘ADAPT’ it to Badaga language.
Three scripts come to mind straight away – Tamil, English and Kannada.Tamil – because a majority of us know how to speak and write due to the simple fact that we belong to Tamil Nadu, English – since most of us choose to learn as well as put our children in English medium schools and Kannada – due to the fact that Badaga is more akin to Kannada than any other language [though I firmly beleive that Badaga is a separate language on its own merit and not a dialect of Kannada].
But when trying to choose a script for Badaga, Kannada script is ruled out for the basic reason that most of us do not know the language or familiar with the script and no scope to learn it in our schools in the Nilgiris. Hence the choice between Tamil and English. Badaga ,like many other Indian languages, has very definitive and distintive sounds/words [I do not know the exact English equivalent] that distinguishes one word from another. Even a small change in pronounciation could result in an entirely different meaning in Badaga. For example,a subtle change in context of the word ‘BAE [bay]‘ could mean mouth, bangle, lentil, crop etc. Bella [jaggery] or BeLLa [ a male name] are two entirely differnt things. So are ‘kallu – stone’ and ‘KaLLu – a drink’. So, what could or should be the choice?
In Tamil script we cannot differentiate ‘K’ from ‘G’ or ‘T’ from ‘D’. This makes a huge impact when Badaga words are written in Tamil script. ‘Gaasu – potato’ is totally differnt from ‘Kaasu – coin, remove’. Or ‘Ettu – eight’ and ‘Eddu – getup’. Another drawback could be the absence of ‘Ha’ in classical Tamil. On the other hand, in English, we cannot clearly bring out the difference of ‘na’ from ‘Na’ [anna - food, aNNa- elder brother] or ‘halli – lizard’ from ‘haLLi – name, village’. ‘Kalla – a male name’ sounds the same as ‘ kaLLa – a thief.
Yes, it is indeed a little tricky to choose between Tamil and English. But, taking into consideration the younger generation who are going to be the future hope and the irrefutable fact that they are all more familiar with English than Tamil, the choice is English. Keeping in mind the successful adoptation of English script for Malay language (Malaysia) I would plump in for English. With a few minor modifications to overcome the grey areas mentioned above, English script can be easily used in Badaga.
Remember Devanagiri (Hindi) is the script for Nepali. The ‘minor’ modifications that can be undertaken to overcome the drawbacks I referred above could be by using an extra ‘a’ – thus milk can be written as ‘haalu’; ‘dhadi – stick’ can be different from ‘dhaadi – beard’. So on and so forth. We may use ‘capital’ letters to differentiate between ‘bella and beLLa’ as I have done above.What if a complete sentence is in capital letters ? – We may use ‘bold’ letters or underline the words to give the emphasis. Innovative use of – ‘ – [apostrophe] can bring out the differnce between “soppu – green ” and “so’ppu – soap” or “kodi – flag” and “ko’di – crore”.
It is said that Indians [read Badagas] will reject 50% of anything without even hearing it, another 50% without understanding it; and if ‘anything’ is left behind they reject it just for the sake of rejecting it. Like what is happening in many hattis with ‘young gowdas’ ruling the roost.
BUT, ALL YOU TRUE BADAGAS – LET US START SOMEWHERE TO HAVE A SCRIPT FOR OUR LANGAUGE. IMPROVEMENTS AND INNOVATIONS CAN FALLOW. IF MICROSOFT CAN ACCEPT BADAGA AS AN UNIQUE LANGUAGE , THERE MUST BE SOMETHING . SARI THAANE ?
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Badaga in English Script
How the numbers are mentioned in various South Indian Languages is given below. This is from the :WWW -> NET : What I am trying to highlight is the use of English script !?
For numbers in more than 5000 languages go to zompist.com
Another Interesting Link -> Badaga language Totally Explained
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BELLE BENGUVE – GARLIC [in whatever language you say, is always good for health - though may not be for "LOVE"]
Notice : belle[white] is written as be!!e at the end
Sanskrit लशुन laśuna yields Hindi लहसन lahsan,
Urdu لہسن lahsan (but also سیر sīr from Persian), Nepali लसुन lasun, Marathi लसूण lasūṇ,
Bengali রসুন rasuna, Gujarati લસણ lasaṇa,
Oriya ରସୁଣ rasuṇa, Punjabi ਲਸਣ lasaṇ, Konkani लोसुण losuṇa.
Tamil has வெள்ளைப்பூண்டு veḷḷaippūṇṭu ‘white herb’, less commonly வெள்ளுள்ளி veḷuḷḷi,
like Malayalam വെളുത്തുള്ളി veḷuththuḷḷi and
Kannada ಬೆಳ್ಳುಳ್ಳಿ beḷḷuḷḷi ‘white onion’, and வெள்வெங்காயம veḷvengkāyam,
like Badaga beḷḷe benguve ‘white onion’.
Sanskrit लशुन laśuna yields Hindi लहसन lahsan, Urdu لہسن lahsan (but also سیر sīr from Persian), Nepali लसुन lasun, Marathi लसूण lasūṇ, Bengali রসুন rasuna, Gujarati લસણ lasaṇa, Oriya ରସୁଣ rasuṇa, Punjabi ਲਸਣ lasaṇ, Konkani लोसुण losuṇa. I wanted to include a choice quote from The Bower Manuscript (better description in this review of Hoernle’s publication) on the Origin (and folk etymology) of Garlic (quoted in English in The Book of Garlic from an article by von Strubing in Ernährungsforschung), but even the inexpensive Indian edition is a bit steep. So if I manage to track it down, it can be part of the next garlic post. Tamil has வெள்ளைப்பூண்டு veḷḷaippūṇṭu ‘white herb’, less commonly வெள்ளுள்ளி veḷuḷḷi, like Malayalam വെളുത്തുള്ളി veḷuththuḷḷi and Kannada ಬೆಳ್ಳುಳ್ಳಿ beḷḷuḷḷi ‘white onion’, and வெள்வெங்காயம veḷvengkāyam, like Badaga beḷḷe benguve (வெள்ளெவெஙுவெ?) ‘white onion’.
The above interesting piece is taken from ->
http://polyglotveg.blogspot.com/2007/03/garlic.html#rest
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As far as the English script used to show Badaga, I am giving below two examples of 1) the UCLA Phonetics Laboratory [for over half a century, has collected recordings of hundreds of languages from around the world, providing source materials for phonetic and phonological research] and 2) Prof.P Hockings ,
From the UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive
(The unicode entry tool was developed by the Linguist List. To obtain it for use in other web pages click here)
See for more details : http://archive.phonetics.ucla.edu/Language/BFQ/bfq_word-list_1992_03.html
Research on Badaga
I found this interesting article – research by Prof: Peter Ladefoged in the net. Is it not fascinating that so much research has been done on our language ?
Peter Ladefoged Languages index
Badaga is a Southern Dravidian Language (Tamil-Kannada branch) spoken by approximately 250,000 people in the Nilgiris hills in Southern India. There are several dialects, only the most conservative having the complete set of contrasts illustrated here.
>Badaga has five vowels /i e a o u/ , all of which can be contrastively half and fully retroflexed.
Half retroflexed vowels are indicated by the diacritic for rhotocity :[a~], fully retroflexed vowels with a subscript dot [a]
This is how Prof: P Hockings depicts the Badaga Words in English script
Some more thoughts on adopting English script for Badaga
Picking up from what Prof.Paul Hockings has mentioned – rather the unicode[?] used – in the example shown here from his book Counsel from the Ancients: Study of Badoga Proverbs, Prayers, Omens and Curses (page 54. Outline of Badaga Language – 2.1.2 Vowel Contrasts ) , I am suggesting a simple and straight forward work around.
The words ‘to stand’ & ‘paddy’ are written as ‘nillu & nellu’ . No problems with that.
But ‘whistling’ & ‘to cook’ are written as ‘bi:su & be:su’ . My suggestion is use ‘beesu & baesu’ as they are pronounced.
(FootBall is FUTBAL and Photo is Foto in some languages that go by the pronounciation and thus making it easy).
‘To wander’ ’suttu’ is used. But to me ’suttu’ sounds more like ‘to burn’ . I would suggest ’suthu’ for wandering. [ 'SUTHUGAL or SUTHUKAL' sounds familiar, is it not?]. Same thing for ‘property’ – ’sothu’ ‘ instead of ’sottu’ which sounds more like ’sottu’ – ‘drop’ .
To blow ‘oodu’ – udu’ sounds and looks better than ‘u:du’ and ‘odhu’ instead of ‘o:du’ which to a novice like me is ‘run’ or ’tile’ – ‘odu’ .
‘To shine’ – it could be ‘michu’ instead of ‘miccu and ‘muchu’ instead of ‘muccu’ for covering. ‘Muccu’ sounds or looks more like ‘mukku’ – to gobble or swallow .
‘hennu’ [ 'fruit' ] could be written as ‘heNNu’ [girl] and ‘hannu’ as ‘haNNu’ to bring out the emphasis on ‘N’.
‘nadu’ for ‘middle’ or plant is OK but for ‘country’ it could be ‘ naadu ‘ than ‘na:du’ .
Similarly, my suggestin : – for ‘now’ – ‘ ‘eega’ , ‘bamboo’ – ‘oede’ , ‘village’ – ‘ooru’ ‘
The main and only creteria should be the ease of use and understanding and yes, without the use of , what I would like to term as, ‘dots’ and ‘quotes’.
(I would like to repeat that I am no expert on languages and no intention is implied to hurt the purists and followers of UNICODE etc]
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No articles, images and other material in this website can be reproduced without the written permission of
Wing Commander Bellie Jayaprakash B.E.(GCT,Madras Univ).,M.B.A (FMS, Delhi Univ)
Contact : bjaypee@gmail.com
belliejayaprakash©2008
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Mookuthi 
Chinna 
View from Akoni 
Hubbathalai 
Hakkilu Hoo [Bird Flower] found in the Nilgiri Hills
Sunrise from my home "Dhoddi" at Hubbathalai 
Tiger is Huli in Badaga
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Arunan said,
28/06/2007 at 7:18 am
……… regarding choosing a script for badaga… I am researching in this field to choose a right script for this beautiful language… and this is the right time to develop more literary works in badaga… for me I think choosing the tamil script with little modification may develop badaga language very much… it is true tamil language has no separate script to denote GA sound and Dha but using diacratic symbols below tamil Ka and tamil Tha can be taken as separate script…
Senthil said,
14/09/2007 at 5:35 pm
I do agree with Arunan…
Tamil Script can be used with additional scripts for some letters (such Additional letters can be made simple by using Malayalam letters ).
By the way, the generation can be enriched by using the state lanugage but at the same time can develop their literatures soon.
Konkani till now in a dispute to follow a new script….have not developed yet.
But If Badaga can use Tamil, sure Tamil Nadu Government related subsidy can be brought by using MLAs and MPs from Ooty.
balaji said,
07/08/2008 at 12:21 am
I am very proud to be a baduga.. while seeing all these things.
How our people improved and how our community got spread..
I wish u all the for our community and i hope it will spread out all over the world…
Radha said,
29/10/2008 at 9:45 am
Use of Tamil script will alienate a huge chunk of us who only read and write English and Hindi. Most folk who know Tamil can read and write English as the above comments reveal!. Do not search for subsidies and politize these issues. Be Global, so many foreigners can learn the language if the script is in English!. Do not limit yourself!
மஞ்சூர் ராசா said,
22/11/2008 at 10:49 am
படுகு மொழிக்கு எழுத்துக்கள் உருவாக்க அனைவரும் முயற்சிக்கவேண்டும். இதில் யாரேனும் முயன்றுள்ளார்களா என்பது தெரிந்தால் நலம்.
மஞ்சூர் ராசா said,
11/12/2008 at 4:06 pm
எல்லோருகு நமஸ்காரா.
படுகு பாஸைய தமிழுதோகெ பரவது பத்தி ஒந்து பிரச்சினை இல்லேந்துத்த தோரிறா. இன்னொந்து முக்கிய விசய ஏனாந்தலெ நங்க தமிழ்நாடுதோகெ இப்பதெந்த தமிழ் எழுத்தவே படுகுதோகெ பரவதுகு உபயோகிச்சோது ஒள்ளித்து. ஐரோப்பாதோகெ பேரெ பேரெ பாஸெ அட்டலெயு எழுத்தெல்லா கிட்டத்தட்ட ஒந்தே மாக்கெத்தா அடதே.
மஞ்சூர் ராசா said,
11/12/2008 at 4:20 pm
நண்பர்கள் அனைவருக்கும் வணக்கம்.
நீலகிரியின் மிகவும் பழைய மலைவாழ்மக்களான நம்மை பின் தங்கிய வகுப்பினராக வைத்திருப்பது என்பது நம்மால் ஏற்றுக்கொள்ளக்கூடியதல்ல. (கடந்த காலத்தில் நமது ஒரு சில பெரியவர்கள் செய்த தவறு இது) நம்மை ஆதிவாசிகள் (Scheduled Tribe) என்பதில் தான் சேர்க்கவேண்டும். இதற்காக அரசாங்கத்திலும் மற்றும் முக்கிய பதவிகளில் இருப்பவர்களும் உடனடியாக முயற்சிக்கவேண்டும்.
Arunan said,
22/12/2008 at 8:43 am
I am really happy all badugas having same wish for creating a script using tamil script i also agree we can adopt few mallu script , if it needed. people ple join with me and help to develop a new script using tamil script. developing new literary activities in baduga develop it into a prominent language.yes in europe all languages having same script but different pronounciation. So using tamil script we can start a new development. All badugas should join in hands to carry a new era.
siva kumar.j.s. said,
24/12/2008 at 10:01 pm
i am from kandibikkai village. presently working at andra pradesh. when i came across our site, i feel proud about u and ur team members,who work for this.i feel proud to be born as badaga. keep on going………. all the best.
Arun said,
13/02/2009 at 6:03 pm
I have been living in Bangalore and realise that Badaga is very muh similar to Kannada. I strogly fell we can use Kannada script as all the words of Badaga can written clearly in Kannada script. Similar example is Konkani using Marathi script as both the languages are alike. I feel this is the appropriate solution.
G S AANDY said,
20/02/2009 at 1:05 pm
It is high time that we take concrete steps to create script for BADAGA language.I am keen to do my bit in leading,organising a team to exclusively concentrate on this and complete the task within a timebound programme.Interested Badagas are welcome.
Arunan said,
27/02/2009 at 7:17 am
hi G S AANDY I am like to be part with u in developing a new script u can contact me at any time , so that i can help u . So lets start this work and ve to finish within a 5 yrs time. so we need to talk with older people about this in badaga community.
Asha said,
09/10/2009 at 5:43 pm
Hi am ASHA ,when I saw this site I was really suprised. Appara santhoshava adathae , ithava onthu arputhavana language ga script ila yenthu nenachuvanae kashtava attuthu but now I am very confident that we will have our own scripts within a short period. Am ready to do my best for your organisation. Am very honored to say this “U GUYZ SIMPLY ROCK” and of course we will rock.Keep going………. BEST WISHES.
Arunan said,
12/10/2009 at 6:59 am
I have moved to Canada, but I have keen interest in developing the script for Badaga language. Modified Tamil script can be taken as Badaga script, so that we can start a news paper and publishing house, so that we can print more books on Badaga language. Friends, share your views for a joint work.Is there any publication in Badaga language? All badugas should join in hands to carry a new era.
Arunan said,
16/10/2009 at 11:05 pm
Forming a committee consisting of Badaga friends, Linguistic, and Badaga language interested friends to Seek, Share and Do something to develop Badaga Sakithya Academy , to create awareness in developing script, start school classes in Badaga language and develop Badaga dictionary projects. We can ask for NGO’s and Tamil Nadu Government to fund the project. Start today , tomorrow never comes. Hoping for a joint effort with you friends, I am here.