Acceso usuarios
Reshma Jacob
This paper analyses the extent of language contact induced change in the sound system of heritage Konkani community of Kerala, India. Heritage Konkanis, belonging to different castes namely Gowda Saraswat Brahmins (GSB), Saraswat non-brahmins, Konkan Sonars, Vaishya Vaniyar and Kudumbi, started migrating to Kerala in the late 13th century. The upper caste GSBs remained as a closed community until 20th century, which helped in the maintenance of their language. Linguistic data for the study was collected from 20 GSB youths of the age group 18-35 using Snowball sampling method. The analysis of the data shows loss of features such as aspiration and nasalization, which are inherent to Konkani. This indicates the vulnerable linguistic situation of the GSB community whose mother tongue exhibits linguistic variations, as a result of prolonged coexistence with the majority language, Malayalam.
