Kodava language is not a ‘dialect’

Sir,

We are impressed with your good review and critique of the book “A Place Apart” in Star of Mysore dated Jan. 8, 2022, and agree with your views.

The only surprise is that you continue to call the Kodava language as a ‘dialect’ when it has been established by linguistic experts the world over that it is a very old independent Dravidian language.

Please refer to our letter to the editor on that topic, published in your paper in August 2021.

Here is the reproduction of the relevant text for your perusal and for the benefit of the vast readers:

“Another common misconception is that it (Kodava language) is a dialect, since it is an oral language with no script of its own. That makes many major languages of the world like English, French, Spanish, German and Hindi (to name a few) dialects since they too do not have their own script!”

We hope the common misconception among people that Kodava thakk is a dialect will be corrected.

– Mrs. & Mr. Boverianda Chinnappa, Mysuru, 9.1.2022

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