Tulu cognate dictionary to be released on March 15

A Tulu Jnatipadasanchaya, a Tulu cognate dictionary sponsored and published by Nitte Deemed to be University, will be released on March 15, at Justice K S Hegde Charitable Hospital, Deralakatte.

Bangalore University Professor Emeritus Dr Hampa Nagarajaiah and former Hampi Kannada University vice chancellor Prof B A Vivek Rai will be the chief guests.

Tulu Jnatipadasanchaya is a dictionary of Dravidian Cognates in which Tulu words are recorded as main entries. Kannada, Kodava, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu words will follow in respective order. Cognates from Havyaka, Moya Malayalam, Koraga and Beary languages are also considered and recorded, stated a press release.

The release said, “Every cognate word (i.e main entry and its variation, if any) is first given in revised Kannada script followed by transliteration in revised Roman script. Cognate words from languages other than Tulu are recorded only in revised Roman script. All the cognates are given according to the visual form as seen in the indigenous scripts of respective languages, without following the pronouncing form.’’

Meanings of Tulu words are given both in Kannada and English. Different meanings are differentiated with numbers. Different font types are employed to make the dictionary lucid and attractive. The dictionary has seven indexes, given in the beginning to facilitate an easy search of cognate words.

There are 7,064 main entries. Meanings are given to more than 37,300 cognates. The dictionary work has been carried out in a very short, record period of just 4 years, employing more than 2,000 man hours. The dictionary has a detailed introduction both in Kannada and English, which gives a clear picture of Tulu language, literature and a critical appraisal of the dictionaries produced hitherto in Tulu and also the attempt of Cognate Dictionary work in Dravidian languages, the release added.