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Introduction

Konkani is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-European family of languages and is spoken along the western coast of India. It is one among 22 scheduled languages included in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution and the official language of the Indian state of Goa. It is a minority language in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Northern Kerala and in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu.

Konkani is a member of the southern Indo-Aryan language group. It retains elements of the old Indo-European language structure and shows similarities with both western and eastern Indo-Aryan languages.

 

Contemporary Konkani is written in Devanagari, Kannada, Malayalam, Persian, and Roman scripts. It is written by speakers in their native dialects. The Konkani language is spoken widely in the western coastal region of India known as Konkan. This consists of the Konkan division of Maharashtra, the state of Goa, and the Uttara Kannada (formerly North Canara), Udupi, and Dakshina Kannada (formerly South Canara) districts of Karnataka, together with many districts in Kerala (such as Kasargod, Kochi, Alappuzha, Trivandrum, and Kottayam). Each region has a different dialect, pronunciation style, vocabulary, tone and sometimes, significant differences in grammar. The Census Department of India, 1991 figures put the number of Konkani speakers in India as 1,760,607 making up 0.21% of India’s population. Out of these, 602,606 were in Goa, 706,397 in Karnataka, 312,618 in Maharashtra, and 64,008 in Kerala. It ranks 15th on the List of Scheduled Languages by strength. According to the 2001 estimates of the Census Department of India, there are 24,89,015 Konkani speakers in India. on 4 February 1987, the Goa Legislative Assembly passed the Official Language Bill, making Konkani the official language of Goa.

 

Konkani is today written in five scripts: Devanagari, Roman, Kannada, Malayalam, and Perso-Arabic. The Goan Hindus use the Devanagari script in their writings while the Goan Catholics use the Roman script. The Saraswats of Karnataka use the Devanagari script in the North Kanara district, but those in Udupi and South Kanara use the Kannada script. The Karnataka Christians also use the Kannada script. Malayalam script was used by the Konkani community in Kerala. Konkani Muslims around Bhatkal taluka of Karnataka use Arabic script to write Konkani. When the Sahitya Akademi recognised Konkani in 1975 as an independent and literary language, one of the important actors was the literary heritage of Romi Konkani since the year 1556. However, after Konkani in the Devanagari script was made the official language of Goa in 1987, the Sahitya Akademi has supported only writers in the Devanagari script. The government of Karnataka established the Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Akademy on 20 April 1994. 

 

 

Last Updated: 12-07-2023 04:05 PM Updated By: Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy


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