Lexical Identity and Linguistic Resilience of South Indian Malayali Tribes

Abstract

The accelerating loss of indigenous languages under the pressures of globalisation and modern education is one of the most serious cultural and epistemic concerns of the contemporary world. When a language disappears, it carries with it an irreplaceable store of ecological knowledge, social memory, and cultural identity. This study investigates the linguistic resilience and lexical identity of the Malayali tribal community, comprising the Periya Malayali, Chinna Malayali, and Kolli Malayali sub-groups, indigenous to the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, inhabiting the districts of Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, and Vellore. This study employs an ethnographic methodology involving immersive fieldwork, participatory observation, and direct interviews with over forty community members across different age groups. Thirty-eight distinctive lexical items are documented across nine thematic categories: ecological and technological knowledge, agricultural vocabulary, architecture and material culture, clothing and ornaments, kinship and social structure, spatial and directional terminology, temporal vocabulary, idiomatic and metaphorical expressions, and descriptive social vocabulary. Each item is analysed across phonological, morphological, and semantic dimensions. The process was conducted in a qualitative and quantitative manner. Data was collected through interviews and observation of 40 individuals from Kalvarayanmalai and Kollimalai regions. This emphasizes the imperative need to preserve and document the endangered artistic expressions among the tribal people.