The degradation of the natural environment has taken a toll on the language of the Kurumbas, the most vulnerable tribal community of Attappady. Once regarded as a rich repository of traditional knowledge, the forest-dwelling community is fast losing its biodiversity-related vocabulary. As the younger generation of Kurumbas, now confined to 19 settlements in Pudur grama panchayat, started moving out for better education and jobs, the tribal language has become an immediate casualty.
“It is widely acknowledged that the degradation of the natural environment in particular traditional habitats entails a loss of cultural and linguistic diversity. My studies in this most backward region suggest that the language loss of the Kurumbas has an extremely negative impact on biodiversity conservation in the Nilgiri Biosphere,” says Sampreetha Kesavan, a researcher from Madras University. She researches on the state of Kurumba language and its fast alienation from biodiversity-related knowledge.
“There is a fundamental linkage between language and traditional knowledge related to biodiversity. Local and indigenous communities have elaborate and complex classification systems for the natural world, reflecting a deep understanding of their local environment. This environmental knowledge is embedded in indigenous names, oral traditions and taxonomies, and can be lost when a community shifts to another region,” she said adding that the vocabulary of the new generation in Attappady lacks even the names of the most common flora and fauna in the region.
“Earlier, 70 per cent of the Kurumba vocabulary comprised names and details of the plants and animals in the region,” she said.
“Ethnobotanists and ethnobiologists recognise the importance of indigenous names, folk taxonomies, and oral traditions to the success of initiatives related to endangered species’ recovery and restoration. Interactions with those below the age of 40 and those above the age of 70 can easily establish this fact,” Ms. Sampreetha says.
Study finds environmental degradation is taking a toll tribal language
