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The hill tribe Mudugas live in the remote forest
settlements of the Attappady tribal area, in the Palghat
District of Kerala. According to 1971 Census their total
population in Attappady is 2370. The Mudugas have not
changed much by contact with the civilised people or by
any of the welfare schemes which the government has
implemented for the development of the tribes. In the
matter of education their condition is miserable. They
have a limited culture of their own which they maintain in
isolation1. Regarding their language the
Anthropologists and Sociologists who have conducted field
work in the tribal areas of Kerala pointed out that the
language spoken by Mudugas is a dialect of Tamil with many
Tulu words and phrases2. A discriptive
analysis of the language spoken by the Mudugas shows that,
even though it has got some similarities with Tamil in the
area of grammatical structure, it cannot be treated as a
dialect of Tamil3.
A sentence is defined as any form that occurs in
absolute position. The various sentence types in Muduga
language can be classified in to three major groups such
as simple, complex and compound, which define seven major
types of sentence patterns viz., Intransitive, Transitive,
Causative, Imperative, Optative, Negative and
Interrogative.
1.
Simple sentence
Simple
sentences are those with a single subject and predicate
with or without attributes qualifying and modifying the
subject noun and predicate verb respectively. Such
sentences are minimally specified with a subject noun and
a predicate finite verb. With respect to the particular
verb which occurs in such sentences the structure would
show characteristic differences as the case of copular
sentences which do not obligatorily demand the presence of
the copular verb. Consequently the following
classification can be done.
1.1
Single verb predicate
e.g.
vanda
‘(she) came’
1.2.
Copular types (with optional
deletion of copular ‘be’ verb)
e.g.
atu mara aakku
that tree is
atu mara
that tree
‘That is a tree’
1.3.
Other types
1.3.1.
With existential ‘be’ verb
(a)
absolute existence
e.g.
aandave irukku
God is
‘There is God’
(b)
temporal existence
e.g.
naale agelilu cande irukku
tomarrow in Agaili market is
‘There is market in Agali tomarrow’
(c)
with location
e.g.
coolelu veendu irukku
in forest animal is
‘There is animal in the forest’
(d)
possession thing
e.g.
enaakku pana irukku
to me money is
‘I have money’
(e)
possession quality
e.g.
puuvukk cuuRu irukku
to flower smell is
‘flowerhas smell’
1.3.2.
With nominal and verbal
attributives
1.3.2.1
Nominal attributives
(a)
Possessive
e.g. ennu mundu
‘My dhoti’
(b)
Demonstrative
e.g.
ennu aa mundu
my that dhoti
(c)
Numeral
e.g.
ennu aa oru mundu
my that one dhoti
(d)
Adjectival
e.g.
ennu as oru nalla mundu
my that one good dhoti
The adjectival element in the nominal phrase can
be extraposed before demonstrative and numeral elements as
shown below:
e.g. ennu aa oru nalla mundu
my that one good dhoti
ennu nalla aa oru mundu
my good that one dhoti
1.3.2.2.
Verbal attributieves
(a)
Manner
e.g.
ava melle ponna
she slowly went
‘She
went slowly’
(b)
Place
ava gaddelu poona
she in field went
‘ she went to the field’
(c)
Time
e.g.
ava nigaaRRu vanda
she yesterday came
‘She
came yesterday’
(e)
Direction
e.g.
ava vaanikkee ponna
she straight to the river went
‘She went to the river’
Nominal elements other than attributives
illustrated in the foregoing discussion above (like Direct
object, Indirect object and other casal nominals) will
receive detailed treatment in the discussion of other
sentence types.
2.
Complex sentence
Complex
sentences are constituted by a main sentence with one or
more subordinate clauses. These clauses are characterised
by typical occurrence of the predicate non-finite verbs
with its subject subordinated to the main sentece. In
fact a sentence which involves a finite verb and one or
more non-finite verbs would be complex one. The following
types of subordinate clauses are attested.
2.1.
Participial clauses
2.1.1
Relative participial clause
e.g.
atu nigaaRRu aguta pille aakku
that yesterday creid-which child is
‘It is the child who cried yesterday’
2.1.2.
Verbal participial clause
e.g.
make ooti vanda
daughter having run came
‘Daughter came by running’
2.1.3.
Conditional participial
clause
e.g.
nii connaa ava varuva
you (Sg) if said she will come
‘If you said she will come’
2.1.4.
Purposive participial clause
e.g.
ava silima nootiya poona
she film for seeing went
‘She went for seering the film’
2.2. Complement clause
e.g.
nii connatu poyi aakku
you (Sg) said-that lie is
‘The fact that you told the thing is not true’
2.2.
Nominalized clause
e.g.
avaltu veppu moosa aakku
of she cooking bad is
‘Her cokking is not good’
3.
Compound sentence
Compound
sentences are those with two or more co-ordinate sentences
constituted to function as a single sentence. This
involves conjunction (of elements in both the nominal and
verbal phrases of the co-ordinated sentences and often,
also between the entire sentences in which case no
conjunctive particle is being employed as sentential
conjunction here), disjunction andsentence initiation in a
discourse.
3.1.
Conjuction
3.1.1.
Nominal
e.g.
niimu naanumu vandeeRu
you and I and came
‘You and I came’
3.1.2.
verbal
e.g.
ava nagutumu agutumu vanda
she laughted and cried and came
‘She came by laughing and crying’
3.1.3.
Sentential
e.g.
pendu vanda aale poona
wife came husband went
‘Wife came and the husbadn went’
3.2.
Disjunction
3.2.1.
Nominal
e.g.
avanoo naanoo poona
he or I will go
‘Either he or I will go
3.2.2
Verbal
ava
agutoo nogutoo poona
she
cried or laughed or went
she went
either by crying or by laughing
3.3.
Sentence initiation
e.g.
1. appu nii enna ceyve?
then you what will do
‘Then what will you do?’
2.
aanalu enaakku pana veetu
if so to
me money need
‘If so,
I need money’
3.
atukontu enaakku caaya veeta
because
of that to me tea don’t need
‘Because
of that, I don’t want tea’
4.
Intransitive sentences
Intransitive sentences are those which involve
intransitive verbs which do not co-occur with object
nominals. These verbs are of the following types:
4.1.
Intransitive verbs >
Transitive verbs
e.g.
1. eeR- ‘to climb’ > eeRR - ‘make to climb’
ave marattilu eeRine
he on the tree climbed
‘He climbed on the tree’
avane marattilu eeRRina
to him on the tree (she) made to climb
‘(She) made him to climb on the tree’
2. niing- ‘to move’ > niikk- ‘make to
move’
ava niingine
be moved
‘He moved’
avane niikkina
to him (she) made to move’
(she /made him to move)’
3. tin ‘to eat’ > tiiRR- ‘make to eat’
ave paga tinde
he fruit ate
‘He ate fruit’
avane paga tii RRina
to him fruit (she) made to eat
‘(She) made him to eat the fruit’
4. Kita- ‘to lie’ > Kitatt- ‘make to lie’
ave paayilu kitande
he on mat (he) lay
“He lay on the mat’
avane paayilu kitattina
to him on mat (she) made to lie
‘(She) made him to lie on the mat
4.2.
Intransitive verbs (which
will not have transitive counter-parts)
e.g.
ava kulitia
she bathed
‘She bathed’
Intransitive verbs will not co-occur with object nominals
unlike the transitive verbs.
5.
Transitive sentence
The transitive sentences are those which involve
transitive verbs of the following types which co-occur
with object nominals. These verbs are of the following
types:
e.g.
1. aatt- ‘make to dance’ < aat- ‘to dance’
avane aattina
to him (she) made to dance
‘She made him to dance’
ave aatine
he danced
‘He danced’
2.
uRaakk- ‘make to sleep’ < uRaang ‘to sleep’
avane uRaakkina
to him (she) made to sleep
‘(She) made him to sleep’
ave uRaangine
he slept
‘He slept’
3.
tiiRR- ‘make to eat’ <
tin- ‘to eat’
avane
miinu tiiRRina
to him
fish (she) made to eat
‘(She)
madehim to eat fish’
ave
miinu tinde
he fish
ate
‘He ate
fish’
4.
natatt- ‘make to walk’ <
nata- ‘to walk’
avane
natattina
to him
(she) made to walk
‘(She)
made him to walk’
ave
natande
he
walked
‘He
walked’
5.2.
Transitive verbs (which will
not have instransitive counter-parts)
e.g.
1. kuti- ‘to drink’
ava caaya kutitta
she tea drank
‘She drank tea’
2.
vilaat- ‘to pay’
ava
gaddelu vilaatina
she
infield played
‘She
played in the field’
The
occurrence of the object nominals in intransitive
sentences can be illustrated as shown below:
(a)
Direct object nominal
The
direct object nominal will be in the accustive case.
e.g.
ave ennana atitte
he to me beat
‘He beat me’
(b)
Indirect object nominal
The
indirect object nominal will be in the dative case.
e.g.
ave enaakku oru maatine tande
he to me one to cow gave
‘He gave me a cow’
Generally when an inanimate nominal occurs as direct
object, the accusative case will not be added.
e.g.
ave enaakku pana tande
he to me money gave
‘He gave me money’
6.
Causative sentence
Causative sentences are those which involve a
causative verbs which would generally satisfy all
syntactic functions of transitives by co-occurring with
object nominals but also will have an additional function
of co-occurring with a nominal other than object nominals
whose syntactic function would be that of an external
causer.
e.g.
ava avane aticcina
she to him caused to beat
‘She caused him to beat’
avvekku aatine kotuccina
to mother to sheep caused to give
‘(She) caused to give the sheep to the mother’
7.
Imperative sentence
7.1.
Imperative sentences are
those which involve imperative verbs. These
sentences would typically involve the second person
subject which can be deleted optionally.
e.g. Sg.
nii vaa
‘you (Sg.) come’
vaa
‘(you Sg) come’
P1.
nimma vaayi
‘you (P1.) come’
vaayi
‘(you P1.) come’
The
imperative sentence can be preceded by a vocative nominal
in which
case
also the second person subject can optinally be deleted.
e.g.
kakkii nii ingu vaa
kakki you here come
‘Kakki you come here’
kakkii iingu vaa
kakki here come
‘Kakki come here’
7.2.
Imperative negative
e.g.
nii pootoo
‘You (Sg.) should go’
nii poota
‘You (Sg.) should not go’
8.
Optative sentence
Optative
sentences are those which involve the optative verbs.
e.g.
ave varaata
he let come
‘Let him come’
ava paataata
she let sing
‘Let her sing’
9.
Negative sentence
Negation is effected either by adding a negative marker to
the verb stem or by using negative ‘be’ verbs. The
following would illustrate negation in sentences.
9.1.
Sentence negation
9.1.1
Regular verbs
e.g.
ave vande
‘He came’
ave varale
‘He did not come’
ave vaRe
‘He comes’
ave vaRatille
‘He does not come’
ave varuve
‘He will come’
ave varamaatte
‘He will not come’
9.1.2.
Imperative verbs
e.g.
nii pootoo
‘You (Sg.) should go’
nii poota
‘You (Sg.) should not go’
9.1.3.
‘be’ verbs
e.g.
appe kuurelu irukku
father in house is
‘Father is in the house’
appe kuurelu ille
father in house not
‘Father is not in the house’
atu mara aakku
that tree is
‘That is a free’
atu
mara alle
that tree not
‘That is not a tree’
9.2.
Clause negation
9.2.1.
Relative participial clause
e.g.
nigaaRRu vanda pille
yesterday which came girl
‘The girl who came Yesterday’
nigaaRRu Varatta pille
Yesterday which did not come girl.
‘The girl who donot come Yesterday’
9.2.2
Verbal participle clause
ava ooti Vanda
She having run came
‘She came by running’
ava ootate vanda
‘She came by running’
ava
ootate vanda
she
without running came
‘She came without running’
10.
Interrogative sentence
Interrogative sentences attested in the speech of Mudugas
fall into the following types:
(a)
yes-no questions
(b)
e-questions
10.1.
Yes-no questions
They are interrogations of statement sentences demanding
an answer either yes or no.
10.1.1.
With regular verbs
e.g.
ave paatuRe
he sings
‘He is singing’
ave paatuReyaa?
he is singing?
‘Is he singing?’
ave ceyve
he will do
‘He will do it’
ave ceyvo?
he will do?
‘Will he do it?’
ave vande
‘He came’
ave vandeyaa?
he did come?
‘Did he come?’
10.1.2.
With ‘be’ positive verbs
e.g.
appe kuurelu irukku
father in house is
‘Father is in the house’
appe Kuurelu irukkaa?
father in house is?
‘Is father is in the house’
10.1.3.
With ‘be’ negative verbs
e.g.
itu mara aakku
this tree is
‘It is a tree’
itu mara alle?
this tree is it?
‘Is it a tree?’
10.1.4.
With nominal predicate
e.g.
itu caaRoo?
it is it curry?
‘Is it curry?’
10.2.
e – questions
This group includes interrogative nominals involving the
interrogative base e-/ee- and also aaur (who) which do not
actually have the e- element, but instead an aa- element.
The interrogative workds are listed below:
enna
‘what’
eetu
‘which’
aaru
‘who’
eengu
‘where’
eppu
‘when’
ettine
‘how much’
ecce
‘how’
The
morphological structure of the interrogative words is
given below:
|
Interrogative base |
Suffix |
|
Meaning |
|
|
e- |
-nna |
|
‘what’ |
|
|
ee- |
-tu |
‘which’ |
|
|
aa- |
-ru |
‘who’ |
|
|
ee- |
-ngu |
‘where’ |
|
|
e- |
ppu |
‘when’ |
|
|
e- |
-ttine |
< | | 
