Havigannada dialect

Havigannada, also called as Havyaka Bhaashe and Havyaka Kannada, is the dialect of Kannada spoken by Havyaka Brahmins in Malenadu and coastal region of Karnataka.

Havigannada
ಹವಿಗನ್ನಡ
Pronunciation	[hɐviˈgɐnːɐɖa]
Native to	India
Region	Karnataka
Ethnicity	Havyakas
Language family	Dravidian Southern Tamil–Kannada Havigannada
Early form	Old Kannada
Writing system	Kannada script Kannada Braille
Language codes
ISO 639-1	kn
ISO 639-2	kan
ISO 639-3	kan
Linguasphere	49-EBA-a

Characteristics

Havigannada differs substantially from mainstream Kannada, in terms of vocabulary, pronouns and verb-endings. It preserves many features of Old Kannada which are lost in other Kannada dialects. This is the reason why even native Kannadigas of other regions find it difficult to comprehend it.

In 1883, the dialect was described in the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, where it was said to be Kannada spoken with a strong Malayalam influence. The Malayalam influence was assumed due to the similarities between the Havigannada dialect and Malayalam in terms of accent and words. For example, Havigannada uses eṅgaḷ‍ for "our" or "we" and this is comparable to Malayalam eṅṅaḷ‍ and Tamil eṅgaḷ‍; similarly, naṅgaḷ is used for "we" in Havigannada, comparable to Malayalam ñaṅṅaḷ and Tamil nāṅgaḷ. On the other hand, standard Kannada uses namma and nāvu for "our" and "we" respectively.

However, it is now known that these similarities are not due to Malayalam influence but rather due to the fact that because Havigannada is closer to Old Kannada than the modern Kannada dialects are, it preserves many archaic features which are lost in other Kannada dialects but are parallelly preserved in Tamil and Malayalam.

The Havigannada spoken in Uttara Kannada differs from the Havigannada spoken in Dakshina Kannada. The Havigannada spoken in Dakshina Kannada is influenced by Tulu (due to its prevalence in South Canara) and Malayalam (due to its close proximity to Kerala).

Usage

It is spoken in the Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada and Shivamogga districts of Karnataka and the Kasaragod district of Kerala. In these districts, it is common in places where there is a higher density of Havyakas in relation to other places, such as Thirthahalli, Shivamogga, Sagara and Hosanagara in Shivamogga, Sirsi, Yellapur, Siddapura, Honnavar, Kumta, Bhatkal, in Uttara Kannada and Puttur in Dakshina Kannada. It is also spoken by Havyakas who are settled in metropolitan cities such as Bangalore, Mumbai, etc. In Bangalore, where a substantial percentage of Havyaka Brahmins have migrated to in the preceding decades, there is a language shift among Havigannada speakers towards Bangalore Kannada, especially among the younger generation who were born and brought up in Bangalore.

In some parts of Uttara Kannada District such as Kumta, Honnavara, Bhatkal, Sirsi, and Siddapur, neuter gender is often used instead of feminine gender.

Havigannada was partly used in Sandalwood films: Bettada Jeeva, Nammoora Mandara Hoove and Naayi Neralu, which was shot in and around Yana.

Examples

Pronouns

English	Kannada	Havigannada
I	ನಾನು (Naanu)	ನಾನು / ನಾ (Naa) / ಆನು (Aanu)
We	ನಾವು (Naavu)	ನಾವು / ನಂಗ (Nanga) / ಎಂಗ (yanga)
You (Singular)	ನೀನು (Neenu)	ನೀನು / ನೀ (Nee)
You (Plural)	ನೀವು (Neevu)	ನೀವು / ನಿಂಗ (Ninga)
He	ಅವನು (Avanu)	ಅವನು / ಅವ (Ava) / ಅಂವ (Amva)
She	ಅವಳು (Avalu)	ಅವಳು / ಅದು (Adu) / ಅವ (Ava)/ ಅವಳ್ (Avalu)
It	ಅದು (Adu)	ಅದು
They (Neutral)	ಅವು (Avu)	ಅವು

Verbs

English	Kannada	Havigannada
will go	Hoguttene(ಹೋಗುತ್ತೇನೆ )	Hogti(ಹೋಗ್ತಿ)/Hogte(ಹೋಗ್ತೆ)/Hovthe(ಹೋವ್ತೆ)
will come	Baruttene(ಬರುತ್ತೇನೆ)	Batte(ಬತ್ತೆ)/Batti(ಬತ್ತಿ)
will do	Maaduttene(ಮಾಡುತ್ತೇನೆ)	Maadte(ಮಾಡ್ತೆ)/Maadti(ಮಾಡ್ತಿ)

Interrogative

English	Kannada	Havigannada
Why	yaake(ಯಾಕೆ)	Entakke(ಎಂತಕೆ)
How	hege(ಹೇಗೆ)	Henge(ಹೇಂಗೆ)
What	enu(ಏನು)	Entadu(ಎಂತದು)/Enta(ಎಂತ)/Entu(ಎಂತು)

External links

• Oppanna.com : Havyaka / Havigannada Blog portal