Language contact and the maintenance of the Tulu language in South India

This study explores the motivations behind the survival of Tulu, a minority language in South India, despite sociopolitical reasons for its speakers to shift to Kannada, a larger and more economically viable language. I argue that the lack of codeswitching between Tulu and Kannada has facilitated the maintenance of Tulu in the South Kannara region of South India where Tulu is largely spoken. Individual interviews were conducted with fifteen informants in South Kannara and in Mumbai to elicit information about language attitudes and language identity. Based on these interviews, I examine the various motivations - linguistic, social, and political as to why speakers do not codeswitch between Tulu and Kannada in South Kannara. Further, I compare the linguistic situation in South Kannara to the situation in the city of Mumbai where there is codeswitching, and language shift from Tulu to other languagesis taking place. The findings of this study illustrate the complexity of language contact situations and the role of codeswitching, language identity and language attitudes in language maintenance