THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Sometimes words could have the most unlikely meanings. ‘Chukki’ would be the weirdest word for a beautiful girl. But that is what Aranadan tribe in Kerala call a grown- up girl. A collection of such strange and outlandish words is being compiled by Usha S, of Thiruvananthapuram, in her tribal dialect dictionary, the first of its kind in the state.
The dictionary will have the meanings, origin and grammatical variations of words used by around 20 different tribes across Kerala. A junior research fellow at International School of Dravidian Linguistics, Kazhakottam, near here, Usha started working on the dictionary a year ago.
It was her research on the morphology of tribal languages in Kerala, which inspired Usha to compile a dictionary of tribal dialects.
The only existing tribal dialect dictionary in India is in Hindi language. However, it covers a single dialect of a tribe based in Madhya Pradesh. It is for the first time in the country that 20 tribal dialects are being compiled in a single dictionary.
The process has indeed been strenuous for this lady. ''Even the most common word ‘Ari’ (rice) has got variations like Ariyu, Arikki, Eykki and Ikki among various tribes. ‘Oi’ which we normally use to call out a person is in fact a kinship term used by Aranadan tribe for sister-in-law. To group these words based on their phonology, syntax and morphology could be so confusing," she says.
Usha identifies words having a common meaning and then lists them in the alphabetical order. The words will be arranged in the dictionary, clearly indicating the marked variations of words with the addition of prefixes or suffixes. Even the various usages of words with a common origin will be included. The dictionary will have words related to human emotions, natural objects, plants, trees, animals and family.
Usha had stayed with various tribes in Kerala to gain a first-hand knowledge of their language. She said that the best way to grasp their language was to listen to them talking to each other rather than speak to them directly. "While speaking to us, they tend to be too formal. But when they talk to each other, we will learn their language in the purest form."