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The Badugu Alphabet
The Badugu Alphabet
It gives me great pleasure to announce that I have developed an alphabet for Badugu, a language hitherto without a writing system, spoken by a member of one of the native peoples of the Nilgiris called Baduga. What is more, I have created a true type font and named it BaduguAnandha using a computer program.
It gives me great pleasure to announce that I have developed an alphabet for Badugu, a language hitherto without a writing system, spoken by a member of one of the native peoples of the Nilgiris called Baduga. What is more, I have created a true type font and named it BaduguAnandha using a computer program.
What I discovered was a notably unique feature of the Badugu vowel system. It is the presence of Retracted Vowel sounds. I call them so, because when articulating these vowels, the tongue retracts automatically. It is my contention that the Retracted Vowel sounds antedate the Retroflex sounds. It can clearly be seen that a presumptive pattern of sound change had occurred over the years. The Retracted Vowel sounds found the Retroflex sounds as their complementary sounds i.e. retraction of the tongue by natural process complemented with flexion of the tongue resulted in retroflexion of the tongue. It is evident that when you articulate a vowel sound that immediately precedes a retroflex sound the tongue retracts giving way to flexion naturally. From the foregoing, it is quite possible to say that Badugu is one of the Proto-South-Dravidian dialects that has undergone separate linguistic development despite the fact that it resembles Kannada in certain correspondences jointly in sound and in meaning. It is to be noted that Badugu shares such systems not only with Kannada but also with other Dravidian languages too.
What I discovered was a notably unique feature of the Badugu vowel system. It is the presence of Retracted Vowel sounds. I call them so, because when articulating these vowels, the tongue retracts automatically. It is my contention that the Retracted Vowel sounds antedate the Retroflex sounds. It can clearly be seen that a presumptive pattern of sound change had occurred over the years. The Retracted Vowel sounds found the Retroflex sounds as their complementary sounds i.e. retraction of the tongue by natural process complemented with flexion of the tongue resulted in retroflexion of the tongue. It is evident that when you articulate a vowel sound that immediately precedes a retroflex sound the tongue retracts giving way to flexion naturally. From the foregoing, it is quite possible to say that Badugu is one of the Proto-South-Dravidian dialects that has undergone separate linguistic development despite the fact that it resembles Kannada in certain correspondences jointly in sound and in meaning. It is to be noted that Badugu shares such systems not only with Kannada but also with other Dravidian languages too.
Badugu is a separate language having a typical phonological structure. The autonomous status of Badugu has been hinted at in “Language and Society in South Asia by Michael C.Shapiro and Harold F.Schiffman, 1981:100”. A separate language suggests a separate alphabet specially developed for it. Some people might quickly call this idea into question. They might ask Why a new alphabet for Badugu? Aren’t there writing systems already in existence which can readily be adopted or adapted to represent the speech sounds of Badugu? And so forth.
Badugu is a separate language having a typical phonological structure. The autonomous status of Badugu has been hinted at in “Language and Society in South Asia by Michael C.Shapiro and Harold F.Schiffman, 1981:100”. A separate language suggests a separate alphabet specially developed for it. Some people might quickly call this idea into question. They might ask Why a new alphabet for Badugu? Aren’t there writing systems already in existence which can readily be adopted or adapted to represent the speech sounds of Badugu? And so forth.
These questions seem reasonable. But then again without entering into details, we shall deal with the broader aspects of these questions. Suppose we adopted the Tamil alphabet for representing the speech sounds of Badugu. We know that the letters representing the consonantal speech sounds of Tamil number at 18. But the consonantal speech sounds of Badugu are reckoned at 24 which require 24 distinct letters to represent them. If the Tamil alphabet is adopted, it could only incompletely represent the speech sounds of Badugu. Therefore it turns out to be a deficient alphabet. Again, suppose we adopted the Kannada alphabet. The letters representing the consonantal speech sounds of Kannada number at 34 compared to 24 of Badugu. Therefore the Kannada alphabet is redundant. We can easily conclude that the question of adoption seems unreasonable. Moreover, modification will not always bring about certain desired results. Most likely, in the middle of the process of modification, the letters would defy further doing and develop awkward shapes. Therefore the question of adaption also seems unreasonable.
These questions seem reasonable. But then again without entering into details, we shall deal with the broader aspects of these questions. Suppose we adopted the Tamil alphabet for representing the speech sounds of Badugu. We know that the letters representing the consonantal speech sounds of Tamil number at 18. But the consonantal speech sounds of Badugu are reckoned at 24 which require 24 distinct letters to represent them. If the Tamil alphabet is adopted, it could only incompletely represent the speech sounds of Badugu. Therefore it turns out to be a deficient alphabet. Again, suppose we adopted the Kannada alphabet. The letters representing the consonantal speech sounds of Kannada number at 34 compared to 24 of Badugu. Therefore the Kannada alphabet is redundant. We can easily conclude that the question of adoption seems unreasonable. Moreover, modification will not always bring about certain desired results. Most likely, in the middle of the process of modification, the letters would defy further doing and develop awkward shapes. Therefore the question of adaption also seems unreasonable.
It is my conviction that Badugu must have a separate writing system because it is a separate language. I hope every Baduga would proudly welcome the development of the Badugu Alphabet and the creation of a Badugu Font and use them to read and write Badugu henceforth to keep the Badugu language alive.
It is my conviction that Badugu must have a separate writing system because it is a separate language. I hope every Baduga would proudly welcome the development of the Badugu Alphabet and the creation of a Badugu Font and use them to read and write Badugu henceforth to keep the Badugu language alive.
Last but not least, I have also written a manual entitled "Keying In The Badugu Alphabet" for those who wish to learn how to key in the Badugu letters using the font BaduguAnandha.ttf.
Last but not least, I have also written a manual entitled "Keying In The Badugu Alphabet" for those who wish to learn how to key in the Badugu letters using the font BaduguAnandha.ttf.
An Inventory of the Badugu Alphabet
An Inventory of the Badugu Alphabet
1. Vowels 10
1. Vowels 10
2. Syllabic Consonants 21
2. Syllabic Consonants 21
3. Non-Syllabic Consonants 3
3. Non-Syllabic Consonants 3
4. Syllables 210
4. Syllables 210
Total 244
Total 244
Click on this link http://www.skyknowledge.com/badaga.htm to view the Badugu Alphabet I have invented and see what Ian James has said about it.
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