Bellari language

For other uses, see Bellari (disambiguation).

Bellari is a Dravidian variety of India spoken by about 1,000 Bellara, a Scheduled Caste of Karnataka and Kerala. It is reportedly close to Tulu and Koraga (especially the former),^[1] but it is not known if it is a separate language or a dialect of Tulu.^[3] A community of fifty families of basket-weavers lives in Kundapura Taluk in coastal Karnataka.^[4]

Bellari
Belari
ಬೆಳ್ಳಾರಿ ബെല്ലാരി
Native to	India
Region	Karnataka & Kerala
Native speakers	1,000 (2007)[1]
Language family	Dravidian South Dravidian South Dravidian I Southwestern Dravidian Bellari
Writing system	Kannada script, Malayalam script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	brw
Glottolog	bell1261
ELP	Bellari
Bellari is classified as Critically Endangered according to the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger[2]

References

1. Bellari at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 31.
3. Sanford Steever, 1998, The Dravidian Languages
4. Govt. owned website. "Karnatakada Budakattu Bhashegalu". Bangalore: Classical Kannada.org. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2013.