# Byari dialect

Byari or Beary (ಬ್ಯಾರಿIPA:) is a geographically isolated dialect of Malayalam spoken by the Byaris who are part of the Muslim community in Tulu Nadu region of Coastal Karnataka and Northern Kerala (Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Kasargod districts). The community is often recognized as Beary or Byari Muslims. Byari is influenced by Tulu phonology and grammar. Due to the trading role of the community, the language acquired loan words from other languages of Tulu and Arabic sources.

## Etymology

See Beary#Etymology.

## Features

The language uses the Arabic and Kannada alphabets for writing. Being a distant cousin of other dialects of Malayalam and surrounded by other linguistic groups for centuries, mainly Tulu, the dialect exhibits ancient features as well as modern innovations not seen in other well-known dialects of Malayalam. Surrounded by Tulu-speaking populations, the impact of Tulu on the phonological, morphological and syntactic structure of the dialect is evident.

### Distinction of ḻ, ṇ, ṟ

Sounds peculiar to Malayalam such as 'ḻ', 'ṇ', 'ṟ' are not found in this dialect. 'ḷ' and 'ṇ' are merged with l and n, respectively. 'ṟ' is merged with r and tt, 'tt' to t. This resembles Tulu.
| Byari | Kannada | Malayalam | English |
| sante | sante | chantha | 'market' |
| ēni | ēṇi | ēṇi | 'ladder' |
| puli | huḷi | puḷi | 'tamarind' |
| kāt | gāḷi | kāṯṯu | 'wind' |
| cor | anna | cor | 'rice' |

### v > b

The initial v of standard Malayalam corresponds to an initial b in Byari. The same change has taken place in Tulu, too.
| Byari | Malayalam | Tulu | Kannada | English |
| bēli | vēli | bēli | bēli | 'fence' |
| bitt | vittu | bitte | bitta $^1$ | 'seed' |
| bādige | vāṭaka $^2$ | bādai | bādege | 'rent' |
* Some dialects.
* This orthographic representation is phonemic. On a phonetic level, it often becomes [ˈʋaːɖəɡə], which is closer to the Tulu and Byari forms. This occurs because of a rule whereby voiced plosive consonants are intervocalic allophones of their unvoiced counterparts. However, this only applies to native Dravidian words, and as vāṭaka is a Sanskrit loanword, the prescriptively correct pronunciation is indeed [ˈʋaːʈəkə].

### Distinction of 'a' and 'e'

The final 'a' of standard Malayalam corresponds to the final 'e' in Byari.
| Byari | Kannada | Malayalam | English |
| āme | āme | āma | 'tortoise' |
| cēre | kere | cēra | 'rat snake' |
| mūle | mūle | mūla | corner |

### Distinction of 'n' and 'm'

The word final 'n' and 'm' of standard Malayalam are dropped in Byari.
| Byari | Malayalam | Kannada | English |
| ādya | ādyam | (modalu) | 'first' |
| kalla | kaḷḷan | kaḷḷa | 'thief' |
| cattae | kuppāyam(catta) | (batte) | 'cloth' |

### Degeminated consonants

Geminated consonants occurring after a long vowel and also after a second short vowel of a word in standard Malayalam get degeminated in Byari.
| Byari | Malayalam | Tulu | English |
| pūce | pūcca | pucce | 'cat' |

### Lexical relations

Almost all lexical items in Byari language can be related to corresponding lexical items in Malayalam, Tulu or Perso-Arabic origin. However, some equivalents can only be found in Mappila dialects of Malayalam in Kerala.

## Person endings

Verbs in old Dravidian languages did not have any person marking. Person endings of verbs observed in modern Dravidian languages are later innovations. Malayalam is the only Dravidian language that does not show any verbal person suffixes, so Malayalam verbs can be said to represent the original stage of Dravidian verbs (though Old Malayalam did have verbal person suffixes at some point). Person suffixes in Byari closely resemble those of Tulu, although the past tense in this dialect agrees with that of standard Malayalam in shape as well as in the distribution of allomorphs.

## Arabic influence

Byari is strongly influenced by the Arabic language. Nativised Arabic words are very common in everyday speech, especially in coastal areas. Byari also has words related to Tamil and Malayalam. Tamil and Malayalam Speakers can understand Byari up to an extent of 75%.
| Byari | Arabic | English |
| saan | ṣaḥn صحن | Plate |
| pinjhana | finjān فنجان | Bowl/cup |
| kayeen | nikāḥ نكاح | Nuptials |
| Seithaan | Šayṭān شيطان | Evil spirit |
| patthre | faṭīra فطيرة | Bread |
| Kalbu | qalb قلب | Heart |
| Rabbu | rabb رب | God |
| Supra | sufra سفرة | Dining Mat |
| Kubboosu | ḵubz خبز | Bread |

## Byari language films

The first Byari -language feature film Byari shared the award for the best feature film at the 59th Indian National Film Awards.