Paniya

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A language of India

ISO 639-3
pcg
Alternate Names
Nil, Pania, Paniyan, Panyah
Population

94,000 (2003).

Location

Kerala, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Kannur, and Malappuram districts; Tamil Nadu, west of Nilgiris hills; Karnataka, Kodagu district.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing).

Classification
Dravidian, Southern, Tamil-Kannada, Tamil-Kodagu, Tamil-Malayalam, Malayalam
Dialects

Intelligibility of Malappura Paniya by Kodava [kfa] is 66%. Lexical similarity: 79%–88% between dialects and Malappuram Paniya, 71% with Kodaku [ksz] and Kodava [kfa].

Language Use

Home, religion. Also use Malayalam [mal], Tamil [tam], or Kannada [kan].

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 41% for Kerala, 26% for Tamil Nadu (2001 census).
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Paniya
Writing
Kannada script, used in Karnataka. Malayalam script, used in Kerala. Tamil script, used in Tamil Nadu.
Other Comments

A Scheduled Tribe. Hindu, traditional religion, Christian.