In offering to the public this first attempt at treating the Tulu Language grammatically, the Author and Publisher trust that it will be welcome to all who take an interest in the South Indian Languages, although they are well aware that a first work of this kind, written as this is, under a pressure of professional duties, cannot claim perfection. Tulu is one of the Dravidian Languates, spoken only in the Collectorate of South Canara by about 500,000 people, and is nearly exactly confined between 12.30 and 13.30 degrees N. latitude, extending eastward to the foot of the Ghats. It cannot boast of any literature in the proper sense of the world, nor has it a character of its own. In writing, a modification of the Malayalam alphabet was used, till the Basel Mission Press employed Canarese characters in printing. This precedent has now been almost generally followed. The first book ever printed in Tulu, is the Gospel of St. Matthew lithographed and published in 1842. Withinj 1847 the whole of the New Testament was finished, and a new typographical edition of it was issued in 1859. besides this, the following was published at Mangalore: The Psalms, Liturgy, Hymn-Book, First and Second Catechisms, Old and New Testament Bible Stories, Short Bible Stories, Prayer-Book, Flattich’s Household-Rules, Congregation-Rules, Selection of Scripture Passages.
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