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The Attappady community whose spoken language has no script

Background

The Kurumbas live in the hilly forest regions of Attappady in Palakkad district. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, has placed them in the class of a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG). They are one of the five PVTGs in Keralam, with a population of only 2,719 as of 2024. The community speaks Kurumba, an oral language with no script, and that is the primary language of communication among its members. The community members have to learn Malayalam or other languages to converse with outsiders, who mostly do not use Kurumba. The Census classifies languages with fewer than 10,000 speakers as others, and against that the future of the language appears bleak.

Population: 2,719 PVTGs in Keralam: five Speaker count below which a language is grouped as others: 10,000

Why it matters for exams: PVTGs, the ministry that lists them and where each lives are repeatedly asked.

Kerala PSCUPSC

13 November 2026 Source: The Hindu

In plain words

PVTG Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group — A tribal group identified for special support because of its small and vulnerable population.

oral language A language spoken but not written — A language that has speakers but no script of its own.