Eight out of the ten subjects who reported they understand Tamil better than Malayalam are old. Nine out of the 15 subjects who said they understand Malayalam better are young. This gives the
impression that young Muthuvan people may generally be more proficient in Malayalam than in Tamil, whereas the old people may understand Tamil better.
Another question asked to investigate levels of bilingualism was ‘Do you fully understand the language Malayalam spoken by Malayalis or that you hear on the radio?’ Most of the subjects felt that
they are able to comprehend conversations in Malayalam. Only five subjects four of whom are uneducated and old reported that they are not able to fully understand conversations in Malayalam. Out
of the 32 subjects that were asked this question, 25 of them 76 reported that they understand conversations in Malayalam. Two other subjects said that they can only understand conversations in
Tamil and do not understand Malayalam.
5.3.4 Mannan questionnaire results
The same questions that were asked of Muthuvan subjects were also asked of Mannan subjects. When asked ‘Can you read and write and, if so, in which language?’, about half 23 of the Mannan subjects
reported that they are literate. Four subjects said they have limited reading andor writing skills. But nearly 40 of the subjects 18 people said that they are illiterate. In fact, all but two of the subjects who
have received any formal education considered themselves illiterate. All of the uneducated subjects considered themselves are illiterate.
All but one of the Mannan subjects that claimed to be literate said that they can read and write in Malayalam. Nineteen subjects said that they are literate in Malayalam, whereas seven people said they
are literate in both Malayalam and Tamil. One person said that he is literate in Tamil, but not in Malayalam. The responses show that most of the educated Mannan people are literate in Malayalam.
Subjects were also asked ‘Which language do you understand better, Malayalam or Tamil?’ This question was asked of 44 subjects, 39 of whom 88 responded that they understand Malayalam better.
Only five of the subjects 12 reported they are equally proficient in Malayalam and Tamil. The responses show that a majority of the Mannan subjects understand Malayalam better than Tamil.
Another question asked to investigate levels of bilingualism was ‘Do you fully understand the language Malayalam spoken by Malayalis or that you hear on the radio?’ Most of the Mannan subjects
felt that they are able to understand conversation in Malayalam. Out of 44 subjects, 40 of them 90 said they could fully follow the conversation in Malayalam. However, four female subjects three of
whom were old mentioned that they were not able to fully understand Malayalam. The study shows that almost all of the Mannan people feel that they are able to follow conversation in Malayalam, with the
exception of some older people, especially females.
5.4 Observations of community bilingualism
