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
5.4.1 Muthuvan
As might be expected, the Tamil Muthuvan live closer to Tamil Nadu and have had less contact with Malayalis than have the Malayalam Muthuvan people. At one time, the Muthuvan only interacted with
Tamiliyans. However, in the past few decades, many Muthuvan people have been learning Malayalam, as more Malayalis have moved into the area. This has been most common among young men and business
people. Also, in recent years, education has been taught in Malayalam. These factors have resulted in the older people being more bilingual in Tamil and the younger people tending to be more bilingual in
Malayalam.
It appears that few of the Muthuvan women are bilingual in Malayalam. Not many of them attend school or speak with people from outside their village. They are forbidden to speak with men from
outside their community. Some of them occasionally visit the market, which allows them to learn a little Malayalam. Few ladies participated in the bilingualism testing, so it is hard to objectively assess their
abilities in Malayalam. However, judging by the situation, it seems likely that they are not as bilingual as
the men and that, even if they can understand Malayalam, they are unable to speak it well. Most of the women are illiterate.
Muthuvan people were not observed to speak Malayalam amongst themselves. However, Malayalam is spoken to some degree with some merchants and government officials. Schools are not available in
many villages. Few parents are willing to send their children to live in a hostel in order to attend school, nor are many children interested in doing so. The literacy rate of the Muthuvan is one of the lowest
among the people groups of Idukki district. Children below 12 years of age were not observed to be able to speak Malayalam. Most of the villages are located deep within forests, so the people make little contact
with outsiders.
The Tamil Muthuvan people enjoy Tamil songs and other radio programmes, although they also listen to Malayalam radio stations. It was observed that the young people are using Tamil cinema songs
for dances in their festivals. The bachelors of each settlement live together in a common shelter. They speak Muthuvan among themselves when they gather there.
5.4.2 Mannan
