Tamil–Kannada is an inner branch (Zvelebil 1990:56) of the Southern Dravidian I (SDr I) subfamily of the Dravidian languages that include Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. (There have been slight differences in the way Dravidian languages are grouped by various Dravidian linguists: (See Subrahmanyam 1983, Zvelebil 1990, Krishnamurthi 2003)). Tamil–Kannada itself is designated as a branch of the South Dravidian I subfamily and in turn branches off into Tamil–Kodagu and Kannada–Badaga. The languages that constitute the Tamil–Kannada branch are Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Irula, Toda, Kota, Kodava, and Badaga. (Zvelebil 1990:56)