Dravidian languages
The
Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in
southern India and
Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in
Pakistan,
Nepal,
Bangladesh, and eastern and central
India, as well as in parts of
Afghanistan and
Iran, and by overseas Dravidians in other countries such as the UK, US, Canada, Malaysia and Singapore.
Dravidian languages are spoken by more than 200 million people, and they appear to be unrelated to languages of other known families. A few scholars include the Dravidian languages in a larger
Elamo-Dravidian language family, which includes the ancient
Elamite language of what is now southwestern Iran; but this is not accepted by most
linguists.
The origins of the Dravidian languages, as well as their subsequent development and the period of their differentiation, are unclear, and the situation is not helped by the lack of
comparative linguistic research into the Dravidian languages. Inconclusive attempts have also been made to link the family with the
Elamo-Dravidian languages,
Japonic languages,
Basque,
Korean,
Sumerian, the
Australian Aboriginal languages and the unknown language of the
Indus Valley civilisation. The theory that the Dravidian languages display similarities with the
Uralic language group, suggesting a prolonged period of contact in the past
[Tyler, Stephen (1968), "Dravidian and Uralian: the lexical evidence". Language 44:4. 798-812], is popular amongst Dravidian linguists and has been supported by a number of scholars, including
Robert Caldwell,
[Webb, Edward (1860), "Evidences of the Scythian Affinities of the Dravidian Languages, Condensed and Arranged from Rev. R. Caldwell's Comparative Dravidian Grammar", Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. 7. 271-298.] Thomas Burrow,
[Burrow, T. (1944) "Dravidian Studies IV: The Body in Dravidian and Uralian". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 11:2. 328-356.] Kamil Zvelebil,
[Zvelebil, Kamal (2006). Dravidian Languages. In Encyclopædia Britannica (DVD edition).] and
Mikhail Andronov[Andronov, Mikhail S. (1971), "Comparative Studies on the Nature of Dravidian-Uralian Parallels: A Peep into the Prehistory of Language Families". Proceedings of the Second International Conference of Tamil Studies Madras. 267-277.] This theory has, however, been rejected by specialists in Uralic languages,
[Zvelebil, Kamal (1970), Comparative Dravidian Phonology Mouton, The Hauge. at p. 22 contains a bibliography of articles supporting and opposing the theory] and has in recent times also been criticised by other Dravidian linguists.
[Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003) The Dravidian Languages Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0521771110 at p. 43.]Legends common to many Dravidian-speaking groups speak of their origin in a vast, now-sunken continent far to the south. Many linguists, however, tend to favour the theory that speakers of Dravidian languages spread southwards and eastwards through the
Indian subcontinent, based on the fact that the southern Dravidian languages show some signs of contact with linguistic groups which the northern Dravidian languages do not.
Proto-Dravidian is thought to have differentiated into Proto-North Dravidian, Proto-Central Dravidian, Proto South-Central Dravidian and Proto-South Dravidian around 500 BC, although some linguists have argued that the degree of differentiation between the sub-families points to an earlier split.
The existence of the Dravidian language family was first suggested in
1816 by
Alexander D. Campbell in his
Grammar of the Teloogoo Language, in which he and
Francis W. Ellis argued that
Tamil and
Telugu were descended from a common, non-Indo-European ancestor. However, it was not until
1856 that
Robert Caldwell published his
Comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages, which considerably expanded the Dravidian umbrella and established it as one of the major language groups of the world. Caldwell coined the term "Dravidian" from the
Sanskrit drāvida, which was used in a 7th century text to refer to the languages of the south of India. The publication of the
Dravidian etymological dictionary by
T. Burrow and
M. B. Emeneau was a landmark event in Dravidian linguistics.
National languages of India are in
boldface:
Southern
*
Kannada*
Malayalam*
Tamil*
Tulu*
Bellari*
Toda*
Kota*
Koraga*
Badaga*
Kurumba*
Irula*
Kodava Takk (
Kodagu)
*
Paliyan*
KanikkaranSouth Central
*
Telugu*
Gondi*
Abujmaria*
Koya*
Konda*
Manda*
Pengo*
Kui*
KuviCentral
*
Kolami*
Naiki*
Parji*
GadabaNorthern
*
Brahui (the only Dravidian language spoken in
Pakistan; in the
Balochistan province)
*
Kurukh*
MaltoDravidian languages are
agglutinative and exhibit the
inclusive and exclusive we feature.
Dravidian languages are noted for the lack of distinction between aspirated and unaspirated stops. While some Dravidian languages (especially Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu) have large numbers of loan words from
Sanskrit and other
Indo-European languages, in which the orthography shows distinctions in voice and
aspiration, the words are pronounced in Dravidian according to different rules of phonology and phonotactics: voicing is allophonic and aspiration of plosives is generally absent, regardless of the spelling of the word. This is not a universal phenomenon and is generally avoided in formal or careful speech, especially when reciting.
For instance, Tamil, like
Finnish, does not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced stops. In fact, the
Tamil alphabet lacks symbols for voiced and aspirated stops.
Dravidian languages are also characterized by a three-way distinction between
dental,
alveolar, and
retroflex places of articulation as well as large numbers of
liquids.
Words starting with vowels
A substantial number of words also begin and end with vowels, which helps the languages' agglutinative property.
aLu (cry), elumbu (bone), adu (that), alli (there), idu (this), illai (no, absent)
adu-idil-illai (that-this-in-absent = that is absent in this)
Numbers
The numbers from 1 to 10 in various Dravidian languages.
| Number | Tamil | Telugu | Kannada | Tulu | Malayalam | Kurukh | Kolami | Brahui | Proto-Dravidian |
|---|
| 1 | onru | okai | ondu | onji | onnu | oa | okkod | asi | *oru(1) |
| 2 | irandu | reu | erau | rāu | rau | e | indi | irā | *iru(2) |
| 3 | mūnru | mūu | mūru | mūji | mūnnu | mūnd | mūndi | musi | *muC |
| 4 | nānru | nālugu | nālku | nālu | nālu | nākh | nāli | čār (IE) | *nāl |
| 5 | aintu | ayidu | aidu | ainu | añcu | panc" (IE) | ayd(3) | panč (IE) | *cayN |
| 6 | āru | āru | āru | āji | āru | soyy" (IE) | ār(3) | šaš (IE) | *caru | 7 | "lu | "u | "u | "lu | "lu | satt" (IE) | "(3) | haft (IE) | *eu | | 8 | ettu | enimidi | eu | "ma | eu | ah" (IE) | enumadī (3) | hašt (IE) | *eu | | 9 | onpatu | tommidi | ombattu | ormba | onbatu | naiy" (IE) | tomdī (3) | nōh (IE) | *to | | 10 | pathu | padi | hattu | pattu | pattu | dass" (IE) | padī (3) | dah (IE) | *pat(tu) | |
#This is the same as another word meaning "one" in another sense in Tamil and Malayalam - the distinction is as between Spanish "un" and "uno".#This is still found in compound words, and has taken on a meaning of "double" in Tamil and Malayalam. For example, irupatu (20, literally meaning "double-ten") or "irai" ("double").#Kolami numbers 5-10 are borrowed from
TeluguSanskrit influence
Of the literate languages,
Kannada,
Malayalam and
Telugu have been relatively more influenced by the
Indo-European Sanskrit and have borrowed the aspirated consonants. Sanskrit words and derivatives are common in Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu.
Tamil is the least influenced. Most tribal languages too are little influenced by Sanskrit.
*
The Dravidian Languages / by Bhadriraju Krishnamurti / Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0521771110
*
A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages / by Robert Caldwell. 3rd ed. rev. and edited / by J.L. Wyatt, T. Ramakrishna Pillai. New Delhi : Asian Educational Services, 1998. ISBN 8120601173
*
A grammar of the Teloogoo language, commonly termed the Gentoo, peculiar to the Hindoos inhabiting the northeastern provinces of the Indian peninsula / by A.D. Campbell. 3d ed. Madras, Printed at the Hindu Press, 1849
*
Dravidian Etymological Dictionary. The complete dravidian etymological dictionary in a searchable online form.
*
Dravidian languages page in SIL Ethnologue.
*
Dravidian vs. Finnish A tract which claims to draw a relation between Dravidian and
Finno-Ugric languages.
*
Dravidian from Etruscan Paper claiming a relationship between Dravidian and Etruscan.
*
Dravidian origin of the Guanches. A paper claiming a Dravidian origin for the language of the Guanches.
*
Tamil and Japanese* http://www.brahui.tk A site by Shafique-Ur-Rehman, Its all about Brahui People live mostly in Balochistan, Pakistan.
