Bhadriraju krishnamurti, one of the most eminent dravidianists of our time, provides a linguistic overview of the dravidian language family. Dravidian languages were first recognized as an independent family in 1816 by francis w. Dravidian languages definition is a language family of india, sri lanka, and pakistan that includes tamil, telugu, kannada, and malayalam. Download figure open in new tab download powerpoint. Caldwell in his comparative grammar of the dravidian or south indian family of languages 1856 dravidian languages are mostly spoken in the south of the indian subcontinent, while indoaryan languages are concentrated in the north. Steever is a fairly typical entry in the routledge language family descriptions series. Nov 25, 2012 download fulltext pdf dravidian is the language of the indus writing article pdf available in current science 10310. Dravidian languages article about dravidian languages by. It was assumed that the indus valley writing was written in a dravidian language because of the presence of dravidian speakers of brahui in the indus valley. The dravidian people originated in africa918, they belonged to the cgroup culture of nubia19. A comparative grammar of the dravidian or southindian family.
Tamil, malayalam, irula, kurumba, kota, toda, kannada, badaga, kodagu and tulu. Dravidian languages are thought to be originally spoken by some dark skinned people in the indian subcontinent. Mar 21, 2018 the dravidian language family, consisting of 80 varieties spoken by nearly 220 million people across southern and central india, originated about 4,500 years ago, a study has found. Introduction the dravidian language family comprises 27 languages, spoken by about 222 million47 people. Neither the geographical origin of the dravidian language homeland. A comparative grammar of the dravidian or southindian family of languages by caldwell, robert. Tamil language and culture guide language manuals for. The dravidian language family is the worlds fourth largest with over 175 million speakers across south asia from pakistan to nepal, from bangladesh to sri lanka as well as having communities in malaysia.
Wikimedia commons category dravidian languages english wikipedia has an. He describes its history and writing system, discusses its structure. The dravidian language family is one of the four major language families spoken in south asia. The dravidian languages are spoken by more than 200 million people, living chiefly in s and central india and n sri lanka.
Its four largest languages, kannada, malayalam, tamil and telugu have literary traditions spanning centuries, of which tamil. Distant and more recent contacts between dravidian and other language groups are also covered. Brahui language simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The dravidian language family, varieties of which are spoken by 220 million people across south asia, is crucial in understanding the prehistory not only of the subcontinent but of eurasia as a whole. A comparative grammar of the dravidian or southindian. The dravidian language family contains more than 70 languages that are spoken by over 200 million people, primarily in southern india. Old tamil, modern tamil, kannada, tulu, old telugu, telugu, konda, gondi, kolami, gadaba, malto and brahui. New linguistic analyses dates dravidian language family. And several kilonautical miles away you say some pale skinned islanders speak a langu.
C2 dravidian c1 dravidian marathan maharashtra brahmin bhil rajbanshi parsi west bengal brahmin lambada south dravidian sinhalese punjabi central indic punjab brahmin rajput vania soni jat. List of dravidian languages definition of list of dravidian. A bayesian phylogenetic study of the dravidian language family. Dravidian languages synonyms, dravidian languages pronunciation, dravidian languages translation, english dictionary definition of dravidian languages. New linguistic analysis finds that dravidian language.
Pdf on dec 20, 2015, taraka rama and others published dravidian languages cognacy. The dravidian language family consists of about 80 varieties hammarstrom h. The dravidian languages routledge handbooks online. Aug 25, 2018 the dravidian languages are a language family spoken mainly in southern india and parts of eastern and central india as well as in northeastern sri lanka, pakistan, nepal, bangladesh, and overseas in other countries such as malaysia and singapore. The dravidian language family, consisting of about 80 language varieties both languages and dialects is today spoken by about 220 million people, mostly in southern and central india but also in surrounding. This dravidian language is part of the bigger language family consisting of 4 dominant languages in south india, and. Superintendent of government printing, india, kolkata. There are also some speakers of dravidian languages in modern. There are about 26 languages in this family main dravidian languages. List of dravidian languages article about list of dravidian. An elementary grammar of the kannada language thomas hodson. Pdf dravidian in the languages and linguistics of south asia.
It is possible that protobrahui was the first language to split off from proto dravidian, probably during the immigration movement into india sometime in the 4th millennium bc, and that the next subgroup to split off was protokurukhmalto, sometime in the 3rd millennium bc see the family tree diagrams,figure 1, figure 2, and figure 3. Pdf on jan 1, 2017, arun kumar and others published morphological. Is the japanese language related to dravidian languages. Although it is a dravidian language, it has been heavily influenced by the iranian languages spoken in the area such as balochi. The dravidian language family is distinct from the indoeuropean language family, including hindi and many other indian. It consists mainly of diachronic descriptions of languages from. The dravidian languages are a language family spoken by more than 215 million people, mainly in southern india and northern sri lanka, with pockets elsewhere in south asia. The dravidian language family chapter 28 the cambridge. Jun 27, 2018 the dravidian languages are a language family spoken mainly in southern india and parts of eastern and central india, as well as in sri lanka with small pockets in southwestern pakistan, southern. The most populous dravidian languages are telugu, tamil, kannada, and malayalam. It consists mainly of diachronic descriptions of languages from the family written by various experts. Pdf morphological analysis of the dravidian language family. Dravidian languages, family of some 70 languages spoken primarily in south asia.
Download fulltext pdf dravidian is the language of the indus writing article pdf available in current science 10310. The dravidian languages are spoken by more than 215 million people in india, pakistan, and sri lanka. Ellis at madras in 1816the dravidian proof, showing. Dravidian language family nothing is known definitely about the origin of the dravidian language family. The dravidian language family, consisting of 80 varieties spoken by nearly 220 million people across southern and central india, originated about 4,500 years ago, a study has found. An elementary grammar of the kannada language thomas.
It consists of about 26 languages in total including tamil, malayalam, kannada and telugu, as well as over 20 nonliterary languages. The dravidian languages are a language family spoken by dravidian peoples. They are divided into south, southcentral, central, and north groups. This language is one among the many dravidian languages that exist in south asia.
Dravidian languages grammatical features and changes. Tamil is a language with a long and ancient literary tradition that has been spoken in southern india for several millennia. Dravidian languages simple english wikipedia, the free. In addition, adjectives precede the nouns they qualify, nouns carry postpositions. Fundamental all languages languages by family dravidian articles on this topic in other wikimedia projects can be found at. The history of the dravidian language family, albeit a small family, is relevant to anyone interested in the history of eurasia. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant immigrant communities outside south asia in mauritius, hong kong, singapore, malaysia, indonesia. C2 dravidian c1 dravidian marathan maharashtra brahmin bhil rajbanshi parsi west bengal brahmin lambada south dravidian sinhalese punjabi central indic punjab brahmin rajput vania soni jat bombay brahmin koli kerala brahmin pakistani kanet uttar pradesh brahmin gurkha tharu kerala kadar genetic distance north dravidian 0. The tamil language is a member of the dravidian language family, including about.
He describes its history and writing system, discusses its structure and typology, and considers its lexicon. Dravidian languages use subjectobjectverb sov word order. The dravidian language family was first recognized as an independent family in 1816. The dravidian languages, one of the worlds largest language families in terms of number of speakers, consists of at least twentyfour. The dravidian family of languages comprised of twenty six languages classified into four subgroups cf. Jun 24, 2003 the dravidian language family is the worlds fourth largest with over 175 million speakers across south asia from pakistan to nepal, from bangladesh to sri lanka as well as having communities in malaysia, north america and the uk. Southindian family of languages is so well known a classic of.
Four of the languages, tamil, kannada, malayalam and telugu are official national languages and the dravidian family has had a rich literary and cultural. Wikimedia commons category dravidian languages english wikipedia has an article on. The dravidian language family, consisting of about 80 language varieties both languages and dialects is today spoken by about 220 million people, mostly in southern and central india but also in surrounding countries. Dravidian articles on this topic in other wikimedia projects can be found at. The tamil language is a member of the dravidian language family, including about thirty languages. List of dravidian languages synonyms, list of dravidian languages pronunciation, list of dravidian languages translation, english dictionary definition of list of dravidian languages. Morphological analysis of the dravidian language family core. Dravidian languages definition of dravidian languages by. Pdf dravidian languages cognacy database, antiquity, and. The dravidian languages are spoken by more than 200 million people, living. The languages are mainly spoken in south india, western bangladesh, northern sri lanka and southern pakistan.
The dravidian language family is the worlds fourth largest with over 175 million speakers across south asia from pakistan to nepal, from bangladesh to sri lanka as well as having communities in malaysia, north america and the uk. Bishop caldwells comparative grammar of the dravidian or. The major grammatical categories are nouns and verbs. Dravidian language family is approximately 4,500 years old. Brahui is often considered to be a remnant of a formerly more widespread dravidian language family that was speculated to have reduced during the indoaryan migration. Dravidian languages dravidian languages grammatical features and changes. The current analysis points towards complex patterns of language descent and.
This dravidian language is part of the bigger language family consisting of 4 dominant languages in south india, and further in north india by 4 minority languages, a couple in neighbouring country nepal and a big brahui family in pakistan and afghanistan. The current analysis points towards complex patterns of language descent and subsequent longterm contact between languages rather than straightforwardly supporting the wellknown reference family tree by krishnamurti. Mar 17, 2018 on a first glance, this claim looks super weird. Mar 27, 2018 dravidian language family is approximately 4,500 years old. Which is the root language among dravidian languages. Morphological analysis of the dravidian language family.
18 626 1539 1251 961 656 1298 82 1124 1596 1511 1585 808 993 1265 1624 505 797 184 1315 827 1513 1108 394 1256 955 477 564 820 969 917 908 736 699