Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DRAVIDIAN (Sanskrit Dravida)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 551 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

DRAVIDIAN (See also:Sanskrit Dravida) , the name given to a collection of See also:Indian peoples, and their See also:family of See also:languages' comprising all ' In Dravidian words a See also:line above a vowel shows that it is See also:long. The dotted consonants t, d, and n are pronounced by striking the tip of the See also:tongue against the centre of the hard See also:palate. The dotted l is distinguished from 1 in a similar way. Its See also:sound, however, differsthe See also:principal forms of speech of See also:Southern See also:India. Their territory, which also includes the See also:northern See also:half of See also:Ceylon, extends See also:north-wards up to an irregular line See also:drawn from a point on the Arabian See also:Sea about too m. below See also:Goa along the Western See also:Ghats as far as See also:Kolhapur, thence north-See also:east through See also:Hyderabad, and farther eastwards to the See also:Bay of See also:Bengal. Farther to the north we find Dravidian dialects spoken by small tribes in the Central Provinces and See also:Chota See also:Nagpur, and even up to the See also:banks of the See also:Ganges in the See also:Rajmahal hills. A Dravidian See also:dialect is, finally, spoken by the Brahuis of See also:Baluchistan in the far north-See also:west. The various Dravidian languages, with the number of speakers returned at the See also:census of 1901, are as follows: Tamil 17,494,901 See also:Malayalam 6,022,131 See also:Kanarese . 10,368,515 See also:Tulu 535,210 Kodagu . 39,191 Toda 8o5 Kota 1,300 Kurux 609,721 Malto . 60,777 Gopc}i 1,125,479 Kui 494,099 See also:Telugu . 20,697,264 See also:Brahui .

48,589 See also:

Total . . 57,497,982 Of these Tamil and Malayalam can be considered as two dialects of one and the same See also:language, which is, in its turn, closely related to Kanarese. Tulu, Kodagu, Toda and Kota can be described as lying between Tamil-Malayalam and Kanarese, though they are more nearly related to the latter than to the former. The same is the See also:case with KuruX and Malto, while Kui and Gondi gradually approach Telugu, which latter language seems to have branched off from the See also:common stock at an See also:early date. Finally, the Brahui dialect of Baluchistan has been so much influenced by other languages that it is no longer a pure Dravidian See also:form of speech. The Dravidian languages have for ages been restricted to the territory they occupy at the See also:present See also:day. Moreover, they are gradually losing ground in the north, where they meet with See also:Aryan forms of speech. If we compare the See also:caste tables and the language tables in the Indian census of 19o1 we find that only 1,125,479 out of the 2,286,913 Gonds returned were stated to speak the Dravidian Gondi. Similarly only 1505 out of 17,187 Kolams entered their language as KOIami. Such tribes are gradually becoming Hinduized. Their language adopts an ever-increasing Aryan See also:element till it is quite superseded by Aryan speech. In the north-eastern See also:part of the Dravidian territory, to the east of See also:Chanda and See also:Bhandara, the usual See also:state of affairs is that Dravidian dialects are spoken in the hills while Aryan forms of speech prevail in the plains.

The Dravidian Kui thus stands out as an isolated See also:

island in the sea of Aryan speech. This See also:process has been going on from See also:time immemorial. The Dravidians were already settled in India when the See also:Aryans arrived from the north-west. The See also:fair Aryans were at once struck by their dark See also:hue, and named them accordingly krisna 'vac, the See also:black skin. In the course of time, however, the two races began to mix, and it is still possible to trace a Dravidian element in the Aryan languages of North India. The teaching of See also:anthropology is to the same effect. Most speakers of Dravidian languages belong to a distinct anthropological type which is known as the Dravidian. " The Dravidian See also:race," says See also:Sir H. Risley, "the most See also:primitive of the Indian types, occupies the See also:oldest See also:geological formation in India, the medley of See also:forest-clad ranges, terraced plateaus, and undulating plains which stretches, roughly speaking, from the Vindhyas to Cape See also:Comorin. On the east and west of the See also:peninsular See also:area the domain of the Dravidian is conterminous with the Ghats, in the different districts. A See also:Greek x marks the sound of ch in " See also:loch "; is the See also:English sh; c the ch in " See also:church "; and ri is an r which is used as a vowel. In the See also:list of Dravidian languages the names are spelt fully, with all the necessary diacritical marks, In the See also:rest of the See also:article dots under consonants have been omitted in these words.

while farther north it reaches on one See also:

side to the Aravallis and on the other to the Rajmahal hills." This territory is the proper See also:home of the race. A strong Dravidian element can, however, also be traced in the See also:population of northern India. In See also:Kashmir and See also:Punjab, where the Aryans had already settled in those prehistoric times when the Vedic See also:hymns were composed, the prevailing type is the Aryan one. The same is the case in See also:Rajputana. From the eastern frontier of the Punjab, on the other See also:hand, and eastwards, a Dravidian element can be traced. This is the case in the valleys of the Ganges and the See also:Jumna, where the Aryans only settled at a later See also:period. Anthropologists also state that there is a Dravidian element in the population of western India, from See also:Gujarat to See also:Coorg. It is thus probable that Dravidian languages have once been spoken in many tracts which are now occupied by Aryan forms of speech. The existence of a Dravidian dialect in Baluchistan seems to show that Dravidian settlers have once lived in those parts. The tribe in question, the Brahuis, are, however, now Eranians and not Dravidians by race, and it is not probable that there has ever been a numerous Dravidian population in Baluchistan. The Brahuis are most likely the descendants of settlers from the See also:south. There is no indication that the Dravidians have entered India from outside or superseded an older population.

For all See also:

practical purposes they can accordingly be considered as the See also:aborigines of the See also:Deccan, whence they appear to have spread over part of northern India, Their languages from an isolated See also:group, and it has not been possible to prove a connexion with any other family of languages. Such attempts have been made with reference to the Munda family, the Tibeto-Burman languages, and the dialects spoken by the aborigines of the Australian See also:continent. The arguments adduced have not, however, proved to be sufficient, and only the Australian See also:hypothesis can still See also:lay claim to some See also:probability. Till it has been more closely tested we must therefore consider the Dravidian family as an isolated group of languages, with several characteristic features of its own. The See also:pronunciation is described as soft and mellifluous. Abruptness and hard combinations of sounds are avoided. There is, for example, a distinct tendency to avoid pronouncing a See also:short consonant at the end of a word, a very short vowel being often added after it. Thus the pronoun of the third See also:person singular, which is avan, " he," in Tamil, is pronounced avanu in Kanarese; the Sanskrit word vak, " speech," is borrowed in the form vaku in Tamil; the word gurram, " See also:horse," is commonly pronounced gurramu in Telugu, and so on. Combinations of consonants are further avoided in many cases where speakers of other languages do not experience any difficulty in pronouncing them. This tendency is well illustrated by the changes undergone by some borrowed words. Thus the Sanskrit word See also:brahmana, " a Brahmin," becomes baramana in Kanarese and piramana in Tamil; the Sanskrit Dramida, " Dravidian," is borrowed by Tamil under the form Tiramida. Dramida, which also occurs as Dravida, is in its turn See also:developed from an older Dami(a, which is identical with the word Tamir, Tamil.

The forms piramana and Tiramida in Tamil illustrate another feature of Dravidian enunciation. There is a tendency in all of them, and in Tamil and Malayalam it has become a See also:

law, against any word being permitted to begin with a stopped voiced consonant (g, j, d, d, b), the corresponding voiceless sounds (k, c, t, t, p, respectively) being substituted. In the See also:middle of a word or See also:compound, on the other hand, every consonant must be voiced. Thus the Sanskrit word danta, " tooth," has been borrowed by Tamil in the form tandam, and the Telugu See also:anna, " See also:elder See also:brother," tammulu, " younger brother," become when compounded annadammulu, " elder and younger See also:brothers." There is no strongly marked See also:accent on any one syllable, though there is a slight stress upon the first one. In some dialects this See also:equilibrium between the different parts of a word is accompanied by a tendency to approach to each other the sound of vowels in consecutive syllables. This tendency, which has been called the " law of See also:harmonic sequence," is most apparent in Telugu, where the short u of certain suffixes is replaced by i when the preceding syllable contains one of the vowels i (short and long) and ei. Compare the See also:dative suffix ku, ki, in gurramu-ku, " to a horse "; but tammuni-ki, " to a younger brother." This tendency does not, however, See also:play a prominent role in the Dravidian languages. Words are formed from roots and bases by means of suffixed formative additions. The See also:root itself generally remains unchanged throughout. Thus from the Tamil See also:base per, " See also:great," we can form adjectives such as per-iya and per-um, " great "; verbs such See also:asper-u-gu, " to become increased "; per-u-kku, " to cause to increase," and so on. Many bases can be used at will as nouns, as adjectives, and as verbs. Thus the Tamil kadu can mean ' sharpness," ' See also:sharp," and " to be sharp." Other bases are of course more restricted in their respective See also:spheres.

The inflection of words is effected by See also:

agglutination, i.e. various additions are suffixed to the base in See also:order to form what we would See also:call cases and tenses. Such additions have probably once been See also:separate words. Most of them are, however, now only used as suffixes. Thus from the Tamil base kon, " See also:king," we can form an See also:accusative Mn-el, a verb kon-en, " I am king," and so on. Dravidian nouns are divided into two classes, which Tamil grammarians called high-caste and casteless respectively. The former includes those nouns which denote beings endowed with See also:reason, the latter all others. Gender is only distinguished in the former class, while all casteless nouns are neuter. The gender of animals (which are irrational) must accordingly be distinguished by using different words for the male and the See also:female, or else by adding words meaning male, female, respectively, to the name of the animal—processes which do not, strictly speaking, fall under the See also:head of See also:grammar. There are two See also:numbers, the singular and the plural. The latter is formed by adding suffixes. It, however, often remains unmarked in the case of casteless nouns. Cases are formed by adding postpositions and suffixes, usually to a modified form of the noun which is commonly called the oblique base.

Thus we have the Tamil maram, " See also:

tree "; maratt-al, " from a tree "; maratt-u-kku, " to a tree "; vidu, "a See also:house "; vitt-al, " from a house." The case terminations are the same in the singular and in the plural. The genitive, which precedes the governing noun, is often identical with the oblique base, or else it is formed by adding suffixes. The See also:numeral See also:system is decimal and higher numbers are counted in tens; thus Tamil pattu, " ten "; iru-badu, " two tens," " twenty." The See also:personal pronoun of the first person in most dialects has a See also:double form in the plural, one including and the other excluding the person addressed. Thus, Tamil neon, ' we," i.e. I and you ; nangal, ` we," i.e. I and they. There is no relative pronoun. Relative clauses are effected by using relative participles. Thus in Telugu the See also:sentence " the See also:book which you gave to me " must be translated miru naku iccina pustakamu, i.e. " you me-to given book." There are several such participles in use. Thus from the Telugu verb kotta, " to strike," are formed kott-ut-See also:unna, " that strikes," kott-i-na, ` that struck," kotte, " that would strike," " that usually strikes." By adding pronouns, or the terminations of pronouns, to such forms, nouns are derived which denote the person who performs the See also:action. Thus from Telugu kotte and vadu, " he," is formed kotte--vadu, " one who usually strikes." Such forms are used as See also:ordinary verbs, and the usual verbal forms of Dravidian languages can broadly be described as such nouns of agency.

Thus, the Telugu, kottinadu, " he struck," can be translated literally " a striker in the past." Verbal tenses distinguish the person and number of the subject by adding abbreviated forms of the personal pronouns. Thus in Kanarese we have madid-mu, " I did "; madid-i, " See also:

thou didst "; madid-evu, " we did "• madid-aru, " they did." One of the most characteristic features of the Dravidian verb is the existence of a separate negative conjugation. It usually has only one tense and is formed by adding the personal terminations to a negative base. Thus, Kanarese mad-enu, " I did not "; madevu, " we did not "; mad-aru, " they did not." "+ The vocabulary has adopted numerous Aryan See also:loan-words. This was a necessary consequence of the early connexion with the See also:superior Aryan See also:civilization. The oldest Dravidian literature is largely indebted to the Aryans, though it goes back to a very early date. Tamil, Malayalam, Kanarese and Telugu are the principal See also:literary languages. The language of literature in all of them differs considerably from the colloquial. The oldest known specimen of a Dravidian language occurs in a Greek play which is preserved in a See also:papyrus of the 2nd See also:century A.D. The exact period to which the indigenous literature can be traced back, on the other hand, has not been fixed with certainty. BIBLtoGaArxY.-See also:Bishop R. Caldwell, A See also:Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages (See also:London, 1856; 2nd edition, 1875) ; Dr See also:Friedrich See also:Muller, Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte See also:Novara um See also:die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859, unter den Bef&hlen See also:des See also:Commodore B. von Wiillerstorff Urbair: Linguistischer Theil.

(Wien, 1867, pp. 73 and ff.) ; Dr Friedrich Muller, Grundriss der Sprachwissenschaft, vol. iii. (Wien, 1884), pp. 106 and ff. ; G. A. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India, vol. iv. " Munda and Dravidian Languages " (See also:

Calcutta, 1906), pp. 277 and if., by Sten Konow. . (S.

End of Article: DRAVIDIAN (Sanskrit Dravida)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DRAVE, or DRAVA (Ger. Drau, Hung. Drava, Lat. Dravu...
[next]
DRAWBACK