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The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages^[1] 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. This article is about the geopolitical region in Asia. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Image File history File links Portal. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families (families hereforth). ... South India is a linguistic-cultural region of India that comprises the four Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry, whose inhabitants are collectively referred to as South Indians. ... United States may refer to: Places: United States of America SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever built. ...

Dravidian languages are spoken by more than 200 million people. They appear to be unrelated to languages of other known families. Some linguistic scholars incorporate the Dravidian languages into a larger Elamo-Dravidian language family, which includes the ancient Elamite language of what is now south-western Iran. ... The Elamo-Dravidian languages are a hypothesised language family which includes the living Dravidian languages of India and Pakistan, in addition to the extinct Elamite language of ancient Elam, in what is now southwestern Iran. ... For the span of recorded history starting roughly 5,000-5,500 years ago, see Ancient history. ... Elamite is an extinct language, which was spoken by the ancient Elamites (also known as Ilamids). ...

Even though the Dravidian languages are thought to be distinctly different from the Indo-Aryan languages, there are thirty to seventy per cent Sanskrit words in south Indian languages like Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, which can be attributed to the heavy borrowing of vocabulary from Sanskrit over the millennia during which the two language families coexisted. In addition, Dravidian grammatical impact on the structure and syntax of Indo-Aryan languages is considered far greater than the Indo-Aryan grammatical impact on Dravidian. Some linguists explain this anomaly by arguing that the Middle Indo-Aryan and New Indo-Aryan had been built on a Dravidian substratum seems to be the only answer.^[2] The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Telugu may refer to: Telugu language Telugu literature Telugu people Telugu script Telugu films Look up Telugu in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... In linguistics, a substratum (lat. ...

History

Main article: Proto-Dravidian

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. In addition to Elamite, unsuccessful attempts have also been made to link the family with the 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^[3], is popular amongst Dravidian linguists and has been supported by a number of scholars, including Robert Caldwell,^[4] Thomas Burrow,^[5] Kamil Zvelebil, ^[6] and Mikhail Andronov^[7] This theory has, however, been rejected by specialists in Uralic languages,^[8] and has in recent times also been criticised by other Dravidian linguists like Bhadriraju Krishnamurti.^[9] Proto-Dravidian is the proto-language of the Dravidian languages. ... Historical linguistics (also diachronic linguistics or comparative linguistics) is primarily the study of the ways in which languages change over time, by means of examining languages which are recognizably related through similarities such as vocabulary, word formation, and syntax, as well as the surviving records of ancient languages. ... The Japonic languages or Japanese-Ryukyuan languages constitute a language family that is agreed to have descended from a common ancestral language known as Proto-Japonic or Proto-Japanese-Ryukyuan. ... Basque (native name: Euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France. ... The Sumerian language ( EME.GIR15 native tongue) of ancient Sumer was spoken in Southern Mesopotamia from at least the 4th millennium BCE. Sumerian was replaced by Akkadian as a spoken language around 1800 BCE, but continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific language in Mesopotamia until... The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding Tasmania. ... The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River and the Vedic Sarasvati River in present-day Pakistan. ... Geographical distribution of Samoyedic, Finnic, Ugric and Yukaghir languages  Yukaghir  Samoyedic  Ugric  Finnic The Uralic languages (pronounced: ) form a language family of about 30 languages spoken by approximately 20 million people. ... Bishop Robert Caldwell (1814 -1891) was an orientalist who pioneered the study of the Dravidian languages with his influential work Comparative Grammar of Dravidian Languages (1856; revised edition 1875). ...

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Legends common to many Dravidian-speaking groups speak of their origin in a vast, now-sunken land far to the south^{[citation needed]}. 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^{[citation needed]}. 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. Image File history File links Circle-question. ... Shortcut: WP:NOR Wikipedia is not the place for original research such as new theories. ... Satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia (see note) This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia. ... Proto-Dravidian is the proto-language of the Dravidian languages. ...

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 Tamil language 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. 1816 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Tamil (Thamizh) is a classical language of the Dravidian language family. ... Telugu (తెలుగు) is a Dravidian language in origin, primarily spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is the official language. ... 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Bishop Robert Caldwell (1814 -1891) was an orientalist who pioneered the study of the Dravidian languages with his influential work Comparative Grammar of Dravidian Languages (1856; revised edition 1875). ... The Sanskrit language ( , for short ) is an old Indo-Aryan language from the Indian Subcontinent, the classical literary language of the Hindus of India[1], a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Tamil (Thamizh) is a classical language of the Dravidian language family. ... Murray Barnson Emeneau (February 28, 1904 - August 29, 2005) was an emeritus professor of linguistics at the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, which he also founded. ...

List of Dravidian languages

National languages of India are in boldface: India has a diverse list of spoken languages among different groups of people. ...

Southern

Dravidian languages spoken in South Asia

• Tamil
• Malayalam
• Kannada
• Badaga
• Bellari
• Irula
• Toda
• Tulu
• Kanikkaran
• Kota
• Kurumba
• Paliyan

Tamil (Thamizh) is a classical language of the Dravidian language family. ... Malayalam ( ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ ) is one of the major Dravidian languages of southern India and one of the oldest languages in India. ... The Badaga language is a southern Dravidian language (Tamil-Kannada branch) spoken by approximately 250,000 people (the Badagas) in the Nilgiri Hills in Southern India. ... Irulas is a scheduled tribe of India. ... Toda is a Dravidian language well known for its many fricatives and trills. ... Telegu ( ತುಳು ) is a Dravidian language of India with fewer than two million speakers. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Kuruma. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

South Central

• Telugu
• Abujmaria
• Gondi
• Kui
• Kuvi
• Konda
• Koya
• Manda
• Pengo
• Sugali

Telugu (తెలుగు) is a Dravidian language in origin, primarily spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is the official language. ... Abujmaria is a language spoken in Hill Maria, a sub-group of Gond tribes, the largest tribal group in India. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ...

Central

• Kolami-Naiki
  • Naiki
  • Northwestern Kolami (India)
  • Southeastern Kolami (India)
• Parji-Gadaba
  • Duruwa (India)
  • Mudhili Gadaba (India)
  • Parji
  • Pottangi Ollar Gadaba (India)

Northern

• Brahui (the only Dravidian language spoken in Pakistan; in the Balochistan province)
• Kumarbhag Paharia - (India)
• Kurux language (India)
• Kurux language Nepali - (Nepal)
• Malto
• Sauria Paharia (India)

The Brahui (بروہی) or Bravi (براوِ) language, spoken by the Brahui, is mainly spoken in Balochistan, Pakistan, although it is also spoken in Afghanistan and Iran. ... The province of Balochistan (or Baluchistan) (Urdu: بلوچستان) in Pakistan is the largest in the country by geographical area. ... Kurukh belongs to the Dravidian family, and is most closely related to Brahui and Malto (Paharia). ... Kurukh belongs to the Dravidian family, and is most closely related to Brahui and Malto (Paharia). ...

Grammar

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The most characteristic features of Dravidian languages are:^[6]: Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ...

• Dravidian languages are agglutinative.
• Dravidian languages exhibit the inclusive and exclusive we feature.
• The major word classes are nouns (substantives, numerals, pronouns), adjectives, verbs, and indeclinables (particles, enclitics, adverbs, interjections, onomatopoetic words, echo words).
• Proto-Dravidian used only suffixes, never prefixes or infixes, in the construction of inflected forms. Hence, the roots of words always occurred at the beginning. Nouns, verbs, and indeclinable words constituted the original word classes.
• There are two numbers and four different gender systems, the “original” probably having “male: non-male” in the singular and “person:non-person” in the plural.
• In a sentence, however complex, only one finite verb occurs, normally at the end, preceded if necessary by a number of gerunds.
• Word order follows certain basic rules but is relatively free.
• The main (and probably original) dichotomy in tense is past:non-past. Present tense developed later and independently in each language or subgroup.
• Verbs are intransitive, transitive, and causative; there are also active and passive forms.
• All of the positive verb forms have their corresponding negative counterparts, Negative Verbs.

An agglutinative language is a language in which the words are formed by joining morphemes together. ... Inclusive we is a pronoun or verb conjugation that indicates the inclusion of the speaker, the addressee, and perhaps other people, as opposed to exclusive we, which specifically excludes the addressee. ...

Phonology

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. The Sanskrit language ( , for short ) is an old Indo-Aryan language from the Indian Subcontinent, the classical literary language of the Hindus of India[1], a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, the Americas as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some obstruents. ... In Quebec, an allophone (French or English. ...

For instance, Tamil, like Finnish, Korean, Ainu, and most indigenous Australian languages, does not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced stops. In fact, the Tamil alphabet lacks symbols for voiced and aspirated stops. The Ainu language (Ainu: , aynu itak; Japanese: ainu-go) is spoken by the Ainu ethnic group on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō. It was once spoken in the Kurile Islands, the northern part of Honshū, and the southern half of Sakhalin. ... The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding Tasmania. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ...

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. Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both, rather than with the gum ridge as in English. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Retroflex consonants are articulated with the tip of the tongue curled up and back so the bottom of the tip touches the roof of the mouth. ... Liquid consonants, or liquids, are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial in English yes corresponds to ). The class of liquids can be divided into lateral liquids and rhotics. ...

Words starting with vowels

A substantial number of words also begin and end with vowels, which helps the languages' agglutinative property.

karanu (cry), elumbu (bone), adu (that), awade (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.

1. 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".
2. 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 "iraṭṭi" ("double") or Iruvar (meaning two people).
3. Kolami numbers 5-10 are borrowed from Telugu

• Words indicated (II) are borrowings from Indo-Iranian languages.

Tamil (Thamizh) is a classical language of the Dravidian language family. ... Telugu (తెలుగు) is a Dravidian language in origin, primarily spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is the official language. ... Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ ) is one of the major Dravidian languages of southern India and one of the oldest languages in India. ... Telegu ( ತುಳು ) is a Dravidian language of India with fewer than two million speakers. ... Malayalam ( ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... The Oraon are a tribal (Adivasi) people of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, India. ... Kolami is a tribal Dravidian language used in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states of India. ... The Brahui (بروہی) or Bravi (براوِ) language, spoken by the Brahui, is mainly spoken in Balochistan, Pakistan, although it is also spoken in Afghanistan and Iran. ... Proto-Dravidian is the proto-language of the Dravidian languages. ... Telugu (తెలుగు) is a Dravidian language in origin, primarily spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is the official language. ... The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. ...

Sanskrit influence

It would be wrong to say that the languages have been completely influenced by sanskrit but it can safely be said that they have included a lot of sanskrit words in their vocabulary, as every language has colloquial and natively original vocab. For example old kannada had a negligible number of Sanskrit words but modern Kannada has more. Even in other languages this logic holds good - a trend globalisation has brought. But even sanskrit is continuously evolving and South Indian Mutts are involved in this in a large scale. Modern Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu have been relatively more influenced by the Indo-European Sanskrit and have the aspirated consonants. Sanskrit words and derivatives are accepted commonly in Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu. Tamil is the least influenced.^{[citation needed]} Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ ) is one of the major Dravidian languages of southern India and one of the oldest languages in India. ... Malayalam ( ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Telugu (తెలుగు) is a Dravidian language in origin, primarily spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is the official language. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, the Americas as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... The Sanskrit language ( , for short ) is an old Indo-Aryan language from the Indian Subcontinent, the classical literary language of the Hindus of India[1], a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Tamil (Thamizh) is a classical language of the Dravidian language family. ...

Notes

A lexicon is a list of words together with additional word-specific information, i. ...

References

External links

• Dravidian Etymological Dictionary. The complete dravidian etymological dictionary in a searchable online form.
• Dravidian languages page in SIL Ethnologue.
• 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.
• A subsection of the "Languages of the World" Site maintained by the National Virtual Translation Center in Washington DC.