History

A origins of a Dravidian languages, besides when their subsequent development & a period of their differentiation, come unreadable, & the situation is non helped per want of comparative linguistic research into the Dravidian languages. There are striking similarities between a Dravidian & Uralic and Altaic language groups, which suggest prolonged call for between the language families at a few stage although a most common origin appears improbable. Inconclusive tries use at times besides been processed to hyperlink a personal by using a Japonic languages, Basque, Korean, Sumerian, the Australian Aboriginal languages and the unknown language of the Indus valley civilisation.

Legends green to several Dravidian-speaking groups speak of their origaround in the huge, currently-sunken continent far in the south. Several linguists, notwithstanding, tend to favour a theory that speakers of Dravidian languages spread southward & eastward through the Indian subcontinent, based on a fact that a southern Dravidian languages indicate a select few signs of email sustaining linguistic groups which a northern Dravidian languages don't. Proto-Dravidian is thought to use at times differentiated into Proto-Northward Dravidian, Proto-Central Dravidian & Proto-South Dravidian about 1500 BC, although a few linguists have argued that a degree of differentiation between a sub-families points to an earliest split.

A being of the Dravidian language personal was foremost recommended around 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. But, it was non until 1856 that Robert Caldwell published his Comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian personal of languages, which well expanded a Dravidian umbrella & established it when one of a major language groups of the globe. Caldwell coined a term "Dravidian" from either a Sanskrit drāvida, which was used around the 7th century text to refer to the languages of the south of India. A publication of the Dravidian etymological dictionary by T. Burrow and M. B. Emeneau was a landmark event in Dravidian linguistics.

List of Dravidian languages
National languages of India are in bold: Southern
Tamil Kannada Malayalam Tulu Bellari Toda Kota Koraga Badaga Kurumba Irula Kodava Thakk (Kodagu)

South Central
Telugu (తెలుగు) Gondi * * Konda Manda Pengo Kui Kuvi

Central
Kolami Naiki Parji Gadaba

Northern
Brahui (the lone Dravidian language non spoken withinside India or even Sri Lanka; these are spoken inside Baluchistan in Pakistan) Kurukh Malto

Phonology
Dravidian languages come noted for the deficiency of distinction between soft & unexpressed blocks, prefer Finnish. When Dravidian languages (especially Malayalam, Kannada & Telugu) keep around prominent many loan words from either Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages, which do produce distinctions within voice & aspiration, the words come typically mispronounced by monolingual Dravidian speakers. In point of fact, a Tamil alphabet lacks symbols for voiced & aspirated blocks. Dravidian languages come as well characterized by the 3-triangular distinction between dental, alveolar, and retroflex places of articulation when well as heavy many liquids.

Reversal property
Words within Dravidian languages st& the property that, by reversing the consonants and using a easily defined placed of transformations of the vowels, a second word by using a similar meaning is found. All over instance, the single form will represent a general example & a more finish up representing a favorite instance.

E.g.: Erasu (gather) & sEru (join) kaNu (look) & iNuku (peep) atta (attic) reverses to itself.

Words starting with vowels
a real total of words likewise lead off & prevent by using vowels, which assists the languages' agglutinative property.

aLu (cry), elumbu (bone), adu (that), alli (there), idu (this), illai (there are no, scatty)

adu-idil-illai (that-this-around-absent = that is scatty in that)

Sanskrit Influence
Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu have been relatively thomas more influenced per Indo-European language Sanskrit and have borrowed a aspirated consonants. Sanskrit words & derivatives come green around Kannada, Malayalam & Telugu. Tamil is a least influenced and retains the nearest form of the Proto-Dravidian language.