Editing Dravidian languages (section)

==Grammar==
The most characteristic grammatical features of Dravidian languages are:<ref name="britannicaDVD"/>
* Dravidian languages are [[Agglutination|agglutinative]].
* Word order is [[subject–object–verb]] (SOV).
* Most Dravidian languages have a [[clusivity]] distinction.
* The major word classes are nouns (substantives, numerals, pronouns), adjectives, verbs, and indeclinables (particles, [[clitic|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 ancestral system 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]].

===Nominal morphology===
====Number and gender====
The Dravidian languages have two numbers, singular and plural. The singular is unmarked, the plural is expressed by a suffix. The plural suffixes are ''-(n)k(k)a'' (cf. Kui {{tlit|uki|kōḍi-ŋga}} 'cows', Brahui {{tlit|brh|bā-k}} 'mouths'), *-ḷ (cf. Telugu {{tlit|te|mrānu-lu}} 'trees', Ollari {{tlit|adb|ki-l}} 'hands') and the combination of these two *-(n)k(k)aḷ common in SD (cf. Tamil {{tlit|ta|maraṅ-kaḷ}} 'trees', Kannada {{tlit|kn|mara-gaḷu}} 'trees').{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=213–215}}

The individual Dravidian languages have different gender systems. What they have in common is that the grammatical gender (genus) always corresponds to the natural gender of the word. In addition to individual special developments, there are three main types in which the categories "male" or "non-male" as well as "human" and "non-human" play a central role:{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=207–210}}

# The South Dravidian languages distinguish between masculine (human, masculine), feminine (human, non-masculine) and neuter (non-human) in the singular, and only between human and non-human in the plural.
# The Central Dravidian and many South Central Dravidian languages distinguish only between masculine and non-masculine in both singular and plural.
# Telugu and the North Dravidian languages distinguish between masculine and non-masculine in the singular, and between human and non-human in the plural.
The three types are illustrated by the forms of the third-person demonstrative pronouns of the three languages:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Gender system types illustrated with third-person demonstrative pronouns{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=208}}
|-
! !! m. Sg. !! f. Sg. !! n. Sg. !! m. Pl. !! f. Pl. !! n. Pl.
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Type 1: Tamil (South Dravidian){{efn|Tamil also has different forms for honorific pronouns: {{tlit|ta|avar}} (human singular) and {{tlit|ta|avarkaḷ}} (human plural).}}
| {{tlit|ta|avaṉ}}
| {{tlit|ta|avaḷ}}
| {{tlit|ta|atu}}
| colspan="2" | {{tlit|ta|avar}}
| {{tlit|ta|avai}}
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Type 2: Telugu (South Central Dravidian)
| {{tlit|te|vāḍu}}
| colspan="2" | {{tlit|te|adi}}
| colspan="2" | {{tlit|te|vāru}}
| {{tlit|te|avi}}
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Type 3: Kolami (Central Dravidian)
| {{tlit|kfb|am}}
| colspan="2" | {{tlit|kfb|ad}}
| {{tlit|kfb|avr}}
| colspan="2" | {{tlit|kfb|adav}}
|}

There is no consensus as to which of these three types is the original.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=210–212}}

The gender is not explicitly marked for all nouns. Thus in Telugu {{tlit|te|anna}} 'elder brother' is masculine and {{tlit|te|amma}} 'mother' non-masculine, without this being apparent from the pure form of the word. However, many nouns are formed with certain suffixes that express gender and number. For Proto-Dravidian, the suffixes *-an and *-anṯ could be used for the masculine singular (cf. Tamil {{tlit|ta|mak-aṉ}} 'son', Telugu {{tlit|te|tammu-ṇḍu}} 'younger brother'), *-aḷ and *-i for the singular feminine (cf. Kannada {{tlit|kn|mag-aḷ}} 'daughter', Malto {{tlit|kmj|maq-i}} 'girl') and *-ar for human plurals (cf. Malayalam {{tlit|ml|iru-var}} 'two persons', Kurukh {{tlit|kru|āl-ar}} 'men').{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=215–217}}

====Case====
Case is expressed by suffixes and more loosely connected postpositions.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=217}}{{sfnp|Zvelebil|1990|p=22}} The number of cases varies between four (Telugu) and eleven (Brahui).

The nominative is always the unmarked base form of the word. The other cases, collectively called oblique, are formed by adding suffixes to a stem that can either be identical to the nominative or formed by certain suffixes (e.g. Tamil {{tlit|ta|maram}} 'tree', oblique {{tlit|ta|mara-tt-}}).{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=218}} Several oblique suffixes can be reconstructed for Proto-Dravidian, which are composed of the minimal components *-i- , *-a- , *-n- and *-tt-.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=218–226}} In many languages, the oblique is identical to the genitive.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=218}}

Proto-Dravidian case suffixes can be reconstructed for the three cases accusative, dative and genitive. Other case suffixes only occur in individual branches of Dravidian.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=227}}

* Accusative: *-ay (Tamil {{tlit|ta|yāṉaiy-ai}} 'elephant', Malayalam {{tlit|ml|avan-e}} 'him', Brahui {{tlit|brh|dā shar-e}} 'this village'); *-Vn (Telugu {{tlit|te|bhārya-nu}} 'wife', Gondi {{tlit|gon|kōndat-ūn}} 'ox', Ollari {{tlit|gdb|ḍurka-n}} 'panther'){{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=227–230}}
* Dative: *-(n)k(k)- (Tamil {{tlit|ta|uṅkaḷ-ukku}} 'you'; Telugu {{tlit|te|pani-ki}} 'for work', Kolami {{tlit|kfb|ella-ŋ}} 'to the house'){{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=230–233}}
* Genitive: -*a/ā (Kannada {{tlit|kn|avar-ā}} 'to be', Gondi {{tlit|gon|kallē-n-ā}} 'of the thief', Brahui {{tlit|brh|xarās-t-ā}} 'of the bull'); *-in (Tamil {{tlit|ta|aracan-iṉ}} 'of the king', Toda {{tlit|tcx|ok-n}} 'of the elder sister', Ollari {{tlit|gdb|sēpal-in}} 'of the girl'){{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=233–235}}

====Pronouns====
Personal pronouns occur in the 1st and 2nd person. In the 1st person plural there is an inclusive and exclusive form, that is, a distinction is made as to whether the person addressed is included. There is also a reflexive pronoun that refers to the subject of the sentence and is constructed in the same way as personal pronouns. The personal and reflexive pronouns reconstructed for Proto-Dravidian are listed in the table below. In addition, there are special developments in some languages: The south and south-central Dravidian languages have transferred the *ñ initial sound of the 1st person plural inclusive to the 1st person singular (cf. Malayalam ''ñān'', but oblique ''en'' < *yan). The differences between the forms for the inclusive and exclusive we are partly blurred; Kannada has completely abandoned this distinction. The languages of the Tamil-Kodagu group have formed a new exclusive 'we' by adding the plural suffix (cf. Tamil ''nām'' 'we (incl.)', ''nāṅ-kaḷ'' 'we (excl.)').{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=244–253}}

{| class="wikitable"
|- class="hintergrundfarbe8"
! !! Nom. !! Obl. !! Meaning
|-
! align="left" class="hintergrundfarbe8"| 1. Sg.
| ''*yĀn'' || ''*yAn'' || I
|-
! align="left" class="hintergrundfarbe8"| 1. Pl. excl.
| ''*yĀm'' || ''*yAm'' ||we (excl.)
|-
! align="left" class="hintergrundfarbe8"| 1. Pl. incl.
| ''*ñām'' || ''*ñam'' || we (incl.)
|-
! align="left" class="hintergrundfarbe8"| 2. Sg.
| ''*nīn'' || ''*nin'' || you
|-
! align="left" class="hintergrundfarbe8"| 2. Pl
| ''*nīm'' || ''*nim'' || you all
|-
! align="left" class="hintergrundfarbe8"| Refl. Sg.
| ''*tān'' || ''*tan'' || (he/she/it) himself
|-
! align="left" class="hintergrundfarbe8"| Refl. Pl.
| ''*tām'' || ''*tam'' || themselves
|}

The demonstrative pronouns also serve as personal pronouns of the 3rd person. They consist of an initial vowel expressing the distance and a suffix expressing number and gender. There are three levels of distance: the far distance is formed with the initial vowel *a-, the middle distance with *u- and the near distance with *i-. The same deictic elements also occur in local ('here', 'there') and temporal adverbs ('now', 'then'). The original threefold distinction of the distance (e.g. Kota ''avn'' 'he, that one', ''ūn'' 'he, this one', ''ivn'' 'he, this one') has only survived in a few languages spoken today, the yonder distance u- has mostly become obsolete instead a- and i- are used. Interrogative pronouns are formed analogously to the demonstrative pronouns and are characterized by the initial syllable *ya- (e.g. Kota ''evn'' 'which').{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=253–258}}

Tamil-Telugu made another word ''*ñān'' for the 1SG pronoun back formed from 1P inclusive ''*ñām'', in parallel to *yān; some languages like Tamil retain both forms, ''yāṉ, nāṉ''.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=260–265}}

====Verbal morphology====
The Dravidian verb is formed by adding tense, mood and personal suffixes to the root of the word. Thus the Tamil word ''varukiṟēṉ'' 'I come' is composed of the verb stem ''varu-'', the present suffix ''-kiṟ'' and the suffix of the 1st person singular ''-ēṉ''.

In Proto-Dravidian there are only two tenses, past and not past, while many daughter languages have developed a more complex tense system.

The negation is expressed synthetically by a special negative verb form (cf. Konda ''kitan'' 'he made', ''kiʔetan'' 'he did not').

The verb stem can be modified by stem-forming suffixes in many Dravidian languages. Thus Malto derives from the stem ''nud-'' 'to hide' the reflexive verb stem ''nudɣr-'' 'to hide'.

Infinite verb forms depend on either a following verb or a following noun. They serve to form more complex syntactic constructions.

Verbal compounds can be formed in Dravidian, for example the Tamil ''konṭuvara'' 'to bring' is composed of an infinite form of the verb ''koḷḷa'' 'to hold' and the verb ''vara'' 'to come'.

====Syntax====
Characteristic of the Dravidian languages is a fixed [[subject–object–verb word order]] (SOV). Accordingly, the subject comes first in the sentence (it can at most be preceded by circumstantial determinations of time and place) and the predicate always at the end of the sentence. As is characteristic of SOV languages, in the Dravidian languages, attributes always come before their noun, subordinate clauses before main clauses, main verbs before auxiliary verbs, and postpositions are used instead of prepositions. Only in the North Dravidian languages has the rigid SOV word order been relaxed.

A simple sentence consists of a subject and a predicate, which can be either a verb or a noun. There is no copula in Dravidian. The subject is usually in the nominative case, but in many Dravidian languages, in a sentence expressing a feeling, perception or possession, the subject is also in the dative case. In all Dravidian languages except Malayalam, a verbal predicate agrees with a nominative subject. Kui and Kuwi developed a system of congruence between object and verb. In some Dravidian languages (Old Tamil, Gondi) even a nominal predicate takes personal endings. Examples of simple sentences from Tamil:

: ''avar eṉṉaik kēṭṭār.'' (he me asked) 'He asked me.' (subject in nominative, verbal predicate)
: ''avar eṉ appā.'' (he my father) 'He is my father.' (subject in nominative, nominal predicate)
: ''avarukku kōpam vantatu.'' (to-him anger it-came) 'He became angry.' (subject in dative, verbal predicate)
: ''avarukku oru makaṉ.'' (to-him a son) 'He has a son.' (subject in dative, nominal predicate)

Complex sentences consist of a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses. In general, a sentence can contain only one finite verb. The Dravidian languages have no conjunctions; subordinate clauses are formed just like [[parataxis|parataxes]] by infinite verb forms. These include the infinitive, the verbal participle, which expresses a sequence of actions, and the conditional, which expresses a conditionality. Relative clauses correspond to constructions with the so-called adnominal participles. Examples from Tamil:

: ''avarai varac col.'' (him to-come tell) 'Tell him to come.' (infinitive)
: ''kaṭaikku pōyi muṭṭaikaḷ koṇṭuvā.'' (to-the-shop go-then eggs get-come) 'Go to the shop and bring eggs.' (verb participle)
: ''avaṉ poy coṉṉāl ammā aṭippāḷ.'' (he lie if-saying mother will-beat) 'If he lies, mother will beat him.' (Conditional)
: ''avaṉ coṉṉatu uṇmai.'' (he said truth) 'What he says is true.' (adnominal participle)

These constructions are not possible for subordinate clauses with a nominal predicate, since no infinite forms can be formed for a noun. Here one gets by with the so-called [[quotative verb]] (usually an infinite form of 'to say'), through which the nominal subordinate clause is embedded in the sentence structure. Example from Tamil:

: ''nāṉ avaṉ nallavaṉ eṉṟu niṉaikkiṟēṉ.'' (I he [good-man]-like-that thinking) 'I think he's a good man.'