Editing Dravidian languages (section)

==Prehistory==
The origins of the Dravidian languages, as well as their subsequent development and the period of their differentiation are unclear, partially due to the lack of [[comparative linguistics|comparative linguistic]] research into the Dravidian languages. It is thought that the Dravidian languages were the most widespread indigenous languages in the [[Indian subcontinent]] before the advance of the Indo-Aryan languages.<ref name="steven">{{cite book|title=History of Language|author=Steven Roger Fischer|publisher=Reaktion books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TSptsIJwsasC&q=dravidian+languages&pg=PT82|quote=It is generally accepted that Dravidian – with no identifiable cognates among the world's languages – was India's most widely distributed, indigenous language family when Indo-European speakers first intruded from the north-west 3,000 years ago|isbn=9781861895943|date=3 October 2004|access-date=10 November 2020|archive-date=9 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409105615/https://books.google.com/books?id=TSptsIJwsasC&q=dravidian+languages&pg=PT82|url-status=live}}</ref> Though some scholars have argued that the Dravidian languages may have been brought to India by migrations from the Iranian plateau in the fourth or third millennium BCE<ref name="tls1963"/>{{sfnp|Andronov|2003|p=299}} or even earlier,<ref name="mukherjee2001">{{Citation | title=High-resolution analysis of Y-chromosomal polymorphisms reveals signatures of population movements from central Asia and West Asia into India |author1=Namita Mukherjee |author2=Almut Nebel |author3=Ariella Oppenheim |author4=Partha P. Majumder | journal=Journal of Genetics | publisher=Springer India | date=December 2001 |volume=80 |issue=3 |doi=10.1007/BF02717908| quote=... More recently, about 15,000–10,000 years before present (ybp), when agriculture developed in the Fertile Crescent region that extends from Israel through northern Syria to western Iran, there was another eastward wave of human migration (Cavalli-Sforza et al., 1994; Renfrew 1987), a part of which also appears to have entered India. This wave has been postulated to have brought the Dravidian languages into India (Renfrew 1987). Subsequently, the Indo-European (Aryan) language family was introduced into India about 4,000 ybp ... | pmid=11988631 | pages=125–35|s2cid=13267463 }}</ref><ref name="kumar2004">{{Citation | title=Genetic Disorders of the Indian Subcontinent | author=Dhavendra Kumar | publisher=Springer | year=2004 | access-date=2008-11-25 | isbn=1-4020-1215-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bpl0LXKj13QC | quote=... The analysis of two Y chromosome variants, Hgr9 and Hgr3 provides interesting data (Quintan-Murci et al., 2001). Microsatellite variation of Hgr9 among Iranians, Pakistanis and Indians indicate an expansion of populations to around 9000 YBP in Iran and then to 6,000 YBP in India. This migration originated in what was historically termed Elam in south-west Iran to the Indus valley, and may have been associated with the spread of Dravidian languages from south-west Iran (Quintan-Murci et al., 2001). ... | archive-date=9 April 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409105646/https://books.google.com/books?id=bpl0LXKj13QC | url-status=live }}</ref> reconstructed proto-Dravidian vocabulary suggests that the family is indigenous to India.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=15}}{{sfnp|Avari|2007|p=13}}{{efn|name=Renfrew}}

===Proto-Dravidian and onset of diversification===
As a [[proto-language]], the [[Proto-Dravidian language|Proto-Dravidian]] language is not itself attested in the historical record. Its modern conception is based solely on reconstruction. It was suggested in the 1980s that the language was spoken in the 4th millennium BCE, and started disintegrating into various branches around the 3rd millennium BCE.<ref name=department>[https://books.google.com/books?id=chvjAAAAMAAJ&q=the+proto-+Dravidian+linguistic+community+disintegrated+at+the+beginning+of+the+4th+millennium+B.+C History and Archaeology, Volume 1, Issues 1–2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409105710/https://books.google.com/books?id=chvjAAAAMAAJ&q=the+proto-+Dravidian+linguistic+community+disintegrated+at+the+beginning+of+the+4th+millennium+B.+C |date=9 April 2023 }} p.234, Department of Ancient History, Culture, and Archaeology, University of Allahabad</ref> According to [[Bhadriraju Krishnamurti|Krishnamurti]], Proto-Dravidian may have been spoken in the Indus civilization, suggesting a "tentative date of Proto-Dravidian around the early part of the third millennium."{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|p=501}} Krishnamurti further states that South Dravidian I (including pre-Tamil) and South Dravidian II (including Pre-Telugu) split around the 11th century BCE, with the other major branches splitting off at around the same time.{{sfn|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=501–502}} Kolipakam et al. (2018) give a similar estimate of 2,500 BCE for Proto-Dravidian.<ref name=sciendaily>{{Cite news|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180321090953.htm|title=Dravidian language family is approximately 4,500 years old, new linguistic analysis finds|work=ScienceDaily|access-date=2018-05-17|archive-date=18 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180518195847/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180321090953.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Historically Maharashtra, Gujarat and Sindh also had Dravidian speaking populations from the evidence of place names (like ''-v(a)li, -koṭ'' from Dravidian ''paḷḷi, kōṭṭai''), grammatical features in Marathi, Gujarati, and Sindhi and Dravidian like kinship systems in southern Indo–Aryan languages. Proto-Dravidian could have been spoken in a wider area, perhaps into Central India or the western Deccan which may have had other forms of early Dravidian/pre-Proto-Dravidian or other branches of Dravidian which are currently unknown.<ref name="auto"/>

Several geneticists have noted a strong correlation between Dravidian and the Ancestral South Indian (ASI) component of [[genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia|South Asian genetic makeup]].{{sfnp|Reich|Thangaraj|Patterson|Price|2009|p=493}} Narasimhan et al. (2019) argue that the ASI component itself formed in the early 2nd millennium BCE from a mixture of a population associated with the [[Indus Valley civilization]] and a population resident in peninsular India.{{sfnp|Narasimhan|Patterson|Moorjani|Rohland|2019|p=11}} They conclude that one of these two groups may have been the source of proto-Dravidian.{{sfnp|Narasimhan|Patterson|Moorjani|Rohland|2019|p=15}} An Indus valley origin would be consistent with the location of Brahui and with attempts to interpret the [[Indus script]] as Dravidian.{{sfnp|Narasimhan|Patterson|Moorjani|Rohland|2019|p=15}}{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=5}} On the other hand, reconstructed Proto-Dravidian terms for flora and fauna provide support for a peninsular Indian origin.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=15}}{{sfnp|Narasimhan|Patterson|Moorjani|Rohland|2019|p=15}}{{sfnp|Southworth|2005|pp=255–256}}

===Indus Valley Civilisation===
The [[Indus Valley civilisation]] (3300–1900 BCE), located in the [[Indus Valley]] region, is sometimes suggested to have been Dravidian.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.harappa.com/arrow/stone_celt_indus_signs.html |title=Stone celts in Harappa |last=Mahadevan |first=Iravatham |date=6 May 2006 |website=Harappa |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904034700/http://www.harappa.com/arrow/stone_celt_indus_signs.html |archive-date=4 September 2006}}</ref> Already in 1924, after discovering the Indus Valley Civilisation, [[John Marshall (archaeologist)|John Marshall]] stated that one or more of the languages may have been Dravidic.<ref>M.T. Saju (5 October 2018), [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/tracking-indian-communities/pot-route-could-have-linked-indus-vaigai/ ''Pot route could have linked Indus & Vaigai''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209124507/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/tracking-indian-communities/pot-route-could-have-linked-indus-vaigai/ |date=9 February 2019 }}, Times of India</ref> Cultural and linguistic similarities have been cited by researchers [[Henry Heras]], [[Kamil Zvelebil]], [[Asko Parpola]] and [[Iravatham Mahadevan]] as being strong evidence for a proto-Dravidian origin of the ancient Indus Valley civilisation.<ref>{{cite web | last = Rahman | first = Tariq | title = Peoples and languages in pre-Islamic Indus valley | url=http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html| quote =most scholars have taken the 'Dravidian hypothesis' seriously | access-date = 2008-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509053921/http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html |archive-date=2008-05-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cole |first=Jennifer |date=2006 |chapter=The Sindhi language |chapter-url=http://www.linguistics.uiuc.edu/jscole/Sindhi_Elsevier_encyl.pdf |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=K. |title=Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Edition |volume=11 |publisher=Elsevier |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106015921/http://www.linguistics.uiuc.edu/jscole/Sindhi_Elsevier_encyl.pdf |archive-date=6 January 2007 |quote=Harappan language...prevailing theory indicates Dravidian origins }}</ref> The discovery in [[Tamil Nadu]] of a late Neolithic (early 2nd millennium BCE, i.e. post-dating Harappan decline) stone [[celt (tool)|celt]] allegedly marked with Indus signs has been considered by some to be significant for the Dravidian identification.<ref>Subramanium 2006; see also [http://www.harappa.com/arrow/stone_celt_indus_signs.html A Note on the Muruku Sign of the Indus Script in light of the Mayiladuthurai Stone Axe Discovery] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904034700/http://www.harappa.com/arrow/stone_celt_indus_signs.html |date=4 September 2006 }} by I. Mahadevan (2006)</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Subramanian |first=T.S. |date=1 May 2006 |title=Significance of Mayiladuthurai find |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/05/01/stories/2006050101992000.htm |newspaper=The Hindu |access-date=27 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430214654/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/05/01/stories/2006050101992000.htm |archive-date=30 April 2008 }}</ref>

[[Yuri Knorozov]] surmised that the symbols represent a [[logosyllabic]] script and suggested, based on computer analysis, an underlying agglutinative Dravidian language as the most likely candidate for the underlying language.<ref>{{harvnb|Knorozov|1965|p=117}}</ref> Knorozov's suggestion was preceded by the work of Henry Heras, who suggested several readings of signs based on a proto-Dravidian assumption.<ref>{{harvnb|Heras|1953|p=138}}</ref>

Linguist Asko Parpola writes that the Indus script and Harappan language are "most likely to have belonged to the Dravidian family".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate|page=183|author=Edwin Bryant|publisher=Oxford|isbn=9780195169478|year=2003}}</ref> Parpola led a Finnish team in investigating the inscriptions using computer analysis. Based on a proto-Dravidian assumption, they proposed readings of many signs, some agreeing with the suggested readings of Heras and Knorozov (such as equating the "fish" sign with the Dravidian word for fish, "min") but disagreeing on several other readings. A comprehensive description of Parpola's work until 1994 is given in his book ''Deciphering the Indus Script''.<ref>{{harvnb|Parpola|1994}}</ref>

===Northern Dravidian pockets===
{{See also|Kurukh language|Malto language|Brahui language}}

Although in modern times speakers of the various Dravidian languages have mainly occupied the southern portion of India, in earlier times they probably were spoken in a larger area. After the [[Indo-Aryan migrations]] into north-western India, starting {{Circa|1500 BCE}}, and the establishment of the [[Kuru Kingdom|Kuru kingdom]] {{Circa|1100 BCE}}, a process of [[Sanskritisation]] of the masses started, which resulted in a [[language shift]] in northern India. Southern India has remained majority Dravidian, but pockets of Dravidian can be found in central India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

The [[Kurukh people|Kurukh]] and [[Malto people|Malto]] are pockets of Dravidian languages in central India, spoken by people who may have migrated from south India. They do have myths about external origins.<ref>P. 83 ''The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration'' Debate by Edwin Bryant</ref> The Kurukh have traditionally claimed to be from the [[Deccan Peninsula]],<ref>P. 18 ''The Orāons of Chōtā Nāgpur: their history, economic life, and social organization.'' by Sarat Chandra Roy, Rai Bahadur; Alfred C Haddon</ref> more specifically [[Karnataka]]. The same tradition has existed of the Brahui,<ref>P. 12 ''Origin and Spread of the Tamils By V. R.'' Ramachandra Dikshitar</ref><ref name = "uszfyu">P. 32 ''Ideology and status of Sanskrit : contributions to the history of the Sanskrit language'' by Jan E M Houben</ref> who call themselves immigrants.<ref>P. 45 ''The Brahui language, an old Dravidian language spoken in parts of Baluchistan and Sind'' by [[Denys Bray|Sir Denys Bray]]</ref> Holding this same view of the Brahui are many scholars<ref>''Ancient India; Culture and Thought'' By M. L. Bhagi</ref> such as L.{{nbsp}}H. Horace Perera and M.{{nbsp}}Ratnasabapathy.<ref>P. 23 ''Ceylon & Indian History from Early Times to 1505 A.D.'' By L. H. Horace Perera, M. Ratnasabapathy</ref>

The [[Brahui people|Brahui]] population of Pakistan's [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan province]] has been taken by some as the linguistic equivalent of a [[Relict (biology)|relict]] population, perhaps indicating that Dravidian languages were formerly much more widespread and were supplanted by the incoming [[Indo-Aryan languages]].{{sfnp|Mallory|1989|p=44}}{{sfnp|Elst|1999|p=146}}{{sfnp|Trask|2000|p=97|ps="It is widely suspected that the extinct and undeciphered Indus Valley language was a Dravidian language, but no confirmation is available. The existence of the isolated northern outlier ''Brahui'' is consistent with the hypothesis that Dravidian formerly occupied much of North India but was displaced by the invading Indo-Aryan languages, and the presence in the Indo-Aryan languages of certain linguistic features, such as retroflex consonants, is often attributed to Dravidian substrate influence."}} However, it has been argued that the absence of any [[Old Iranian]] ([[Avestan]]) loanwords in Brahui suggests that the Brahui migrated to Balochistan from central India less than 1,000 years ago. The main Iranian contributor to Brahui vocabulary, [[Balochi language|Balochi]], is a western [[Iranian language]] like [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]], and arrived in the area from the west only around 1000 CE.<ref>{{cite journal | first = Josef | last = Elfenbein | title = A periplus of the 'Brahui problem' | journal = Studia Iranica | volume = 16 | issue = 2 | year = 1987 | pages = 215–233 | doi=10.2143/SI.16.2.2014604}}</ref> Sound changes shared with Kurukh and Malto also suggest that Brahui was originally spoken near them in central India.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=27, 142}}

===Dravidian influence on Sanskrit===
{{main|Substratum in Vedic Sanskrit}}

Dravidian languages show extensive lexical (vocabulary) borrowing, but only a few traits of structural (either [[phonology|phonological]] or grammatical) borrowing from Indo-Aryan, whereas Indo-Aryan shows more structural than lexical borrowings from the Dravidian languages.<ref name="britannicaOnline">"[http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9109791 Dravidian languages.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409105643/https://academic.eb.com/ |date=9 April 2023 }}" [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 30 June 2008</ref> Many of these features are already present in the oldest known [[Indo-Aryan language]], the language of the ''[[Rigveda]]'' (c.{{nbsp}}1500 BCE), which also includes over a dozen words borrowed from Dravidian.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=6}}

[[Vedic Sanskrit]] has [[retroflex consonant]]s ({{IAST|ṭ}}/{{IAST|ḍ}}, {{IAST|ṇ}}) with about 88 words in the ''Rigveda'' having unconditioned retroflexes.{{sfnp|Kuiper|1991}}{{sfnp|Witzel|1999}} Some sample words are ''{{IAST|Iṭanta}}'', ''{{IAST|Kaṇva}}'', ''{{IAST|śakaṭī}}'', ''{{IAST|kevaṭa}}'', ''{{IAST|puṇya}}'' and ''{{IAST|maṇḍūka}}''.
Since other [[Indo-European languages]], including other [[Indo-Iranian languages]], lack retroflex consonants, their presence in Indo-Aryan is often cited as evidence of substrate influence from close contact of the Vedic speakers with speakers of a foreign language family rich in retroflex consonants.{{sfnp|Kuiper|1991}}{{sfnp|Witzel|1999}} The Dravidian family is a serious candidate since it is rich in retroflex phonemes reconstructible back to the [[Proto-Dravidian language|Proto-Dravidian stage]].{{sfnp|Subrahmanyam|1983|p=40}}{{sfnp|Zvelebil|1990}}{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=36}}

In addition, a number of grammatical features of Vedic Sanskrit not found in its sister [[Avestan language]] appear to have been borrowed from Dravidian languages. These include the [[gerund]], which has the same function as in Dravidian.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=36–37}} Some linguists explain this asymmetrical borrowing by arguing that Middle Indo-Aryan languages were built on a Dravidian substratum.{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|pp=40–41}} These scholars argue that the most plausible explanation for the presence of Dravidian structural features in Indic is [[language shift]], that is, native Dravidian speakers learning and adopting Indic languages due to [[Minoritarianism|elite dominance]].{{sfnp|Erdosy|1995|p=18}} Although each of the innovative traits in Indic could be accounted for by internal explanations, early Dravidian influence is the only explanation that can account for all of the innovations at once; moreover, it accounts for several of the innovative traits in Indic better than any internal explanation that has been proposed.{{sfnp|Thomason|Kaufman|1988|pp=141–144}}