The Dravidian Languages

by Bhadriraju Krishnamurti

Overview

The Dravidian languages are spoken by nearly 200 million people in South Asia and in diaspora communities around the world. They include Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu, as well as over 20 non-literary languages. Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, one of the most eminent Dravidianists of our time, provides a linguistic overview of the Dravidian language family. He describes its history and writing system, discusses its structure and typology, and considers its lexicon. Distant and more recent contacts between Dravidian and other language groups are also covered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521771115
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/16/2003
Series:	Cambridge Language Surveys
Pages:	574
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.33(h) x 1.57(d)

About the Author

Bh. Krishnamurti is a leading linguist in India and one of the world's renowned historical and comparative linguists, specialising in the Dravidian family of languages. He has published over 20 books in English and Telugu and over 100 research papers. His books include Telugu Verbal Bases: A Comparative and Descriptive Study (1961), Konda or Kubi, a Dravidian Language (1969), A Grammar of Modern Telugu (with J. P. L. Gwynn, 1985), Language, Education and Society (1998), and Comparative Dravidian Linguistics: Current Perspectives (2001).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. Phonology: descriptive; 3. The writing systems of the literary languages; 4. Phonology: historical and comparative; 5. Word formation: roots, stems, formatives, derivational suffixes and nominal compounds; 6. Nominals: nouns, pronouns, numerals and time and place adverbs; 7. The verb; 8. Adjectives, adverbs and clitics; 9. Syntax; 10. Lexicon; 11. Conclusion; Bibliography; Indexes.

Editorial Reviews

"The state of the art in historical Dravidian studies. Krishnamurti's careful scholarship, detailed analysis, and even-handedness in dealing with different views make this a landmark volume that will serve as a touchstone for future generations of Dravidologists." Anthropological Linguistics

"This volume deserves to be on the bookshelf of every Dravidianist, and will serve as a distinguished source book for material on historical and comparative Dravidian linguistics for some time to come" - Sanford B. Steever, new Canaan, CT

From the Publisher