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Routledge Language Family
The Dravidian Languages
The Dravidian language family is the world's fourth largest with over 175 million speakers across South Asia from Pakistan to Nepal, from Bangladesh to Sri Lanka as well as having communities in Malaysia, North America and the UK. Four of the languages, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu are official national languages and the Dravidian family has had a rich literary and cultural influence.
This authoritative reference source provides unique descriptions of 12 of these languages, covering their historical development alongside discussions of their specialised linguistic structures and features. Each chapter combines modern linguistic theory with traditional historical linguistics and a uniform structure allows for easy typological comparison between the individual languages. Two further chapters provide general information about the language family - the introduction, which covers the history, cultural implications and linguistic background, and a separate article on Dravidian writing systems.
This volume includes languages from all 4 of the Dravidian family's South Dravidian e.g. Tamil, Kannada; South Central Dravidian e.g. Telugu, Konda; Central Dravidian e.g. Kolami; North Dravidian e.g. Brahui, Malto.
Written by a team of expert contributors, many of whom are based in Asia, each language chapter offers a detailed analysis of phonology, morphology, syntax and followed by a list of the most relevant further reading to aid the independent scholar.
The Dravidian Languages will be invaluable to students and researchers within linguistics and will also be of interest to readers in the fields of comparative literature, South Asian studies and Oriental studies.
This authoritative reference source provides unique descriptions of 12 of these languages, covering their historical development alongside discussions of their specialised linguistic structures and features. Each chapter combines modern linguistic theory with traditional historical linguistics and a uniform structure allows for easy typological comparison between the individual languages. Two further chapters provide general information about the language family - the introduction, which covers the history, cultural implications and linguistic background, and a separate article on Dravidian writing systems.
This volume includes languages from all 4 of the Dravidian family's South Dravidian e.g. Tamil, Kannada; South Central Dravidian e.g. Telugu, Konda; Central Dravidian e.g. Kolami; North Dravidian e.g. Brahui, Malto.
Written by a team of expert contributors, many of whom are based in Asia, each language chapter offers a detailed analysis of phonology, morphology, syntax and followed by a list of the most relevant further reading to aid the independent scholar.
The Dravidian Languages will be invaluable to students and researchers within linguistics and will also be of interest to readers in the fields of comparative literature, South Asian studies and Oriental studies.
- GenresLanguageLinguistics
464 pages, Hardcover
First published January 16, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 17, 2009
THE DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES edited by Sanford B. Steever is a fairly typical entry in the Routledge Language Family Descriptions series. It consists mainly of diachronic descriptions of languages from the family written by various experts: Old Tamil, Modern Tamil, Kannada, Tulu, Old Telugu, Telugu, Konda, Gondi, Kolami, Gadaba, Malto and Brahui. In addition, Steever has contributed an introduction to the language family, with a supremely interesting reconstruction of Proto-Dravidian, and writing systems expert William Bright has written a chapter on the Dravidian scripts.
I work with the Indo-European, Finno-Ugrian and Turkic families. I read THE DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES only as entertainment, so I cannot comment too much on its contents. I found parts of it intriguing, such as Josef Elfenbein's claim in the chapter on Brahui that it is not a remnant of a Dravidian presence from before the arrival of Indo-European, but the language of fairly recent migrants. I think the book's only major flaw is its limited coverage of the Dravidian family. While volumes in this series on the Sino-Tibetan languages and the Uralic languages managed to cover pretty much all of them, here the editors have chosen only 12 of the Dravidian languages. Apparently the editor and publisher experienced many problems in preparing this volume and the end result was lesser than it could have been.
I work with the Indo-European, Finno-Ugrian and Turkic families. I read THE DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES only as entertainment, so I cannot comment too much on its contents. I found parts of it intriguing, such as Josef Elfenbein's claim in the chapter on Brahui that it is not a remnant of a Dravidian presence from before the arrival of Indo-European, but the language of fairly recent migrants. I think the book's only major flaw is its limited coverage of the Dravidian family. While volumes in this series on the Sino-Tibetan languages and the Uralic languages managed to cover pretty much all of them, here the editors have chosen only 12 of the Dravidian languages. Apparently the editor and publisher experienced many problems in preparing this volume and the end result was lesser than it could have been.
March 21, 2013
This is an excellent overview of 12 Dravidian language. While a bit overly diachronic, it is an excellent compilation overall. Some writers paid too scant attention to synchronic, phonological processes. I would've wished for more analysis of cognitive metaphors, but it is a decently thorough and well-written.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews