North Dravidian | |
---|---|
Northern Dravidian Brahui–Kurukh | |
Geographic distribution | Balochistan and Eastern India |
Linguistic classification |
Dravidian
|
Proto-language | Proto-Northern Dravidian |
Subdivisions | |
Glottolog | nort2698 |
The Northern Dravidian languages are a branch (Zvelebil 1990:56) of the Dravidian languages that includes Brahui, Kurukh and Malto. (There have been slight differences in the way the Dravidian languages are grouped by various Dravidian linguists: See Subrahmanyam 1983, Zvelebil 1990, Krishnamurthi 2003). It is further divided into Kurukh–Malto and Brahui.
Northern Dravidian is characterized by the retraction of Proto Dravidian *k to /q/ before vowels other than /i(:)/ and later spirantizing in Brahui and Kurukh, in return the *c also retracted to /k/ in the same environment. [1]
Initial *w's became b likely due to influence from eastern Indo Aryan languages. Brahui also has a voiceless lateral which formed after the merge of *ḷ to *l as there are words from both of them but the conditions of the split are not clear. [1]
The Dravidian languages form a close-knit family. Most scholars agree on four groups: [2]