Aspects of Dravidian Linguistics (Dravidian Linguistics Series- 4)

That the foundations of Indian culture were deeply embedded in Dravidian culture is now an incontrovertible fact. Dravidian culture is one of the most ancient cultures of the world. Those cultures, slightly contemporaneous to one another, slowly started fading out. However, the primordial Dravidian culture continues to thrive without losing its quintessence despite the apparent changes in systems of dress and adress.

Dravidian University was established in 1997 to mirror the real and rich picture of Dravidian culture not only in its linguistic, literary, cultural and philosophical faces but in science and technological angles also.

At a time when no special attention worth its name was paid by the Centre with regard to language, the Southern states except Kerala. had established all by themselves their own Universities - Telugu, Tamil and Kannada - to research on their languages and cultures.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh took a step ahead and started Dravidian University, with the cooperation of the sister states, to research and reflect on the inherent oneness of the cultures of the four states whose languages number up to 27. Its endeavour is to promote unity and amity in the family of several langauges. The main objectives of Dravidian University are to augment the common weal and social well being of the communities of marginal languages and to build bridges among the Southern states. While working on each language separately in varied areas, it aims at a synthesis and a discovery of the common heritage through Comparative Studies.

Prasaaraanga (Centre for Publications and Extension Services) is the most significant wing of the University from out of its several on going progressive activities.

Prof. P.S. Subrahmanyam is an exceptional scholar in Sanskrit, Dravidian languages, traditional grammar and modern linguistics. His contributions in comparative study of Dravidian languages are remarkable. This volume titled Aspects of Dravidian Linguistics is a collection of eighteen chapters by Subrahmanyam written during 1964 to 2006. Many of the chapters reprinted here are from different journals not only from India but also from the Journals which are not easily accessible to us in India. All these articles made significant impact in the field of comparative Dravidian linguistics. One important feature of this volume is that it covers all the aspects of comparative Dravidian linguistics with data even from lesser known languages such as Parji, Kota and Toda. Therefore, I do hope this volume will be immensely useful to scholars and students. Dravidian University is grateful to Prof. P.S. Subrahmanyam for giving us this opportunity to publish these highly cited articles in a single volume.

The first sixteen articles reprinted in this volume were written during the long period 1964 to 2006. Each one of these address the topics that were not adequately studied until that period. The conclusions arrived at in these stand as significant contributions to Dravidian comparative grammar. It is hoped that the publication of these in one volume will be useful for scholars interested in the subject. The last two articles were written at the time of submitting the manuscript for publication. Apart from surveying the fild from the earliest times to the present day and thus giving the reader an idea about the state of the art of the subject, the last one provides a comprehensive bibliography that is relevant for the whole book.

I wholeheartedly thank the authorities of the Dravidian University for coming forward to publish this book. My thanks are due to the editor of the volumes in which the first sixteen articles were published. I place on record my appreciation of the work of Dr. M. Sreenathan and the staff members of the Centre for Publications of the University and those of the press in bringing out the book.