Michail Sergejevič Andronov Livres

Due to their crucial role one of the major tasks in modern South Asia linguistics is the research of the historical view of the Dravidian Languages. A knowledge of the Dravidian language structure in all its development stages, from their earliest beginnings to today, is necessary for understanding numerous fundamental aspects with the emergence of the indoarian, Munda and other languages of south Asia and of course for the history of the Dravidian language family itself. The Comparative Grammar forms an important part of the historical linguistics. Yet Richard Caldwell’s Comparative Grammar of Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages (London, 1856, 2/1875, 3/1913) is outdated. An up to date comparative grammar of the Dravidian languages therefore was long overdue. With the work of the renowned Russian Dravidian scientist Mikhail S. Andronov, in which the over 80 known, investigated and described languages and dialects of the Dravidian language family are taken in consideration, this gap has been closed.

The book is composed of papers dealing with controversial problems in the history and comparative grammar of the Dravidian languages. A historical overview of Dravidian studies in the 19th and 20th centuries is followed by a detailed discussion of various systems of language classification worked out by leading comparativists in the past two centuries. The major principles of the comparative-historical method are discussed in connection with unceasing attempts to establish genetic relationship between Dravidian and non-Dravidian languages. The origin and historical evolution ot finite forms of the Dravidian verb are dealt with in several papers, and those of the adjective in Tamil and personal pronouns in Brahui are traced in the other two. A peculiar case of grammar hybridization in Old Malayalam mixed with Sanskrit and cases of structural borrowing in modern Dravidian languages are described and analysed in three papers. Finally, the etymologies of the word 'Dravidian' and a dozen of other ethnonyms are explained. A bibliography of over 300 items indicates the relevant literature, both classical and modern. [Original and unabridged version, set with a typewriter].

The Brahui language, spoken by some 1.5 million people in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, is the earliest offshoot of the Dravidian stock. Isolated from the kindred languages for several thousand years, it combines ancient features inherited from the Proto-Dravidian ancestor with numerous borrowings from its Iranian and Indo-Aryan neighbours. Apart from a detailed practical grammar, illustrated with copious examples from Brahui literary texts, the book offers the latest comparative-historical information on the evolution and origin of the main elements of the language. The Brahui phonemes are traced to their Old Dravidian sources, the origins of case suffixes and other nominal desinences are expounded, the Brahui numerals and pronouns are also traced to their ancient archetypes, and so are the personal suffixes in the verb. The primary systems of gender, tense and mood, lost or modified in the contemporary language, are reconstructed in comparison with these of Old Tamil and other classical languages. The general information on Brahui is given in the Introduction. The history of its study is also briefly outlined there and, in particular, the position of Brahui within the Dravidian family is discussed. A bibliography of earlier works on the Brahui language is appended in the end. The subject index will make the use of the book easier. [Original and unabridged version, set with a typewriter].

Malayalam, one of the four official Dravidian languages of India, is only spoken by 30 million people in the state of Kerala. With its 1000-year-old history and its long literary tradition, the classic and modern variants are especially well-known among the different forms of this language. Although it may appear archaic or incomprehensible to the unprepared reader of the 14th to 17th century Malayalam literature, the classic form is by no means a fossil. Instead, it is a living and creative part of today’s Keralian culture. There are also many colloquial, standard and dialect forms in the literature and in the common language beyond those of modern and classic as elements of the standard speaking and writing style. From a historical point of view, all of these forms are different stages of development that are completely considered for the first time in this grammar and that are treated by the author in each grammatical category.