The Linguistics Convo

Can be attended by anyone interested in translation and related areas of work

Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam are all dravidian languages. These four are the major dravidian languages spoken today followed by minor languages such as Tulu, Kolami, Kurukh, Malto, Gondi, Brahuvi, Thodai, Kodagu, Irulai, Kurumba,..etc . These four has recognition as state level official languages from the central govt among the total 22 languages.

Telugu is the largest spoken language among the four with 8.3 crore native speakers within India. Tamil has the oldest history among the four with brahmi stone inscriptions dating back to 2nd century BCE, and literature such as Pathupattu, Tolkappiam, Thirukural, Silapathikaram, and manimekalai which all dates to between 1st century CE to 4th century CE. Malayalam is the newest existing among the four. Malayalam was formed from spitting itself up from middle Tamil around 9th to 12th century CE. Malayalis formed their own distinct identity to resist against Chola imperialism and expansion in the 11th and 12th centuries, as our ancestors were loyal towards Cheras who were the traditional rulers of western tamilikam ( present day Kerala).

Tamil, kannada, Malayalam, and Tulu are south dravidian languages. Tamil and kannada split off 3000 years ago from an ancestor language ( which linguists term proto-Tamil-kannada). Tulu is the oldest spoken south dravidian language. Tulu split off from south dravidian much earlier than Tamil and Kannada. When I say “oldest spoken language" don't confuse as “oldest language with history"; both are two different things.

Telugu and Gondi are south-central dravidian languages. Kolami is a central dravidian language spoken by a tribal group in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Kurukh is a north dravidian language spoken by kurukh tribes of West Bengal and Jharkhand. Brahui is a north dravidian language spoken in Balochistan province of Pakistan.

https://www.quora.com/Who-are-Dravidians-Are-only-Tamilians-Dravidian-What-about-Kannada-Malayalam-and-Telugu-speaking-people/answer/SPS

Came across this write up on Quora digest by a user. Do you agree with the following analysis?

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Why is the Tamil language less popular compared to Hindi?

I’m Tamil. I will explain Why Tamil is less popular compared to Hindi
because

Hindi has more than 692millions total speakers. Tamil only have 77millions. That makes Hindi has roughly 9 times more total speakers than Tamil. Hindi has 7.5 times native speakers compared to Tamil. Hindi also have 20times more second language speakers than Tamil

Tamil do not attract second language speakers as Hindi does. Because Tamil is only spoken by Tamils. Hindi on the other hand other than those in Hindi belt Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati all speak it along with their own language. They use Hindi as a connecting language as Tamil uses English.

Hindi is easy to learn for westerners because It’s an Indo A***n language which westerners are used to. Tamil on the other hand a dravidian language and totally different than what they were used to.

There is another language Urdu which is not so different from Hindi, So for them also Hindi is easy and can considered brother language.

When Tamils move to north India, Not just Hindi belt even in other part of north India they are forced to learn Hindi. But when north Indians come to South they rarely learn South Indian languages. Because there is more than one and they already know English which is the connecting language of South India.

These five are the genuine reasons why Tamil is less popular than Hindi.

What is the word for "forget" in your language?

What do you call the parrot? Tell us as many names as you know...

As adults we often make casual remarks like...oh, it's a child's play, there is nothing much to it!

But, that's just another page from the "adults book of ignorance". When you observe closely, is child play really nothing?

In fact, children are constantly at work, right from learning to eat, to learning to communicate, and everything else.

And if you may get interested as to how children actually learn a language, there is an entire branch called Developmental Linguistics that can satisfy your curiosity.

If you ever happen to be around kids, do observe the pattern of speech and their age. For most kids, they start uttering single words by their first birthday. For the next 6 months, the speech remains similar with more words getting added to their vocabulary. However, from this point onwards, is where miracle happens. By the age of two and a half, that is, within a period of one year, they start showing considerable improvement in their ability to form complex sentences and stories. That is how there is a lot more to child's play 😉

DID YOU KNOW?

Brahui is a Dravidian language spoken by close to 2 million mostly in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. Besides Pakistani, small groups of Brahui speakers are also found in Irani Balochistan, Afghanistan and in and around the Marw oasis in Turkmenistan.

Brahui apparently shares many words with Tamil.

.." In attempting to explain to how a Dravidian language came to be in an area completely surrounded by Indo-A***n languages, some experts opine that the Brahuis are the descendants of the people of the Indus Valley civilization which is supposed to have been Dravidian. When the civilization disappeared for reasons that are still obscure, a group made its way westward to Balochistan where they preserved their ancient language. Another theory contends that the Brahuis moved to their current area around the 12th century. Conclusive proof exists for neither theory."

https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/lWCoIZ2K5dPycrhS1gk6nJ/A-slice-of-south-India-in-Balochistan.html

For those who just got curious, here is a list of similar words in Tamil and Brahui.

http://drannadurai.com/Brahui_words_Dravidian_lang_Tamil_PART1.htm

A slice of south India in Balochistan Brahui is a Dravidian language spoken by close to 2 million in the Pakistani province

Namaste नमस्ते (Hindi)
Namaskar नमस्कार (Marathi)
Namaskaram നമസ്കാരം (Malayalam)
Hello (English)
Hola (Español)
Annyeonghaseyo 안녕하세요 (Korean)
Ni hao 你好 (Chinese Mandarin)
Konnichiwa こんにちは (Japanese)

Can you add more to this list?

Anyone fluent in German? Or let's just go with dat 😉