The Fate of Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam without Sanskrit Words

Would removing all Sanskrit words from Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam transform these languages into Tamil or simply change their vocabulary and character? This article explores the linguistic, cultural, and historical implications of such an endeavor.

Linguistic Roots

Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam are part of the broader Dravidian language family, which includes Tamil. Despite sharing this familial bond, these languages have distinct origins and developmental paths. These languages have been heavily influenced by Sanskrit, particularly in their literature and formal discourse, but this influence has contributed to their unique identities and characteristics rather than fundamentally altering them.

Vocabulary Impact

Sanskrit has a substantial influence on the vocabulary of Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam, especially in literary and formal contexts. Words from Sanskrit often enrich the expression of complex ideas, literary styles, and cultural nuances in these languages. Removing all Sanskrit words would result in a more colloquial or regional vocabulary, primarily derived from native Dravidian roots. Therefore, the language would lose much of its formal and literary richness, replaced by a more colloquial and everyday expression.

Language Identity

Each of these languages has its own grammatical structure, phonetics, and syntax. Removing Sanskrit words would not change these core linguistic features. Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam would still retain their identity and unique characteristics despite the reduction in vocabulary. Thus, the absence of Sanskrit words would not make these languages identical to Tamil, which has its own distinct lexical and structural features.

Cultural Context

The cultural and literary heritage tied to the Sanskrit lexicon plays a significant role in these languages. Many classical texts and modern literature in Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam draw on Sanskrit for stylistic and thematic depth. Removing Sanskrit words would diminish this rich cultural tapestry. This loss would be particularly profound for the literature that requires complex vocabulary and intricate expressions that Sanskrit provides.

Historical Linguistic Debates

The origins of Sanskrit and the influences on Dravidian languages such as Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam are subjects of ongoing debate among linguists. Some scholars argue that Sanskrit and Dravidian languages share certain grammatical features, suggesting a common linguistic ancestry. For instance, the use of gerunds as nonfinite verbs for incomplete action in Dravidian languages has parallels in Sanskrit. Additionally, both Sanskrit and Dravidian languages use the word iti as a quotative clause complementizer, which is also found in Avestan, the language of Zoroastrianism.

However, ketri, a scholar, states that the retroflex phonemes in early Indo-Aryan languages do not distinctly identify them as specifically Dravidian. Notable linguistic features such as the gerund and the use of iti are shared between these languages, challenging the notion that Sanskrit is solely derived from Dravidian influence alone.

Dravidian Vocabulary in Vedic Literature

Early Vedic literature contains a mix of Sanskrit and Dravidian words. Estimates suggest that there are around thirty to forty Dravidian loanwords in the Vedic texts, with some, such as kulāya, believed to have Dravidian etymologies by Zvelebil. However, Witzel argues that these Dravidian loans appear only from the middle Rigvedic period, suggesting that the linguistic contact between Sanskrit and Dravidian speakers began as early Aryans expanded into and beyond the Punjab region.

Geographical Spread and Linguistic Displacement

Today, Dravidian languages are primarily found in the southern regions of India, but there are exceptions. Brahui, a Dravidian language spoken in parts of Baluchistan, has been suggested by some scholars as a linguistic relict, possibly indicating that Dravidian languages were once more widespread before being displaced by Indo-Aryan languages. The presence of Dravidian place-names in what are now primarily Indo-Aryan regions such as central India and even as far northwest as Sindh supports this theory.

Despite this, Elfenbein has argued that Brahui could only have migrated to Balochistan from central India after 1000 due to the lack of older Iranian Avestan loanwords in Brahui. The main contributor to Brahui vocabulary, Balochi, is a Western Iranian language, which reached its current westernmost position only around 1000.

Conclusion

In summary, removing all Sanskrit words from Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam would significantly alter these languages, making them less influenced by Sanskrit, but it would not transform them into Tamil. Each of these languages retains its distinct identity and characteristics, shaped by various linguistic and cultural influences over centuries. The removal of Sanskrit words would diminish their literary and cultural heritage but would not erase their unique linguistic heritage.