Geographic
distribution: South Asia, West Asia Glottolog: None | Subdivisions: Elamite
Dravidian | |
Linguistic classification: Proposed language family | ||
The Elamo-Dravidian language family is a hypothesised language family that links the Dravidian languages of India to the extinct Elamite language of ancient Elam (present-day southwestern Iran). Linguist David McAlpin has been a chief proponent of the Elamo-Dravidian hypothesis. The extinct Harappan language (the language or languages of the Indus Valley Civilization) may also be part of this family. However, this hypothesis remains far from being accepted in academic circle, and has been subject to criticism by other linguists.
Contents
Linguistic arguments
McAlpin (1975) in his study identified some similarities between Elamite and Dravidian. He proposed that 20% of Dravidian and Elamite vocabulary are cognates while 12% are probable cognates. He further proposed that Elamite and Dravidian possess similar second-person pronouns and parallel case endings. For example the term for mother in the Elamite language and in different Dravidian languages like Tamil is "amma". They have identical derivatives, abstract nouns, and the same verb stem+tense marker+personal ending structure. Both have two positive tenses, a "past" and a "non-past".
Critics of these findings include Kamil Zvelebil, Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, among others. Georgiy Starostin criticized McAlpin's proposed morphological correspondences between Elamite and Dravidian as no closer than correspondences with other nearby language families. While Krishnamurti regarded them to be "ad hoc", and found them to be lacking phonological motivation.
Proposed cultural links
Apart from the linguistic similarities, the Elamo-Dravidian Hypothesis rests on the claim that agriculture spread from the Near East to the Indus Valley region via Elam. This would suggest that agriculturalists brought a new language as well as farming from Elam. Supporting ethno-botanical data include the Near Eastern origin and name of wheat (D. Fuller). Later evidence of extensive trade between Elam and the Indus Valley Civilization suggests ongoing links between the two regions.
The distribution of living Dravidian languages, concentrated mostly in southern India but with isolated pockets in Southern Afghanistan and Pakistan (Brahui) and in Central and East India (Kurukh, Malto), suggests to some a wider past distribution of the Dravidian languages. However, there are varied opinions about the origin of northern Dravidian languages like Brahui, Kurukh and Malto. The Kurukh have traditionally claimed to be from the Deccan Peninsula, more specifically Karnataka. The same tradition has existed of the Brahui. They call themselves immigrants. Many scholars hold this same view of the Brahui such as L. H. Horace Perera and M. Ratnasabapathy. Moreover, it has now been demonstrated that the Brahui only migrated to Balochistan from central India after 1000 CE. The absence of any older Iranian loanwords in Brahui supports the connection. The main Iranian contributor to Brahui vocabulary, Balochi, is a western Iranian language like Kurdish.