LINGUIST List 21.3174 Wed Aug 04 2010 Diss: Historical Ling: Balakrishnan: 'Phonological Reconstruction ...' Editor for this issue: Mfon Udoinyang <mfonlinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.    Gopinathan Balakrishnan, Phonological Reconstruction of South Dravidian Languages Message 1: Phonological Reconstruction of South Dravidian Languages Date: 03-Aug-2010 From: Gopinathan Balakrishnan <nairbgngmail.com> Subject: Phonological Reconstruction of South Dravidian Languages E-mail this message to a friend Institution: University of Kerala Program: Department of Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 1979 Author: Gopinathan Nair Balakrishnan Dissertation Title: Phonological Reconstruction of South Dravidian Languages Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics Dissertation Director: Subramoniam Vadasseri Iyemperumal Dissertation Abstract: This dissertation deals with the reconstruction of the phonological structure of South Dravidian(SDr) languages by a comparative study of eight languages namely Tamil, Malayalam, Kota, Toda, Kannada, Kodagu, Tulu and Telugu. The data is primarily based on 'A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary' by T. Burrow and M. B. Emeneau (1998). Further materials are taken from other sources especially Malayalam dialects. The introduction gives a brief critical review of the post Caldwell developments in comparative Dravidian studies and the significant contributions made in this field by earlier scholars. It also portrays the trends in Dravidian comparative studies during the last three decades and some of the oft  repeated issues on phonological, grammatical, etymological studies besides subgrouping, which have been re-examined and refined by later scholars. For instance, the problem of the enunciative vowel, alternation of front vowels to mid vowels in SDr, quantitative variation of root vowels, convertibility of surds and sonants, palatalization of initial velar consonant, dropping of initial *c- in SDr, the nasal consonants, metathesis, post nasal voiceless vs voiced stops, number gender system, loss of personal termination in Malayalam, DED and its supplements, problems in subgrouping and the present Dravidian family. It provides a brief account of the methodology of Comparative Method, it's assumptions, principles and procedures of comparative reconstruction with suitable illustrations drawn from cognate words in Dravidian and other languages. The reconstructed phonemic system of PSDr comprises 5 short vowels, 2 diphthongs, 18 consonants an a phoneme of length. In the section on Comparative SDr Phonology the phonological developments in SDr languages are exhaustively listed. The vowel alternations i/e and u/o have been dealt in detail discussing earlier views. The number of phonemes in a language is not absolute but depends to some extent on the way they are  analyzed and systematized ( cf. 3.57 ). A detailed account of the historical and comparative phonology of SDr languages is portrayed from the point of view of PSDr vowels, consonants and cons on ant clusters (cf. 3,4, 5).  The phonological structure of radical and suffixal sequences and the retentions, changes and innovations that took place in the descendant languages have been exhaustively depicted from the point of view of PSDr (cf.6, 7). A scrutiny of the morphophonemic rules proposed by Krishnamurti, Emeneau, Zvelebil and Subrahmanyam shows that there are numerous exceptions to the so-called rules and therefore they can be considered as tendencies rather than strict rules. It needs further pondering to find out the reasons for the irregularities for the existence of so many residual items. The different developments of PSDr phonemes and the distribution of PSDr phonologic isoglosses in the individual languages of SDr are indicated in a chart (cf. 9).There is an index of PSDr forms arranged according to the reconstructed phonemes which can occur word initially and an Appendix consisting of supplementary materials from Malayalam dialects (cf. 10) followed by a select bibliography. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 04-Aug-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.