Elamo-Dravidian languages
| Elamo-Dravidian | |
|---|---|
| (obsolete) | |
| Geographic distribution |
South Asia, West Asia |
| Linguistic classification | Proposed language family |
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | None |
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 circles, and has been subject to criticism by other linguists.
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.
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.
...
Wikipedia