________________
AUGUST, 1932 ]
PALATALIZATION IN THE DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES
141
PALATALIZATION IN THE DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES.
BY A, F. THYAGARAJU, M.A. In a study of the Dravidian consonant system we notice that Kanarese k is sometimes represented by 8 in Tamil and ch in Telugu ; in certain cases it remains in all the three languages: in others it remains hard in Kan, and Tam. and is softened only in Tel. Caldwell drew attention to these facts in his section on the Dialectic Interchange of Consonants in his Comparative Grammar, but did not explain the conditions under which the softening takes place. There does not seem to be any doubt that in those cases where Kan. k is represented by 8 or ch, the hard sound is the older and the other sounds are later softenings. We shall now proceed to determine if such a softening takes place in accordance with any phonetic law. Kan. k is not uniformly softened. Examples where it remains are: Kan. Tam
Tol. kallu kal kallu
a stone kannu kan kann.
the eye kálu kál kálu
the leg kobbu korupu kovou
fat kola kulam kolans
a pond kóli kôri kódi
a fowl kudi kudi
kuduchu to drink In many instances however it is softened. Examples are : Kan. Tam.
Tel. kivi sevi chevi
the ear kivu
chimu
pus kêrpu seruppu cheppu
a sandal kiru อยน chiru
small kinna sinna
chinna kela sila
few Examples where the goftening takes place only in Tel. are : Kan. Tam.
Tel. kedisu kodu
chedupu to spoil keyyi kei cheyyi
the hand kili chiluka
the parrot Tabulating the instances where the softening takes place we arrive at the following Kan.
Tam. k ti
8 + 6
ch + 8 kivi
8601 k + i
8 + i
ch + i kiru
siru
chiru k ti
8 + i
cht kivu
sir
chimu ke te
kte
ch + 6 ketta
kelta
chedda k + e
8 + e
ch + 6 kerpu
seruppu
cheppu k +e kelavu
sila
sir
gili
Tel.
chevi
V
V
V
V
V
