INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRAVIDIAN LINGUISTICS
Vol. 53 No.1 (January 2024)
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CONTENTS:
1: THE INDIAN GRAMMATICAL TRADITIONS AND MODERN LINGUISTICS: THE PAST AND THE FUTURE
KRISHNASWAMY NACHIMUTHU
Presidential Address delivered in the inaugural session of the 50th All India
Conference of Dravidian Linguists held from 21st to 23rd June 2023,
Department of Linguistics, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
2: IDENTIFICATION OF THE SIXTH LANGUAGE FAMILY OF INDIA RELICS OF THE EARLY HUMAN LANGUAGE
ANVITA ABBI
Abstract
Linguistic structures encountered in human language systems arise
from diachronic processes of language evolution. Seen from the
perspective of the coevolutionary approach, which means that language
arises and shapes itself through interactions between culture and human
biology, the Great Andamanese language is proof that grammar is not
conceived in a vacuum but embodies the culture and worldview of the
community that uses it. The concept of interconnection between the
elements of life seen in the inalienable feature of body division markers
that percolate down to all parts of speech in the Great Andamanese
grammar is not only a unique feature but also reflects a society that
perceived the patterns and processes in the microcosm as being like the
macrocosm. The unique linguistic structures of the Great Andamanese
language family have traces of “possible human language” in the speech
of the Early Colonizers of South and Southeast Asia.
* Prof. V.I. Subramainom Memorial Lecture delivered at the 50th AICDL,
University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, 21st June, 2023.
3: TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING CULTURE THROUGH LANGUAGE
B.N. PATNAIK
Abstract
The paper suggests that the culture of a literate speech community
with a long literary tradition be viewed as having an “aspirational” aspect
and a “lived aspect”. Tentatively, the former can be called “aspirational
culture” and the latter, “lived culture”. These are in opposition to each
other, but one does not cancel out the other. Each constitutes a set of
values, which can be called “cultural values”. The community asserts its
identity in terms of the aspirational culture but lives its day-to-day life in
terms of the lived culture. Assertion of identity is a linguistic act, although
it need not necessarily be so, a matter we do not deal with here. Identity
assertion by a member of a community is “other-oriented”; that is,
intended for outsiders. It is therefore understandable that the lived culture,
which is much less spectacular and rather unflattering, is generally not
part of the identity statement. Here I analyse Odia culture to show that
the postulations of these two kinds of cultures for the type of community
under discussion, of which Odia culture is an example, is not unreasonable.
I start with some observations of a general and methodological nature and
then proceed to explicate the concepts of aspirational and lived culture.
[Keywords : aspirational culture, lived culture, identity assertion, Sarala
Mahabharata, Lakshmi Purana, Srimad Bhagabata, Khudurukuni osha]
* This is the written version of my Endowment Lecture in the memory of Prof.
S.K. Verma delivered at the 50th All India Conference of Dravidian Linguists
at University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram on June 23, 2023.
4: LANGUAGES OF POWER AND POWER OF LANGUAGES: A MISPLACED AGENDA*
SHOBHA SATYANATH
Abstract
Do we need conflict approaches to manage diversity? Despite the
growing diversity of the west, its mindset remains stuck in selfnationalism,
and monolingualism giving rise to a sense of misplaced
superiority, and a false sense of pure race and language, which in turn
give rise to conflicting and asymmetric identities. Such models of
monoculturalism do not work for multicultural societies. The present
study shows the presence of non-conflicting identities amid growing
urbanism, mobility, and ethnolinguistic plurality of India. The study
specifically builds on an example from a rather lesser-known
multicultural Kohima (Nagaland) to understand how identities get
recontextualized amid emerging plurality. I argue that this is a hallmark
of traditionally multicultural societies. The motivated political voices and
identities engineered from above and embedded in Eurocentric
discourses tend to distort this reality. Likewise, misplaced emphasis on
singular identities built using language can threaten the very existence of
a multilingual federation of India.
[Keywords: multicultural societies, Kohima, non-conflicting identities,
models of managing diversity, Eurocentrism]
* Modified version of Prof. Nagamma Reddy Memorial Lecture delivered at the
48th All India Conference of Dravidian Linguists, Bharathiar University,
Coimbatore.
5: PROF. KORADA MAHADEVA SASTRI – A PHILOLOGIST AND CULTURE EXPONENT
N. BHAKTHAVATHSALA REDDY
Abstract
This research paper pays tribute to Prof. Korada Mahadeva Sastri,
a distinguished Philologist, Culture exponent, and esteemed teacher.
Born in 1921 in Andhra Pradesh, Sastri’s academic journey led him to
become a polyglot excelling in Sanskrit, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Tamil and
English. Notably, his monumental work, “Historical Grammar of
Telugu”, earned him accolades and a D. Lit.
The paper unfolds Sastri’s significant roles at various Universities,
including Annamalai, Sri Venkateswara, and Sri Krishnadevaraya. His
tenure included a visiting Professorship at the Institute of Indology,
Cologne University, Germany, and active involvement in founding the
Dravidian Linguistic Association of India (DLA) and the International
School of Dravidian Linguistics (ISDL).
Sastri’s emphasis on studying Telugu literature and language from a
historical perspective, and his views on the origin and development of
Telugu, including the influences of Sanskrit and Prakrit, demonstrate a
commitment to critical analysis.
This paper also mentions Sastri’s later works, including “BaaSa –
samskruti”, published just two years before his passing away in 2016.
* Prof. K. Mahadeva Sastri Memorial Lecture delivered at the 50th AICDL,
University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, June 2023.
6: STUDIES ON MALAYALAM INSCRIPTIONS - AN OVERVIEW
NADUVATTOM GOPALAKRISHNAN
Abstract
This paper is an evaluation of the work so far done on the
Malayalam inscriptions. It is broadly divided into four parts. Part I deals
with the inscriptions of the Proto-Tamil Malayalam period (up to 800
C.E.), Part II enumerates the inscriptions belonging to the Early
Classical Malayalam period (800 to 1300 C.E.), Part III is a survey of
inscriptional studies in the Malayalam language, and Part IV gives a note
on the harbingers of inscriptional studies in Kerala.
The early inscriptions dating right from Ist century BCE to 800
century C.E., furnish clear evidence for the existence of a language for
the natives of the west coast, which can be designated as the west coast
dialect of the Proto Tamil Malayalam. The style of the language depicted
in the Kerala inscriptions maintained a pan South Indian model that is
predominantly Tamil-oriented. At the same time they maintained the
intrinsic nature of the Malayalam language.
Prof. Anantharamayyar Chandrasekhar Memorial Lecture delivered at the 50th
AICDL, University of Kerala, June 2023, Thiruvananthapuram, June, 2023.
7: SUNITI KUMAR CHATTERJI, ODBL & INDIAN LANGUAGES?
KAKALI MUKHERJEE
Abstract
Being one renowned Human Scientist, Professor Suniti Kumar
Chatterji inculcated his thoughts and ideas on language, art, culture and
philosophy of diverse backgrounds in more or less 300 books written in
English and Bengali language. As a linguist and philologist, his
contribution to “The Origin and Development of Bengali Language” in
two parts with a foreword by Sir George Abraham Grierson has been
identified as a milestone study in India. This work paved the way for
historical and descriptive studies not only of Indo-Aryan languages but
also of languages belonging to the Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, and Tibeto-
Burman family of languages. This paper also attempts to have a detailed
discussion on the adjectival formations in Indian languages.
* Prof. Suniti Kumar Chatterji Memorial Lecture delivered at the 50th
AICDL, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, June 2023.
Review
DRAVIDIAN TOWNS IN THE MAHAVASTU AND
MILINDAPAÑHA - A DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY. 2023.
Bryan G. Levman, International School of Dravidian Linguistics,
V.I. Subramoniam Memorial ISDL Complex, St. Xavier’s
College P.O., Thiruvananthapuram – 695 586. Pp. 152,
?. 350/-.
Reviewed by
AISWARIA G. SHAJAN
INDEX TO INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRAVIDIAN LINGUISTICS
Vol.48 No. 1 (2019) to Vol. 52 No. 2 (2023)
SREEKUMARY T.S.
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