DISCOVERY OF DRAVIDIAN AS THE COMMON SOURCE OF INDO-EUROPEAN |
Page 9 |
|
As the above noted first twenty-two examples illustrate some Dravidian languages other than Kannada and Tulu also sometimes show the correspondence between initial p and initial h. Further, the same groups in DED usually also contain not only Kannada and Tulu words manifesting this correspondence, but many times the words of the other Dravidian languages showing the same correspondence. The question how within the same groups, Kannada words alone were noticed as manifesting this correspondence, and the words of the other Dravidian languages, especially Tulu, demonstrating the same correspondence within the same groups in DED were not, is something that would occur to anybody’s mind in this regard. In fact, more Dravidian words manifesting the correspondence between initial p and initial h can be realized by detecting the corresponding words which are located in different groups in DED. For instance, note the above listed last three examples (23rd, 24th, and 25th) the corresponding words of which are from different groups in DED. The point is that the correspondence between initial p and initial h in Dravidian is not due to chance or coincidence or accident. It is one of the important Dravidian phonetic correspondences, an inborn Dravidian phonetic phenomenon (observe some of the basic meanings such as to say, shoulder, navel, ant, anthill, put, rock, corpse, etc., denoted by the involved words noted above) which has left its stamp on her offspring Indo-European itself. In Indo-European p almost regularly becomes h in Armenian (for its development in other Indo-European languages see Pei-21-22). That this Indo-European correspondence has its roots embedded in Dravidian is not surprising, because as we shall also witness later on, the roots of Indo-European root-words are also embedded in Dravidian. Another point that should be pointed out here is that even though the phenomenon of initial p becoming initial h is mainly manifested by Kannada and Tulu in Dravidian, it has exceptions as illustrated by the above examples from other Dravidian languages. That there are exceptions to the generally operating correspondence of p becoming h in Indo-European is also in accordance with this fact can be seen here. Now, p is not the only consonant which becomes h in Indo-European. Just as p almost regularly becomes h in Armenian, so also s almost regularly becomes h not only in Armenian but in Greek, and the Brythonic (Welsh, Cornish, Breton) sub-branch of Celtic (Pei-29). This is also an unique phonetic correspondence, but it is not startling that there is this correspondence between s and h in Indo-European, because the correspondence between initial s and initial h is also there to this day in its common source, Dravidian. But the concerned scholar will not find this correspondence listed in Table I: Phonetic correspondences in Dravidian (DED; xii – xiii), because there is no sign of correspondence of initial s at all in that Table! But this does not mean that the correspondence between initial s and initial h is not there in Dravidian, for numerous words listed in DED itself demonstrate the result of its operation. Witness a few of a remarkable number of such examples which are noted below. |
|
|
|
|