INDIA AS A
LINGUISTIC AREA
DR. CHHAYA SAWHNEY
GARGI COLLEGE, DELHI UNIVERSITY
Objectives
To understand the unity amongst language families despite their
diversity
To critically examine why India is referred to as a
linguistic area
Introduction
M.B Emaneau, an anthropologist published ‘India as a linguistic area’, an article in 1956
Despite differences, all families exhibit similarities at the level of sounds, words, and sentence structures and script
Example: Sometimes languages are so different like Chinese and Hindi that it is impossible to find commonalities
Languages of Tibeto-Burman family are quite distinct from the rest of other families in India
Language families in India: similar largely because of cultural unity, religion, literature, customs
Indo Aryan and Dravidian families constitute 90% of population
Language Families in India
Indo Aryan:
Hindi, Punjabi, Bangla, Gujarati, Oriya, Assamese,
Marathi
Dravidian:
Tamil, Telegu, Malyalam, Kannada
Tibeto-Burman:
Manipuri, Mizo, Angami, Garo, Bodo
(Assam)
Munda/ Austro- Asiatic:
Khasi
Andaman-Nicobari:
Andamanese, Nicobarese by local
Holchu residents
Similarities at the level of
sounds
Indo-Aryan and Dravidian:
organization of sounds is the same. Ex, a -> au in vowels,
k -> h in consonants
Difference in pronunciation:
Tamil, Telegu, Malyalam have two r sounds and Marathi has
ch and j sounds
All Indian language have short and long vowels, aspirated consonants and t sound as in
‘tamatar’ as opposed to ‘taali’
that you don’t find in Indo- European language family
Scientific pattern in the order/organization from velar
to labial in all Indian languages
Similarities at the level of
script
Devnagari: Hindi, Marathi Tamil
Telegu Kannada Malyalam Gujurati
Punjabi/Gurmukhi Bangla
Oriya
Similarities at the level of
script
Besides Urdu, Sindhi and
kashmiri, there are 9 scripts in India based on Persian script:
In all these scripts, vowels
follow the consonant sounds:
(b= b +a; ba = b+ aa)
Matras are similar across
scripts
Similarities at the level of
words
ALL INDIAN LANGUAGES HAVE BORROWED WORDS FROM
OTHER SOURCES
Similarities at the level of
words
Tadbhav words: from sanskrit language to pal, prakrit, apbransh evolved into modern indian languages: dant-daant;
poorv-purab; gram-gaav; mayur-mor;
sandhya-saanjh
1.Tatsam words: borrowed directly from sanskrit into Hindi: balk; pita, guru,
prem, karm, jaati, pariksha
Similarities at the level of
words
2. Original words whose source is not known:
chat; baal; phool; bura
3. Words borrowed from other indian languages
Dravidian: chandan; kathin; muah
Munda: shringhaar
Arya: upanayas; dhanyavaad (bangla); pragati
(Marathi); chole (punjabi); hadtaal (gujarati)
Similarities at the level of
words
4. Arabic: kitab; vakil; intezzam Persian: chashma; safed; baccha Turkish: chaaku; daroga; khachar 5. Foreign words
Portuguese: almaari, istri, tambaku French: restaurant, picnic, menu
English: rail, cycle, radio, file, post card
Similarities at the level of
sentences
All Indian languages share the same word order:
SOV
Characterstics: postpositions; adjective+noun;
main verb +auxiliary verb
Singular and Plural (no words for two) and Masculine and Feminine (no neutral)
Conjunctive participles : kar
Echo words: chai-vai; beer-veer; chicken-vicar
Reduplication: kabhi-kabhi; dheere-dheere
Conclusion
Cultural unity
Constant lending-borrowing
Sharing of features at all
linguistic levels the reason for India being called as a
linguistic area