Linguistic Archaeology of South Asia

384 Pages·2005·1.82 MB·English

by  Fran Southworth

LINGUISTIC ARCHAEOLOGY OF
SOUTH ASIA
Linguistic Archaeology of South Asiabrings together linguistic and archaeological
evidence of South Asian prehistory. Following introductory chapters describing
the methodology of the interdisciplinary field known as “linguistic archaeology”
and introducing the South Asian linguistic scene, the bulk of the book makes use
of different types of linguistic evidence (such as loanwords, place names, region-
ally shared grammatical innovations) to draw inferences about prehistoric events.
These inferences are then compared with and tested against the findings of other
disciplines dealing with prehistory, including archaeology and palaeobotany. The
final chapter uses the evidence of the previous chapters, in the light of the latest
archaeological work, to sketch possible prehistories of the major South Asian lan-
guage groups, and to suggest hypotheses for further investigation. The basic
premise of the work is that ancient linguistic evidence, when put into its socio-
historical context, can provide information to supplement the findings of other
prehistoric disciplines. Thus the book is both a description of the unique method-
ology of “linguistic archaeology” and a treatment of South Asian historical lin-
guistic data. It will be of interest to scholars and students of linguistics,
archaeology, prehistory, and palaeobotany.
Franklin C. Southworth completed his PhD in Linguistics at Yale University.
Subsequently, he taught Linguistics and South Asian Languages (Hindi, Urdu,
Marathi, Nepali) in the South Asia Regional Studies Department at the University
of Pennsylvania from which he retired in 1998. He spent over ten years in India
doing fieldwork on Indo-Aryan (Marathi, Konkani, Hindi–Urdu) and Dravidian
(Tamil, Malayalam) languages. His current research interest is SARVA (South
Asian Residual Vocabulary Assemblage), an online dictionary of words of
unknown origin in South Asian languages.

LINGUISTIC
ARCHAEOLOGY OF
SOUTH ASIA
Franklin C. Southworth
First published 2005
by RoutledgeCurzon
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeCurzon
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 2005 Franklin C. Southworth
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-41291-5(cid:13)(cid:10)(cid:13)(cid:10) Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0–415–33323–7(Print Edition)
CONTENTS
List of figures vi
List of tables viii
Preface and acknowledgments ix
List of abbreviations xi
Formulae and symbols xiv
1 The scope of linguistic archaeology 1
2 The South Asian linguistic scene 39
3 Prehistoric languages of South Asia 62
4 The social context of linguistic convergence 98
5 The Grierson hypothesis revisited: subgroups of Indo-Aryan 126
6 Historical implications of the inner–outer hypothesis 154
7 Palaeobotanical and etymological evidence for the
prehistory of South Asian crop plants 193
8 Some aspects of Dravidian prehistory based on
vocabulary reconstruction 229
9 Maharashtrian place names and the question
of a Dravidian substratum 288
10 Historical linguistics and archaeology in South Asia 322
Bibliography 335
Index 352
v
FIGURES
1.1 Illustration of subgrouping 14
1.2 Illustration of overlapping changes 15
1.3 Schematic representation of stable sociolinguistic variation 23
2.1 Major Indo-Aryan languages 41
2.2 Chronology of Indo-Aryan languages 47
2.3 Approximate locations of modern Dravidian languages 48
2.4 Alternative subgroupings of Dravidian languages 50
2.5 Subgrouping of Munda languages 52
3.1 Pre-Indo-Aryan substratum languages 65
4.1 Types of speakers in contact situations 114
4.2 Models of linguistic diffusion 119
5.1 Various subgroupings of NIA 127
5.2 Some phonological isoglosses in NIA 128
5.3 Grierson’s view of Indo-Aryan 130
5.4 Defining isoglosses of “outer” NIA 147
6.1 Approximate locations of Ashokan inscriptions 156
6.2 Phonological isoglosses in Ashokan inscriptions 168
6.3 Mountains and hills of Central India with the
approximate location of “tribal” languages 174
6.4 Proposed movements of Indo-Aryan languages
2000–500 BCE 182
8.1 Dravidian languages – major isoglosses 234
8.2 Diachronic isogloss map of Dravidian subgroups 235
8.3 Approximate locations of Dravidian subgroups 244
9.1 Districts of Maharashtra 290
9.2 (A) Earlier districts of Maharashtra (schematic);
(B) regional divisions of Maharashtra 291
9.3 Distribution of village names in -v(a)li 296
9.4 Distribution of village names in -gav 297
9.5 Inscriptional occurrences of village names in -grama 297
9.6 Distribution of village names in -oli 298
vi
FIGURES
9.7 Inscriptional occurrences of village names in
-vallika,-vulika,-al(l)i,-uli 299
9.8 Distribution of reflexes of -valliand -pa¬¬i 300
9.9 Distribution of village names cinca-vliand cinc-oli 300
9.10 Distribution of pal(i)as village name 301
9.11 Distribution of village names in -vadi 303
9.12 Distribution of vadi((cid:2)suffix) as village name 304
9.13 Distribution of pat((cid:2)suffix) as village name 305
9.14 Distribution of village names in -ur 306
9.15 Distribution of ku~das suffix/as name 307
9.16 Distribution of nigadeand variants as village names 308
9.17 Distribution of village names in -omi, -umi, -ome, -os 309
9.18 Distribution of -v(a)liand related suffixes in India 314
10.1 Relative chronology of South Asian archaeological cultures 324
10.2 Chronology of South Asian linguistic prehistory 329
vii
TABLES
3.1 Chronological development of Indo-Aryan phonological features
attributed to Dravidian or other pre-Indo-Aryan languages 86
3.2 Syntactic convergence: the quotative construction 87
4.1 Lexical borrowings by grammatical category in
selected South Asian languages 103
4.2 Lexical borrowings by grammatical category in selected
world languages 104
4.3 Comparison of grammatical and lexical diffusion for
selected world languages 107
viii
PREFACE AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is written for students of prehistory. While it inevitably contains
technical linguistic details in places, I have done my best to make the work access-
ible to non-linguists. Chapter 1 is a discussion of the assumptions of the field
I have dubbed “linguistic archaeology,” and is intended for non-linguists. Each
chapter concludes with a summary aimed at the general reader. Chapter 3 and
Chapters 5–9 present various types of linguistic evidence which lead to specific
prehistoric inferences about South Asia. Chapter 4 uses linguistic data from South
Asia and other world areas to explore relationships between culture contact and
linguistic change. Chapter 10 pulls together the various strands presented in the
preceding chapters. The non-linguist interested in getting a quick view of the
book is advised to start with Chapter 10, glancing at the sections cross-referenced
there (including the chapter summaries) as needed.
If this work has an overall goal, it is to stimulate communication between
historical linguists and other prehistorians, in the hope of finding ways to explore
the totality of prehistoric cultures. This issue is taken up especially in Sections
1.7and 10.3.
I no longer remember when I started telling colleagues and friends that my
book on linguistic archaeology “is almost finished.” As with most books of its
kind, the contents have been presented at numerous conferences and discussed
many times during preparation, and suggestions and references have been incor-
porated from many sources. In addition, I have been shameless in asking for help
when I needed it, and colleagues have been unhesitatingly generous in providing
it. Thus it is more than possible that I have forgotten the names of some of these
contributors, along with forgetting that their ideas were not originally mine. I
hereby offer my sincere apologies to any whose ideas I have used without proper
acknowledgment, and ask their forgiveness.
To those colleagues and friends who have, over the years, given their time to
discuss my work with me, have looked over drafts of chapters, and have freely
offered suggestions, criticism, and encouragement, I feel a debt of deep gratitude.
I would particularly like to mention Mahadeo Apte, George Cardona, Madhav
Deshpande, Peter Hook, Henry Hoenigswald, Ashok Kelkar, Bhadriraju
Krishnamurti, Nick Masica, Joan Mencher, Asko Parpola, Edgar Polomé,
ix