Strictly speaking, Nahali (spoken on
the upper Tapti) is not an isolate, though it's classified as such e.g. on the
SIL site. Present-day Nahali is genetically an Indo-Aryan language whose lexicon
shows several layers of absorbed substrates. Though the exact percentages
apparently vary from dialect to dialect (while minor and endangered, Nahali is
not a monolithic languages), according to Kuiper's estimates the largest
lexical component (ca. 36%) is borrowed from Kurku (a.k.a. Korku, a Munda
language), about 9% of Nahali words are Dravidian (e.g. the numerals 2, 3 and 4,
whereas 5 and higher are Indo-Aryan), and some 25% are of unknown origin.
Because of the high proportion of Munda loans Nahali has also been erroneously
classified as a Munda language or even a dialect of Kurku.
The etymologically obscure part of Nahali
vocabulary is thought to represent an ancient pre-Indo-Aryan substrate of the
Madhya Pradesh/Maharashtra border. Although the figure 25% may be exaggerated,
the substrate -- unrelated to any known family -- seems to be real enough.
Kuiper's attempts to establish a distant relationship between
Nahali and Ainu ("Isolates of the world, unite!") should not be taken too
seriously. It's quite possible that Central India was once a crazy quilt of tiny
families. Relics of the Nahali substrate and perhaps of other, hitherto
unidentified extinct languages may be lurking in the local varieties of
Indo-Aryan, e.g. in the numerous but poorly investigated languages of the Bhil
group.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 5:41 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] Vedic literature and the Gulf of Cambay
discovery
--- In cybalist@......, Harald
Hammarstrom <haha2581@......> wrote:
>
> In the meantime, one can study Nahali, the remarkable language
>
> isolate (cf. preliminary studies by Kuiper), Amri-Nal coastline
pre->
> Where can one find material to study
Nahali?
Harald, there is a superb monograph by Prof. Kuiper:
FBJ
Kuiper, 1962, Nahali, a comparative study. Amsterdam: Noord-
Hollandse
Uitgevers Maatschappij.