Re: Witzel and Sautsutras (was: Mapping the Origins and Expansion of

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "shivkhokra" <shivkhokra@...> wrote:

> Have you checked how many loan words Tamil and other Dravidian languages have from Sanskrit? What about the reverse? Are they comparabale? If not how do natives have an impact on the phonology of the Aryan invaders?

I thought literary Tamil strove to avoid Sanskrit loan words. However, in general, yes, there has been a heavy influence in vocabulary from Sanskrit.

However, this is a commonplace asymmetry. The L ('low') language borrows words from the 'H' language, but when native speakers of the L language, some of their speech habits manifest themselves when speaking the H language. Such effects can be passed down the generations if there is not enough interaction with the original speakers of the H language.

Richard.