Proto-Dravidian Origins of the Kuṛux-Malto Past Stems
Abstract
In the closely related Dravidian languages Kuṛux and Malto, the verbs have lexically determined past stems, formed from the verb bases with various suffixes such as -y, -c, -j, -s, -t, -ṭ and -ḍ. There are also past stems with zero, with or without gemination of the final consonant. The past suffixes *-t, *-tt, *-i, *-c, *-cc and *-nt are reconstructed for Proto-Dravidian, and we examined if the Kuṛux-Malto past stems are explainable from them. We found that some past stems are derived from affixation of Proto-Dravidian *-t. The close distributional resemblance of Kuṛux-Malto -y to South Dravidian *-i(ṉ) suggests their common origin. We also confirmed that the suffixes *-c and *-cc need to be posited for Proto-Kuṛux-Malto, while there are no clear reflexes of the suffixes *-tt and *-nt. Since *-c and *-cc are also found in the converb formation of South-Central Dravidian, they might be a shared innovation. The geminating past, which is probably an innovation of Kuṛux-Malto, gave rise to the new, productive past stem class with zero.
Submitted: Sept. 13, 2022 | Accepted: Sept. 13, 2022 | Published Oct. 28, 2022 | Language: en
Keywords Malto • Proto-Dravidian • Kuṛux • Comparative reconstruction • Past stem
Copyright © 2022 Masato Kobayashi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/bhasha/2785-5953/2022/01/004