ABSTRACT
The Dravidian language family, the world’s fourth largest, consists of twenty-five languages spread over the South Asian subcontinent. It has four branches: South Dravidian with Tamil, Malayalam, Iruja, Kodagu, Kota, Toda, Badaga, Kannada and Tulu; South-Central Dravidian with Telugu, Savara, Gondi, Konda, Pengo, Manda, Kūi and Kūvi; Central Dravidian with Kolami, Naiki, Parji, Ollari and Gadaba; and North Dravidian with Kurux, Malto and Brahui. Over the past fifteen years reports of other languages have appeared, but without adequate grammars we cannot determine whether these are new, independent languages or simply dialects of ones already known. Indu and Āwē have been reported in South-Central Dravidian; Kuruba, Yerava, Yerukula, Kaikudi, Korava, Koraga, Bellari and Burgundi in South Dravidian. Certain dialects of Gondi and Kurux may prove under closer inspection to be independent languages. The Dravidian languages are spoken by approximately 175,000,000 people.
