South India, north-east Sri Lanka and south-west Pakistan
Native speakers
250 million (2020)[1]
Linguistic classification
One of the world's primary language families
Proto-language
Proto-Dravidian
Subdivisions
North
Central
South-Central
South
ISO 639-2 / 5
dra
Linguasphere
49= (phylozone)
Glottolog
drav1251
Distribution of the Dravidian languages
Part of a series on
Dravidian culture and history
Origin
Indus Valley Civilisation
Keezhadi excavation site
History
History of South India
Ancient history of Sri Lanka
Dravidian dynasties
Chola
Chera
Pandyan
Satavahana
Rashtrakuta
Chalukya
Pallava
Kakatiya
Hoysala
Sangama
Saluva
Tuluva
Aravidu
Nayak
Reddy
Aryacakravarti
Western Ganga
Eastern Ganga
Culture
Dravidian civilization
South Indian culture
Dravidian architecture
Dravidian studies
Language
Dravidian languages
History of Dravidian languages
Proto-Dravidian language
Elamo-Dravidian languages
Religion
Dravidian folk religion
Hinduism
Jainism
Buddhism
Śramaṇa
Ājīvika
Charvaka
Regions
South India (Dravida)
Sri Lanka
South Asia
People
Dravidian peoples
Brahui people
Gondi people
Kannadigas
Kodavas
Malayalis
Telugus
Tamils
Tuluvas
Irulas
Nagas (Extinct)
Giraavarus (Extinct)
Cholanaikkans
Khonds
Kodavas
Kurukhs
Paniyas
Malar
Soligas
Koragas
Politics
Kannada language rights
Tulu Nadu state movement
Telugu Desam Party
Tamil nationalism
Dravidian nationalism
Dravidian parties
Dravida Nadu
Portal:Dravidian civilizations
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The Dravidian languages (sometimes called Dravidic[2]) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, south-west Pakistan and some regions of Nepal.[1][3]
Dravidian is first attested in the 2nd century BCE, as inscriptions in Tamil-Brahmi script on cave walls in the Madurai and Tirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu.[4][a]
The Dravidian languages with the most speakers are (in descending order of number of speakers) Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam, all of which have long literary traditions.
Smaller literary languages are Tulu and Kodava.[5]
Together with several smaller languages such as Gondi, these languages cover the southern part of India and the northeast of Sri Lanka, and account for the overwhelming majority of speakers of Dravidian languages.
Malto and Kurukh are spoken in isolated pockets in eastern India.
Kurukh is also spoken in parts of Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.[6] Brahui is mostly spoken in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iranian Balochistan, Afghanistan and around the Marw oasis in Turkmenistan.
During the colonial period, Dravidian speakers emigrated to Southeast Asia, Mauritius, South Africa, Fiji and the Caribbean.[7] There are more-recent Dravidian-speaking diaspora communities in the Middle East, Europe, North America and Oceania.
The reconstructed proto-language of the family is known as proto-Dravidian. Dravidian place names along the Arabian Sea coast and clear signs of Dravidian phonological and grammatical influence (e.g. retroflex consonants and clusivity) in the Indo-Aryan languages suggest that Dravidian languages were spoken more widely across the Indian subcontinent before the spread of the Indo-Aryan languages.[8][9][10] Though some scholars have argued that the Dravidian languages may have been brought to India by migrations from the Iranian plateau in the fourth or third millennium BCE,[11][12] or even earlier,[13][14] the reconstructed vocabulary of proto-Dravidian suggests that the homeland of its speakers lay in South Asia.[15][16][17][b] Despite many attempts, the family has not been shown to be related to any other.[19]
^ abSteever (2020), p. 1.
^"Definition of Dravidic | Dictionary.com". www.dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
^National Statistics Office (2021). National Population and Housing Census 2021, Caste/Ethnicity Report. Government of Nepal (Report).
^Krishnamurti (2003), p. 22.
^Krishnamurti (2003), pp. 20–21.
^Phuntsho, Karma (23 April 2013). The History of Bhutan. Random House India. p. 72. ISBN 978-81-8400-411-3.
^Steever (2020), pp. 1, 3.
^Erdosy (1995), p. 271.
^Edwin Bryant, Laurie L. Patton (2005), The Indo-Aryan controversy: evidence and inference in Indian history, p. 254
^Cite error: The named reference steven was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Tamil Literature Society (1963), Tamil Culture, vol. 10, Academy of Tamil Culture, archived from the original on 9 April 2023, retrieved 25 November 2008, ... together with the evidence of archaeology would seem to suggest that the original Dravidian-speakers entered India from Iran in the fourth millennium BC ...
^Andronov (2003), p. 299.
^Cite error: The named reference mukherjee2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference kumar2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Avari (2007), p. 13.
^Krishnamurti (2003), p. 15.
^Amaresh Datta (1988). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Devraj to Jyoti, Volume 2. Sahitya Akademi. p. 1118. ISBN 9788126011940. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
^Heggarty, Paul; Renfrew, Collin (2014), "South and Island Southeast Asia; Languages", in Renfrew, Colin; Bahn, Paul (eds.), The Cambridge World Prehistory, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9781107647756, archived from the original on 9 April 2023, retrieved 1 July 2017
^Krishnamurti (2003), pp. 43–47.
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