Francis Whyte Ellis and the Beginning of Comparative Dravidian Linguistics

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5084044
AutoresP Sreekumar (Dravidian University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2009
Volumen36
Número1
Páginas75-95
Fecha de publicación2009-04-08
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHistoriographia Linguistica (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0302-5160 • E-ISSN: 1569-9781
EditorialJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/hl.36.1.04sre
OpenAlexW1971761058
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas13

This article assesses Francis Whyte Ellis's (1777-1819) "Note to the Introduction" to Alexander Duncan Campbell's (1789-1857)Grammar of the Teloogoo Language(1816) in the context of the history of comparative linguistics in India. The idea of a 'South Indian family of languages', later named 'Dravidian' by Robert Caldwell in 1856, was first proposed by Ellis in 1816, and so a case could be made to claim for him the beginnings of a comparative methodology in the study of Dravidian languages. Until now, in the history of comparative Dravidian linguistics Caldwell (1814-1891) has been celebrated as the pioneer in this field. The present study attempts to establish Ellis's rightful place in this history by critically evaluating his contribution. The careful examination of the data presented by Ellis indeed suggests that he should be regarded as the discoverer of the Dravidian family of languages well before Caldwell

Archaeology · Comparative linguistics · Context (archaeology · Feminism · Grammar · Historical linguistics · History of linguistics · Linguistics · Philology · Sociology · Classics · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Translation Studies and Practices