Indian Languages #4: Why They Mixed

Earlier, in Wanderers, Kings and Merchants, we saw Peggy Mohan use the words “Dravidian substratum”. What exactly is a substratum? Literally, it means the underlying layer. In the context of Indian languages, it refers to the “unconscious” layer of the language that seeps in when the ruled classes tried to learn the language of the ruler/conqueror (Aryans, Mughals etc).

 

In that context, Peggy Mohan wonders how the Dravidian language substratum sounds seeped into Sanskrit? To recap, she is referring to retroflexion sounds (ट, ठ, ड, ढ, ण, ष). After all, she says:

“The substratum does not ‘leak up’ to infiltrate a privileged group that is proud of its language, and not overly eager to reach out to locals it regards as inferior.”

Remember the British?

“The British lived amidst ट, ठ, ड, ढ, ण, ष during their time in India, but simply did not hear (or absorb) those sounds.”

If the language of the rulers isn’t seeking to absorb anything new from the languages of the ruled, how then did these sounds get into Sanskrit?

 

Her theory as to why Sanskrit absorbed these Dravidian sounds starts with the point that Sanskrit was not a written language for very long. The Rig Vedas were passed on verbally, not in writing, from person to person. Such a mode of transmission is prone to the listener/learner inserting and adding his own pronunciation and sounds.

“Had there been a written text, it would not have happened so easily. But writing came much later and even when it did, it was a matter of great pride that a living document like the Rig Veda should not be set in stone in this way.”

 

While sounds can occasionally be transmitted and absorbed across languages, languages rarely mix and fuse. As Mohan says, they never mix “simply because they can”. On the rare occasions you find such a merging, it is almost always because there is a “change in an old order”. As the old power center starts to fade and disintegrate, regions begin to find their own centers of gravity. The literary elites now need to address their thoughts, ideas and concerns to local power groups. They end up using some of the old power language’s words in the regional languages when communicating with the local power groups. The hybridization of the languages has gotten started.

“Mixed languages are about power shifts, not about little people migrating as individuals.”