Reconstructed History of the Kannada Language

ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆಯ ಕಲ್ಪಿತ ಚರಿತ್ರೆ

Author: D. N. Shankara Bhat (ಡಿ. ಎನ್. ಶಂಕರ ಭಟ್) Read by: Malati Bhat (ಮಾಲತಿ ಭಟ್) Published: 1995 (1st print) · 136 pages Source quality: Good — Malati Bhat reading the full book text; transcript is short (91 lines) and covers the book’s introductory material and two detailed phonological examples. The comparative method section (Part 2) is well-preserved with explicit word-pair tables. Deeper chapters of the book (Proto-Dravidian reconstruction, Proto-Kannada, full dialect evolution analysis) are not covered in the transcript. Transcript: youtube/kn/full.md

Overview

KannaDa BhASheya Kalpita Caritre (“Reconstructed History of the Kannada Language”) is DNS Bhat’s methodological primer on how to write the history of Kannada using two complementary approaches. The first approach, likhita caritre (written/documented history), compares inscriptions, poetry, and prose across centuries to track how Kannada changed over the last ~1,500 years. The second approach, kalpita caritre (reconstructed/comparative history), compares Kannada with related Dravidian languages — Tamil, Telugu, Gondi, Kuḍux, Malayalam, Kui — and with Kannada’s own regional dialects to reconstruct Proto-Kannada and Proto-South Dravidian. Bhat argues that neither method alone is sufficient: the written method cannot reach back before the first inscriptions and cannot reliably disentangle temporal change from regional or caste variation; the comparative method reconstructs a kalpita nuDi (hypothetical proto-language) that was never directly recorded. Together, the two methods are complementary and each calibrates the other. The book demonstrates the comparative method through two extended examples: the Kannada k / Tamil c alternation before front vowels, and the ē/ō → i/u vowel-height shift between Nanjanguḍu Okkaligas and Puttur Havyakas.

Part-by-Part Summary

Part 1 — Written History and Its Limitations

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  • Two methods announced (ಮುನ್ನೋಟ): To discover what the history of Kannada is like, two methods are available — likhita caritre and kalpita caritre. Each approaches the language’s past from a different vantage point, each with strengths and limitations; both should be used as complements
  • Writing likhita caritre: Classify all Kannada writings century by century — poems (padya), prose (gadya), mixed (campu), plays (nāTaka), inscriptions (śāsana) — compare them, and identify how Kannada changed between periods. Kannada inscriptions going back ~1,500 years provide the raw material; court poetry from successive dynasties adds depth
  • Limitations of the written method:
    • Inscriptions’ chronological order is not the same as the language’s chronological order: Kannada varies by region (Dharwad, Mysuru, Mangaluru) and by caste/community (Vokkaligas, Brahmins, Lingayats) within the same century. Differences between two inscriptions may reflect regional or caste variation rather than temporal change — and there is no way to tell with certainty
    • Written language always lags behind spoken language: changes appear in speech first and reach writing only after a delay. Using a text’s date to infer when a linguistic form originated is therefore unreliable
    • Writers sometimes deliberately composed in an archaic register: Buddhaṇṇa, though a Modern Kannada speaker, composed in Old Kannada — making his text a poor chronological marker
    • The Kannada script cannot represent all vowel and consonant distinctions present in speech; older scripts were even more limited, so phonological data from inscriptions is necessarily incomplete
    • Only a small selection of the dialects in use at any given time appear in literary or epigraphic writing; the rest leave no record
  • Basis for kalpita caritre: Comparing Kannada with related Dravidian languages to reconstruct a Proto-Dravidian (mUla drAviDa) ancestor, then tracing how branches diverged. Additionally, comparing Kannada’s own dialects (coastal, Dharwad, Mysuru, Bidar) to reconstruct Proto-Kannada (mUla kannaDa). Written history can then help calibrate and confirm the reconstructed history at the stages where inscriptional evidence is available

Part 2 — Comparative Method, Internal Reconstruction, and Sound Change Examples

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  • Two methods for kalpita caritre: The comparative method (tulanAtmaka vidhAna) and the internal reconstruction method (Antarika vidhAna). The comparative method is the primary tool; internal reconstruction is more limited in scope but complements it. The internal method uses morphological alternations within a single language to infer an earlier stage without comparing it to relatives
  • Comparative method explained: Compare two related languages, list all systematic differences, and explain each difference as the result of a sound change that occurred in the history of one of the languages after they diverged from their common ancestor. The reconstructed common ancestor is a kalpita nuDi — an inferred, hypothetical language never directly attested

  • Kannada–Tamil sound correspondence (k/c alternation):

    Kannada Tamil Gloss
    ಕೆತ್ತು ಚೆತ್ತು to carve
    ಕೇರಿ ಚೇರಿ street / quarter
    ಕೇನೆ ಚೇನೆ yam
    ಕೆಲವು ಚಿಲ some
    ಕೆರೆ ಚಿರೈ lake / pond
    ಕಿಲುಬು ಚಿಲುಂಪು rust

    In all pairs, the Kannada initial k is followed by a front vowel (ಇ/ಎ/ಏ). Front vowels can shift a following velar consonant forward to a palatal position — explaining how k became c in Tamil. Direction of change: Tamil innovated (k→c); Kannada preserves the original Proto-South Dravidian k. Evidence: Tamil has no k + front vowel word-initially, while Kannada has both k+front and c+front

  • Dialectal vowel alternations within Kannada (Nanjanguḍu vs. Puttur):

    Nanjanguḍu (Okkaligas) Puttur (Havyaka) Gloss
    ಇಲಿ ಎಲಿ rat
    ಸಿಡಿ ಸೆಡಿ to burst
    ಕುದಿ ಕೊದಿ to boil
    ಕುಣಿ ಕೊಣಿ to dance
    ತುಳಿ ತೊಳಿ to tread

    Bhat determines the Havyaka forms with ē/ō are original (Proto-Kannada), and the Nanjanguḍu forms with i/u are the innovations. The change ē/ō → i/u before a following i-vowel is a natural vowel assimilation (first syllable raises to match the height of the second). Evidence confirming this direction: (a) Pre-Old Kannada (5th–6th c.) already shows ē/ō in these positions; (b) coastal dialects retain ē/ō unchanged; (c) the exception words (iLi/iLi, kuDi/kuDi) where both dialects show i/u can be explained if the second syllable has short ಇ rather than long ಈ

  • Pre-Old Kannada evidence:

    Pre-Old Kannada Old Kannada Meaning
    ಕೆಸು ಕಿಸು monkey
    ಪೆರಿಯ ಪಿರಿಯ / ಹಿರಿಯ elder / big
    ಎದಿರ್ ಇದಿರ್ / ಇದಿರು facing / opposite
    ಪೊಗು ಪುಗು to enter
    ಪೊರುಳ್ ಪುರುಳ್ meaning / substance

    The Pre-Old Kannada forms with ē/ō support the reconstruction: these vowels shifted to i/u in most Old Kannada dialects but survived in coastal Kannada. The comparative and written evidence thus converge

Key Concepts

Kannada Eke English
ಲಿಖಿತ ಚರಿತ್ರೆ likhita caritre written / documented history
ಕಲ್ಪಿತ ಚರಿತ್ರೆ kalpita caritre reconstructed / comparative history
ತುಲನಾತ್ಮಕ ವಿಧಾನ tulanAtmaka vidhAna comparative method
ಆಂತರಿಕ ವಿಧಾನ Antarika vidhAna internal reconstruction method
ಮೂಲ ದ್ರಾವಿಡ mUla drAviDa Proto-Dravidian
ಮೂಲ ಕನ್ನಡ mUla kannaDa Proto-Kannada
ಮೂಲ ತೆಂಕು ದ್ರಾವಿಡ mUla tenku drAviDa Proto-South Dravidian
ಕಲ್ಪಿತ ನುಡಿ kalpita nuDi hypothetical / reconstructed language
ಶಾಸನ SAsan inscription / stone epigraph
ಒಳನುಡಿ oLanuDi dialect
ಮಾರ್ಪಾಡು mArpADu sound change / transformation
ಪೂರ್ವ ಹಳೆಗನ್ನಡ pUrva haLegannaDa Pre-Old Kannada
ಹಳೆಗನ್ನಡ haLegannaDa Old Kannada
ಕವಲೊಡೆಯು kavaLoDeyuvudu to branch / diverge (of languages)
ತೊಡಕು toDaku counterexample / complication

Note on Transcript Coverage

The transcript covers the book’s introduction (Part 1: both methods, limitations of written history, basis for comparative reconstruction) and a substantial portion of the comparative method chapter (Part 2: k/c alternation, Nanjanguḍu/Puttur vowel height, Pre-Old Kannada evidence). The book’s full content — detailed Proto-Dravidian reconstruction, Proto-Kannada dialect branching, the treatment of Gondi, Kuḍux, Kui, and Telugu correspondences, and full phonological change tables — is described in the publisher description (description-raw.md) but not covered in the short transcript. See Book 10 (Kannada NuDiya HinnaDAvaLi) for the full presentation of the reconstructed history.

Cross-References to Other DNS Bhat Works

Book Connection
10 — Kannada NuDiya HinnaDAvaLi The natural companion: Book 10 presents the full reconstructed history of Kannada in detail; Book 12 is the methodological introduction explaining how such reconstruction works
02 — Kannada NuDiya OLaracane Book 02 describes the synchronic internal structure of Kannada — the phonology and morphology that provide the raw material for comparative reconstructions demonstrated in Book 12
04 — MAtu Mattu Barahada NaDuvina Gondala Book 04’s argument that spoken language is primary and writing is secondary grounds Book 12’s critique of written-history limitations: inscriptions capture only a fragment of speech