Dravidian Languages Could Be 4,500 Years Old, New Linguistic Analysis Reveals

A new linguistic analysis conducted using advanced statistical methods has revealed that Dravidian languages, spoken by over 220 million people in India and neighbouring countries, could be about 4,500 years old, the Indian Express has reported.

The analysis was done by the Germany-based Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Wildlife Institute of India. Findings were published in Royal Society Open Science. Data used in the study was collected first-hand from native speakers representing all previously reported Dravidian subgroups.

“The study of the Dravidian languages is crucial for understanding prehistory in Eurasia, as they played a significant role in influencing other language groups,” corresponding author Annemarie Verkerk of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History said in the statement.

According to the study, there is continuity between Tamil’s classical and modern forms documented in inscriptions, poems, and secular and religious texts and songs.

Archaeological analysis done in the past matches well with inferences from the new study. Archaeological analyses have previously placed the diversification of Dravidian into North, Central, and South branches at exactly this age, the report says.

“Here we have a really exciting opportunity to investigate the interactions between these people, and other cultural groups in the area such as Indo-European and Austro-Asiatic on one of the great crossroads of human prehistory,” said the author of the report prepared by the Max Planck Institute, Simon Greenhill.