
Languages and Nations
The Dravidian Proof in Colonial Madras
Thomas R. Trautmann(Author)
University of California Press
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 4. November 2006
Book
Hardback
321 pages
978-0-520-24455-9 (ISBN)
Description
British rule of India brought together two very different traditions of scholarship about language, whose conjuncture led to several intellectual breakthroughs of lasting value. Two of these were especially important: the conceptualization of the Indo-European language family by Sir William Jones at Calcutta in 1786 - proposing that Sanskrit is related to Persian and languages of Europe - and the conceptualization of the Dravidian language family of South India by F.W. Ellis at Madras in 1816 - the 'Dravidian proof', showing that the languages of South India are related to one another but are not derived from Sanskrit. These concepts are valid still today, centuries later. This book continues the examination Thomas R. Trautmann began in "Aryans and British India" (1997). While the previous book focused on Calcutta and Jones, the current volume examines these developments from the vantage of Madras, focusing on Ellis, Collector of Madras, and the Indian scholars with whom he worked at the College of Fort St. George, making use of the rich colonial record.
Trautmann concludes by showing how elements of the Indian analysis of language have been folded into historical linguistics and continue in the present as unseen but nevertheless living elements of the modern.
Trautmann concludes by showing how elements of the Indian analysis of language have been folded into historical linguistics and continue in the present as unseen but nevertheless living elements of the modern.
More details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
9 b-w photographs
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
635 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-24455-9 (9780520244559)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
11/2006
1st Edition
Naval Institute Press
€83.49
Available for download
Person
Thomas R. Trautmann is Marshall D. Sahlins Collegiate Professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Michigan. Among his books are Aryans and British India (UC Press, 1997), Lewis Henry Morgan and the Invention of Kinship (UC Press, 1987), and Dravidian Kinship (1981).
Content
List of Illustrations Preface 1. Explosion in the Grammar Factory 2. P1aini and Tolk1ppiyar 3. Ellis and His Circle 4. The College 5. The Dravidian Proof 6. Legacies 7. Conclusions Appendix A. The Legend of the Cow-Pox Appendix B. The Dravidian Proof Bibliography Index