The Indic branch of
Indo-European Family of languages consists of 3 dead languages(Sanskrit,Prakrit,Pali) and
more than a dozen living languages. It is believed that all these languages use
a script called “Devanagari’ script .This script is a fully developed script
with vowels and consonants structured in a perfect manner.
Linguists are aware that in a natural language speech develops first,
followed by development of script ,perhaps, after sufficient period of cultural
and intellectual stabilisation.Many languages do not have a script at all.
While ‘script’ is not a must for a language, a sufficient phase of ‘spoken
language’ is a condition precedent for formation of script based on phonology.
This is so because the ‘script letters’ represent the sounds of the spoken
words, in phonetic languages.(However in non-phonetic languages, the chances of
‘pictographic script’ developing prior to ‘speech’ cannot be ruled out.)
Indian History or World History does not
have any evidence to prove that there was a language called ‘Devanagari’ and it
was spoken by any people, for a significantly long period.Then, the question
that arises is ‘How did this script develop?’
I
proceeded to solve this problem on the following lines. I examined all the
possibilities and my findings are:
1 Possibility:
The script could have been borrowed from any IE language.
Findings:
Ruled out as no basic similarity is evidenced, Even the construction of vowels and consonants are unquestionably
different.The number of vowels and consonants do not agree,after allowing a
margin of, say, five for possible additions
2 P
:The script could have been borrowed from an established language spoken in
the geographical area where Indic
languages were spoken.
F:
The only other language family with established presence in India, is the
Dravidian family of languages. The lead language of the family, Tamil has a
history of atleast 2000 years and evidence of having been spoken widely in
major parts of Indian sub-continent .As Tamil literary works dating circa 500
BC are available , the ‘speech’ should have been pretty old. Tamil has a
perfect script which could not have been borrowed, considering its history of
independent development and the geographical insulation of its command area. Considering these factors,
Tamil appears to be the prima-facie
possible source of the ‘ Devanagari script’.
I
sat down to confirm the position, Here is my comparative analysis,taking Hindi script as a
representative for the purpose.
Vowels:Tamil
has 12 vowels . Hindi has 13. Certain Tamil vowels are absent in
Hindi.Additional vowels in Hindi are ‘ru’ and ‘am’.It may be observed that the
additional vowels in Hindi are not pure vowels but a combination of vowel and
consonant sounds.As such it could have been additions, necessitated by
certain sounds prevalent in Sanskrit but
not prevalent in Tamil.
Consonants:
Tamil has 18 consonants whereas Hindi has more than 30 in number.It may be
observed that the additional consonants in Hindi are nothing but sound variants
of the 18 consonants of Tamil only.For example, the consonant ‘k’ of Tamil has
additional 4 variants namely ‘kha’,’ga’,and’gha’in Hindi.Similarly ‘cha’ of
Tamil has three additional variants ‘chha’ ’ja’ and’jha’.These script letters
seem to have been carved out of the original Tamil letters by slight
alterations .Such alterations are quite easy as the basic skeletal framework is
already provided by Tamil .The
illustration provided in the annexure to this e-mail (as a .jpg
attachment) would help you understand my point better.
Based
on the foregoing findings I propose that the script used by the Indic branch of the Indo-European
family of languages is basically provided by Tamil and has to be accepted as
such unless contrary is proved with evidence .As this is an investigative
exercise I have not limited my search in the defined linguistic territories.I
have also not considered the various language families ,as we know them, as
water-tight compartments. I am of the view that imposing such kind of
restrictions on a fact finding process will not help finding out the correct
position or the possibilities that can be thought of .
I invite comments and suggestions in the matter, especially
covering the question whether a fully
developed script capable of taking care of the ‘script needs’of more than a dozen languages ,could have
formed without a established spoken language preceding.Comments on possible
script contribution from a language other than Tamil are also welcome.
(Published in Linguist List)
