La cosiddetta ‘strong and rough r’ /ṟ/ del tamiḻ e l’occlusiva alveolare protodravidica */ṯ/: A reappraisal*
Abstract
At times, the distortion of the reality of phonetic data perpetrated by modern linguists reaches truly remarkable levels, driven by their rigid determination to interpret the necessarily approximate descriptions of ancient scholars in such a way that they seem to confirm their own scientific hypotheses about past phonological systems which, as such, can no longer be directly experienced through objective instrumental observation. In this respect, the way in which the testimonies of the grammarians of southern India—who set out to describe Tamiḻ, the most important language of the Dravidian group, following the example of their North Indian counterparts, who in their treatises admirably and with great expertise expounded Sanskrit in its phonological and morphological aspects down to the smallest detail—have been (mis)used is emblematic.
Submitted: July 17, 2025 | Accepted: Dec. 14, 2025 | Published Forthcoming | Language: it
Keywords Ancient grammatical traditions • Phonetic distortion • Phonological systems • Tamil and Sanskrit studies • Historical linguistics
Copyright © 2025 Marcello De Martino. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/bhasha/2785-5953/2025/02/004