undergone morphological change during the period of cultivation. The total
destruction of Pre-Aryan Tamil literature also accounts to some extent,
for the absence of some primitive forms in Tamil.
e.g. nan, the oblique or inflexional base
of nn, I, and aidu, five,
the earlier form of aindu, are preserved in Telugu.
There are many words and grammatical forms
being used in their earlier forms in Malayalam, which occupies a midway
position between Tamil and the Dravidian languages, by reason of its being
spoken in a region, which was the ancient Chera Nadu forming an integral
part of the Tamil country upto 13th century A.D.
e.g.
Grammatical Forms: |
Finite
Verbs : |
Past |
Present |
Future |
(common
to all persons,genders & both numbers) |
ceydu |
(ceykiu)ceyyunnu |
ceyyum |
Subjunctive
Mood : |
yl
|
kuttiyl |
|
Oblique
Base of
n
ga,
you; |
nia |
(niga) |
|
Words
: |
p(pdu,
time), u (u-du) |
|