Kinship systems

[V.C.Vijayaraghavan]

----- Original Message -----
From: "N. Ganesan" <naga_ganesan at HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK>
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 4:19 PM
Subject: Re: Kinship systems


> >"Language family" like Dravidian, Indo-European, Uralic, is only an
> >analytic convenience and it should not be used to define ethnicities.
>
> Esteemed Indologist,

Dear Sir

Thanks for your esteem, but the appellation Indologist is a bit pre-mature



> Gonds and other Drav. tribes being "underdogs" did not impose
> their language on others. Among most Dravidians ethnicity
> and language coincide.

Would you give an exception for Tamil Muslims of Srilanka who claim separate
ethnicity.? And why should this privilege be available to "dravidians" which
is not available to Bosnians


When you say " Among most Dravidians ethnicity and language coincide" , on
what observational basis you make this claim. To some extent this is a
circular argument: You have already defined Dravidian both as an ethnic term
and a language group. To properly make your claim, you must ask the people
whom you consider as Dravidian language group speaking - like Malaylam,
Gond, Brahui- and ask them to name their ethnicities. If the majority or
even the sizable number of  Kannada speakers, Gond Speakers, Tamil speakers,
Brahui speakers name their ethinicity as 'dravidian' , then you are
justified. Is that the case.

But as far I can see, you have interviwed only Andree Sjoberg who does not
seem to be a speaker of Gond or Brahui , to make this claim.






> The case of French and Bengali is different. Both got changed
> to an IE language from their original mother tongue.

Pray tell us what is the "original mother tongue" of the French and the
Bengalis

> A good substratum of Munda and Dravidian exists in Bengali.
> The academic consensus, close to 100%, is that Indo-Aryan
> languages entered India after the decline of the Indus
> cuture and spread by intrusions. And, India is not the
> home of PIE.

We are not discussing ancient history, but your methods of arriving at your
conclusions