[INDOLOGY] Second-syllable rhyme in Dravidian

[Jean-Luc Chevillard]

Yes,

this feature which you mention ("the initial vowels must agree in 
quantity") is an important feature,
and, interestingly, it must have been TOO OBVIOUS TO STATE,
from the point of view of the Tolkāppiyam,
because the first Tolkāppiyam sūtra explaining etukai
is the second element in a pair of sūtras,
which state (elliptically)

TP397i
aṭitoṟun talaiyeḻut toppatu mōṉai
(= aṭitoṟum talai eḻuttu oppatu mōṉai).

"That in which the head-/eḻuttu/ in every /aṭi/ is equal is /mōṉai/."

TP398i
aḵtoḻit toṉṟi ṉetukai yākum
(=aḵtu oḻittu oṉṟiṉ etukai ākum).

"If, that being omitted, there is identity, it will be /etukai/."

These sūtras have been earlier preceded by a sūtra which explains the 
larger category of /toṭai/ and which states

TP393i
mōṉai yetukai muraṇē yiyaipeṉa
nāṉeṟi marapiṉa toṭaivakai yeṉpa.
(mōṉai etukai muraṇē iyaipu eṉa
nāl neṟi marapiṉa toṭai vakai eṉpa.)

"They say that the subdivisions of traditionally four-pathed /toṭai/ 
are: (1) mōṉai, (2) etukai, (3) muraṇ "contrast" and (4) iyaipu


The third element, muraṇ, and the fourth element, iyaipu, are 
characterized in:

TP400i
moḻiyiṉum poruḷiṉu muraṇutaṉ muraṇē.
(= moḻiyiṉum poruḷiṉum muraṇutal muraṇē.)

"The contrasting either in word or in meaning is /muraṇ/."


TP401i
iṟuvā yoppiṉaḵ tiyaipeṉa moḻipa.
(= iṟuvāy oppiṉ aḵtu iyaipu eṉa moḻipa.)

They call /iyaipu/ that in which final is identical;

-- Jean-Luc Chevillard (Pondicherry)



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On 08/08/2015 03:04, Kevin M. Ryan wrote:
> (2) I don't know if anyone has previously noted this connection, but the
> phonological peculiarities of SSR bear an uncanny resemblance to another
> linguistic phenomenon that can be reconstructed securely (e.g.
> Krishnamurti 2003: 487) to Proto-South Dravidian and perhaps even
> further back, namely, echo reduplication of the type puli-kili [gili]
> "tigers and such". Not only does the span of correspondence in such
> doublets begin with the second syllable (or, more properly, with the
> consonant immediately following the first vowel; see below), but
> tellingly, just as in SSR, the initial vowels must agree in quantity,
> while being free to disagree in quality (e.g. pāmpu-kīmpu "snakes and
> such"; NB. *pāmpu-kimpu is out even though both initial syllables are
> heavy; thus, the restriction is about vowel length per se and not
> syllable weight, at least not in the usual metrical sense.) As such,
> such doublets form rhyming pairs, and I would find it surprising if the
> two systems, both with the same peculiar treatment of vowel length,
> arose independently.