Observations on Indian linguistics, languages, language use, primarily from South, West India. Run by @SandalBurn. Mail @ sainyn@gmail.com for work inquiries.
May 26, 2018 • 8 tweets • 10 min read
While *most* South Asian Muslims use #Persian terms for religious concepts, Muslims in #TamilNadu & #Kerala (who trace their roots to Arab trading communities) have distinct traditions also reflected in their terminology, which freely draws from #Tamil/#Malayalam & #Sanskrit.
Instead of rozā, the #Persian term for Islamic fasting (itself a translation of #Arabic ṣawm) used in #Urdu, #Bengali, #Gujarati etc, #Tamil & #Malayalam speaking Muslims use nōmpu, lit. ceremonial fasting. The word is from a proto #Dravidian root meaning to do penance. #Ramadan
May 13, 2018 • 4 tweets • 6 min read
I legit can't get over how linguistically cool #Telangana#Telugu#Dakhni#Urdu bilingualism in #Hyderabad is. Pretty much everyone brought up there seems to speak both. Code switching galore. Unique too, coz the langs (#Dravidian & #IndoAryan) aren't related & it's a metro city.
The native speaker split is almost even, close to 50 50. What's even cooler (& more exciting) is the strong, pervasive influence #Dravidian#Telugu has had on #IndoAryan#Hyderabad's #Dakhni#Urdu - structural, phonological, syntactical, and lexical, basically, on all levels.
