The verb structure in Brahui language of Ruedbar-Jonub

• Main Authors: Fatemeh Sheybanifard, Zohreh Zarshenas
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Alzahra University 2020-08-01
• Series: زبان پژوهی
• Subjects: structure of verb; language variety of rudbar-jonub; dravidian family; rudbar-jonub
• Online Access: https://jlr.alzahra.ac.ir/article_4016_7fe3a35918922e28b2b2b8581748ee1f.pdf
• ISSN: 2008-8833; 2538-1989

In India, the majority of people speak in one of the Indo-European languages, or more specifically, one of the languages derived from Sanskrit. However, in the southern part of this country there are several prevalent languages related to a family of languages that has existed since before the era of Indo-European languages, and these languages are still expanding and flourishing. This family of languages is called Dravidian, and the most important members are: Tamil, Telegu, and Malayalam. A family of languages with about 70 prevalent languages in Southern Asia belongs to the Dravidian family. They are more than 215 million people who speak in one of the Dravidian languages, who typically live in India, Pakistan, and Srilanka. The Proto-Dravidian language is the common mother language of all Dravidian languages, which has been reconstructed by linguists. The Proto-Dravidian language is divided into three sub families: Proto-North-Dravidian, Proto-Central-Dravidian, and Proto-South-Dravidian. A group of Dravidian speaking people have migrated to the borders of India and have taken residence in Aryan settlements. This group consists of Brahui in the Northwest, and Kurux and Malto in the Eastern India, the three of which belong to the family of North-Dravidian languages. Of these, the Brahui are the farthest with respect to geographical distance from their mainland, i.e. India. Almost none of the ancient characteristics of the Proto-Dravidian have been preserved by the Brahui. This language has been in contact with Indo-Aryan languages, such as Persian, for centuries and has been surrounded by these languages. At the moment, only five percent of the words used in Brahuidi language are of Dravidian origin. The Brahui language is the secluded member of the Dravidian family of languages and sometimes has been recorded as Brahuidi, Brahuigi, Bruhi, Bruhaki, and Kurgali. The first significant presence of Brahui in history goes back to the 17th century and the transcripts left by Mongols in Khanate Kalat. The Brahui language is spoken in Balochistan, mostly in the Pakistani part of the region. Brahui speakers also reside in Kalat, Karachi and Heidarabad, and most of them are Bilingual (Brahui and Balochi). The Brahui language consists of three main dialects: (1) Sarawani, (2) Jhalawani, and (3) Kalati. Because of the seclusion from other languages of the Dravidian family, and also multilingualism and minority of the speakers, this language has been influenced by the non-Dravidian languages in its proximity. During the past centuries, a group of Brahui people migrated to Iran by way of Pakistan and Afganistan border. According to experts and local speakers, the Brahui first entered Iran about three or four hundred years ago. A group of them has migrated from Sistan and Baluchestan to Southern Kerman and today most of them reside in Tom-meyri village, which is a part of Rudbar Jonoub division. About two centuries after migration and mingling with the people of Rudbar, they have severed all their racial and emotional ties with their siblings in Sistan and Baluchestan region. Due to being a minority, and the need to communicate with their hosts, they have learned the language of the majority (Rudbari language variety) and have used it in their everyday lives. In recent decades, the abundance of social changes have resulted in the addition of Persian to the collection of the languages used by this people, especially the youth and the middle aged. As a result of this trilingualism, their language variety is different from the Brahui languagespoken inBaluchestan. According to the statistics presented by the rural municipality of this village, the number of the Brahui who live in the region is 750 people and 155 households. Proximity with the people of Rudbar and mingling with them for two centuries have resulted in the assimilation of the Brahui with most of the cultural components of the Rudbari people. The Brahui are Muslims and they were followers of the Sunni tradition, but the Brahui of Rudbar have converted to Shiism. There is no difference between the clothing, traditions, customs, conventions, and rituals of the Brahui and the original people of Rudbar. Today, the only distinctions between the Brahui and the original people of Rudbar are the differences in appearance and language; that is, the Brahui of Rudbar are all trilingual. They speak Brahui among themselves, and use the Rudbari variety in their communications with the people of Rudbar, and they use verbal Persian in their contacts with other people. Two centuries of proximity and coexistence with the main natives of the region and the use of Rudbari dialect to interact with them have created a new variety of Brahui language, which we can call it the Brahui variety of Rudbar-Jonub. The research area is Tom-meyri village of Rudbar-Jonub. All the data in this study were field-specific and interviewed by male and female speakers (30) / from different age levels (from 9 to 100 years) and from different education. The purpose of this study is to describe the structure of verb in this variety. The verb is made in this variety by two forms; in some verbs, the verb is made on the basis of one stem. In other words, the stem implies only action. In others, the verb is made on the basis of two stems: past and present. Brahui of Rudbar-Jonub has 3 modes: indicative, subjunctive and imperative. This variety has 9 tenses: simple present, simple past, present continuous, future, imperative, past continuous, continuous past, present perfect, past perfect.