The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.206

v1.c15.206

When an Āryan tongue comes into contact with an uncivilised aboriginal one, it is invariably the latter which goes to the wall. The Āryan does not attempt to speak it, and the necessities of intercourse compel the aborigine to use a broken 'pigeon' form of the language of a superior civilisation. As generations pass this mixed jargon more and more approximates to its model, and in process of time the old aboriginal language is forgotten and dies a natural death. At the present day, in ethnic borderlands, we see this transformation still going on, and can watch it in all stages of its progress. It is only in the south of India, where aboriginal languages are associated with a high degree of culture, that they have held their own. The reverse process, of an Āryan tongue being superseded by an aboriginal one never occurs. (*Imp. Gaz.* I, pp. 351–2.)