Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c7.38

c7.38

If this supposition is correct, we must find other traces of the peculiarities of this alien race. And such we do find. The existence of the short ए and ओ in the Pâli, and the predilection the people showed for them, as well as the change of dentals to cerebrals without any influencing cause, are similarly to be attributed to the natural vocal tendencies of the people. These sounds must have existed and played an important part in the original language of this people, so that they were unable to shake them off entirely, even when they left their own tongue and learned that of the more civilized Âryas with whom they came to be closely incorporated. If the original Pâli speakers belonged to the same race as the Dravidians of Southern India of the present day, we have a reason to believe that their native tongue contained them; for they exist in the Dravidian languages and are very characteristic of them.