FOREWORD

The name of Prof. Murray Barnson Emeneau is now synonymous with the concept of the great linguistic convergence that defines South Asia. Professor Emeneau is an exemplary scholar in a number of disciplines - Anthropology, Indology and Linguistics. He is also been among a rare tribe linguists who work on both indo-Aryan as well as on Dravidian languages. Born in Canada on February 28, 1904, Professor Emeneau completed his 100 th year this year. Educated at Oxford, Dalhousie and Yale universities, he himself taught Latin (1926-1931) and Anthropology (1938-1939) at the Yale University, and then Sanskrit and General Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley (1940-1946). From 1946 onwards, he was a full Professor and also the Chair of the Department of Linguistics (1953-1959) as well as Department of Classics. Emeneau continued teaching there until 1971.

The idea of ‘linguistic area' was afloat since the days of Franz Boas and Prince Trubetzkoy but it was during 1935-1938 when Emeneau visited India and conducted field work on a number of tribal languages like Toda, Kota, and Kolami, and contributed a large number of linguistic studies were also added to his anthropological and classical studies such as Dravidian Kinship Terms (1953), Numerals in Comparative Linguistics (with special reference to Dravidian) (1958) and The South Dravidian Languages (1967) that his ideas on the Indian linguistic area took deeper roots. His other major publications are Dravidian Linguistics, Ethnology and Folktales (1967), Collected papers (1958), Kota Texts (1944-1946), Kolami: A Dravidian Language (1955), Toda Songs (1971), Toda Grammar and Texts (1984), Dravidian Borrowings from Indo-Aryan (1962) and Language and Linguistic Area (1980). However, the most monumental of them was ‘A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary (known as DED), published in 1961, jointly with his colleague and fellow scholar, Thomas Burrow (1909-1986).

Many of us who have been associated with this institution have had association with either the person or his ideas. The idea of holding this event came through some discussions we have had with Professors William Bright and Bh.Krishnamurti. I am glad to see that so many scholars have responded to our request and been able to contribute significantly to our understanding in the following areas:

1. India as a Linguistic Area
2. India as a Socio-linguistic Area
3. Experiences from other Linguistic Areas
4. India as a Literary & Cultural Space
5. Dravidian Studies
6. Folklore Studies

I think the community of South Asian linguists as well as those interested in Areal Linguistics and typology will benefit a lot from the collection of papers that are being compiled on this occasion. I personally think it is a great moment of pride for us to be able to celebrate the underlying linguistic unity of the entire South Asian space.

Mysore; 30 th December, 2004    
                                                    Udaya Narayana Singh