closely tested we must therefore consider the
Dravidian family as an isolated group of languages, with several
characteristic features of its own.

The pronunciation is described as soft and mellifluous. Abruptness and
hard combinations of sounds are avoided. There is, for example, a
distinct tendency to avoid pronouncing a short consonant at the end of
a word, a very short vowel being often added after it. Thus the
pronoun of the third person singular, which is _avan_, "he," in Tamil,
is pronounced _avanu_ in Kanarese; the Sanskrit word _v[=a]k_,
"speech," is borrowed in the form _v[=a]ku_ in Tamil; the word
_gurram_, "horse," is commonly pronounced _gurramu_ in Telugu, and so
on. Combinations of consonants are further avoided in many cases where
speakers of other languages do not experience any difficulty in
pronouncing them. This tendency is well illustrated by the changes
undergone by some borrowed words. Thus the Sanskrit word
_br[=a]hmana_, "a Brahmin," becomes _bar[=a]mana_ in Kanarese and
_pir[=a]mana_ in Tamil; the Sanskrit _Dramida_, "Dravidian," is
borrowed by Tamil under the form _Tir[=a]mida_. _Dramida_, which also
occurs as _Dravida_, is in its turn developed from an older _Damila_,
which is identical with the word _Tamir_, Tamil.

The forms _pir[=a]mana_ and _Tir[=a]mida_ in Tamil illustrate another
feature of Dravidian enunciation. There is a tendency in all of them,
and in Tamil and Malay[=a]lam it has become a law, against any word
being permitted to begin with a stopped voiced consonant (g, j, [d.],
d, b), the corresponding voiceless sounds (k, c, t, [t.], p,
respectively) being substituted. In the middle of a word or compound,
on the other hand, every consonant must be voiced. Thus the Sanskrit
word _danta_, "tooth," has been borrowed by Tamil in the form
_tandam_, and the Telugu _anna_, "elder brother," _tammulu_, "younger
brother," become when compounded _annadammulu_, "elder and younger
brothers."

There is no strongly marked accent on any one syllable, though there
is a slight stress upon the first one. In some dialects this
equilibrium between the different parts of a word is accompanied by a
tendency to approach to each other the sound of vowels in consecutive
syllables. This tendency, which has been called the "law of harmonic
sequence," is most apparent in Telugu, where the short _u_ of certain
suffixes is replaced by _