During the recent discussions, a few friends suggested the possibility that
Telugu words of the distant past might have become as alien to the average
Telugu person of today as Sanskrit (proudha, gambheera variety) words. I do
realize that some Telugu words which sound so sweet to me have shown a
tendency to disappear right in my life time, but on the other hand I can find
Telugu passages in very old Telugu texts that sound no different than those
of today. My understanding is that while some words have changed in
usage, even in meaning over time, I doubt that the language has changed
that much over the last 800-900 years to have become ununderstandable,
say like Sanskrit is to me.
As evidence for lack of a radical change in the language I present the
following dwipadas from Somanatha who was about a 100 to 200 years
after Nannaya.
Lamenting that Shiva would not have been such a destitute
if only he had a mother, Somanatha wrote:
talli galgina nela thapasi gaanichu?
talli yundina nela thala jadalgattu?
talli yunna vishambu drava nelichu?
talli yundina thollu dalpa nelichu? etc.
You can find hundreds of such passages in Basava puranam.
It is obvious that the language is not different from that in use today.
However I do agree that some words, for reasons I can't figure out, do fall
into disuse. Not that they are not good, nor that they are difficult to
pronounce, yet they are disappearing from regular use. As examples, I would
list these: ( I am not even sure the words I list here are originally Telugu,
I am sure you will tell me if they are not)
Valapu: to me it is any day a better word than the generic Prema
Talapu: it is slowly being replaced by Jnapakam. In the villages it is being
replaced by gaaepakam.
Chelimi: being replaced by Sneham.
Kadali: is no longer used. Samudram has drowned it.
I am sure you can find scores of such words. Why are they disappearing?
Why are they being replaced by Sanskrit words? I personally believe that
Telugu folks have no plans to preserve their language and those in power are
Sanskrit-pushers (any resemblance to drug-pushers is entirely intentional).
When I was studying Telugu in BA, the prescribed readings were almost
entirely those that needed Tatparyam to understand. That I think is the
real problem. We are being trained to appreciate Sanskrit rather than
study Telugu.As long as people in charge of prescribing text books,
and the chairpersons of Telugu departments remain the Sanskrit-pushers,
the Telugu language of the future will pay a price. What is the solution?
Regards,
Sitaramayya Ari.