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Which Dravidian languages preserve the dental, alveolar, and retroflex stop distinctions?
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Dravidian languages
Distribution of Dravidian languages.
Among the Dravidian languages, the nonliterary South Dravidian languages—specifically Toda, Kota, Irula, and Kurumba—are noted for preserving the three-way distinction of stop consonants found in Proto-Dravidian.1
These languages maintain distinct pronunciations for the dental, alveolar, and retroflex stops:1
- Dental (/t/): Produced using the teeth.1
- Alveolar (/ṯ/): Produced at the alveolar ridge.1
- Retroflex (/ṭ/): Produced with the tongue curled back against the roof of the mouth.1
While this three-way contrast was a feature of the hypothetical parent language, Proto-Dravidian, its preservation in these specific languages is of significant interest to linguists and anthropologists.21