Page:An introduction to Dravidian philology.djvu/106

Rh wards this end. The Tamil pronouns of the first and second persons cannot be understood without a knowledge of ancient and classical Canarese; and the khond or Ku, one of the rudest dialects, the grammar of which was reduced to writing only a few years ago, is the only dialect which throws light on the masculine and feminine terminations of the Dravidian pronouns of the third person.” Although Caldwell's illustrations may be questioned when viewed from another standpoint, still the principle enunciated by him is a very sound one and deserves to be followed

Modern philology is based on the phonetic study of the languages A phonetic notation is, therefore, a desideratum without which no progress can be made. The present Dravidian alphabets although generally exhibiting a phonetic character, do not serve our purpose beeausebecause [sic] we want a common script for the whole