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 TWO DIALECTS AND TWO GRAMMARS

68. There are two principal dialects in Telugu, one an archaic and artificial literary dialect and the other, the living polite dialect. The facts of the two dialects differ considerably and since grammar is a statement of facts, each dialect has a grammar of its own which takes account of its facts. The literary dialect acquired grammatical fixity centuries back. In other words it did not keep pace with the changes undergone by living speech. It is, therefore, a dead language and its facts are found in books. The facts of polite speech are in the mouths of the best society.

69. Some members of the Old school resent the application of the epithet dead to the poetic dialect; but the word is a technical term of the science of language, and conveys no offence. On the other hand, it is redolent of power, beauty and sanctity. When we mention Sanskrit, Pali and Persian, Hebrew and Arabic, and Greek and Latin, we have summarised the achievements of the ancient world. Some of these languages are said to exercise a living influence. Living influence is a metaphor and means influence felt at the present day. But such influence does not constitute them living languages. Genung explains the nature of a living language in the following paragraphs under “present usage”:-

“Under this head come the considerations that should influence the writer on account of the age of words in general, he should admit only words in good standard present usage. Language evinces its life as do all living things; by growth on the one hand, taking in and assimilating new expressions, as advancing thought or discovery or invention demands them; and on the other hand, by excretion, continually discarding old locutions for which there is no further use. It is this phenomenon of growth and the excretion that distinguishes a living language from a dead one; the latter kind, like Latin or Hebrew, can be added to mechanically, but it