The two monumental linguistic works Evolution of Malayalam Morphology (1936), Grammar in Lilatilakam (1944) by L.V. Ramaswami Aiyar (L.V.R.) paved the way for scientific studies on Malayalam among the scholars of linguistics and related interdisciplinary studies. The linguists of the western world became aware of the intrinsic linguistic features of Malayalam language through the articles of L.V.R. Of course, before L.V.R., studies on Malayalam language by F.W. Ellis and Gundert were emerged but it was L.V.R., whose close acquaintance with Malayalam as a native speaker, who cleverly explained the phonological and morphological features in a scientific manner utilizing the modern techniques of linguistic analysis. L.V.R. was not a linguist by profession. He was an Assistant Professor who taught English at Maharaja's College, Ernakulam from 1922 to 1947. He was a polyglot and had a special interest in Dravidian languages. It is quite interesting to note that L.V.R. wrote almost all of his papers on the languages of the Dravidian family while he was in his thirties. Apart from Malayalam and Tamil, Kodagu, Tulu, Kannada, Kui, Gondi, Brahui and Kurukh are the Dravidian languages on which L.V.R. published notes, reviews and queries.
L.V.R. belonged to a well-educated family in the erstwhile Cochin state of Kerala. He was born on 25th October 1895 in Thrissur, Kerala. Lakshminarayanapuram Viswanatha Aiyar was his father. He died at the age of 53 (31st January 1948). Ramaswami Aiyar was the first person to translate the biography of Mahatma Gandhi written by Romain Rolland from French to English.
Sunitikumar Chatterji, the doyen of Indian Linguistics was the first person to identify the linguistic skills hidden in the personality of L.V. Ramaswami Aiyar which were evidenced through the notes appeared in the issues of Education Review published from Madras. Overwhelmed by the scientific insight of L.V.R. in the description of phonetics and phonology, S.K. Chatterji encouraged the young scholar to write and publish them in native and foreign magazines and journals. With the initiatives of S.K. Chatterji, L.V.R. prepared A Brief Account of Malayalam Phonetics (1925) and S.K. Chatterji published it in the journal of the University of Calcutta. For preparing this paper, he mainly relied on the spoken variety of Malayalam language. Thus without any hesitation it may be stated that L.V.R. was the first Malayalam linguist who understood the importance of spoken forms in the study of phonological and morphological features of a given language. His studies on the phonology of Malayalam revealed the exact phonetic values of certain phonemes. For instance:
ŭ a half close central vowel; it is an independent vowel
1 - cerebral sound
1- alveolar
z - fricative
r - alveolar
Subsequently he published papers on the languages of the Dravidian family other than Malayalam and Tamil. His contribution to Dravidian linguistics was purely a labour of love. He obtained no encouragement from any source.
L.V. Ramaswami Aiyar analyzed the linguistic data collected from written and oral sources from the historical and comparative points of view. His etymological and semantic interpretations on Dravidian vocabulary are really products of Herculean tasks which stand testimony to his intellectual acumen when there was no Dravidian Comparative Dictionary or Comparative Cognate Verborums. L.V.R.'s papers are still obligatory for the students of historical and comparative Dravidian. After Robert Caldwell, Hermann Gundert and A.R. Rajaraja Varma, it was L.V.R. who had taken up the studies on Dravidian languages, particularly Malayalam, in the direction of descriptive and historical methods of modern linguistics. His works include two books (published during his life-time) and several research papers, nearly 200, published in national and international journals.
In Kerala, L.V.R. did not get much recognition due to the medium he chose for writing. During his time, English research journals were only a very few in Kerala. He mainly wrote in magazines and research journals such as Educational Review (ERM), Quarterly Journal of Mythic Society (QJMS), Indian Antiquary (IA), Journal of Oriental Research (JORM), Journal of Madras University (JMU), Bulletin of the School of African and Oriental Studies (BSOAS), Anthropology (An), Bulletin of Ramavarma Research Institute (BRVRI) and Indian Linguistics (IL). He enjoyed recognition in foreign countries like France, England and USA.
The Dravidian Linguistic Association of India (DLA) from the period of its very inception gave attention to publish the papers of L.V.R. through its journal International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics. Pioneers in Linguistics: Series I published by ISDL in 1978 appreciated the contributions of L.V.R. to Malayalam linguistics along with those of Seshagiri Prabhu. The Folkloristic museum constructed in the ISDL campus was named after L.V.R.
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