Learning Journal 6

[Heather Schmitz]

When speaking with Aarti, we talked about how in Kannada, many of the common usage words such as "to be", or "house" have a particular Kannada feel, the deeper words, such as "freedom" have a root in the original Sankrit, which influenced the formation of the Kannada language. Indeed, after doing research, I found that the influences upon the grammar of Kannada were Sankri and Prakrit. Around the 14th-18th centuries, Hinduism had a large influence on Kannada language and literature, specifically in abstract, scientific, religious, and rhetorical words (i.e. deep words). Sanskrit itself is a Indo-European language, which is similar to old Persian and is thought to have been influenced by Baltic and Slavic languages."Sanskrit" literally does not refer to a language but a refined form of speaking, and knowledge of Sanskrit equated with higher social class and education. Those of higher castes used it; therefore, while Sanskrit was the upper class written language, Prakrit was the oral vernacular. Both of these had an influence on modern Kannada, specifically Prakrit, since Kannada is more of a spoken language than a written one.