Phonological Zones and Belts in India (original) (raw)

The present paper begins with introducing the notion of a linguistic area before proposing the notions of ‘zones’ and ‘belts’ for a realistic mapping of the features of a large linguistic area, such as India. The paper focuses on India as a phonological area with the general characteristic features of the phonological zones and belts in India. A phonological “zone” is a sub-area within a linguistic area with common features specific to its languages. A “belt” is a further smaller variant group within a zone. Three main phonological zones are proposed for the languages of India- Zone 1, consisting of the languages of south India, Zone 2, consisting of languages of north, central and western India, and Zone 3, consisting of the Himalayan languages of north and north-east India. Zone 3 is further divided into two belts- one of the west Himalayish and the other of the north-east regions. In the end, the paper argues for three-levels of conceptual terms to discuss a large linguistic area of convergence- Macro-linguistic area, Zones and Belts, and Micro-linguistic area.