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This paper is an extension of McAlpin (2003) and follows the same conventions I used there, particularly for the citations of Kurux. My earlier monograph (McAlpin 1981) is, at this point, largely out-of-date, not so much wrong as bypassed by more complete sources and better argumentation. However, the portion on the velars, PED *k, is completely mistaken and is superseded by this article. The underlying assumption that we understood Proto-Dravidian phonology proved premature. The separation of the old velars into palatals, velars, and uvulars has had a major impact on the comparative statements. This paper is restricted to the dorsal consonants (palatals, velars, uvulars) and their immediate extensions. This is primarily because this information is new. but it also keeps the body of data small enough that a complete set of the data can be presented in a reasonably sized paper.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Brahui
1.1.1 Brahui is primarily spoken in Balochistan Province of Pakistan, in a belt running through the Brahui Hills from near Quetta through Kalat and up to Las Bela, and in adjacent areas of Afghanistan and in pockets in eastern Iran, as far as the Marv oasis in Turkmenistan. Today, it is also spoken in Quetta, Karachi, and most of the cities of Sind Province (Elfenbein 1997b: 797; 1998: 388-89). Brahui is nowhere dominant and is always embedded in another language, usually Balochi, but any language of the area is possible. Multilingualism is the norm. See Elfenbein (1990) for ethnography and history with an annotated bibliography. The Brahuis are traditionally transhumant pastoralists who move with their flocks from the hills in summer to the plains of Sind (or elsewhere) in winter, and back again. They are also agriculturalists, and often combine or exchange the two lifestyles. The land they inhabit is semiarid and typical of the Iranian plateau. Brahuis traditionally straddle a cultural divide, spending the summer on the Iranian plateau and the winter in South Asia.
1.1.2 The Brahuis are members of a tribal confederation, usually the Brahui Confederation, but other Balochi confederations occur as well. Since the term Brahui can refer to a speaker of the language or a member of the Brahui Confederation, and the two are by no means coterminous, there is great confusion in the...