Speaking of Telugu dialects in Northern India, Dr. Grierson says, “In reality the differences in phonology and inflexional system is so unimportant that those local forms scarcely deserve the name of a dialect”. (page 577) If the varieties of Telugu spoken by the Telugus settled in different parts of Northern India, do not deserve to be distinguished as dialects, there is little sense in dividing polite speech into dialects by towns and districts as Vizagapatam dialect, Rajahmundry dialect and so forth. If the Komatu dialect, of which a specimen is given at page 595, does not deserve to be distinguished as a dialect, because it does not differ from the ‘ordinary’ standard Telugu, the polite speech of even border districts does not deserve that designation, and the fact will have to be recognised that standard Telugu is remarkably uniform. (Vide Linguistic Survey Vol. IV-page 594)
In his grammar of Telugu (1817) Mr. William Brown says, “The Gentoos spoken by the higher classes in the Northern Circars, particularly the better educated of the Rajah caste in the Vizagapatam province (a race of men distinguished for the elegance of their manners and a high sense of honour) may be considered the most refined and perhaps, the most perfect Gentoos spoken at the present day.” (preface page ii) He advised European students of Telugu to select a tutor from “some district north of the river Krishna.” (Vide preface p. xiv).
In his Telugu Grammar Mr. Arden says, “The Telugu spoken in the Krishna and Godavari districts, which is the purest and most largely used, has been taken as the standard, and the principal differences, met with in the Cuddapah district have been pointed out and explained.., as colloquial dialects of Telugu slightly differ, the book has been affanged to suit, as far as possible, all dialects.” (preface, page vi)
60. Similar testimony comes from a writer whom the Old
