is evanescent and disreputable, Polite Telugu is not. The vulgar of English rhetoricians generally corresponds to the second meaning of the word gramya and canies low class associations with it. Let us honestly call Polite spoken Telugu by its correct name; and then discuss its worthiness or unworthiness; only let the Old school bear in mind the logical consequences of calling it vulgar. Says Lounsbury, “Language is no better and no worse than the men who speak it.” (page 184, History of the English language)
85. The character of slang and the vulgar is, in the first instance, determined by the speech-sense of polite society, from which it is imported into literature. As irony would have it, the Telugu poetic dialect contains a large number of low class forms which are considered vulgar in polite society. I need only instance one grammatical form widely cuffent in literature and low class dialects, which is condemned as improper in the polite society of the Circars. The past-tense forms formed from the past participle adjective Mothers administer a prompt rebuke to children when they pickup such forms from their low class surroundings.
THE REAL PROBLEM
86. Is it worth while to have in Telugu a modern prose such as they have in English? The question is capable only of one answer and it is no longer left to our option to have it or not to have it. Social, political and literary ideals have changed. Literature is no longer confined to a cult; and mass education which is one of the greatest blessings of British rule has necessitated the creation of a modern prose in Telugu.
87. If so, from English analogy which is the dialect indicated as most suitable for modern prose? This question admits of but one answer — the polite spoken dialect. A highly artificial and archaic poetic dialect is altogether unsuitable for modern prose.
