The reconstruction has been done on the basis of cognate words present in the different branches (Northern, Central and Southern) of the Dravidian language family.
[4] According to Franklin Southworth (2005),[5] the Proto-Dravidian vocabulary is characteristic of a rural economy based on agriculture, animal husbandry and hunting.
These characteristics can be accommodated within multiple contemporary cultures, including:[6] Proto-Dravidian contrasted between five short and long vowels: *a, *ā, *i, *ī, *u, *ū, *e, *ē, *o, *ō.
However, it attained phonemic status in languages like Malayalam, Gondi, Konda and Pengo because the original sequence *ṅk was simplified to *ṅ or *ṅṅ.
[16] The glottal fricative *H has been proposed by Krishnamurti (2003) to account for the Old Tamil Aytam (Āytam) and other Dravidian comparative phonological phenomena.
[17] The Northern Dravidian languages Kurukh, Malto and Brahui cannot easily be derived from the traditional Proto-Dravidian phonological system.