Tamil language - Wikipedia

Tamil language - Wikipedia
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Dravidian language
Not to be confused with
Tamilou language
Tamil
தமிழ்
Tamiḻ
The word
Tamil
in the
Tamil script
Pronunciation
[t̪amiɻ]
Native to
India
Sri Lanka
Malaysia
Region
India
Tamil Nadu
Union territory of
Puducherry
Puducherry
and
Karaikal districts
Kerala
Karnataka
(south)
Andhra Pradesh
(south)
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Sri Lanka
Northern Province
Eastern Province
Central Province
Ethnicity
Tamils
Sri Lankan Moors
Speakers
L1
: 79 million (2011–2019)
L2
: 7.6 million (2011)
Total: 86 million (2011–2019)
Language family
Dravidian
Southern
Southern I
Tamil–
Kannada
Tamil–
Kota
Tamil–
Toda
Tamil–Irula
Tamil–
Kodava
Urali
Tamil
Malayalam
Tamiloid
Tamil–
Paliyan
Tamil
Early forms
Old Tamil
Middle Tamil
Dialects
Eelam
Malesiyat
Bunagurr
Iyengar
Kongu
Chennai
Madurai
Tiruneveli
Estate
Central
Brahmin
Arwi
Malabar
Writing system
Tamil script
Tamil-Brahmi script
(historical)
Grantha script
(historical)
Vatteluttu script
(historical)
Pallava script
(historical)
Kolezhuthu script
(historical)
Arabic script
Arwi
Latin script
(informal)
Tamil Braille
Bharati
Signed forms
Signed Tamil
Official status
Official language in
India
Tamil Nadu
Puducherry
Sri Lanka
Singapore
Recognised minority
language in
South Africa
Malaysia
Regulated by
India
Central Institute of Classical Tamil
Department of Tamil Development and Information (Tamil Nadu)
International Institute of Tamil Studies
Tamil University
World Tamil Sangam
Sri Lanka
Department of Official Languages
Singapore
Tamil Language Council
Malaysia
Malaysian Tamil Language Standardisation Council
Canada
and
United States
Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America
Language codes
ISO 639-1
ta
ISO 639-2
tam
ISO 639-3
Either:
tam
– Modern Tamil
oty
– Old Tamil
Linguist List
oty
Old Tamil
Glottolog
tami1289
Modern Tamil
oldt1248
Old Tamil
Linguasphere
49-EBE-a
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IPA
phonetic symbols.
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Without proper
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Tamil
is written in a non-Latin script. Tamil text used in this article is transliterated into the Latin script according to the
ISO 15919
standard.
Tamil
தமிழ்
Tamiḻ
pronounced
[t̪amiɻ]
) is a
Dravidian language
spoken by the
Tamil people
of
South Asia
. It is one of the longest-surviving
classical languages
in the world,
10
11
attested since
c.
300 BCE
12
13
14
15
16
Tamil was the
lingua franca
for early maritime traders in South India, with
Tamil inscriptions
found outside of the Indian subcontinent, such as
Indonesia
Thailand
, and
Egypt
. The language has a well-documented history with literary works like
Sangam literature
, consisting of over 2,000 poems. Tamil script evolved from Tamil Brahmi, and later, the vatteluttu script was used until the current script was standardized. The language has a distinct grammatical structure, with agglutinative morphology that allows for complex word formations.
Tamil is the official language of the state of
Tamil Nadu
and union territory of
Puducherry
in India. It is also one of the official languages of
Sri Lanka
and
Singapore
Tamil-speaking diaspora communities
exist in several countries across the world. Tamil was the first to be recognized as a
classical language of India
by the
Central Government
in 2004.
17
Etymology
The earliest extant Tamil literary works and their commentaries celebrate the
Pandiyan Kings
for the organization of long-term
Tamil Sangams
, which researched, developed and made amendments to the Tamil language. Although the name of the language which was developed by these Tamil Sangams is mentioned as Tamil, the period when the name "Tamil" came to be applied to the language is unclear, as is the precise etymology of the name. The earliest attested use of the name is found in
Tholkappiyam
, which is also the oldest extant Tamil text, dated as early as the 2nd century BCE.
18
19
The
Hathigumpha inscription
, inscribed around a similar period (150 BCE) by
Kharavela
, the Jain king of
Kalinga
, also refers to a
Tamira Samghatta
Tamil confederacy
).
20
The
Samavayanga Sutra
, dated to the 3rd century BCE, contains a reference to a Tamil script named 'Damili'.
21
Southworth
suggests that the name comes from
tam-miḻ
tam-iḻ
"self-speak", or "our own speech".
22
Kamil Zvelebil
suggests an etymology of
tam-iḻ
, with
tam
meaning "self" or "one's self", and "
-iḻ
" having the connotation of "unfolding sound". Alternatively, he suggests a derivation of
tamiḻ
tam-iḻ
< *
tav-iḻ
< *
tak-iḻ
, meaning in origin "the proper process (of speaking)".
23
However, this is deemed unlikely by Southworth due to the contemporary use of the compound 'centamiḻ', which means refined speech in the earliest literature.
22
The Tamil Lexicon of the
University of Madras
defines the word "Tamil" as "sweetness".
24
S. V. Subramanian suggests the meaning "sweet sound", from
tam
– "sweet" and
il
– "sound".
25
David Shulman cites Cuntaramurti's
Tevaram
, in which he writes to
Shiva
, "Do you know proper Tamil?" and ascribes it the meaning "Do you know how to behave properly as a male lover should? Can you understand the hints and implicit meaning that a proficient lover ought to be able to decipher?" He also states that at some point in history, Tamil meant something like "knowing how to love", in a poetic sense, and that to "know Tamil" could also mean "to be a civilized being".
26
Classification
Main article:
Dravidian languages
Tamil
belongs to the
southern
branch of the
Dravidian languages
, a family of around 26 languages native to the
Indian subcontinent
27
It is also classified as being part of a
Tamil language family
that, alongside Tamil proper, includes the languages of about 35 ethno-linguistic groups
28
such as the
Irula
and
Yerukula
languages (see
SIL Ethnologue
).
The closest major relative of Tamil is
Malayalam
; the two began diverging around the 9th century CE.
29
Although many of the differences between Tamil and Malayalam demonstrate a pre-historic divergence of the western dialect,
30
the process of separation into a distinct language, Malayalam, was not completed until sometime in the 13th or 14th century.
31
Additionally Kannada is also relatively close to the Tamil language and shares the format of the formal ancient Tamil language. While there are some variations from the Tamil language, Kannada still preserves a lot from its roots. As part of the southern family of Indian languages and situated relatively close to the northern parts of India, Kannada also shares some Sanskrit words, similar to Malayalam. Many of the formerly used words in Tamil have been preserved with little change in Kannada. This shows a relative parallel to Tamil, even as Tamil has undergone some changes in modern ways of speaking.
32
page needed
History
Findings from
Adichanallur
in the
Government Museum, Chennai
Keezhadi excavation site
Legendary origins
Explanation for
Mangulam
Tamil Brahmi inscription in Mangulam,
Madurai district
, Tamil Nadu, dated to Tamil
Sangam period
c.
400 BCE
– c.
200 CE
Tamil Brahmi
script in the reverse side of the bilingual silver coin of king
Vashishtiputra Sātakarni
c.
160 CE
) of
Deccan
Rev:
Ujjain/Sātavāhana symbol, crescented six-arch chaitya hill and river with Tamil Brahmi script
33
34
35
36
Obv:
Bust of king;
Prakrit
legend in the
Brahmi
script
According to Hindu legend, Tamil or in personification form
Tamil Thāi
(Mother Tamil) was created by Lord
Shiva
Murugan
, revered as the Tamil God, along with sage
Agastya
, brought it to the people.
37
Historical origins
Tamil, like other Dravidian languages, ultimately descends from the
Proto-Dravidian language
, which was most likely spoken around the third millennium BCE, possibly in the region around the lower
Godavari
river basin. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were of the culture associated with the
Neolithic
complexes of South India.
38
Scholars categorise the attested history of the language into three periods: Old Tamil (300 BCE–700 CE), Middle Tamil (700–1600) and Modern Tamil (1600–present).
39
Brahmi script
About 60,000 of the approximately 100,000 inscriptions found by the
Archaeological Survey of India
in India are in Tamil Nadu. Of them, most are in Tamil, with only about 5 percent in other languages such as Telugu, Kannada, Sanskrit and Marathi.
40
In 2004, a number of skeletons were found buried in earthenware
urns
dating from at least 696 BCE in
Adichanallur
. Some of these urns contained writing in
Tamil Brahmi
script, and some contained skeletons of Tamil origin.
41
Between 2017 and 2018, 5,820 artifacts have been found in
Keezhadi
. These were sent to Beta Analytic in
Miami
Florida
, for
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
(AMS) dating. One sample containing
Tamil-Brahmi
inscriptions was claimed to be dated to around 580 BCE.
42
43
John Guy
states that Tamil was the
lingua franca
for early maritime traders from India.
44
Tamil language inscriptions
written in Brahmi script have been discovered in
Sri Lanka
and on trade goods in Thailand and Egypt.
45
46
In November 2007, an excavation at Quseir-al-Qadim (likely the classical-era port town
Myos Hormos
) revealed Egyptian pottery dating back to first century BCE with ancient Tamil Brahmi inscriptions.
45
There are a number of apparent
Tamil loanwords in Biblical Hebrew
dating to before 500 BCE, the oldest attestation of the language.
47
Old Tamil
Main article:
Old Tamil language
Mangulam
Tamil Brahmi
inscription in Mangulam,
Madurai district
, Tamil Nadu, dated to Tamil
Sangam period
c.
400 BCE
– c.
200 CE
Old Tamil is the period of the Tamil language spanning the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The earliest records in Old Tamil are short inscriptions written in a variant of the
Brahmi script
called
Tamil-Brahmi
48
The earliest long text in Old Tamil is the
Tolkāppiyam
, an early work on Tamil grammar and poetics, whose oldest layers could be as old as the late 2nd century BCE.
39
19
Many literary works in Old Tamil have also survived. These include a corpus of 2,381 poems collectively known as
Sangam literature
. These poems are usually dated to between the 1st century BCE and 5th century CE.
39
19
Middle Tamil
Middle Tamil
inscriptions in
Vatteluttu script
in stone during
Chola
period
c.
1000
CE at
Brahadeeswara temple
in
Thanjavur
, Tamil Nadu
Main article:
Middle Tamil language
The evolution of
Old Tamil
into
Middle Tamil
, which is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century,
39
was characterised by a number of phonological and grammatical changes. In phonological terms, the most important shifts were the virtual disappearance of the aytam (ஃ), an old phoneme,
49
the coalescence of the alveolar and dental nasals,
50
and the transformation of the alveolar
plosive
into a
rhotic
51
In grammar, the most important change was the emergence of the present tense. The present tense evolved out of the verb
kil
கில்
), meaning "to be possible" or "to befall". In Old Tamil, this verb was used as an
aspect marker
to indicate that an action was micro-durative, non-sustained or non-lasting, usually in combination with a time marker such as
ன்
). In Middle Tamil, this usage evolved into a present tense marker –
kiṉṟa
கின்ற
) – which combined the old aspect and time markers.
52
Modern Tamil
The
Nannūl
remains the standard normative grammar for modern literary Tamil, which therefore continues to be based on Middle Tamil of the 13th century rather than on Modern Tamil.
53
Colloquial spoken Tamil, in contrast, shows a number of changes. The negative conjugation of verbs, for example, has fallen out of use in Modern Tamil
54
– instead, negation is expressed either morphologically or syntactically.
55
Modern spoken Tamil also shows a number of sound changes, in particular, a tendency to lower high vowels in initial and medial positions,
56
and the disappearance of vowels between plosives and between a plosive and rhotic.
57
Contact with European languages affected written and spoken Tamil. Changes in written Tamil include the use of European-style punctuation and the use of consonant clusters that were not permitted in Middle Tamil. The syntax of written Tamil has also changed, with the introduction of new aspectual auxiliaries and more complex sentence structures, and with the emergence of a more rigid word order that resembles the
syntactic argument structure
of English.
58
In 1578, Portuguese Christian missionaries published a Tamil prayer book in old Tamil script named
Thambiran Vanakkam
, thus making Tamil the first Indian language to be printed and published.
59
The
Tamil Lexicon
, published by the
University of Madras
, was one of the earliest dictionaries published in Indian languages.
60
A strong strain of
linguistic purism
emerged in the early 20th century, culminating in the
Pure Tamil Movement
which called for removal of all Sanskritic elements from Tamil.
61
It received some support from
Dravidian parties
62
This led to the replacement of a significant number of
Sanskrit
loanwords by Tamil equivalents, though many others remain.
63
According to a 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, of which 353 were dailies.
64
Geographic distribution
Tamil is the primary language of the majority of the people residing in
Tamil Nadu
Puducherry
, (in India) and in the
Northern
and
Eastern
provinces of
Sri Lanka
. The language is spoken among small minority groups in other states of India which include
Karnataka
Telangana
Andhra Pradesh
Kerala
Maharashtra
Gujarat
Delhi
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
in India and in certain regions of Sri Lanka such as
Colombo
and
the hill country
. Tamil or dialects of it were used widely in the state of Kerala as the major language of administration, literature and common usage until the 12th century CE. Tamil was also used widely in inscriptions found in southern Andhra Pradesh districts of
Chittoor
and
Nellore
until the 12th century CE.
Tamil was used for inscriptions from the 10th through 14th centuries in southern Karnataka districts such as
Kolar
Mysore
Mandya
and
Bengaluru
65
There are currently sizeable
Tamil-speaking populations
descended from colonial-era migrants in
Malaysia
Singapore
Philippines
Mauritius
South Africa
, Indonesia,
66
Thailand,
67
Burma
Brunei
, and
Vietnam
. Tamil is used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin.
68
69
A large community of
Pakistani Tamils
speakers exists in
Karachi
Pakistan
, which includes Tamil-speaking Hindus
70
71
as well as Christians and Muslims – including some Tamil-speaking Muslim refugees from Sri Lanka.
72
There are about 100 Tamil Hindu families in
Madrasi Para
colony in Karachi. They speak impeccable Tamil along with Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi.
73
Many in
Réunion
Guyana
Fiji
Suriname
, and
Trinidad and Tobago
have Tamil origins,
74
but only a small number speak the language. In Reunion where the Tamil language was forbidden to be learnt and used in public space by
France
it is now being relearnt by students and adults.
75
Tamil is also spoken by migrants
from Sri Lanka
and India in
Canada
, the
United States
, the
United Arab Emirates
, the
United Kingdom
, South Africa, and
Australia
Status
See also:
States of India by Tamil speakers
Official status
Tamil is the
official language
of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the
22 languages under schedule 8 of the constitution of India
76
It is one of the official languages of the union territories of
Puducherry
and the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
77
78
Tamil is also one of the official languages of
Singapore
. Tamil is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, along with
Sinhala
79
It was once given nominal official status in the Indian state of
Haryana
, purportedly as a rebuff to
Punjab
, though there was no attested Tamil-speaking population in the state, and was later replaced by
Punjabi
, in 2010.
80
In addition, with the creation in October 2004 of a legal status for classical languages by the
Government of India
and following a political campaign supported by several Tamil associations,
81
82
Tamil became the first legally recognised
Classical language
of India. The recognition was announced by the contemporaneous
President of India
Abdul Kalam
, who was a Tamil himself, in a joint sitting of both houses of the
Indian Parliament
on 6 June 2004.
83
84
85
Education
In Malaysia, 543 primary education government schools are available fully in
Tamil as the medium of instruction
86
The establishment of Tamil-medium schools has been in process in
Myanmar
to provide education completely in Tamil language by the Tamils who settled there 200 years ago.
87
Tamil language is available as a course in some local school boards and major universities in
Canada
and the month of January has been declared "Tamil Heritage Month" by the
Parliament of Canada
88
89
Tamil enjoys a special status of protection under Article 6(b), Chapter 1 of the
Constitution of South Africa
and is taught as a subject in schools in
KwaZulu-Natal
province.
90
91
Recently, it has been rolled out as a subject of study in schools in the
French overseas department
of
Réunion
92
Mass media
See also:
Tamil cinema
Tamil-language paper media such as
newspapers
are very common, with a 2001 survey claiming there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil (including 353 dailies). Tamil-language digital media is also abundant, with films being especially common.
93
Dialects
Jambai Tamil Brahmi inscription
near
Tirukkoyilur
in
Villupuram district
, Tamil Nadu dated to the early
Tamil Sangam
age (
c.
400 BC
Colloquial Tamil 'Oppaari song'
Oppaari song lamenting death, sung by women during a death ceremony. Here it is the death of a son lamented by the mother.
Pudumaipithan's short story 'Pon Nagaram'
Audio recording of
Pudumaipithan
's short story 'Pon Nagaram' (showing a few loanwords).
Problems playing these files? See
media help
Region-specific variations
See also:
Sri Lankan Tamil dialects
and
Indian Tamil dialect of Sri Lanka
The
socio-linguistic
situation of Tamil is characterised by
diglossia
: there are two separate registers varying by
socioeconomic status
, a high register and a low one.
94
95
Tamil dialects are primarily differentiated from each other by the fact that they have undergone different phonological changes and sound shifts in evolving from Old Tamil. For example, the word for "here"—
iṅku
in
Centamil
(the classic variety)—has evolved into
iṅkū
in the Kongu dialect of
Coimbatore
inga
in the dialects of
Thanjavur
and
Palakkad
, and
iṅkai
in some
dialects of Sri Lanka
. Old Tamil's
iṅkaṇ
(where
kaṇ
means place) is the source of
iṅkane
in the dialect of
Tirunelveli
, Old Tamil
iṅkiṭṭu
is the source of
iṅkuṭṭu
in the dialect of
Madurai
, and
iṅkaṭe
in some northern dialects. Even now, in the Coimbatore area, it is common to hear "
akkaṭṭa
" meaning "that place". Although Tamil dialects do not differ significantly in their vocabulary, there are a few exceptions. The dialects spoken in Sri Lanka retain many words and grammatical forms that are not in everyday use in India,
39
96
and use many other words slightly differently.
97
Tamil dialects include
Central Tamil dialect
Kongu Tamil
Madras Bashai
Madurai Tamil
Nellai Tamil
, Kumari Tamil in India;
Batticaloa Tamil dialect
Jaffna Tamil dialect
Negombo Tamil dialect
in Sri Lanka; and
Malaysian Tamil
in Malaysia.
Loanword variations
See also:
Indo-Aryan loanwords in Tamil
and
Loan words in Sri Lankan Tamil
The dialect of the district of
Palakkad
in Kerala has many
Malayalam
loanwords, has been influenced by Malayalam's syntax, and has a distinctive Malayalam accent. Similarly, Tamil spoken in Kanyakumari District has more unique words and phonetic style than Tamil spoken at other parts of Tamil Nadu. The words and phonetics are so different that a person from
Kanyakumari district
is easily identifiable by their spoken Tamil.
Hebbar
and
Mandyam
dialects, spoken by groups of Tamil
Vaishnavites
who migrated to
Karnataka
in the 11th century, retain many features of the
Vaishnava paribasai
, a special form of Tamil developed in the 9th and 10th centuries that reflect Vaishnavite religious and spiritual values.
98
Several
castes
have their own
sociolects
which most members of that caste traditionally used regardless of where they come from. It is often possible to identify a person's caste by their speech.
99
For example,
Tamil Brahmins
tend to speak a variety of dialects that are all collectively known as
Brahmin Tamil
. These dialects tend to have softer consonants (with consonant deletion also common). These dialects also tend to have many
Sanskrit
loanwords. Tamil in Sri Lanka incorporates
loan words
from
Portuguese
Dutch
, and English.
Spoken and literary variants
Thiruppugazh – Umbartharu – Hamsadhwani
Literary Tamil in hymn 'Umbartharu' (Hamsadhwani) on lord
Ganesha
from
Thiruppugazh
(c. 1400s).
Sivagnanam's 'Arivuk kadhaigal'.
Literary Tamil pronunciation. Reading an excerpt from
Ma. Po. Si.
's book 'Arivuk kadhaigal' (1900s).
Bharathi's 'Senthamil nadu ennum' song
Literary Tamil pronunciation in song written by
Subramanya Bharathi
, 'Senthamizh naadennum pothinile' (1900s ).
Problems playing these files? See
media help
In addition to its dialects, Tamil exhibits different forms: a classical literary style modelled on the ancient language (
sankattamiḻ
), a modern literary and formal style (
centamiḻ
), and a modern
colloquial
form (
koṭuntamiḻ
). These styles shade into each other, forming a stylistic continuum. For example, it is possible to write
centamiḻ
with a vocabulary drawn from
caṅkattamiḻ
, or to use forms associated with one of the other variants while speaking
koṭuntamiḻ
100
In modern times,
centamiḻ
is generally used in formal writing and speech. For instance, it is the language of textbooks, of much of
Tamil literature
and of public speaking and debate. Modern written Tamil also has a conservative appearance, and it is possible to read eight-century Tamil inscriptions with it.
101
In recent times, however,
koṭuntamiḻ
has been making inroads into areas that have traditionally been considered the province of
centamiḻ
. Most contemporary cinema, theatre and popular entertainment on television and radio, for example, is in
koṭuntamiḻ
, and many politicians use it to bring themselves closer to their audience. The increasing use of
koṭuntamiḻ
in modern times has led to the emergence of unofficial 'standard' spoken dialects. In India, the 'standard'
koṭuntamiḻ
, rather than on any one dialect,
102
clarification needed
but has been significantly influenced by the dialects of
Thanjavur
and
Madurai
. Spoken Tamil in India is often mixed with English to create the hybrid language
Tanglish
, which has been growing in popularity, especially in cities. In Sri Lanka, the standard is based on the dialect of
Jaffna
Lexical differences
There are some words that are only used in Literary Tamil such as:
annai
(mother),
ali
(offer),
iyalum
(possible),
illam
(house), and
karpi
(teach).
93
There are also some words only used in Colloquial Tamil, such as:
Le:cu
(easy),
rompa
(much),
vantava:
lam
(unpleasant facts)
tatave
(times/occasion).
93
Comparative text
Literary Tamil
93
Colloquial Tamil
atu avaratu panam.
na:n pe:na:vai avanitam kotutten.
atu avaro:da panam.
na: pe:na:va avankitte kututtæn.
It is his money.
I gave the pen to him.
Writing system
Main articles:
Tamil script
and
Tamil braille
See also:
Vatteluttu
Grantha script
Pallava script
, and
Arwi
Historical evolution of Tamil writing from the earlier
Tamil Brahmi
near the top to the current
Tamil script
at bottom
Tirukkuṟaḷ
palm leaf manuscript
After
Tamil Brahmi
fell out of use, Tamil was written using a script called
vaṭṭeḻuttu
amongst others such as
Grantha
and
Pallava
. The current
Tamil script
consists of 12
vowels
, 18
consonants
and one special character, the
āytam
. The vowels and consonants combine to form 216 compound characters, giving a total of 247 characters (12 + 18 + 1 + (12 × 18)). All consonants have an inherent vowel
, as with other
Indic scripts
. This inherent vowel is removed by adding a
tittle
called a
puḷḷi
, to the consonantal sign. For example,
is
ṉa
(with the inherent
) and
ன்
is
(without a vowel). Many Indic scripts have a similar sign, generically called
virama
, but the Tamil script is somewhat different in that it nearly always uses a visible
puḷḷi
to indicate a 'dead consonant' (a consonant without a vowel). In other Indic scripts, it is generally preferred to use a ligature or a half form to write a syllable or a cluster containing a dead consonant, although writing it with a visible virama is also possible. The Tamil script does not differentiate voiced and unvoiced
plosives
. Instead, plosives are articulated with voice depending on their position in a word, in accordance with the rules of
Tamil phonology
103
In addition to the standard characters, six characters taken from the
Grantha script
, which was used in the Tamil region to write Sanskrit, are sometimes used to represent sounds not native to Tamil, that is, words adopted from Sanskrit,
Prakrit
, and other languages. The traditional system prescribed by classical grammars for writing loan-words, which involves respelling them in accordance with Tamil phonology, remains, but is not always consistently applied.
104
ISO 15919
is an international standard for the
transliteration of Tamil
and other
Indic scripts
into Latin characters. It uses diacritics to map the much larger set of
Brahmic consonants and vowels
to
Latin script
, and thus the alphabets of various languages, including English.
105
Numerals and symbols
Main article:
Tamil numerals
Apart from the usual numerals, Tamil has numerals for 10, 100 and 1000. Symbols for day, month, year, debit, credit, as above, rupee, and numeral are present as well. Tamil also uses several historical fractional signs.
106
zero
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
hundred
thousand
day
month
year
debit
credit
as above
rupee
numeral
Phonology
Main article:
Tamil phonology
Tamil consonants
107
Labial
Dental
Alveolar
Retroflex
Alveolo-palatal
Velar
Glottal
Nasal
ம்
n̪
ந்
ன்
ண்
ஞ்
ங்
Stop
Affricate
ப்
t̪
த்
trː
ற்ற
ட்
t͡ɕ
t͡ʃ
ச்
க்
Fricative
ஸ்
ஷ்
ஶ்
ஹ்
Tap
ர்
Trill
ற்
Approximant
வ்
ழ்
ய்
Lateral approximant
ல்
ள்
/h/
/x/
/f/
/z/
/ʂ/
and
/ɕ/
are only found in loanwords and may be considered marginal phonemes, though they are traditionally not seen as fully phonemic.
Monophthongs
108
Front
Central
Back
short
long
short
long
short
long
Close
iː
uː
Mid
eː
oː
Open
äː
Tamil has two
diphthongs
/aɪ̯/
and
/aʊ̯/
, the latter of which is restricted to a few lexical items.
Phonotactics
Tamil has no
consonant clusters
at the beginning of words and the consonant clusters which do occur are: /mp/, /rt/, /ɳʈ/, /ŋk/, /ṇt/, /ll/, /ɭɭ/, /pp/, /cc/, /tt/, /kk/, /rr/, /ɾk/, /mm/, and /nn/.
93
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Tamil tongue twisters.
ல-கரம், ழ-கரம்.
'குலை குலையாய் வாழைப்பழம், மழையில் அழுகி கீழே விழுந்தது.'
(பேச்சுத் தமிழில்) ந-கரம், ட-கரம்.
கொக்கு நெட்ட கொக்கு. நெட்ட கொக்கு இட்ட முட்ட, கட்ட முட்ட.
ழ-கரம்.
ஏழை கிழவன் வாழைப் பழத் தோல் மேல் சருசருக்கி வழுவழுக்கி கீழே விழுந்தான்.
ல-கரம், ள-கரம்.
'அவள் அவலளந்தால், இவள் அவலளப்பாள். இவள் அவலளந்தால், அவள் அவலளப்பாள். அவளும் இவளும் அவல் அளக்காவிட்டால், எவள் அவலளப்பாள் ?'
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media help
Main article:
Tamil grammar
Tamil employs
agglutinative
grammar, where suffixes are used to mark
noun class
number
, and
case
, verb
tense
and other grammatical categories. Tamil's standard
metalinguistic
terminology and scholarly vocabulary is itself Tamil, as opposed to the
Sanskrit
that is standard for most
Indo-Aryan languages
109
110
Much of Tamil grammar is extensively described in the oldest known grammar book for Tamil, the
Tolkāppiyam
. Modern Tamil writing is largely based on the 13th-century grammar
Naṉṉūl
which restated and clarified the rules of the
Tolkāppiyam
, with some modifications. Traditional Tamil grammar consists of five parts, namely
eḻuttu
col
poruḷ
yāppu
aṇi
. Of these, the last two are mostly applied in poetry.
111
Tamil words consist of a
lexical root
to which one or more
affixes
are attached. Most Tamil affixes are
suffixes
. Tamil suffixes can be
derivational
suffixes, which either change the part of speech of the word or its meaning, or
inflectional
suffixes, which mark categories such as
person
number
mood
tense
, etc. There is no absolute limit on the length and extent of
agglutination
, which can lead to long words with many suffixes, which would require several words or a sentence in English. To give an example, the word
pōkamuṭiyātavarkaḷukkāka
(போகமுடியாதவர்களுக்காக) means "for the sake of those who cannot go" and consists of the following
morphemes
போக
pōka
go
முடி
muṭi
accomplish
ஆத்
āt
NEG
IMPRS
PTCP
வர்
var
NMLZ
கள்
kaḷ
PL
உக்கு
ukku
to
ஆக
āka
for
போக முடி ஆத் அ வர் கள் உக்கு ஆக
pōka muṭi āt a var kaḷ ukku āka
go accomplish
NEG
.IMPRS PTCP
NMLZ
PL to for
Morphology
Tamil nouns (and pronouns) are classified into two super-classes (
tiṇai
)—the "rational" (
uyartiṇai
), and the "irrational" (
akṟiṇai
)—which include a total of five classes (
pāl
, which literally means "gender"). Humans and
deities
are classified as "rational", and all other nouns (animals, objects, abstract nouns) are classified as irrational. The "rational" nouns and pronouns belong to one of three classes (
pāl
)—masculine singular, feminine singular, and rational plural. The "irrational" nouns and pronouns belong to one of two classes: irrational singular and irrational plural. The
pāl
is often indicated through suffixes. The plural form for rational nouns may be used as an
honorific
, gender-neutral, singular form.
112
peyarccol (Name-words)
113
uyartiṇai
(rational)
aḵṟiṇai
(irrational)
āṇpāl
Male
peṇpāl
Female
palarpāl
Collective
oṉṟaṉpāl
One
palaviṉpāl
Many
Example: the Tamil words for "doer"
ceytavaṉ
He who did
ceytavaḷ
She who did
ceytavar(kaḷ)
They who did
ceytatu
That which did
ceytavai
Those ones which did
Suffixes are used to perform the functions of
cases
or
postpositions
. Traditional grammarians tried to group the various suffixes into eight cases corresponding to the cases used in
Sanskrit
. These were the
nominative
accusative
dative
sociative
genitive
instrumental
locative
, and
ablative
. Modern grammarians argue that this classification is artificial,
114
and that Tamil usage is best understood if each suffix or combination of suffixes is seen as marking a separate case.
102
Tamil nouns can take one of four
prefixes
, and
which are functionally equivalent to the
demonstratives
in English. For example, the word
vazhi
(வழி) meaning "way" can take these to produce
ivvazhi
(இவ்வழி) "this way",
avvazhi
(அவ்வழி) "that way",
uvvazhi
(உவ்வழி) "the medial way" (only used in
Sri Lanka
) and
evvazhi
(எவ்வழி) "which way".
Tamil verbs are also inflected through the use of suffixes. A typical Tamil verb form will have a number of
suffixes
, which show person, number, mood, tense, and voice.
Person and number are indicated by suffixing the
oblique case
of the relevant pronoun. The suffixes to indicate tenses and voice are formed from
grammatical particles
, which are added to the stem.
Tamil has two voices. The first indicates that the subject of the sentence
undergoes
or
is the object of
the action named by the verb stem, and the second indicates that the subject of the sentence
directs
the action referred to by the verb stem.
Tamil has three simple tenses—past, present, and future—indicated by the suffixes, as well as a series of perfects indicated by compound suffixes. Mood is implicit in Tamil, and is normally reflected by the same
morphemes
which mark tense categories. Tamil verbs also mark
evidentiality
, through the addition of the hearsay
clitic
ām
115
Verb inflection is shown below using example
aḻintukkoṇṭiruntēṉ
; (அழிந்துக்கொண்டிருந்தேன்); "(I) was being destroyed".
அழி
ந்து
கொண்டு
இரு
ந்த்
ஏன்
aḻi
ntu
koṇṭu
iru
nt
ēn
root
destroy
transitivity marker
intransitive
aspect marker
continuous
aspect marker
continuous
tense marker
past tense
person marker
first person,
singular
Traditional grammars of Tamil do not distinguish between
adjectives
and
adverbs
, including both of them under the category
uriccol
, although modern grammarians tend to distinguish between them on morphological and syntactical grounds.
116
Tamil has many
ideophones
that act as adverbs indicating the way the object in a given state "says" or "sounds".
117
Tamil does not have
articles
. Definiteness and indefiniteness are either indicated by special grammatical devices, such as using the number "one" as an indefinite article, or by the context.
118
In the first person plural, Tamil makes a distinction between
inclusive
pronouns
நாம்
nām
(we),
நம்
nam
(our) that include the addressee, and exclusive pronouns
நாங்கள்
nāṅkaḷ
(we),
எங்கள்
eṅkaḷ
(our) that do not.
118
Syntax
Tamil is a consistently
head-final
language. The verb comes at the end of the clause, with a typical word order of
subject–object–verb
(SOV).
119
120
However, word order in Tamil is also flexible, so that surface permutations of the SOV order are possible with different
pragmatic
effects. Tamil has
postpositions
rather than
prepositions
. Demonstratives and modifiers precede the noun within the noun phrase. Subordinate clauses precede the verb of the matrix clause.
Tamil is a
null-subject language
. Not all Tamil sentences have subjects, verbs, and objects. It is possible to construct grammatically valid and meaningful sentences which lack one or more of the three. For example, a sentence may only have a verb—such as
muṭintuviṭṭatu
("completed")—or only a subject and object, without a verb such as
atu eṉ vīṭu
("That [is] my house"). Tamil does not have a
copula
(a linking verb equivalent to the word
is
). The word is included in the translations only to convey the meaning more easily.
Vocabulary
The vocabulary of Tamil is mainly Dravidian. A strong sense of
linguistic purism
is found in Modern Tamil,
121
which opposes the use of foreign loanwords.
122
Nonetheless, a number of words used in classical and modern Tamil are loanwords from the languages of neighbouring groups, or with whom the Tamils had trading links, including
Malay
(e.g.
cavvarici
"sago" from Malay
sāgu
), Chinese (for example,
campān
"skiff" from Chinese san-pan) and Greek (for example,
ora
from Greek ὥρα). In more modern times, Tamil has imported words from
Urdu
and
Marathi
, reflecting groups that have influenced the Tamil area at times, and from neighbouring languages such as
Telugu
Kannada
, and Sinhala. During the modern period, words have also been adapted from European languages, such as Portuguese, French, and English.
123
The strongest effect of purism in Tamil has been on words taken from Sanskrit. During its history, Tamil, along with other Dravidian languages like
Telugu
Kannada
Malayalam
etc., was influenced by
Sanskrit
in terms of vocabulary, grammar and literary styles,
124
125
126
127
reflecting the increased trend of
Sanskritisation
in the Tamil country.
128
Tamil vocabulary never became quite as heavily Sanskritised as that of the other Dravidian languages, and unlike in those languages, it was and remains possible to express complex ideas (including in science, art, religion and law) without the use of Sanskrit loan words.
129
130
131
In addition, Sanskritisation was actively resisted by a number of authors of the late medieval period,
132
culminating in the 20th century in a movement called
taṉit tamiḻ iyakkam
(meaning "pure Tamil movement"), led by
Parithimaar Kalaignar
and
Maraimalai Adigal
, which sought to remove the accumulated influence of Sanskrit on Tamil.
133
As a result of this, Tamil in formal documents, literature and public speeches has seen a marked decline in the use Sanskrit loan words in the past few decades,
134
under some estimates having fallen from 40 to 50% to about 20%.
63
As a result, the Prakrit and Sanskrit loan words used in modern Tamil are, unlike in some other Dravidian languages, restricted mainly to some spiritual terminology and
abstract nouns
135
In the 20th century, institutions and learned bodies have, with government support, generated technical dictionaries for Tamil containing
neologisms
and words derived from Tamil roots to replace loan words from English and other languages.
61
As of 2019,
[update]
the language had a listed vocabulary of over 470,000 unique words, including those from old literary sources. In November 2019, the state government issued an order to add 9,000 new words to the vocabulary.
136
Influence
Main article:
Tamil loanwords in other languages
Words of Tamil origin occur in other languages. For example, scholars trace the origin of the word 'rice' in English and other European languages to Tamil
arici
/ அரிசி, through loans from 400 BCE Tamil to Hebrew and ultimately to Greek
óruza
/ όρυζα.
137
Another notable example of a word in worldwide use with Dravidian (not specifically Tamil) etymology is
orange
, via Sanskrit
nāraṅga
from a Dravidian predecessor of Tamil
nārttaṅkāy
'fragrant fruit'. One suggestion as to the origin of the word
anaconda
is the Tamil
anaikkonda
'having killed an elephant'.
138
Examples in English
include
cheroot
curuṭṭu
meaning 'rolled up'),
139
mango
(from
māṅgāy
),
139
mulligatawny
(from
miḷaku taṇṇīr
'pepper water'),
pariah
(from
paṟaiyar
),
curry
(from
kaṟi
),
140
catamaran
(from
kaṭṭu maram
'bundled logs'),
139
and
congee
(from
kañji
'rice porridge' or 'gruel').
141
Sample text
The following is a sample text in literary Tamil of Article 1 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
. The first line is the
Tamil script
; the second is romanized Tamil; the third is the
International Phonetic Alphabet
; the fourth is the gloss.
உறுப்புரை
Uṟuppurai
urupːurai
Section
1:
1:
ond̺rʉ
1:
மனிதப்
Maṉitap
mənid̪ə
Human
பிறவியினர்
piṟaviyiṉar
piriʋijinər
beings
சகலரும்
cakalarum
səgələrum
all-of-them
சுதந்திரமாகவே
cutantiramākavē
sud̪ən̪d̪irəmaːgəʋeː
freely
பிறக்கின்றனர்;
piṟakkiṉṟaṉar;
pirəkːin̺d̺ranər
are born.
அவர்கள்
avarkaḷ
əvərgəɭ
They
மதிப்பிலும்,
matippilum,
məd̪ipːilum
rights-in-and
உரிமைகளிலும்
urimaikaḷilum
uriməigəɭilum
dignities-in-and
சமமானவர்கள்,
camamāṉavarkaḷ,
səməmaːnəʋərgəɭ
equal-ones.
அவர்கள்
avarkaḷ
əvərgəɭ
They
நியாயத்தையும்
niyāyattaiyum
nijaːjatːəijum
law-and
மனசாட்சியையும்
maṉaccāṭciyaiyum
mənətt͡ʃaːʈt͡ʃijəijum
conscience-and
இயற்பண்பாகப்
iyaṟpaṇpākap
ijərpəɳbaːgə
intrinsically
பெற்றவர்கள்.
peṟṟavarkaḷ.
pet̺rəʋərgəɭ
possessed-ones.
அவர்கள்
Avarkaḷ
əvərgəɭ
They
ஒருவருடனொருவர்
oruvaruṭaṉoruvar
oruʋəruɖənoruʋər
among-one-another
சகோதர
cakōtara
sagoːdəɾə
brotherly
உணர்வுப்
uṇarvup
uɳərʋɨ
feeling
பாங்கில்
pāṅkil
paːŋgil
spirit-in
நடந்துகொள்ளல்
naṭantukoḷḷal
nəɖən̪d̪ʉkoɭɭəl
act
வேண்டும்.
vēṇṭum.
veːɳɖum
must.
உறுப்புரை
1:
மனிதப் பிறவியினர் சகலரும் சுதந்திரமாகவே பிறக்கின்றனர்; அவர்கள் மதிப்பிலும், உரிமைகளிலும் சமமானவர்கள், அவர்கள் நியாயத்தையும் மனசாட்சியையும் இயற்பண்பாகப் பெற்றவர்கள். அவர்கள் ஒருவருடனொருவர் சகோதர உணர்வுப் பாங்கில் நடந்துகொள்ளல் வேண்டும்.
Uṟuppurai
1:
Maṉitap piṟaviyiṉar cakalarum cutantiramākavē piṟakkiṉṟaṉar; avarkaḷ matippilum, urimaikaḷilum camamāṉavarkaḷ, avarkaḷ niyāyattaiyum maṉaccāṭciyaiyum iyaṟpaṇpākap peṟṟavarkaḷ. Avarkaḷ oruvaruṭaṉoruvar cakōtara uṇarvup pāṅkil naṭantukoḷḷal vēṇṭum.
urupːurai
ond̺rʉ
mənid̪ə piriʋijinər səgələrum sud̪ən̪d̪irəmaːgəʋeː pirəkːin̺d̺ranər əvərgəɭ məd̪ipːilum uriməigəɭilum səməmaːnəʋərgəɭ əvərgəɭ nijaːjatːəijum mənətt͡ʃaːʈt͡ʃijəijum ijərpəɳbaːgə pet̺rəʋərgəɭ əvərgəɭ oruʋəruɖənoruʋər sagoːdəɾə uɳərʋɨ paːŋgil nəɖən̪d̪ʉkoɭɭəl veːɳɖum
Section
1:
Human beings all-of-them freely {are born}. They rights-in-and dignities-in-and equal-ones. They law-and conscience-and intrinsically possessed-ones. They among-one-another brotherly feeling spirit-in act must.
Article 1:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They possess conscience and reason. Therefore, everyone should act in a spirit of brotherhood towards each other.
See also
List of countries where Tamil is an official language
List of languages by first written accounts
Tamil keyboard
Tamil population by cities
Tamil population by nation
Tamil Loanwords in other languages
Tamil Shorthand
Geolinguistics
Language geography
Footnotes
protected language
ɑː
-/
TAM
-il,
TAHM
References
Talbot 2001
, pp. 27–37
Tamil language
at
Ethnologue
(28th ed., 2025)
Official languages of Tamil Nadu
, Tamil Nadu Government, archived from
the original
on 21 October 2012
, retrieved
1 May
2007
Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India: 50th report (delivered to the Lokh Sabha in 2014)
(PDF)
, National Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India., p. 155, archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 8 July 2016
, retrieved
8 June
2017
"Official Languages Policy"
languagesdept.gov.lk
. Department of Official Languages. Archived from
the original
on 12 April 2021
. Retrieved
20 May
2021
Republic of Singapore Independence Act 1965 (
No. 9 of 1965, 1985 Rev. Ed.
), s7.
"Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 – Chapter 1: Founding Provisions"
www.gov.za
, South African Government
School languages
, LINGUAMON, archived from
the original
on 2 September 2015
, retrieved
26 March
2016
"Tamil, n. and adj"
OED Online
. Oxford University Press
. Retrieved
24 January
2023
Stein, B. (1977), "Circulation and the Historical Geography of Tamil Country",
The Journal of Asian Studies
37
(1):
7–
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Further reading
Fabricius, Johann Philip
(1933 and 1972),
Tamil and English Dictionary
. based on J.P. Fabricius
Malabar-English Dictionary
, 3rd and 4th Edition Revised and Enlarged by David Bexell. Evangelical Lutheran Mission Publishing House, Tranquebar; called Tranquebar Dictionary.
Freeman, Rich (February 1998), "Rubies and Coral: The Lapidary Crafting of Language in Kerala",
The Journal of Asian Studies
57
(1):
38–
65,
doi
10.2307/2659023
JSTOR
2659023
S2CID
162294036
Keane, Elinor (2004), "Tamil",
Journal of the International Phonetic Association
34
(1):
111–
116,
doi
10.1017/S0025100304001549
External links
Tamil edition
of
Wikipedia
, the free encyclopedia
Tamil language
at
Encyclopædia Britannica
Tamil language and literature
The dictionary definition of
Tamil language
at Wiktionary
Tamil language at Wikibooks
Tamil language
travel guide from Wikivoyage
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