Tamil language
The name Tamil appears in the earliest extant literary work known as the Tolkāppiyam, dated to the 2nd century BCE. This text serves as both a grammar and a collection of poems that define the language's ancient roots. Another early reference exists in the Hathigumpha inscription from around 150 BCE created by King Kharavela of Kalinga. He referred to a Tamira Samghatta or Tamil confederacy during his reign. Scholars debate whether the word derives from self-speak or sweet sound based on different linguistic theories. The Tamil Lexicon of the University of Madras defines the word simply as sweetness. S. V. Subramanian suggests it combines tam meaning sweet with il meaning sound. David Shulman cites Cuntaramurti's Tevaram where the phrase implies knowing how to behave properly as a male lover should. Some historical interpretations suggest that to know Tamil meant to be a civilized being in poetic terms.
Scholars categorize the attested history into three distinct periods spanning over two millennia. Old Tamil covers the era from 300 BCE to 700 CE marked by short inscriptions in Tamil-Brahmi script. The earliest long text is the Tolkāppiyam whose oldest layers date back to the late 2nd century BCE. Middle Tamil runs from 700 to 1600 and features significant phonological shifts like the disappearance of the old phoneme aytam. Modern Tamil begins around 1600 and continues to the present day with changes in negation and vowel sounds. In 1578 Portuguese Christian missionaries published Thambiran Vanakkam making Tamil the first Indian language to be printed. A strong strain of linguistic purism emerged in the early 20th century culminating in the Pure Tamil Movement. This movement called for removal of all Sanskritic elements from the language and received support from Dravidian parties. It was not until the DMK came to power in 1967 that such demands were fulfilled.
A corpus of 2,381 poems collectively known as Sangam literature survives from the Old Tamil period. These poems are usually dated between the 1st century BCE and 5th century CE. They celebrate the Pandiyan Kings who organized long-term Tamil Sangams to research and develop the language. The Nannūl remains the standard normative grammar for modern literary Tamil today. This text is based on Middle Tamil of the 13th century rather than on Modern Tamil itself. Colloquial spoken Tamil shows different changes including the disappearance of negative conjugations found in older forms. The Tolkāppiyam serves as the oldest known grammar book describing much of the language's structure. Traditional grammars consist of five parts with the last two mostly applied in poetry contexts. The word pōkamuīyātavarkałukkāk means for the sake of those who cannot go and consists of many morphemes combined together.
Tamil is the primary language of the majority of people residing in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry within India. It is also one of the official languages of Sri Lanka and Singapore alongside other national tongues. Sizeable Tamil-speaking populations exist in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Mauritius, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Brunei, and Vietnam. A large community of Pakistani Tamils speakers exists in Karachi which includes Hindu families speaking impeccable Tamil. In Réunion where the language was forbidden by France it is now being relearned by students and adults. Migrants from Sri Lanka and India live in Canada, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Australia. There are 543 primary education government schools available fully in Tamil as the medium of instruction in Malaysia. Tamil enjoys a special status of protection under Article 6b Chapter 1 of the Constitution of South Africa.
Tamil employs agglutinative grammar where suffixes mark noun class number case verb tense and other categories. The standard metalinguistic terminology and scholarly vocabulary is itself Tamil unlike Sanskrit used for most Indo-Aryan languages. Words consist of a lexical root to which one or more affixes are attached without absolute limits on length. The word pōkamuīyātavarkałukkāk means for the sake of those who cannot go and requires several words in English. Nouns classify into two super-classes called rational and irrational including humans deities animals objects abstract nouns. Verbs inflect through suffixes showing person number mood tense and voice with three simple tenses past present future. Tamil has no articles and uses special grammatical devices like using the number one as an indefinite article. It is a consistently head-final language with typical word order subject object verb though flexible permutations exist.
Tamil became the first legally recognised Classical language of India following creation of legal status in October 2004. The recognition was announced by President Abdul Kalam in a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the 6th of June 2004. It is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and union territory of Puducherry. Tamil is also one of the official languages of Singapore and Sri Lanka along with Sinhala. In November 2019 the state government issued an order to add 9,000 new words to the vocabulary. A 2001 survey claimed there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil including 353 dailies. Tamil language is available as a course in some local school boards and major universities across Canada. January has been declared Tamil Heritage Month by the Parliament of Canada providing cultural protection for speakers.
A strong sense of linguistic purism opposes the use of foreign loanwords in Modern Tamil today. During its history the language was influenced by Sanskrit in terms of vocabulary grammar and literary styles. The Pure Tamil Movement led by Parithimaar Kalaignar and Maraimalai Adigal sought to remove accumulated influence. As a result formal documents literature and public speeches have seen marked decline in use of Sanskrit loan words. Under some estimates usage fell from 40 to 50 percent down to about 20 percent over the past half century. Institutions generated technical dictionaries containing neologisms derived from Tamil roots to replace English loan words. The language had a listed vocabulary of over 470,000 unique words including those from old literary sources. Words like rice orange anaconda cheroot mango mulligatawny curry catamaran congee trace origins back to Tamil or Dravidian predecessors.
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Common questions
When was the Tamil language first mentioned in historical records?
The name Tamil appears in the earliest extant literary work known as the Tolkāppiyam, dated to the 2nd century BCE. Another early reference exists in the Hathigumpha inscription from around 150 BCE created by King Kharavela of Kalinga.
What are the three distinct periods of attested history for the Tamil language?
Scholars categorize the attested history into Old Tamil covering the era from 300 BCE to 700 CE, Middle Tamil running from 700 to 1600, and Modern Tamil beginning around 1600. Old Tamil is marked by short inscriptions in Tamil-Brahmi script while Middle Tamil features significant phonological shifts like the disappearance of the old phoneme aytam.
Which poems constitute the Sangam literature corpus of the Old Tamil period?
A corpus of 2,381 poems collectively known as Sangam literature survives from the Old Tamil period and is usually dated between the 1st century BCE and 5th century CE. These poems celebrate the Pandiyan Kings who organized long-term Tamil Sangams to research and develop the language.
When did the Tamil language receive legal recognition as a Classical language of India?
Tamil became the first legally recognised Classical language of India following creation of legal status in October 2004. The recognition was announced by President Abdul Kalam in a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the 6th of June 2004.
How many unique words are listed in the vocabulary of the Tamil language?
The language had a listed vocabulary of over 470,000 unique words including those from old literary sources. Words like rice orange anaconda cheroot mango mulligatawny curry catamaran congee trace origins back to Tamil or Dravidian predecessors.