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.infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme)>div:not(.notheme)[style]{background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme) div:not(.notheme){background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media(min-width:640px){body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table{display:table!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>caption{display:table-caption!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>tbody{display:table-row-group}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table tr{display:table-row!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table th,body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table td{padding-left:inherit;padding-right:inherit}}</style>Tamil<a href="#cite_note-11">[b]</a> (தமிழ், Tamiḻ, <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1177148991">.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}</style>pronounced <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/Tamil" title="Help:IPA/Tamil">[t̪amiɻ]</a> <span data-nosnippet="" id="ooui-php-2" class="noexcerpt ext-phonos-PhonosButton ext-phonos-PhonosButton-emptylabel oo-ui-widget oo-ui-widget-enabled oo-ui-buttonElement oo-ui-buttonElement-frameless oo-ui-iconElement oo-ui-buttonWidget" data-ooui='{"_":"mw.Phonos.PhonosButton","href":"\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/transcoded\/f\/fb\/Ta-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D.oga\/Ta-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D.oga.mp3","rel":["nofollow"],"framed":false,"icon":"volumeUp","data":{"ipa":"","text":"","lang":"en","wikibase":"","file":"Ta-\u0ba4\u0bae\u0bbf\u0bb4\u0bcd.oga"},"classes":["noexcerpt","ext-phonos-PhonosButton","ext-phonos-PhonosButton-emptylabel"]}'><a role="button" tabindex="0" href="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/fb/Ta-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D.oga/Ta-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D.oga.mp3" rel="nofollow" aria-label="Play audio" title="Play audio" class="oo-ui-buttonElement-button"></a><a href="/wiki/File:Ta-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D.oga" title="File:Ta-தமிழ்.oga">ⓘ</a>) is a <a href="/wiki/Dravidian_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Dravidian language">Dravidian language</a> natively spoken by the <a href="/wiki/Tamil_people" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil people">Tamil people</a> of <a href="/wiki/South_Asia" title="South Asia">South Asia</a>. It is one of the two longest-surviving <a href="/wiki/Classical_languages" class="mw-redirect" title="Classical languages">classical languages</a> in <a href="/wiki/India" title="India">India</a>, along with <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a>,<a href="#cite_note-Circulation_and_the_Historical_Geog-12">[10]</a><a href="#cite_note-13">[11]</a> attested since <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 300 BCE.<a href="#cite_note-14">[12]</a><a href="#cite_note-15">[13]</a><a href="#cite_note-companion-16">[14]</a><a href="#cite_note-Maloney1970-17">[15]</a><a href="#cite_note-Palani-18">[16]</a> The language belongs to the southern branch of the <a href="/wiki/Dravidian_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Dravidian language">Dravidian language</a> family and shares close ties with <a href="/wiki/Malayalam" title="Malayalam">Malayalam</a> and <a href="/wiki/Kannada" title="Kannada">Kannada</a>. Despite external influences, Tamil has retained a sense of linguistic purism, especially in formal and literary contexts. <table class="infobox vevent infobox-has-images-with-white-backgrounds"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above above" style="font-size:125%; color: black; background-color: mediumspringgreen;">Tamil</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-subheader" style="font-size:110%; color: black; background-color: mediumspringgreen;">Tamiḻ</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-subheader" style="font-size:110%; color: black; background-color: mediumspringgreen;">தமிழ்</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><a href="/wiki/File:Word_Tamil.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Word_Tamil.svg/200px-Word_Tamil.svg.png" decoding="async" width="200" height="100" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Word_Tamil.svg/300px-Word_Tamil.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Word_Tamil.svg/400px-Word_Tamil.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="800" data-file-height="400"></a><div class="infobox-caption" style="padding:0.35em 0.35em 0.25em;line-height:1.25em;">The word Tamil in the <a href="/wiki/Tamil_script" title="Tamil script">Tamil script</a></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;">Pronunciation</th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/Tamil" title="Help:IPA/Tamil">[t̪amiɻ]</a> <span data-nosnippet="" id="ooui-php-1" class="noexcerpt ext-phonos-PhonosButton ext-phonos-PhonosButton-emptylabel oo-ui-widget oo-ui-widget-enabled oo-ui-buttonElement oo-ui-buttonElement-frameless oo-ui-iconElement oo-ui-buttonWidget" data-ooui='{"_":"mw.Phonos.PhonosButton","href":"\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/transcoded\/f\/fb\/Ta-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D.oga\/Ta-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D.oga.mp3","rel":["nofollow"],"framed":false,"icon":"volumeUp","data":{"ipa":"","text":"","lang":"en","wikibase":"","file":"Ta-\u0ba4\u0bae\u0bbf\u0bb4\u0bcd.oga"},"classes":["noexcerpt","ext-phonos-PhonosButton","ext-phonos-PhonosButton-emptylabel"]}'><a role="button" tabindex="0" href="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/fb/Ta-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D.oga/Ta-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D.oga.mp3" rel="nofollow" aria-label="Play audio" title="Play audio" class="oo-ui-buttonElement-button"></a><a href="/wiki/File:Ta-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D.oga" title="File:Ta-தமிழ்.oga">ⓘ</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;">Native to</th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><a href="/wiki/Languages_of_India" title="Languages of India">India</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Languages_of_Sri_Lanka" title="Languages of Sri Lanka">Sri Lanka</a></li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;">Region</th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/India" title="India">India</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_Nadu" title="Tamil Nadu">Tamil Nadu</a></li> <li>Union territory of <a href="/wiki/Puducherry_(union_territory)" title="Puducherry (union territory)">Puducherry</a> (<a href="/wiki/Puducherry_district" title="Puducherry district">Puducherry</a> and <a href="/wiki/Karaikal_district" title="Karaikal district">Karaikal districts</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kerala" title="Kerala">Kerala</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands" title="Andaman and Nicobar Islands">Andaman and Nicobar Islands</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karnataka" title="Karnataka">Karnataka</a> (south)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Andhra_Pradesh" title="Andhra Pradesh">Andhra Pradesh</a> (south)<a href="#cite_note-Talbot_2001_27%E2%80%9337-1">[1]</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sri_Lanka" title="Sri Lanka">Sri Lanka</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Northern_Province,_Sri_Lanka" title="Northern Province, Sri Lanka">Northern Province</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eastern_Province,_Sri_Lanka" title="Eastern Province, Sri Lanka">Eastern Province</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Central_Province,_Sri_Lanka" title="Central Province, Sri Lanka">Central Province</a></li></ul></li></ul> </td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;">Ethnicity</th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Tamils" title="Tamils">Tamils</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Moors" title="Sri Lankan Moors">Sri Lankan Moors</a></li></ul> </td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Native speakers</div></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><a href="/wiki/First_language" title="First language">L1</a>: 79 million (2011–2019)<a href="#cite_note-e27-2">[2]</a> <a href="/wiki/Second_language" title="Second language">L2</a>: 8 million (2011)<a href="#cite_note-e27-2">[2]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;"><a href="/wiki/Language_family" title="Language family">Language family</a></div></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><div style="text-align:left;"><a href="/wiki/Dravidian_languages" title="Dravidian languages">Dravidian</a> <ul style="line-height:100%; margin-left:1.35em;padding-left:0"><li> Southern<ul style="line-height:100%;margin-left:0.45em;padding-left:0;"><li><a href="/wiki/Southern_Dravidian_languages" class="mw-redirect" title="Southern Dravidian languages">Southern I</a><ul style="line-height:100%;margin-left:0.45em;padding-left:0;"><li>Tamil–<a href="/wiki/Kannada_dialects" title="Kannada dialects">Kannada</a><ul style="line-height:100%;margin-left:0.45em;padding-left:0;"><li>Tamil–<a href="/wiki/Kota_language_(India)" title="Kota language (India)">Kota</a><ul style="line-height:100%;margin-left:0.45em;padding-left:0;"><li>Tamil–<a href="/wiki/Toda_language" title="Toda language">Toda</a><ul style="line-height:100%;margin-left:0.45em;padding-left:0;"><li>Tamil–Irula<ul style="line-height:100%;margin-left:0.45em;padding-left:0;"><li>Tamil–<a href="/wiki/Kodava_language" title="Kodava language">Kodava</a>–<a href="/wiki/Urali_language" title="Urali language">Urali</a><ul style="line-height:100%;margin-left:0.45em;padding-left:0;"><li><a href="/wiki/Tamiloid_languages" title="Tamiloid languages">Tamil</a>–<a href="/wiki/Malayalamoid_languages" title="Malayalamoid languages">Malayalam</a><ul style="line-height:100%;margin-left:0.45em;padding-left:0;"><li><a href="/wiki/Tamiloid_languages" title="Tamiloid languages">Tamiloid</a><ul style="line-height:100%;margin-left:0.45em;padding-left:0;"><li>Tamil–<a href="/wiki/Paliyan_language" title="Paliyan language">Paliyan</a><ul style="line-height:100%;margin-left:0.45em;padding-left:0;"><li>Tamil</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Early forms</div></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><div style="text-align:left;"><a href="/wiki/Old_Tamil_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Old Tamil language">Old Tamil</a> <ul style="line-height:100%; margin-left:1.35em; padding-left:0"><li><a href="/wiki/Middle_Tamil_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Middle Tamil language">Middle Tamil</a> </li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr class="plainlist"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;">Dialects</th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Tamil_dialects" title="Sri Lankan Tamil dialects">Eelam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Malaysian_Tamil" title="Malaysian Tamil">Malesiyat</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bangalore_Tamil_dialects" title="Bangalore Tamil dialects">Bunagurr</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Iyengar_Tamil" title="Iyengar Tamil">Iyengar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kongu_Tamil" title="Kongu Tamil">Kongu</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Madras_Bashai" title="Madras Bashai">Chennai</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Madurai_Tamil" title="Madurai Tamil">Madurai</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tirunelveli_Tamil" title="Tirunelveli Tamil">Tiruneveli</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sankethi_language" title="Sankethi language">Sankethi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Indian_Tamil_dialect_of_Sri_Lanka" title="Indian Tamil dialect of Sri Lanka">Estate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Central_Tamil_dialect" title="Central Tamil dialect">Central</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Brahmin_Tamil" title="Brahmin Tamil">Brahmin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arwi" title="Arwi">Arwi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lingua_Malabar_Tamul" title="Lingua Malabar Tamul">Malabar</a> <abbr title="Extinct" aria-label="Extinct" style="border: none; text-decoration: none; cursor: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">†</abbr></li></ul> </td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;"><a href="/wiki/Writing_system" title="Writing system">Writing system</a></div></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_script" title="Tamil script">Tamil script</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Tamil-Brahmi_script" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil-Brahmi script">Tamil-Brahmi script</a> (historical)</li><li><a href="/wiki/Grantha_script" title="Grantha script">Grantha script</a> (historical)</li><li><a href="/wiki/Vatteluttu_script" class="mw-redirect" title="Vatteluttu script">Vatteluttu script</a> (historical)</li><li><a href="/wiki/Pallava_script" title="Pallava script">Pallava script</a> (historical)</li><li><a href="/wiki/Kolezhuthu" class="mw-redirect" title="Kolezhuthu">Kolezhuthu script</a> (historical)</li><li><a href="/wiki/Arabic_script" title="Arabic script">Arabic script</a> (<a href="/wiki/Arwi" title="Arwi">Arwi</a>)</li><li><a href="/wiki/Latin_script" title="Latin script">Latin script</a> (informal)</li><li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_Braille" title="Tamil Braille">Tamil Braille</a> (<a href="/wiki/Bharati_Braille" title="Bharati Braille">Bharati</a>)</li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;"><a href="/wiki/Manually_coded_language" title="Manually coded language">Signed forms</a></div></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><a href="/wiki/Signed_Tamil" class="mw-redirect" title="Signed Tamil">Signed Tamil</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="color: black; background-color: mediumspringgreen;">Official status</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Official language in</div></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Official_languages_of_India" class="mw-redirect" title="Official languages of India">India</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_Nadu" title="Tamil Nadu">Tamil Nadu</a><a href="#cite_note-TN-3">[3]</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Puducherry_(union_territory)" title="Puducherry (union territory)">Puducherry</a><a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Languages_of_Sri_Lanka" title="Languages of Sri Lanka">Sri Lanka</a><a href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Languages_of_Singapore" title="Languages of Singapore">Singapore</a><a href="#cite_note-statutes.agc.gov.sg-6">[6]</a></li></ul> </td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Recognised minority language in</div></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><div style="vertical-align:middle;"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><div class="plainlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Languages_of_South_Africa" title="Languages of South Africa">South Africa</a><a href="#cite_note-7">[a]</a><a href="#cite_note-8">[7]</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Languages_of_Malaysia" title="Languages of Malaysia">Malaysia</a><a href="#cite_note-MS-9">[8]</a></li></ul> </div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><a href="/wiki/List_of_language_regulators" title="List of language regulators">Regulated by</a></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><a href="/wiki/India" title="India">India</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Central_Institute_of_Classical_Tamil" title="Central Institute of Classical Tamil">Central Institute of Classical Tamil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Department_of_Tamil_Development_and_Information_(Tamil_Nadu)" class="mw-redirect" title="Department of Tamil Development and Information (Tamil Nadu)">Department of Tamil Development and Information (Tamil Nadu)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/International_Institute_of_Tamil_Studies" title="International Institute of Tamil Studies">International Institute of Tamil Studies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_University" title="Tamil University">Tamil University</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/World_Tamil_Sangam" class="mw-redirect" title="World Tamil Sangam">World Tamil Sangam</a></li></ul> <a href="/wiki/Sri_Lanka" title="Sri Lanka">Sri Lanka</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ministry_of_Public_Administration,_Home_Affairs,_Provincial_Councils_and_Local_Government" title="Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government">Department of Official Languages</a></li></ul> <a href="/wiki/Singapore" title="Singapore">Singapore</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ministry_of_Digital_Development_and_Information" title="Ministry of Digital Development and Information">Tamil Language Council</a></li></ul> <a href="/wiki/Malaysia" title="Malaysia">Malaysia</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ministry_of_Education_(Malaysia)" title="Ministry of Education (Malaysia)">Malaysian Tamil Language Standardisation Council</a></li></ul> <a href="/wiki/Canada" title="Canada">Canada</a> and <a href="/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Federation_of_Tamil_Sangams_of_North_America" title="Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America">Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America</a></li></ul> </td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="color: black; background-color: mediumspringgreen;">Language codes</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><a href="/wiki/ISO_639-1" title="ISO 639-1">ISO 639-1</a></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><code><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/langcodes_name.php?iso_639_1=ta">ta</a></code></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><a href="/wiki/ISO_639-2" title="ISO 639-2">ISO 639-2</a></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><code><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/langcodes_name.php?code_ID=437">tam</a></code></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><a href="/wiki/ISO_639-3" title="ISO 639-3">ISO 639-3</a></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;">Either: <code><a href="https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/tam" class="extiw" title="iso639-3:tam">tam</a></code> – Modern Tamil <code><a href="https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/oty" class="extiw" title="iso639-3:oty">oty</a></code> – Old Tamil</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;"><a href="/wiki/Linguist_List" title="Linguist List">Linguist List</a></div></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><code><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200101010101/http://multitree.org/codes/oty">oty</a></code> Old Tamil</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><a href="/wiki/Glottolog" title="Glottolog">Glottolog</a></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><code><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/tami1289">tami1289</a></code> Modern Tamil <code><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/oldt1248">oldt1248</a></code> Old Tamil</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.65em;"><a href="/wiki/Linguasphere_Observatory" title="Linguasphere Observatory">Linguasphere</a></th><td class="infobox-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><code><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.hortensj-garden.org/index.php?tnc=1&tr=lsr&nid=49-EBE-a">49-EBE-a</a></code></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="line-height:1.3em;"><a href="/wiki/File:Idioma_tamil.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Idioma_tamil.png/320px-Idioma_tamil.png" decoding="async" width="320" height="276" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Idioma_tamil.png 1.5x" data-file-width="399" data-file-height="344"></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-below noprint selfref" style="background-color:#E7E7FF;color:inherit;padding:0.3em 0.5em;text-align:left;line-height:1.3;">This article contains <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">IPA</a> phonetic symbols. Without proper <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA#Rendering_issues" title="Help:IPA">rendering support</a>, you may see <a href="/wiki/Specials_(Unicode_block)#Replacement_character" title="Specials (Unicode block)">question marks, boxes, or other symbols</a> instead of <a href="/wiki/Unicode" title="Unicode">Unicode</a> characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA" title="Help:IPA">Help:IPA</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236303919">@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .infobox-has-images-with-white-backgrounds img{background:white}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .infobox-has-images-with-white-backgrounds img{background:white}}</style> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1092331828">@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .contains-special-characters{width:22em}}</style><div class="side-box metadata side-box-right contains-special-characters noprint selfref"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg/40px-Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="19" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg/60px-Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg/80px-Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="58" data-file-height="28"></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">This article contains <a href="/wiki/Brahmic_scripts" title="Brahmic scripts">Indic text</a>. Without proper <a href="/wiki/Help:Multilingual_support_(Indic)" title="Help:Multilingual support (Indic)">rendering support</a>, you may see <a href="/wiki/Mojibake" title="Mojibake">question marks or boxes</a>, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.</div></div> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1235681985"><div class="side-box metadata side-box-right noprint selfref"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><a href="/wiki/File:Tamil_A.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Tamil_A.svg/40px-Tamil_A.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="28" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Tamil_A.svg/60px-Tamil_A.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Tamil_A.svg/80px-Tamil_A.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="87" data-file-height="61"></a></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist"><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Tamil</a> is written in a non-Latin script. Tamil text used in this article is transliterated into the Latin script according to the <a href="/wiki/ISO_15919" title="ISO 15919">ISO 15919</a> standard.</div></div> </div> Tamil was the <a href="/wiki/Lingua_franca" title="Lingua franca">lingua franca</a> for early maritime traders, with inscriptions found in places like <a href="/wiki/Sri_Lanka" title="Sri Lanka">Sri Lanka</a>, <a href="/wiki/Thailand" title="Thailand">Thailand</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Egypt" title="Egypt">Egypt</a>. The language has a well-documented history with literary works like <a href="/wiki/Sangam_literature" title="Sangam literature">Sangam literature</a>, 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 predominantly spoken in <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Nadu" title="Tamil Nadu">Tamil Nadu</a> and <a href="/wiki/Puducherry_(union_territory)" title="Puducherry (union territory)">Puducherry</a>, India, as well as the <a href="/wiki/Provinces_of_Sri_Lanka" title="Provinces of Sri Lanka">Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka</a>. It has significant speaking populations in <a href="/wiki/Malaysia" title="Malaysia">Malaysia</a>, <a href="/wiki/Myanmar" title="Myanmar">Myanmar</a>, <a href="/wiki/Singapore" title="Singapore">Singapore</a>, and among <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Diaspora" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Diaspora">diaspora communities</a>. Tamil has been recognized as a classical language by the Indian government in 2004. <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none"><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Etymology">1 Etymology</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="#Classification">2 Classification</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="#History">3 History</a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="#Legendary_origins">3.1 Legendary origins</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="#Historical_origins">3.2 Historical origins</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="#Brahmi_script">3.3 Brahmi script</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="#Old_Tamil">3.4 Old Tamil</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="#Middle_Tamil">3.5 Middle Tamil</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="#Modern_Tamil">3.6 Modern Tamil</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10"><a href="#Geographic_distribution">4 Geographic distribution</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="#Legal_status">5 Legal status</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12"><a href="#Dialects">6 Dialects</a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13"><a href="#Region-specific_variations">6.1 Region-specific variations</a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-14"><a href="#Loanword_variations">6.1.1 Loanword variations</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15"><a href="#Spoken_and_literary_variants">7 Spoken and literary variants</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16"><a href="#Writing_system">8 Writing system</a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17"><a href="#Numerals_and_symbols">8.1 Numerals and symbols</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-18"><a href="#Phonology">9 Phonology</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19"><a href="#Grammar">10 Grammar</a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-20"><a href="#Morphology">10.1 Morphology</a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-21"><a href="#Syntax">10.2 Syntax</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-22"><a href="#Vocabulary">11 Vocabulary</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-23"><a href="#Influence">12 Influence</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-24"><a href="#Sample_text">13 Sample text</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-25"><a href="#See_also">14 See also</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-26"><a href="#Footnotes">15 Footnotes</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-27"><a href="#References">16 References</a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-28"><a href="#Bibliography">16.1 Bibliography</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-29"><a href="#Further_reading">17 Further reading</a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-30"><a href="#External_links">18 External links</a></li> </ul> </div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(1)"><h2 id="Etymology">Etymology</h2></div><section class="mf-section-1 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-1"> The earliest extant Tamil literary works and their commentaries celebrate the <a href="/wiki/Pandiyan_Kingdom" class="mw-redirect" title="Pandiyan Kingdom">Pandiyan Kings</a> for the organization of long-termed <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Sangams" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Sangams">Tamil Sangams</a>, which researched, developed and made amendments in Tamil language. Even though 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 <a href="/wiki/Tholkappiyam" class="mw-redirect" title="Tholkappiyam">Tholkappiyam</a>, which is dated as early as late 2nd century BCE.<a href="#cite_note-19">[17]</a><a href="#cite_note-Zvelebil_1973-20">[18]</a> The <a href="/wiki/Hathigumpha_inscription" title="Hathigumpha inscription">Hathigumpha inscription</a>, inscribed around a similar time period (150 BCE), by <a href="/wiki/Kharavela" title="Kharavela">Kharavela</a>, the Jain king of <a href="/wiki/Kalinga_(historical_region)" class="mw-redirect" title="Kalinga (historical region)">Kalinga</a>, also refers to a Tamira Samghatta (Tamil confederacy)<a href="#cite_note-Allen-21">[19]</a> The <a href="/wiki/Samavayanga_Sutra" title="Samavayanga Sutra">Samavayanga Sutra</a> dated to the 3rd century BCE contains a reference to a Tamil script named 'Damili'.<a href="#cite_note-22">[20]</a> Southworth suggests that the name comes from tam-miḻ > tam-iḻ "self-speak", or "our own speech".<a href="#cite_note-Southworth_1998_129%E2%80%93132-23">[21]</a> <a href="/wiki/Kamil_Zvelebil" title="Kamil Zvelebil">Kamil Zvelebil</a> 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)".<a href="#cite_note-24">[22]</a> However, this is deemed unlikely by Southworth due to the contemporary use of the compound 'centamiḻ', which means refined speech in the earliest literature.<a href="#cite_note-Southworth_1998_129%E2%80%93132-23">[21]</a> The Tamil Lexicon of <a href="/wiki/University_of_Madras" title="University of Madras">University of Madras</a> defines the word "Tamil" as "sweetness".<a href="#cite_note-25">[23]</a> S. V. Subramanian suggests the meaning "sweet sound", from tam – "sweet" and il – "sound".<a href="#cite_note-26">[24]</a> David Shulman cites Cuntaramurti's Tevaram, in which he writes to <a href="/wiki/Shiva" title="Shiva">Shiva</a>, "Do you know proper Tamil?" and ascribes to 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, 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". <a href="#cite_note-27">[25]</a> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(2)"><h2 id="Classification">Classification</h2></div><section class="mf-section-2 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-2"> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Dravidian_languages" title="Dravidian languages">Dravidian languages</a></div> Tamil belongs to the <a href="/wiki/Southern_Dravidian_languages" class="mw-redirect" title="Southern Dravidian languages">southern</a> branch of the <a href="/wiki/Dravidian_languages" title="Dravidian languages">Dravidian languages</a>, a family of around 26 languages native to the <a href="/wiki/Indian_subcontinent" title="Indian subcontinent">Indian subcontinent</a>.<a href="#cite_note-28">[26]</a> It is also classified as being part of a <a href="/wiki/Tamil_languages" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil languages">Tamil language family</a> that, alongside Tamil proper, includes the languages of about 35 ethno-linguistic groups<a href="#cite_note-29">[27]</a> such as the <a href="/wiki/Irula_language" title="Irula language">Irula</a> and <a href="/wiki/Yerukala_language" title="Yerukala language">Yerukula</a> languages (see <a href="/wiki/SIL_Ethnologue" class="mw-redirect" title="SIL Ethnologue">SIL Ethnologue</a>). The closest major relative of Tamil is <a href="/wiki/Malayalam" title="Malayalam">Malayalam</a>; the two began diverging around the 9th century CE.<a href="#cite_note-30">[28]</a> Although many of the differences between Tamil and Malayalam demonstrate a pre-historic divergence of the western dialect,<a href="#cite_note-malayalamorigin-31">[29]</a> the process of separation into a distinct language, Malayalam, was not completed until sometime in the 13th or 14th century.<a href="#cite_note-andronov-32">[30]</a> 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.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMahadevan2003-33">[31]</a>[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">page needed</a>] </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(3)"><h2 id="History">History</h2></div><section class="mf-section-3 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-3"> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-left" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Civilt%C3%A0_thamirabani,_reperti_da_adhichanallur,_02.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Civilt%C3%A0_thamirabani%2C_reperti_da_adhichanallur%2C_02.jpg/220px-Civilt%C3%A0_thamirabani%2C_reperti_da_adhichanallur%2C_02.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="113" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="5184" data-file-height="2664"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 220px;height: 113px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Civilt%C3%A0_thamirabani%2C_reperti_da_adhichanallur%2C_02.jpg/220px-Civilt%C3%A0_thamirabani%2C_reperti_da_adhichanallur%2C_02.jpg" data-width="220" data-height="113" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Civilt%C3%A0_thamirabani%2C_reperti_da_adhichanallur%2C_02.jpg/330px-Civilt%C3%A0_thamirabani%2C_reperti_da_adhichanallur%2C_02.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Civilt%C3%A0_thamirabani%2C_reperti_da_adhichanallur%2C_02.jpg/440px-Civilt%C3%A0_thamirabani%2C_reperti_da_adhichanallur%2C_02.jpg 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a><figcaption>Findings from <a href="/wiki/Adichanallur" title="Adichanallur">Adichanallur</a> in the <a href="/wiki/Government_Museum,_Chennai" title="Government Museum, Chennai">Government Museum, Chennai</a></figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-left" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Keezhadi_excavation.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Keezhadi_excavation.jpg/220px-Keezhadi_excavation.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="128" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="600" data-file-height="349"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 220px;height: 128px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Keezhadi_excavation.jpg/220px-Keezhadi_excavation.jpg" data-width="220" data-height="128" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Keezhadi_excavation.jpg/330px-Keezhadi_excavation.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Keezhadi_excavation.jpg/440px-Keezhadi_excavation.jpg 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Keezhadi_excavation_site" title="Keezhadi excavation site">Keezhadi excavation site</a></figcaption></figure> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Legendary_origins">Legendary origins</h3></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Tamil_Inscriptions.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Tamil_Inscriptions.jpg/200px-Tamil_Inscriptions.jpg" decoding="async" width="200" height="258" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="1453" data-file-height="1876"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 200px;height: 258px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Tamil_Inscriptions.jpg/200px-Tamil_Inscriptions.jpg" data-width="200" data-height="258" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Tamil_Inscriptions.jpg/300px-Tamil_Inscriptions.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Tamil_Inscriptions.jpg/400px-Tamil_Inscriptions.jpg 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a><figcaption>Explanation for <a href="/wiki/Mangulam" title="Mangulam">Mangulam</a> Tamil Brahmi inscription in Mangulam, <a href="/wiki/Madurai_district" title="Madurai district">Madurai district</a>, Tamil Nadu, dated to Tamil <a href="/wiki/Sangam_period" class="mw-redirect" title="Sangam period">Sangam period</a> (<abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 400 BCE – c. 200 CE)</figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Satavahana_Bilingual_Coin.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/56/Satavahana_Bilingual_Coin.jpg/200px-Satavahana_Bilingual_Coin.jpg" decoding="async" width="200" height="102" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="443" data-file-height="225"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 200px;height: 102px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/56/Satavahana_Bilingual_Coin.jpg/200px-Satavahana_Bilingual_Coin.jpg" data-width="200" data-height="102" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/56/Satavahana_Bilingual_Coin.jpg/300px-Satavahana_Bilingual_Coin.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/56/Satavahana_Bilingual_Coin.jpg/400px-Satavahana_Bilingual_Coin.jpg 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Tamil-Brahmi" title="Tamil-Brahmi">Tamil Brahmi</a> script in the reverse side of the bilingual silver coin of king <a href="/wiki/Vashishtiputra_S%C4%81takarni" class="mw-redirect" title="Vashishtiputra Sātakarni">Vashishtiputra Sātakarni</a> (<abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 160 CE) of <a href="/wiki/Deccan_Plateau" title="Deccan Plateau">Deccan</a>. Rev: Ujjain/Sātavāhana symbol, crescented six-arch chaitya hill and river with Tamil Brahmi script<a href="#cite_note-34">[32]</a><a href="#cite_note-35">[33]</a><a href="#cite_note-36">[34]</a><a href="#cite_note-37">[35]</a> Obv: Bust of king; <a href="/wiki/Prakrit" title="Prakrit">Prakrit</a> legend in the <a href="/wiki/Br%C4%81hm%C4%AB_script" class="mw-redirect" title="Brāhmī script">Brahmi</a> script</figcaption></figure> According to Hindu legend, Tamil or in personification form <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Thai" title="Tamil Thai">Tamil Thāi</a> (Mother Tamil) was created by Lord <a href="/wiki/Shiva" title="Shiva">Shiva</a>. <a href="/wiki/Murugan" class="mw-redirect" title="Murugan">Murugan</a>, revered as the Tamil God, along with sage <a href="/wiki/Agastya" title="Agastya">Agastya</a>, brought it to the people.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTERamaswamy199787-38">[36]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Historical_origins">Historical origins</h3></div> Tamil, like other Dravidian languages, ultimately descends from the <a href="/wiki/Proto-Dravidian_language" title="Proto-Dravidian language">Proto-Dravidian language</a>, which was most likely spoken around the third millennium BCE, possibly in the region around the lower <a href="/wiki/Godavari" class="mw-redirect" title="Godavari">Godavari</a> river basin. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were of the culture associated with the <a href="/wiki/Neolithic" title="Neolithic">Neolithic</a> complexes of South India,<a href="#cite_note-39">[37]</a> but it has also been related to the <a href="/wiki/Harappan_civilization" class="mw-redirect" title="Harappan civilization">Harappan civilization</a>. 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).<a href="#cite_note-Lehmann_1998_75-40">[38]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Brahmi_script">Brahmi script</h3></div> About 60,000 of the approximately 100,000 inscriptions found by the <a href="/wiki/Archaeological_Survey_of_India" title="Archaeological Survey of India">Archaeological Survey of India</a> in India are in Tamil Nadu. Of them, most are in Tamil, with only about 5 percent in other languages.<a href="#cite_note-41">[39]</a> In 2004, a number of skeletons were found buried in earthenware <a href="/wiki/Urn" title="Urn">urns</a> dating from at least 696 BCE in <a href="/wiki/Adichanallur" title="Adichanallur">Adichanallur</a>. Some of these urns contained writing in <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Brahmi" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Brahmi">Tamil Brahmi</a> script, and some contained skeletons of Tamil origin.<a href="#cite_note-:2b-42">[40]</a> Between 2017 and 2018, 5,820 artifacts have been found in <a href="/wiki/Keezhadi_excavation_site" title="Keezhadi excavation site">Keezhadi</a>. These were sent to Beta Analytic in <a href="/wiki/Miami" title="Miami">Miami</a>, <a href="/wiki/Florida" title="Florida">Florida</a>, for <a href="/wiki/Accelerator_Mass_Spectrometry" class="mw-redirect" title="Accelerator Mass Spectrometry">Accelerator Mass Spectrometry</a> (AMS) dating. One sample containing <a href="/wiki/Tamil-Brahmi" title="Tamil-Brahmi">Tamil-Brahmi</a> inscriptions was claimed to be dated to around 580 BCE.<a href="#cite_note-43">[41]</a><a href="#cite_note-44">[42]</a> <a href="/wiki/John_Guy_(historian)" title="John Guy (historian)">John Guy</a> states that Tamil was the <a href="/wiki/Lingua_franca" title="Lingua franca">lingua franca</a> for early maritime traders from India.<a href="#cite_note-scroll.in-45">[43]</a> <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Brahmi" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Brahmi">Tamil language inscriptions</a> written in Brahmi script have been discovered in <a href="/wiki/Sri_Lanka" title="Sri Lanka">Sri Lanka</a> and on trade goods in Thailand and Egypt.<a href="#cite_note-Egypt-46">[44]</a><a href="#cite_note-Foreign_locations-47">[45]</a> In November 2007, an excavation at Quseir-al-Qadim revealed Egyptian pottery dating back to first century BCE with ancient Tamil Brahmi inscriptions.<a href="#cite_note-Egypt-46">[44]</a> There are a number of apparent <a href="/wiki/Tamil_loanwords_in_Biblical_Hebrew" title="Tamil loanwords in Biblical Hebrew">Tamil loanwords in Biblical Hebrew</a> dating to before 500 BCE, the oldest attestation of the language.<a href="#cite_note-Rabin438-48">[46]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Old_Tamil">Old Tamil</h3></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Old_Tamil_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Old Tamil language">Old Tamil language</a></div> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-left" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Mangulam_inscription.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Mangulam_inscription.jpg/200px-Mangulam_inscription.jpg" decoding="async" width="200" height="150" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="3264" data-file-height="2448"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 200px;height: 150px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Mangulam_inscription.jpg/200px-Mangulam_inscription.jpg" data-width="200" data-height="150" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Mangulam_inscription.jpg/300px-Mangulam_inscription.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Mangulam_inscription.jpg/400px-Mangulam_inscription.jpg 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Mangulam" title="Mangulam">Mangulam</a> <a href="/wiki/Tamil-Brahmi" title="Tamil-Brahmi">Tamil Brahmi</a> inscription in Mangulam, <a href="/wiki/Madurai_district" title="Madurai district">Madurai district</a>, Tamil Nadu, dated to Tamil <a href="/wiki/Sangam_period" class="mw-redirect" title="Sangam period">Sangam period</a> (<abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 400 BCE – c. 200 CE)</figcaption></figure> 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 from 300 BCE to 700 CE. These inscriptions are written in a variant of the <a href="/wiki/Brahmi_script" title="Brahmi script">Brahmi script</a> called <a href="/wiki/Tamil-Brahmi" title="Tamil-Brahmi">Tamil-Brahmi</a>.<a href="#cite_note-49">[47]</a> The earliest long text in Old Tamil is the <a href="/wiki/Tolk%C4%81ppiyam" title="Tolkāppiyam">Tolkāppiyam</a>, an early work on Tamil grammar and poetics, whose oldest layers could be as old as the late 2nd century BCE.<a href="#cite_note-Lehmann_1998_75-40">[38]</a><a href="#cite_note-Zvelebil_1973-20">[18]</a> Many literary works in Old Tamil have also survived. These include a corpus of 2,381 poems collectively known as <a href="/wiki/Sangam_literature" title="Sangam literature">Sangam literature</a>. These poems are usually dated to between the 1st century BCE and 5th century CE.<a href="#cite_note-Lehmann_1998_75-40">[38]</a><a href="#cite_note-Zvelebil_1973-20">[18]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Middle_Tamil">Middle Tamil</h3></div> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-left" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Tanjavur_Tamil_Inscription2.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Tanjavur_Tamil_Inscription2.jpg/200px-Tanjavur_Tamil_Inscription2.jpg" decoding="async" width="200" height="262" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="749" data-file-height="982"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 200px;height: 262px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Tanjavur_Tamil_Inscription2.jpg/200px-Tanjavur_Tamil_Inscription2.jpg" data-width="200" data-height="262" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Tanjavur_Tamil_Inscription2.jpg/300px-Tanjavur_Tamil_Inscription2.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Tanjavur_Tamil_Inscription2.jpg/400px-Tanjavur_Tamil_Inscription2.jpg 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Middle_Tamil" title="Middle Tamil">Middle Tamil</a> inscriptions in <a href="/wiki/Vatteluttu" title="Vatteluttu">Vatteluttu script</a> in stone during <a href="/wiki/Chola_empire" class="mw-redirect" title="Chola empire">Chola</a> period <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 1000 CE at <a href="/wiki/Brahadeeswara_temple" class="mw-redirect" title="Brahadeeswara temple">Brahadeeswara temple</a> in <a href="/wiki/Thanjavur" title="Thanjavur">Thanjavur</a>, Tamil Nadu</figcaption></figure> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Middle_Tamil_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Middle Tamil language">Middle Tamil language</a></div> The evolution of <a href="/wiki/Old_Tamil" title="Old Tamil">Old Tamil</a> into <a href="/wiki/Middle_Tamil" title="Middle Tamil">Middle Tamil</a>, which is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century,<a href="#cite_note-Lehmann_1998_75-40">[38]</a> 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,<a href="#cite_note-50">[48]</a> the coalescence of the alveolar and dental nasals,<a href="#cite_note-51">[49]</a> and the transformation of the alveolar <a href="/wiki/Plosive" title="Plosive">plosive</a> into a <a href="/wiki/Rhotic_consonant" title="Rhotic consonant">rhotic</a>.<a href="#cite_note-52">[50]</a> 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 <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_aspect" title="Grammatical aspect">aspect marker</a> to indicate that an action was micro-durative, non-sustained or non-lasting, usually in combination with a time marker such as ṉ (ன்). In Middle Tamil, this usage evolved into a present tense marker – kiṉṟa (கின்ற) – which combined the old aspect and time markers.<a href="#cite_note-53">[51]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Modern_Tamil">Modern Tamil</h3></div> The <a href="/wiki/Nann%C5%ABl" class="mw-redirect" title="Nannūl">Nannūl</a> 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.<a href="#cite_note-54">[52]</a> 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<a href="#cite_note-55">[53]</a> – instead, negation is expressed either morphologically or syntactically.<a href="#cite_note-56">[54]</a> Modern spoken Tamil also shows a number of sound changes, in particular, a tendency to lower high vowels in initial and medial positions,<a href="#cite_note-57">[55]</a> and the disappearance of vowels between plosives and between a plosive and rhotic.<a href="#cite_note-58">[56]</a> 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 <a href="/wiki/Theta_role" title="Theta role">syntactic argument structure</a> of English.<a href="#cite_note-59">[57]</a> In 1578, Portuguese Christian missionaries published a Tamil prayer book in old Tamil script named <a href="/wiki/Thambiran_Vanakkam" title="Thambiran Vanakkam">Thambiran Vanakkam</a>, thus making Tamil the first Indian language to be printed and published.<a href="#cite_note-60">[58]</a> The <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Lexicon" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Lexicon">Tamil Lexicon</a>, published by the <a href="/wiki/University_of_Madras" title="University of Madras">University of Madras</a>, was one of the earliest dictionaries published in Indian languages.<a href="#cite_note-61">[59]</a> A strong strain of <a href="/wiki/Linguistic_purism" title="Linguistic purism">linguistic purism</a> emerged in the early 20th century, culminating in the <a href="/wiki/Pure_Tamil_Movement" class="mw-redirect" title="Pure Tamil Movement">Pure Tamil Movement</a> which called for removal of all Sanskritic elements from Tamil.<a href="#cite_note-thaniththamizh-62">[60]</a> It received some support from <a href="/wiki/Dravidian_parties" title="Dravidian parties">Dravidian parties</a>.<a href="#cite_note-63">[61]</a> This led to the replacement of a significant number of <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> loanwords by Tamil equivalents, though many others remain.<a href="#cite_note-Krishnamurti_2003_p=480-64">[62]</a> According to a 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, of which 353 were dailies.<a href="#cite_note-65">[63]</a> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(4)"><h2 id="Geographic_distribution">Geographic distribution</h2></div><section class="mf-section-4 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-4"> Tamil is the primary language of the majority of the people residing in <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Nadu" title="Tamil Nadu">Tamil Nadu</a>, <a href="/wiki/Puducherry_(union_territory)" title="Puducherry (union territory)">Puducherry</a>, (in India) and in the <a href="/wiki/Northern_Province,_Sri_Lanka" title="Northern Province, Sri Lanka">Northern</a> and <a href="/wiki/Eastern_Province,_Sri_Lanka" title="Eastern Province, Sri Lanka">Eastern</a> provinces of <a href="/wiki/Sri_Lanka" title="Sri Lanka">Sri Lanka</a>. The language is spoken among small minority groups in other states of India which include <a href="/wiki/Karnataka" title="Karnataka">Karnataka</a>, <a href="/wiki/Telangana" title="Telangana">Telangana</a>, <a href="/wiki/Andhra_Pradesh" title="Andhra Pradesh">Andhra Pradesh</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kerala" title="Kerala">Kerala</a>, <a href="/wiki/Maharashtra" title="Maharashtra">Maharashtra</a>, <a href="/wiki/Gujarat" title="Gujarat">Gujarat</a>, <a href="/wiki/Delhi" title="Delhi">Delhi</a>, <a href="/wiki/Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands" title="Andaman and Nicobar Islands">Andaman and Nicobar Islands</a> in India and in certain regions of Sri Lanka such as <a href="/wiki/Colombo" title="Colombo">Colombo</a> and <a href="/wiki/Central_Province,_Sri_Lanka" title="Central Province, Sri Lanka">the hill country</a>. 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 <a href="/wiki/Andhra_Pradesh" title="Andhra Pradesh">Andhra Pradesh</a> districts of <a href="/wiki/Chittoor_district" title="Chittoor district">Chittoor</a> and <a href="/wiki/Nellore_district" title="Nellore district">Nellore</a> until the 12th century CE.<a href="#cite_note-Talbot_2001_27%E2%80%9337-1">[1]</a> Tamil was used for inscriptions from the 10th through 14th centuries in southern Karnataka districts such as <a href="/wiki/Kolar_District" class="mw-redirect" title="Kolar District">Kolar</a>, <a href="/wiki/Mysore" title="Mysore">Mysore</a>, <a href="/wiki/Mandya" title="Mandya">Mandya</a> and <a href="/wiki/Bengaluru" title="Bengaluru">Bengaluru</a>.<a href="#cite_note-66">[64]</a> There are currently sizeable <a href="/wiki/Tamil_diaspora" title="Tamil diaspora">Tamil-speaking populations</a> descended from colonial-era migrants in <a href="/wiki/Malaysia" title="Malaysia">Malaysia</a>, <a href="/wiki/Singapore" title="Singapore">Singapore</a>, <a href="/wiki/Philippines" title="Philippines">Philippines</a>, <a href="/wiki/Mauritius" title="Mauritius">Mauritius</a>, <a href="/wiki/Tamil_South_Africans" title="Tamil South Africans">South Africa</a>, Indonesia,<a href="#cite_note-67">[65]</a> Thailand,<a href="#cite_note-68">[66]</a> <a href="/wiki/Burma" class="mw-redirect" title="Burma">Burma</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Vietnam" title="Vietnam">Vietnam</a>. Tamil is used as one of the languages of education in <a href="/wiki/Malaysia" title="Malaysia">Malaysia</a>, along with English, Malay and Mandarin.<a href="#cite_note-Tamil_Schools-69">[67]</a><a href="#cite_note-70">[68]</a> A large community of <a href="/wiki/Tamils_in_Pakistan" title="Tamils in Pakistan">Pakistani Tamils</a> speakers exists in <a href="/wiki/Karachi" title="Karachi">Karachi</a>, <a href="/wiki/Pakistan" title="Pakistan">Pakistan</a>, which includes Tamil-speaking Hindus<a href="#cite_note-TNP-71">[69]</a><a href="#cite_note-PHP-72">[70]</a> as well as Christians and Muslims – including some Tamil-speaking Muslim refugees from Sri Lanka.<a href="#cite_note-HBL-73">[71]</a> There are about 100 Tamil Hindu families in <a href="/wiki/Madrasi_Para" title="Madrasi Para">Madrasi Para</a> colony in Karachi. They speak impeccable Tamil along with Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi.<a href="#cite_note-74">[72]</a> Many in <a href="/wiki/R%C3%A9union" title="Réunion">Réunion</a>, <a href="/wiki/Guyana" title="Guyana">Guyana</a>, <a href="/wiki/Fiji" title="Fiji">Fiji</a>, <a href="/wiki/Suriname" title="Suriname">Suriname</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Trinidad_and_Tobago" title="Trinidad and Tobago">Trinidad and Tobago</a> have Tamil origins,<a href="#cite_note-ucberkeleydiaspora-75">[73]</a> 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 <a href="/wiki/France" title="France">France</a> it is now being relearnt by students and adults.<a href="#cite_note-ucberkeleydiaspora1-76">[74]</a> Tamil is also spoken by migrants <a href="/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Tamil_diaspora" title="Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora">from Sri Lanka</a> and India in <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Canadians" title="Tamil Canadians">Canada</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Americans" title="Tamil Americans">United States</a>, the <a href="/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates" title="United Arab Emirates">United Arab Emirates</a>, the <a href="/wiki/British_Tamils" title="British Tamils">United Kingdom</a>, <a href="/wiki/Tamil_South_Africans" title="Tamil South Africans">South Africa</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Australians" title="Tamil Australians">Australia</a>. </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(5)"><h2 id="Legal_status">Legal status</h2></div><section class="mf-section-5 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-5"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/States_of_India_by_Tamil_speakers" title="States of India by Tamil speakers">States of India by Tamil speakers</a></div> Tamil is the <a href="/wiki/Official_language" title="Official language">official language</a> of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the <a href="/wiki/Languages_with_official_status_in_India" class="mw-redirect" title="Languages with official status in India">22 languages under schedule 8 of the constitution of India</a>.<a href="#cite_note-Eight-77">[75]</a> It is one of the official languages of the union territories of <a href="/wiki/Puducherry_(union_territory)" title="Puducherry (union territory)">Puducherry</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands" title="Andaman and Nicobar Islands">Andaman and Nicobar Islands</a>.<a href="#cite_note-78">[76]</a><a href="#cite_note-79">[77]</a> Tamil is also one of the official languages of <a href="/wiki/Singapore" title="Singapore">Singapore</a>. Tamil is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, along with <a href="/wiki/Sinhala_language" title="Sinhala language">Sinhala</a>.<a href="#cite_note-languagesdept-80">[78]</a> It was once given nominal official status in the Indian state of <a href="/wiki/Haryana" title="Haryana">Haryana</a>, purportedly as a rebuff to <a href="/wiki/Punjab_(India)" class="mw-redirect" title="Punjab (India)">Punjab</a>, though there was no attested Tamil-speaking population in the state, and was later replaced by <a href="/wiki/Punjabi_language" title="Punjabi language">Punjabi</a>, in 2010.<a href="#cite_note-81">[79]</a> In Malaysia, 543 primary education government schools are available fully in <a href="/wiki/Tamil_primary_schools_in_Malaysia" title="Tamil primary schools in Malaysia">Tamil as the medium of instruction</a>.<a href="#cite_note-82">[80]</a> The establishment of Tamil-medium schools has been in process in <a href="/wiki/Myanmar" title="Myanmar">Myanmar</a> to provide education completely in Tamil language by the Tamils who settled there 200 years ago.<a href="#cite_note-bbc.com-83">[81]</a> Tamil language is available as a course in some local school boards and major universities in <a href="/wiki/Canada" title="Canada">Canada</a> and the month of January has been declared "Tamil Heritage Month" by the <a href="/wiki/Parliament_of_Canada" title="Parliament of Canada">Parliament of Canada</a>.<a href="#cite_note-84">[82]</a><a href="#cite_note-85">[83]</a> Tamil enjoys a special status of protection under Article 6(b), Chapter 1 of the <a href="/wiki/Constitution_of_South_Africa" title="Constitution of South Africa">Constitution of South Africa</a> and is taught as a subject in schools in <a href="/wiki/KwaZulu-Natal" title="KwaZulu-Natal">KwaZulu-Natal</a> province.<a href="#cite_note-86">[84]</a><a href="#cite_note-87">[85]</a> Recently, it has been rolled out as a subject of study in schools in the <a href="/wiki/Overseas_France" title="Overseas France">French overseas department</a> of <a href="/wiki/R%C3%A9union" title="Réunion">Réunion</a>.<a href="#cite_note-88">[86]</a> In addition, with the creation in October 2004 of a legal status for classical languages by the <a href="/wiki/Government_of_India" title="Government of India">Government of India</a> and following a political campaign supported by several Tamil associations,<a href="#cite_note-dmkpolitics2-89">[87]</a><a href="#cite_note-historyofdemand-90">[88]</a> Tamil became the first legally recognised <a href="/wiki/Languages_of_India#Classical_languages_of_India" title="Languages of India">Classical language</a> of India. The recognition was announced by the contemporaneous <a href="/wiki/President_of_India" title="President of India">President of India</a>, <a href="/wiki/Abdul_Kalam" class="mw-redirect" title="Abdul Kalam">Abdul Kalam</a>, who was a Tamilian himself, in a joint sitting of both houses of the <a href="/wiki/Parliament_of_India" title="Parliament of India">Indian Parliament</a> on 6 June 2004.<a href="#cite_note-LanguageInIndia-91">[89]</a><a href="#cite_note-BBC_Classical_language-92">[90]</a><a href="#cite_note-The_Hindu_Classical_language-93">[91]</a> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(6)"><h2 id="Dialects">Dialects</h2></div><section class="mf-section-6 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-6"> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Jambai_Tamil_Brahmi.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Jambai_Tamil_Brahmi.jpg/400px-Jambai_Tamil_Brahmi.jpg" decoding="async" width="400" height="145" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="2573" data-file-height="935"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 400px;height: 145px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Jambai_Tamil_Brahmi.jpg/400px-Jambai_Tamil_Brahmi.jpg" data-width="400" data-height="145" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Jambai_Tamil_Brahmi.jpg/600px-Jambai_Tamil_Brahmi.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Jambai_Tamil_Brahmi.jpg/800px-Jambai_Tamil_Brahmi.jpg 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Athiyam%C4%81n_Nedum%C4%81n_A%C3%B1ci" title="Athiyamān Nedumān Añci">Jambai Tamil Brahmi inscription</a> near <a href="/wiki/Tirukkoyilur" class="mw-redirect" title="Tirukkoyilur">Tirukkoyilur</a> in <a href="/wiki/Villupuram_district" class="mw-redirect" title="Villupuram district">Villupuram district</a>, Tamil Nadu dated to the early <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Sangam" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Sangam">Tamil Sangam</a> age (<abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 400 BC)</figcaption></figure> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1235681985"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1096940132">.mw-parser-output .listen .side-box-text{line-height:1.1em}.mw-parser-output .listen-plain{border:none;background:transparent}.mw-parser-output .listen-embedded{width:100%;margin:0;border-width:1px 0 0 0;background:transparent}.mw-parser-output .listen-header{padding:2px}.mw-parser-output .listen-embedded .listen-header{padding:2px 0}.mw-parser-output .listen-file-header{padding:4px 0}.mw-parser-output .listen .description{padding-top:2px}.mw-parser-output .listen .mw-tmh-player{max-width:100%}@media(max-width:719px){.mw-parser-output .listen{clear:both}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .listen:not(.listen-noimage){width:320px}.mw-parser-output .listen-left{overflow:visible;float:left}.mw-parser-output .listen-center{float:none;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}}</style><div class="side-box side-box-right listen noprint"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><figure class="mw-halign-center" typeof="mw:File"><noscript><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/50px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 50px;height: 50px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/50px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png" data-alt="" data-width="50" data-height="50" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/75px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/100px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> <figcaption></figcaption></figure></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist"><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:Oppaari_Song.ogg" title="File:Oppaari Song.ogg">Colloquial Tamil 'Oppaari song'</a></div> <div><audio id="mwe_player_0" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="177" data-mwtitle="Oppaari_Song.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Oppaari_Song.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"' data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6c/Oppaari_Song.ogg/Oppaari_Song.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source></audio></div> <div class="description">Oppaari song lamenting death, sung by women during a death ceremony. Here it is the death of a son lamented by the mother.</div></div><hr><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:Ta-ponnagaram.ogg" title="File:Ta-ponnagaram.ogg">Pudumaipithan's short story 'Pon Nagaram'</a></div> <div><audio id="mwe_player_1" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="333" data-mwtitle="Ta-ponnagaram.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Ta-ponnagaram.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"' data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/94/Ta-ponnagaram.ogg/Ta-ponnagaram.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source></audio></div> <div class="description">Audio recording of <a href="/wiki/Pudumaipithan" class="mw-redirect" title="Pudumaipithan">Pudumaipithan</a>'s short story 'Pon Nagaram' (showing a few loanwords).</div></div></div></div> <div class="side-box-abovebelow"><hr>Problems playing these files? See <a href="/wiki/Help:Media" title="Help:Media">media help</a>.</div> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Region-specific_variations">Region-specific variations</h3></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Tamil_dialects" title="Sri Lankan Tamil dialects">Sri Lankan Tamil dialects</a> and <a href="/wiki/Indian_Tamil_dialect_of_Sri_Lanka" title="Indian Tamil dialect of Sri Lanka">Indian Tamil dialect of Sri Lanka</a></div> The <a href="/wiki/Socio-linguistics" class="mw-redirect" title="Socio-linguistics">socio-linguistic</a> situation of Tamil is characterised by <a href="/wiki/Diglossia" title="Diglossia">diglossia</a>: there are two separate registers varying by <a href="/wiki/Socioeconomic_status" title="Socioeconomic status">socioeconomic status</a>, a high register and a low one.<a href="#cite_note-94">[92]</a><a href="#cite_note-95">[93]</a> 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 <a href="/wiki/Coimbatore" title="Coimbatore">Coimbatore</a>, inga in the dialects of <a href="/wiki/Thanjavur" title="Thanjavur">Thanjavur</a> and <a href="/wiki/Palakkad" title="Palakkad">Palakkad</a>, and iṅkai in some <a href="/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Tamil_dialects" title="Sri Lankan Tamil dialects">dialects of Sri Lanka</a>. Old Tamil's iṅkaṇ (where kaṇ means place) is the source of iṅkane in the dialect of <a href="/wiki/Tirunelveli" title="Tirunelveli">Tirunelveli</a>, Old Tamil iṅkiṭṭu is the source of iṅkuṭṭu in the dialect of <a href="/wiki/Madurai" title="Madurai">Madurai</a>, 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,<a href="#cite_note-Lehmann_1998_75-40">[38]</a><a href="#cite_note-as-96">[94]</a> and use many other words slightly differently.<a href="#cite_note-97">[95]</a> Tamil dialects include <a href="/wiki/Central_Tamil_dialect" title="Central Tamil dialect">Central Tamil dialect</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kongu_Tamil" title="Kongu Tamil">Kongu Tamil</a>, <a href="/wiki/Madras_Bashai" title="Madras Bashai">Madras Bashai</a>, <a href="/wiki/Madurai_Tamil" title="Madurai Tamil">Madurai Tamil</a>, <a href="/wiki/Nellai_Tamil" class="mw-redirect" title="Nellai Tamil">Nellai Tamil</a>, Kumari Tamil in <a href="/wiki/India" title="India">India</a>; <a href="/wiki/Batticaloa_Tamil_dialect" title="Batticaloa Tamil dialect">Batticaloa Tamil dialect</a>, <a href="/wiki/Jaffna_Tamil_dialect" title="Jaffna Tamil dialect">Jaffna Tamil dialect</a>, <a href="/wiki/Negombo_Tamil_dialect" title="Negombo Tamil dialect">Negombo Tamil dialect</a> in Sri Lanka; and <a href="/wiki/Malaysian_Tamil" title="Malaysian Tamil">Malaysian Tamil</a> in Malaysia. <a href="/wiki/Sankethi_dialect" class="mw-redirect" title="Sankethi dialect">Sankethi dialect</a> in Karnataka has been heavily influenced by <a href="/wiki/Kannada" title="Kannada">Kannada</a>. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Loanword_variations">Loanword variations</h4></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Indo-Aryan_loanwords_in_Tamil" title="Indo-Aryan loanwords in Tamil">Indo-Aryan loanwords in Tamil</a> and <a href="/wiki/Loan_words_in_Sri_Lankan_Tamil" class="mw-redirect" title="Loan words in Sri Lankan Tamil">Loan words in Sri Lankan Tamil</a></div> The dialect of the district of <a href="/wiki/Palakkad" title="Palakkad">Palakkad</a> in Kerala has many <a href="/wiki/Malayalam" title="Malayalam">Malayalam</a> 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 <a href="/wiki/Kanyakumari_district" title="Kanyakumari district">Kanyakumari district</a> is easily identifiable by their spoken Tamil. <a href="/wiki/Hebbar_Iyengars" class="mw-redirect" title="Hebbar Iyengars">Hebbar</a> and <a href="/wiki/Mandyam" class="mw-redirect" title="Mandyam">Mandyam</a> dialects, spoken by groups of Tamil <a href="/wiki/Vaishnavism" title="Vaishnavism">Vaishnavites</a> who migrated to <a href="/wiki/Karnataka" title="Karnataka">Karnataka</a> 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.<a href="#cite_note-98">[96]</a> Several <a href="/wiki/Caste" title="Caste">castes</a> have their own <a href="/wiki/Sociolect" title="Sociolect">sociolects</a> 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.<a href="#cite_note-EB_2007-99">[97]</a> For example, <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Brahmin" title="Tamil Brahmin">Tamil Brahmins</a> tend to speak a variety of dialects that are all collectively known as <a href="/wiki/Brahmin_Tamil" title="Brahmin Tamil">Brahmin Tamil</a>. These dialects tend to have softer consonants (with consonant deletion also common). These dialects also tend to have many <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> loanwords. Tamil in Sri Lanka incorporates <a href="/wiki/Loan_words_in_Sri_Lankan_Tamil" class="mw-redirect" title="Loan words in Sri Lankan Tamil">loan words</a> from <a href="/wiki/Portuguese_language" title="Portuguese language">Portuguese</a>, <a href="/wiki/Dutch_Language" class="mw-redirect" title="Dutch Language">Dutch</a>, and English. </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(7)"><h2 id="Spoken_and_literary_variants">Spoken and literary variants</h2></div><section class="mf-section-7 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-7"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1235681985"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1096940132"><div class="side-box side-box-right listen noprint"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><figure class="mw-halign-center" typeof="mw:File"><noscript><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/50px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 50px;height: 50px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/50px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png" data-alt="" data-width="50" data-height="50" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/75px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/100px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> <figcaption></figcaption></figure></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist"><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:Thiruppugazh_-_Umbartharu_-_Hamsadhwani.wav" title="File:Thiruppugazh - Umbartharu - Hamsadhwani.wav">Thiruppugazh – Umbartharu – Hamsadhwani</a></div> <div><audio id="mwe_player_2" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="74" data-mwtitle="Thiruppugazh_-_Umbartharu_-_Hamsadhwani.wav" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/18/Thiruppugazh_-_Umbartharu_-_Hamsadhwani.wav/Thiruppugazh_-_Umbartharu_-_Hamsadhwani.wav.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"' data-transcodekey="ogg" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/18/Thiruppugazh_-_Umbartharu_-_Hamsadhwani.wav/Thiruppugazh_-_Umbartharu_-_Hamsadhwani.wav.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Thiruppugazh_-_Umbartharu_-_Hamsadhwani.wav" type="audio/wav" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><track src="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php?action=timedtext&title=File%3AThiruppugazh_-_Umbartharu_-_Hamsadhwani.wav&lang=ta&trackformat=vtt&origin=%2A" kind="subtitles" type="text/vtt" srclang="ta" label="தமிழ் ‪(ta)‬" data-dir="ltr"></track></audio></div> <div class="description">Literary Tamil in hymn 'Umbartharu' (Hamsadhwani) on lord <a href="/wiki/Ganesha" title="Ganesha">Ganesha</a> from <a href="/wiki/Thiruppugazh" class="mw-redirect" title="Thiruppugazh">Thiruppugazh</a> (c. 1400s).</div></div><hr><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:Ta_-_%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%AF_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%88_-_%E0%AE%85%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D_-_%E0%AE%AE.%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8A.%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%9E%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A9%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D.ogg" title="File:Ta - குளிர் காய நேரமில்லை - அறிவுக் கதைகள் - ம.பொ.சிவஞானம்.ogg">Sivagnanam's 'Arivuk kadhaigal'.</a></div> <div><audio id="mwe_player_3" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="138" data-mwtitle="Ta_-_குளிர்_காய_நேரமில்லை_-_அறிவுக்_கதைகள்_-_ம.பொ.சிவஞானம்.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/71/Ta_-_%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%AF_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%88_-_%E0%AE%85%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D_-_%E0%AE%AE.%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8A.%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%9E%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A9%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D.ogg/Ta_-_%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%AF_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%88_-_%E0%AE%85%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D_-_%E0%AE%AE.%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8A.%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%9E%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A9%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D.ogg.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"' data-transcodekey="ogg" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/71/Ta_-_%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%AF_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%88_-_%E0%AE%85%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D_-_%E0%AE%AE.%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8A.%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%9E%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A9%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D.ogg/Ta_-_%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%AF_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%88_-_%E0%AE%85%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D_-_%E0%AE%AE.%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8A.%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%9E%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A9%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Ta_-_%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%AF_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%88_-_%E0%AE%85%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D_-_%E0%AE%AE.%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8A.%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%9E%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A9%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="flac"' data-width="0" data-height="0"></source></audio></div> <div class="description">Literary Tamil pronunciation. Reading an excerpt from <a href="/wiki/Ma._Po._Si." class="mw-redirect" title="Ma. Po. Si.">Ma. Po. Si.</a>'s book 'Arivuk kadhaigal' (1900s).</div></div><hr><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:Ta-Senthamizh_Nadu.ogg" title="File:Ta-Senthamizh Nadu.ogg">Bharathi's 'Senthamil nadu ennum' song</a></div> <div><audio id="mwe_player_4" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="100" data-mwtitle="Ta-Senthamizh_Nadu.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/99/Ta-Senthamizh_Nadu.ogg/Ta-Senthamizh_Nadu.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Ta-Senthamizh_Nadu.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"' data-width="0" data-height="0"></source></audio></div> <div class="description">Literary Tamil pronunciation in song written by <a href="/wiki/Subramanya_Bharathi" class="mw-redirect" title="Subramanya Bharathi">Subramanya Bharathi</a>, 'Senthamizh naadennum pothinile' (1900s ).</div></div></div></div> <div class="side-box-abovebelow"><hr>Problems playing these files? See <a href="/wiki/Help:Media" title="Help:Media">media help</a>.</div> </div> 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 <a href="/wiki/Colloquial" class="mw-redirect" title="Colloquial">colloquial</a> 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.<a href="#cite_note-100">[98]</a> In modern times, centamiḻ is generally used in formal writing and speech. For instance, it is the language of textbooks, of much of <a href="/wiki/Tamil_literature" title="Tamil literature">Tamil literature</a> and of public speaking and debate. 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,<a href="#cite_note-Standard_restandard-101">[99]</a>[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify">clarification needed</a>] but has been significantly influenced by the dialects of <a href="/wiki/Thanjavur" title="Thanjavur">Thanjavur</a> and <a href="/wiki/Madurai" title="Madurai">Madurai</a>. In Sri Lanka, the standard is based on the dialect of <a href="/wiki/Jaffna" title="Jaffna">Jaffna</a>. </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(8)"><h2 id="Writing_system">Writing system</h2></div><section class="mf-section-8 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-8"> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-More_citations_needed_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a>. Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Tamil_language" title="Special:EditPage/Tamil language">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a> in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2023) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/wiki/Tamil_script" title="Tamil script">Tamil script</a> and <a href="/wiki/Tamil_braille" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil braille">Tamil braille</a></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Vatteluttu" title="Vatteluttu">Vatteluttu</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grantha_script" title="Grantha script">Grantha script</a>, <a href="/wiki/Pallava_script" title="Pallava script">Pallava script</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Arwi" title="Arwi">Arwi</a></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:History_of_Tamil_script.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/History_of_Tamil_script.jpg/400px-History_of_Tamil_script.jpg" decoding="async" width="400" height="279" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="942" data-file-height="656"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 400px;height: 279px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/History_of_Tamil_script.jpg/400px-History_of_Tamil_script.jpg" data-width="400" data-height="279" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/History_of_Tamil_script.jpg/600px-History_of_Tamil_script.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/History_of_Tamil_script.jpg/800px-History_of_Tamil_script.jpg 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a><figcaption>Historical evolution of Tamil writing from the earlier <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Brahmi" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Brahmi">Tamil Brahmi</a> near the top to the current <a href="/wiki/Tamil_script" title="Tamil script">Tamil script</a> at bottom</figcaption></figure> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Tirukkural_manuscript.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Tirukkural_manuscript.jpg/400px-Tirukkural_manuscript.jpg" decoding="async" width="400" height="65" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="1505" data-file-height="245"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 400px;height: 65px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Tirukkural_manuscript.jpg/400px-Tirukkural_manuscript.jpg" data-width="400" data-height="65" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Tirukkural_manuscript.jpg/600px-Tirukkural_manuscript.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Tirukkural_manuscript.jpg/800px-Tirukkural_manuscript.jpg 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Tirukkural" class="mw-redirect" title="Tirukkural">Tirukkuṟaḷ</a> <a href="/wiki/Palm_leaf_manuscript" class="mw-redirect" title="Palm leaf manuscript">palm leaf manuscript</a></figcaption></figure> After <a href="/wiki/Tamil_Brahmi" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Brahmi">Tamil Brahmi</a> fell out of use, Tamil was written using a script called <a href="/wiki/Vatteluttu_alphabet" class="mw-redirect" title="Vatteluttu alphabet">vaṭṭeḻuttu</a> amongst others such as <a href="/wiki/Grantha_script" title="Grantha script">Grantha</a> and <a href="/wiki/Pallava_script" title="Pallava script">Pallava</a>. The current <a href="/wiki/Tamil_script" title="Tamil script">Tamil script</a> consists of 12 <a href="/wiki/Vowel" title="Vowel">vowels</a>, 18 <a href="/wiki/Consonant" title="Consonant">consonants</a> and one special character, the <a href="/wiki/%C4%80ytam" class="mw-redirect" title="Āytam">āytam</a>. 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 a, as with other <a href="/wiki/Indic_scripts" class="mw-redirect" title="Indic scripts">Indic scripts</a>. This inherent vowel is removed by adding a <a href="/wiki/Tittle" title="Tittle">tittle</a> called a puḷḷi, to the consonantal sign. For example, ன is ṉa (with the inherent a) and ன் is ṉ (without a vowel). Many Indic scripts have a similar sign, generically called <a href="/wiki/Virama" title="Virama">virama</a>, 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 <a href="/wiki/Plosive" title="Plosive">plosives</a>. Instead, plosives are articulated with voice depending on their position in a word, in accordance with the rules of <a href="/wiki/Tamil_phonology" title="Tamil phonology">Tamil phonology</a>. In addition to the standard characters, six characters taken from the <a href="/wiki/Grantha_script" title="Grantha script">Grantha script</a>, 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, <a href="/wiki/Prakrit" title="Prakrit">Prakrit</a>, 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.<a href="#cite_note-102">[100]</a> <a href="/wiki/ISO_15919#Overview" title="ISO 15919">ISO 15919</a> is an international standard for the <a href="/wiki/Tamil_script#Letters" title="Tamil script">transliteration of Tamil</a> and other <a href="/wiki/Indic_scripts" class="mw-redirect" title="Indic scripts">Indic scripts</a> into Latin characters. It uses diacritics to map the much larger set of <a href="/wiki/Brahmic_scripts" title="Brahmic scripts">Brahmic consonants and vowels</a> to <a href="/wiki/Latin_script" title="Latin script">Latin script</a>, and thus the alphabets of various languages, including English. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Numerals_and_symbols">Numerals and symbols</h3></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Tamil_numerals" title="Tamil numerals">Tamil numerals</a></div> 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. <table class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"> <tbody><tr> <th>zero</th> <th>one</th> <th>two</th> <th>three</th> <th>four</th> <th>five</th> <th>six</th> <th>seven</th> <th>eight</th> <th>nine</th> <th>ten</th> <th>hundred</th> <th>thousand </th></tr> <tr style="font-size: 150%"> <td>௦</td> <td>௧</td> <td>௨</td> <td>௩</td> <td>௪</td> <td>௫</td> <td>௬</td> <td>௭</td> <td>௮</td> <td>௯</td> <td>௰</td> <td>௱</td> <td>௲ </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"> <tbody><tr> <th>day</th> <th>month</th> <th>year</th> <th>debit</th> <th>credit</th> <th>as above</th> <th>rupee</th> <th>numeral </th></tr> <tr style="font-size: 150%"> <td>௳</td> <td>௴</td> <td>௵</td> <td>௶</td> <td>௷</td> <td>௸</td> <td>௹</td> <td>௺ </td></tr></tbody></table> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(9)"><h2 id="Phonology">Phonology</h2></div><section class="mf-section-9 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-9"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Tamil_phonology" title="Tamil phonology">Tamil phonology</a></div> <table class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"> <caption>Tamil consonants<a href="#cite_note-103">[101]</a> </caption> <tbody><tr> <th> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Labial_consonant" title="Labial consonant">Labial</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Dental_consonant" title="Dental consonant">Dental</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Alveolar_consonant" title="Alveolar consonant">Alveolar</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Retroflex_consonant" title="Retroflex consonant">Retroflex</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Alveolo-palatal_consonant" title="Alveolo-palatal consonant">Alveolo-palatal</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Velar_consonant" title="Velar consonant">Velar</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Glottal_consonant" title="Glottal consonant">Glottal</a> </th></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Nasal_stop" class="mw-redirect" title="Nasal stop">Nasal</a> </th> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_nasal" title="Voiced bilabial nasal">m</a> ம் </td> <td>(<a href="/wiki/Voiced_dental_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced dental nasal">n̪</a>) ந் </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar nasal">n</a> ன் </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiced_retroflex_nasal" title="Voiced retroflex nasal">ɳ</a> ண் </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_nasal" title="Voiced palatal nasal">ɲ</a> ஞ் </td> <td>(<a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_nasal" title="Voiced velar nasal">ŋ</a>) ங் </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Stop_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Stop consonant">Stop</a>/<a href="/wiki/Affricate_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Affricate consonant">Affricate</a> </th> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_bilabial_plosive" title="Voiceless bilabial plosive">p</a> ப் </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_dental_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless dental plosive">t̪</a> த் </td> <td>(<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">tːr</a> ற்ற) </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_retroflex_plosive" title="Voiceless retroflex plosive">ʈ</a> ட் </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_affricate" title="Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate">t͡ɕ</a> ~ <a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_affricate" title="Voiceless postalveolar affricate">t͡ʃ</a> ச்5 </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a> க் </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Fricative_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Fricative consonant">Fricative</a> </th> <td>(<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_labiodental_fricative" title="Voiceless labiodental fricative">f</a>)1 </td> <td> </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a>5 ஸ் (<a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a>)1 </td> <td>(<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_retroflex_fricative" title="Voiceless retroflex fricative">ʂ</a>)1 ஷ் </td> <td>(<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative">ɕ</a>)1 ஶ் </td> <td>(<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_fricative" title="Voiceless velar fricative">x</a>)2 </td> <td>(<a href="/wiki/Voiceless_glottal_fricative" title="Voiceless glottal fricative">h</a>)2 ஹ் </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Tap_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Tap consonant">Tap</a> </th> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td><a href="/wiki/%C9%BE" class="mw-redirect" title="ɾ">ɾ</a> ர் </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Trill_consonant" title="Trill consonant">Trill</a> </th> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_trill" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar trill">r</a> ற் </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Approximant_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Approximant consonant">Approximant</a> </th> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiced_labiodental_approximant" title="Voiced labiodental approximant">ʋ</a> வ் </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiced_retroflex_approximant" title="Voiced retroflex approximant">ɻ</a> ழ் </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a> ய் </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Lateral_consonant" title="Lateral consonant">Lateral approximant</a> </th> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_lateral_approximant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar lateral approximant">l</a> ல் </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Voiced_retroflex_lateral_approximant" title="Voiced retroflex lateral approximant">ɭ</a> ள் </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table> /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. <table class="wikitable"> <caption><a href="/wiki/Monophthong" title="Monophthong">Monophthongs</a><a href="#cite_note-104">[102]</a> </caption> <tbody><tr> <th rowspan="2"> </th> <th colspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Front_vowel" title="Front vowel">Front</a> </th> <th colspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Central_vowel" title="Central vowel">Central</a> </th> <th colspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Back_vowel" title="Back vowel">Back</a> </th></tr> <tr> <th>short </th> <th>long </th> <th>short </th> <th>long </th> <th>short </th> <th>long </th></tr> <tr style="text-align: center;"> <th><a href="/wiki/Close_vowel" title="Close vowel">Close</a> </th> <td><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a> இ </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">iː</a> ஈ </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a> உ </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">uː</a> ஊ </td></tr> <tr style="text-align: center;"> <th><a href="/wiki/Mid_vowel" title="Mid vowel">Mid</a> </th> <td><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a> எ </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">eː</a> ஏ </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a> ஒ </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">oː</a> ஓ </td></tr> <tr style="text-align: center;"> <th><a href="/wiki/Open_vowel" title="Open vowel">Open</a> </th> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Open_central_unrounded_vowel" title="Open central unrounded vowel">ä</a> அ </td> <td><a href="/wiki/Open_central_unrounded_vowel" title="Open central unrounded vowel">äː</a> ஆ </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table> Tamil has two <a href="/wiki/Diphthong" title="Diphthong">diphthongs</a>: /aɪ̯/ ஐ and /aʊ̯/ ஔ, the latter of which is restricted to a few lexical items. </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(10)"><h2 id="Grammar">Grammar</h2></div><section class="mf-section-10 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-10"> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul 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href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1096940132"><div class="side-box side-box-right listen noprint"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><figure class="mw-halign-center" typeof="mw:File"><noscript><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/50px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 50px;height: 50px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/50px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png" data-alt="" data-width="50" data-height="50" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/75px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/100px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> <figcaption></figcaption></figure></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist"><div class="listen-header">Tamil tongue twisters.</div> <div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D_7.ogg" title="File:நா நெகிழ் பயிற்சி வாக்கியம் 7.ogg">ல-கரம், ழ-கரம்.</a></div> <div><audio id="mwe_player_5" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="6" data-mwtitle="நா_நெகிழ்_பயிற்சி_வாக்கியம்_7.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D_7.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"' data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/42/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D_7.ogg/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D_7.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source></audio></div> <div class="description">'குலை குலையாய் வாழைப்பழம், மழையில் அழுகி கீழே விழுந்தது.'</div></div><hr><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_2.ogg" title="File:நா நெகிழ் பயிற்சி 2.ogg">(பேச்சுத் தமிழில்) ந-கரம், ட-கரம்.</a></div> <div><audio id="mwe_player_6" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="10" data-mwtitle="நா_நெகிழ்_பயிற்சி_2.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_2.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"' data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/20/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_2.ogg/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_2.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source></audio></div> <div class="description">கொக்கு நெட்ட கொக்கு. நெட்ட கொக்கு இட்ட முட்ட, கட்ட முட்ட.</div></div><hr><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:Tamil_tongue_twister.ogg" title="File:Tamil tongue twister.ogg">ழ-கரம்.</a></div> <div><audio id="mwe_player_7" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="6" data-mwtitle="Tamil_tongue_twister.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Tamil_tongue_twister.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"' data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e9/Tamil_tongue_twister.ogg/Tamil_tongue_twister.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source></audio></div> <div class="description">ஏழை கிழவன் வாழைப் பழத் தோல் மேல் சருசருக்கி வழுவழுக்கி கீழே விழுந்தான்.</div></div><hr><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D_10.ogg" title="File:நா நெகிழ் பயிற்சி வாக்கியம் 10.ogg">ல-கரம், ள-கரம்.</a></div> <div><audio id="mwe_player_8" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="13" data-mwtitle="நா_நெகிழ்_பயிற்சி_வாக்கியம்_10.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D_10.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"' data-width="0" data-height="0"></source><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4f/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D_10.ogg/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BE_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF_%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D_10.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0"></source></audio></div> <div class="description">'அவள் அவலளந்தால், இவள் அவலளப்பாள். இவள் அவலளந்தால், அவள் அவலளப்பாள். அவளும் இவளும் அவல் அளக்காவிட்டால், எவள் அவலளப்பாள் ?'</div></div></div></div> <div class="side-box-abovebelow"><hr>Problems playing these files? See <a href="/wiki/Help:Media" title="Help:Media">media help</a>.</div> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Tamil_grammar" title="Tamil grammar">Tamil grammar</a></div> Tamil employs <a href="/wiki/Agglutination" title="Agglutination">agglutinative</a> grammar, where suffixes are used to mark <a href="/wiki/Noun_class" title="Noun class">noun class</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_number" title="Grammatical number">number</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_case" title="Grammatical case">case</a>, verb <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_tense" title="Grammatical tense">tense</a> and other grammatical categories. Tamil's standard <a href="/wiki/Metalanguage" title="Metalanguage">metalinguistic</a> terminology and scholarly vocabulary is itself Tamil, as opposed to the <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> that is standard for most <a href="/wiki/Indo-Aryan_languages" title="Indo-Aryan languages">Indo-Aryan languages</a>.<a href="#cite_note-metalanguage_zvelbil-105">[103]</a><a href="#cite_note-106">[104]</a> Much of Tamil grammar is extensively described in the oldest known grammar book for Tamil, the <a href="/wiki/Tolk%C4%81ppiyam" title="Tolkāppiyam">Tolkāppiyam</a>. 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.<a href="#cite_note-five_parts_grammar-107">[105]</a> Tamil words consist of a <a href="/wiki/Lexeme" title="Lexeme">lexical root</a> to which one or more <a href="/wiki/Affix" title="Affix">affixes</a> are attached. Most Tamil affixes are <a href="/wiki/Suffix" title="Suffix">suffixes</a>. Tamil suffixes can be <a href="/wiki/Morphological_derivation" title="Morphological derivation">derivational</a> suffixes, which either change the part of speech of the word or its meaning, or <a href="/wiki/Inflection" title="Inflection">inflectional</a> suffixes, which mark categories such as <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_person" title="Grammatical person">person</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_number" title="Grammatical number">number</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_mood" title="Grammatical mood">mood</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_tense" title="Grammatical tense">tense</a>, etc. There is no absolute limit on the length and extent of <a href="/wiki/Agglutination" title="Agglutination">agglutination</a>, 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 <a href="/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme">morphemes</a>: <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1209690778">.mw-parser-output .interlinear .bold{font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .interlinear .smallcaps{text-transform:uppercase;font-size:smaller}</style><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:2em"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">போகpōkago</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">முடிmuṭiaccomplish</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">ஆத்āt<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="negation" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NEG</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="impersonal" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">IMPRS</abbr></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">அa<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="participle" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PTCP</abbr></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">வர்var<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title='nominalizer ("he/she who does")' style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NMLZ</abbr></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">கள்kaḷ<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="plural number" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PL</abbr></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">உக்குukkuto</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">ஆகākafor</div>போக முடி ஆத் அ வர் கள் உக்கு ஆகpōka muṭi āt a var kaḷ ukku ākago accomplish <abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="negation" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NEG</abbr>.IMPRS PTCP <abbr class="gloss-abbr" title='nominalizer ("he/she who does")' style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">NMLZ</abbr> PL to for<div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Morphology">Morphology</h3></div> 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 <a href="/wiki/Deity" title="Deity">deities</a> 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 <a href="/wiki/Honorific" title="Honorific">honorific</a>, gender-neutral, singular form.<a href="#cite_note-classes_of_nouns-108">[106]</a> <table class="wikitable" align="center"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="5" style="background: #f2f2f2;" align="center">peyarccol (Name-words)<a href="#cite_note-classes_of_nouns2-109">[107]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" style="background: #f2f2f2;" align="center">uyartiṇai (rational) </td> <td colspan="2" style="background: #f2f2f2;" align="center">aḵṟiṇai (irrational) </td></tr> <tr> <td align="center" style="background: #f9f9f9;">āṇpāl Male </td> <td align="center" style="background: #f9f9f9;">peṇpāl Female </td> <td align="center" style="background: #f9f9f9;">palarpāl Collective </td> <td align="center" style="background: #f9f9f9;">oṉṟaṉpāl One </td> <td align="center" style="background: #f9f9f9;">palaviṉpāl Many </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="5" style="background: #f2f2f2;" align="center">Example: the Tamil words for "doer" </td></tr> <tr> <td align="center" style="background:#f9f9f9;">ceytavaṉ He who did </td> <td align="center" style="background:#f9f9f9;">ceytavaḷ She who did </td> <td align="center" style="background:#f9f9f9;">ceytavar(kaḷ) They who did </td> <td align="center" style="background:#f9f9f9;">ceytatu That which did </td> <td align="center" style="background:#f9f9f9;">ceytavai Those ones which did </td></tr></tbody></table> Suffixes are used to perform the functions of <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_case" title="Grammatical case">cases</a> or <a href="/wiki/Postposition" class="mw-redirect" title="Postposition">postpositions</a>. Traditional grammarians tried to group the various suffixes into eight cases corresponding to the cases used in <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a>. These were the <a href="/wiki/Nominative_case" title="Nominative case">nominative</a>, <a href="/wiki/Accusative_case" title="Accusative case">accusative</a>, <a href="/wiki/Dative_case" title="Dative case">dative</a>, <a href="/wiki/Sociative_case" title="Sociative case">sociative</a>, <a href="/wiki/Genitive_case" title="Genitive case">genitive</a>, <a href="/wiki/Instrumental_case" title="Instrumental case">instrumental</a>, <a href="/wiki/Locative_case" title="Locative case">locative</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Ablative_case" title="Ablative case">ablative</a>. Modern grammarians argue that this classification is artificial,<a href="#cite_note-CaseMarkerZvelebil-110">[108]</a> and that Tamil usage is best understood if each suffix or combination of suffixes is seen as marking a separate case.<a href="#cite_note-Standard_restandard-101">[99]</a> Tamil nouns can take one of four <a href="/wiki/Prefix_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Prefix (linguistics)">prefixes</a>: i, a, u, and e which are functionally equivalent to the <a href="/wiki/Demonstrative" title="Demonstrative">demonstratives</a> 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" 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 <a href="/wiki/Suffix" title="Suffix">suffixes</a>, which show person, number, mood, tense, and voice. <ul><li>Person and number are indicated by suffixing the <a href="/wiki/Oblique_case" title="Oblique case">oblique case</a> of the relevant pronoun. The suffixes to indicate tenses and voice are formed from <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_particle" title="Grammatical particle">grammatical particles</a>, which are added to the stem.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>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 <a href="/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme">morphemes</a> which mark tense categories. Tamil verbs also mark <a href="/wiki/Evidentiality" title="Evidentiality">evidentiality</a>, through the addition of the hearsay <a href="/wiki/Clitic" title="Clitic">clitic</a> ām.<a href="#cite_note-steeverevidentiality-111">[109]</a> Verb inflection is shown below using example aḻintukkoṇṭiruntēṉ; (அழிந்துக்கொண்டிருந்தேன்); "(I) was being destroyed".</li></ul> <table class="wikitable" align="center"> <tbody><tr> <td align="center">அழி </td> <td align="center">ந்து </td> <td align="center">கொண்டு </td> <td align="center">இரு </td> <td align="center">ந்த் </td> <td align="center">ஏன் </td></tr> <tr> <td align="center">aḻi </td> <td align="center">ntu </td> <td align="center">koṇṭu </td> <td align="center">iru </td> <td align="center">nt </td> <td align="center">ēn </td></tr> <tr> <td align="center">root destroy </td> <td align="center">transitivity marker intransitive </td> <td align="center">aspect marker continuous </td> <td align="center">aspect marker continuous </td> <td align="center">tense marker past tense </td> <td align="center">person marker first person, singular </td></tr> </tbody></table> Traditional grammars of Tamil do not distinguish between <a href="/wiki/Adjective" title="Adjective">adjectives</a> and <a href="/wiki/Adverb" title="Adverb">adverbs</a>, including both of them under the category uriccol, although modern grammarians tend to distinguish between them on morphological and syntactical grounds.<a href="#cite_note-lehmann1989-112">[110]</a> Tamil has many <a href="/wiki/Ideophone" title="Ideophone">ideophones</a> that act as adverbs indicating the way the object in a given state "says" or "sounds".<a href="#cite_note-113">[111]</a> Tamil does not have <a href="/wiki/Article_(grammar)" title="Article (grammar)">articles</a>. Definiteness and indefiniteness are either indicated by special grammatical devices, such as using the number "one" as an indefinite article, or by the context.<a href="#cite_note-steeversummary-114">[112]</a> In the first person plural, Tamil makes a distinction between <a href="/wiki/Clusivity" title="Clusivity">inclusive</a> pronouns நாம் nām (we), நமது namatu (our) that include the addressee and exclusive pronouns நாங்கள் nāṅkaḷ (we), எமது ematu (our) that do not.<a href="#cite_note-steeversummary-114">[112]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Syntax">Syntax</h3></div> Tamil is a consistently <a href="/wiki/Head-final" class="mw-redirect" title="Head-final">head-final</a> language. The verb comes at the end of the clause, with a typical word order of <a href="/wiki/Subject%E2%80%93object%E2%80%93verb" class="mw-redirect" title="Subject–object–verb">subject–object–verb</a> (SOV).<a href="#cite_note-SOV_language-115">[113]</a><a href="#cite_note-116">[114]</a> However, word order in Tamil is also flexible, so that surface permutations of the SOV order are possible with different <a href="/wiki/Pragmatics" title="Pragmatics">pragmatic</a> effects. Tamil has <a href="/wiki/Postposition" class="mw-redirect" title="Postposition">postpositions</a> rather than <a href="/wiki/Prepositions" class="mw-redirect" title="Prepositions">prepositions</a>. Demonstratives and modifiers precede the noun within the noun phrase. Subordinate clauses precede the verb of the matrix clause. Tamil is a <a href="/wiki/Null-subject_language" title="Null-subject language">null-subject language</a>. 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 <a href="/wiki/Copula_(linguistics)" title="Copula (linguistics)">copula</a> (a linking verb equivalent to the word is). The word is included in the translations only to convey the meaning more easily. </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(11)"><h2 id="Vocabulary">Vocabulary</h2></div><section class="mf-section-11 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-11"> The vocabulary of Tamil is mainly Dravidian. A strong sense of <a href="/wiki/Linguistic_purism" title="Linguistic purism">linguistic purism</a> is found in Modern Tamil,<a href="#cite_note-117">[115]</a> which opposes the use of foreign loanwords.<a href="#cite_note-118">[116]</a> 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 <a href="/wiki/Malay_language" title="Malay language">Malay</a> (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 <a href="/wiki/Urdu" title="Urdu">Urdu</a> and <a href="/wiki/Marathi_language" title="Marathi language">Marathi</a>, reflecting groups that have influenced the Tamil area at times, and from neighbouring languages such as <a href="/wiki/Telugu_language" title="Telugu language">Telugu</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kannada" title="Kannada">Kannada</a>, and Sinhala. During the modern period, words have also been adapted from European languages, such as Portuguese, French, and English.<a href="#cite_note-119">[117]</a> The strongest effect of purism in Tamil has been on words taken from Sanskrit. During its history, Tamil, along with other Dravidian languages like <a href="/wiki/Telugu_language" title="Telugu language">Telugu</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kannada" title="Kannada">Kannada</a>, <a href="/wiki/Malayalam" title="Malayalam">Malayalam</a> etc., was influenced by <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> in terms of vocabulary, grammar and literary styles,<a href="#cite_note-influence-120">[118]</a><a href="#cite_note-121">[119]</a><a href="#cite_note-caldwell-122">[120]</a><a href="#cite_note-takahashi-123">[121]</a> reflecting the increased trend of <a href="/wiki/Sanskritisation" title="Sanskritisation">Sanskritisation</a> in the Tamil country.<a href="#cite_note-124">[122]</a> 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.<a href="#cite_note-125">[123]</a><a href="#cite_note-126">[124]</a><a href="#cite_note-127">[125]</a> In addition, Sanskritisation was actively resisted by a number of authors of the late medieval period,<a href="#cite_note-128">[126]</a> culminating in the 20th century in a movement called <a href="/wiki/Tanittamil_Iyakkam" title="Tanittamil Iyakkam">taṉit tamiḻ iyakkam</a> (meaning "pure Tamil movement"), led by <a href="/wiki/Parithimaar_Kalaignar" class="mw-redirect" title="Parithimaar Kalaignar">Parithimaar Kalaignar</a> and <a href="/wiki/Maraimalai_Adigal" title="Maraimalai Adigal">Maraimalai Adigal</a>, which sought to remove the accumulated influence of Sanskrit on Tamil.<a href="#cite_note-129">[127]</a> 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,<a href="#cite_note-130">[128]</a> under some estimates having fallen from 40 to 50% to about 20%.<a href="#cite_note-Krishnamurti_2003_p=480-64">[62]</a> 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 <a href="/wiki/Abstract_noun" class="mw-redirect" title="Abstract noun">abstract nouns</a>.<a href="#cite_note-131">[129]</a> In the 20th century, institutions and learned bodies have, with government support, generated technical dictionaries for Tamil containing <a href="/wiki/Neologism" title="Neologism">neologisms</a> and words derived from Tamil roots to replace loan words from English and other languages.<a href="#cite_note-thaniththamizh-62">[60]</a> As of 2019,<a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tamil_language&action=edit">[update]</a> 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.<a href="#cite_note-132">[130]</a> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(12)"><h2 id="Influence">Influence</h2></div><section class="mf-section-12 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-12"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Tamil_loanwords_in_other_languages" title="Tamil loanwords in other languages">Tamil loanwords in other languages</a></div> Words of Tamil origin occur in other languages. A notable example of a word in worldwide use with Dravidian (not specifically Tamil) etymology is <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/orange" class="extiw" title="wikt:orange">orange</a>, 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'.<a href="#cite_note-133">[131]</a> <a href="/wiki/Words_of_Tamil_origin" class="mw-redirect" title="Words of Tamil origin">Examples in English</a> include cheroot (curuṭṭu meaning 'rolled up'),<a href="#cite_note-OED-134">[132]</a> mango (from māṅgāy),<a href="#cite_note-OED-134">[132]</a> mulligatawny (from miḷaku taṇṇīr 'pepper water'), pariah (from paṟaiyar), curry (from kaṟi),<a href="#cite_note-oed-curry-135">[133]</a> catamaran (from kaṭṭu maram 'bundled logs'),<a href="#cite_note-OED-134">[132]</a> and congee (from kañji 'rice porridge' or 'gruel').<a href="#cite_note-136">[134]</a> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(13)"><h2 id="Sample_text">Sample text</h2></div><section class="mf-section-13 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-13"> The following is a sample text in literary Tamil of Article 1 of the <a href="/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights" title="Universal Declaration of Human Rights">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a>. The first line is the <a href="/wiki/Tamil_script" title="Tamil script">Tamil script</a>; the second is romanized Tamil; the third is the <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">International Phonetic Alphabet</a>; the fourth is the gloss. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear" style="margin-left:2em"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">உறுப்புரைUṟuppuraiurupːuraiSection</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">1:1:ond̺rʉ1:</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">மனிதப்Maṉitapmənid̪əHuman</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">பிறவியினர்piṟaviyiṉarpiriʋijinərbeings</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">சகலரும்cakalarumsəgələrumall-of-them</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">சுதந்திரமாகவேcutantiramākavēsud̪ən̪d̪irəmaːgəʋeːfreely</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">பிறக்கின்றனர்;piṟakkiṉṟaṉar;pirəkːin̺d̺ranərare born.</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">அவர்கள்avarkaḷəvərgəɭThey</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">மதிப்பிலும்,matippilum,məd̪ipːilumrights-in-and</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">உரிமைகளிலும்urimaikaḷilumuriməigəɭilumdignities-in-and</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">சமமானவர்கள்,camamāṉavarkaḷ,səməmaːnəʋərgəɭequal-ones.</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">அவர்கள்avarkaḷəvərgəɭThey</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">நியாயத்தையும்niyāyattaiyumnijaːjatːəijumlaw-and</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">மனச்சாட்சியையும்maṉaccāṭciyaiyummənətt͡ʃaːʈt͡ʃijəijumconscience-and</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">இயற்பண்பாகப்iyaṟpaṇpākapijərpəɳbaːgəintrinsically</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">பெற்றவர்கள்.peṟṟavarkaḷ.pet̺rəʋərgəɭpossessed-ones.</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">அவர்கள்AvarkaḷəvərgəɭThey</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">ஒருவருடனொருவர்oruvaruṭaṉoruvaroruʋəruɖənoruʋəramong-one-another</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">சகோதரcakōtarasagoːdəɾəbrotherly</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">உணர்வுப்uṇarvupuɳərʋɨfeeling</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">பாங்கில்pāṅkilpaːŋgilshare-in</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">நடந்துகொள்ளல்naṭantukoḷḷalnəɖən̪d̪ʉkoɭɭəlact</div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;">வேண்டும்.vēṇṭum.veːɳɖummust.</div>உறுப்புரை 1: மனிதப் பிறவியினர் சகலரும் சுதந்திரமாகவே பிறக்கின்றனர்; அவர்கள் மதிப்பிலும், உரிமைகளிலும் சமமானவர்கள், அவர்கள் நியாயத்தையும் மனச்சாட்சியையும் 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 veːɳɖumSection 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 share-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.<div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(14)"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2></div><section class="mf-section-14 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-14"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_countries_where_Tamil_is_an_official_language" class="mw-redirect" title="List of countries where Tamil is an official language">List of countries where Tamil is an official language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_languages_by_first_written_accounts" class="mw-redirect" title="List of languages by first written accounts">List of languages by first written accounts</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_keyboard" title="Tamil keyboard">Tamil keyboard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_population_by_cities" title="Tamil population by cities">Tamil population by cities</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_population_by_nation" title="Tamil population by nation">Tamil population by nation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_Loanwords_in_other_languages" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Loanwords in other languages">Tamil Loanwords in other languages</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_Shorthand" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Shorthand">Tamil Shorthand</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Geolinguistics" title="Geolinguistics">Geolinguistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Language_geography" title="Language geography">Language geography</a></li></ul> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(15)"><h2 id="Footnotes">Footnotes</h2></div><section class="mf-section-15 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-15"> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-lower-alpha"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-7"><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a> protected language </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a> <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/ˈtæmɪl, ˈtɑːm-/</a> <a href="/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key" title="Help:Pronunciation respelling key">TAM-il, TAHM-</a>.<a href="#cite_note-10">[9]</a> </li> </ol></div></div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(16)"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div><section class="mf-section-16 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-16"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239543626"><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-Talbot_2001_27–37-1">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Talbot_2001_27%E2%80%9337_1-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Talbot_2001_27%E2%80%9337_1-1">b</a> <a href="#CITEREFTalbot2001">Talbot 2001</a>, pp. 27–37 </li> <li id="cite_note-e27-2">^ <a href="#cite_ref-e27_2-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-e27_2-1">b</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tam">Modern Tamil</a> at <a href="/wiki/Ethnologue" title="Ethnologue">Ethnologue</a> (27th ed., 2024) <a href="/wiki/Paywall" title="closed access publication – behind paywall"><noscript><img alt="Closed access icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg/9px-Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg.png" decoding="async" width="9" height="14" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="640" data-file-height="1000"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 9px;height: 14px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg/9px-Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg.png" data-alt="Closed access icon" data-width="9" data-height="14" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg/14px-Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg/18px-Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ethnologue.com/language/oty">Old Tamil</a> at <a href="/wiki/Ethnologue" title="Ethnologue">Ethnologue</a> (27th ed., 2024) <a href="/wiki/Paywall" title="closed access publication – behind paywall"><noscript><img alt="Closed access icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg/9px-Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg.png" decoding="async" width="9" height="14" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="640" data-file-height="1000"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 9px;height: 14px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg/9px-Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg.png" data-alt="Closed access icon" data-width="9" data-height="14" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg/14px-Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg/18px-Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a> </li> <li id="cite_note-TN-3"><a href="#cite_ref-TN_3-0">^</a> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 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It is, for instance, sheer convention based on Tamil grammatical tradition (influenced no doubt by Sanskrit) that, as a rule, the number of cases in Tamil is given as eight.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+the+American+Oriental+Society&rft.atitle=Dravidian+Case-Suffixes%3A+Attempt+at+a+Reconstruction&rft.volume=92&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E272-%3C%2Fspan%3E276&rft.date=1972-04%2F1972-06&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.2307%2F600654&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F600654%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.aulast=Zvelebil&rft.aufirst=K.+V.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-steeverevidentiality-111"><a href="#cite_ref-steeverevidentiality_111-0">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSteever2002" class="citation cs2">Steever, Sanford B. 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(1995). Tamil love poetry and poetics. Brill's Indological Library, v. 9. Leiden: E. J. Brill, pp. 16, 18. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/90-04-10042-3" title="Special:BookSources/90-04-10042-3">90-04-10042-3</a>. </li> <li id="cite_note-124"><a href="#cite_ref-124">^</a> Pollock, Sheldon (1996). "The Sanskrit Cosmopolis 300–1300: Transculturation, vernacularisation and the question of ideology" in Jan E. M. Houben (ed.), The ideology and status of Sanskrit: Contributions to the history of the Sanskrit language. E. J. 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(1999), "Hullabaloo About Telugu", South Asia Research, 19 (1): 53–70, <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F026272809901900104">10.1177/026272809901900104</a>, <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:144334963">144334963</a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=South+Asia+Research&rft.atitle=Hullabaloo+About+Telugu&rft.volume=19&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E53-%3C%2Fspan%3E70&rft.date=1999&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1177%2F026272809901900104&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A144334963%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Trautmann&rft.aufirst=Thomas+R.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"> at p. 64 </li> <li id="cite_note-126"><a href="#cite_ref-126">^</a> <a href="#CITEREFCaldwell1974">Caldwell 1974</a>, p. 50 </li> <li id="cite_note-127"><a href="#cite_ref-127">^</a> Ellis, F. W. (1820), "Note to the introduction" in Campbell, A.D., A grammar of the Teloogoo language. Madras: College Press, pp. 29–30. </li> <li id="cite_note-128"><a href="#cite_ref-128">^</a> See Ramaswamy's analysis of one such text, the Tamiḻ viṭututu, in <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRamaswamy1998" class="citation cs2">Ramaswamy, S. 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A History of Tamil Literature, transl. from Tamil by E. Sa. Viswanathan, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1988. p. 12: "Since then the movement has been popularly known as the tanittamil iyakkam or the Pure Tamil movement among the Tamil scholars." </li> <li id="cite_note-130"><a href="#cite_ref-130">^</a> <a href="#CITEREFRamaswamy1997">Ramaswamy 1997</a>, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft5199n9v7&chunk.id=ch4">Laboring for language</a>": "Nevertheless, even impressionistically speaking, the marked decline in the use of foreign words, especially of Sanskritic origin, in Tamil literary, scholarly, and even bureaucratic circles over the past half century is quite striking." </li> <li id="cite_note-131"><a href="#cite_ref-131">^</a> Meenakshisundaram, T. P. (1982) A History of Tamil Language, Sarvodaya Ilakkiya Pannai. (translated) pp. 241–2 </li> <li id="cite_note-132"><a href="#cite_ref-132">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/tamil-to-get-9000-new-words/article29919044.ece">"By govt. order: 9,000 words to enter Tamil vocabulary"</a>. The Hindu. Chennai: Kasturi & Sons. 9 November 2019. p. 2. Retrieved 29 December 2019.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+Hindu&rft.atitle=By+govt.+order%3A+9%2C000+words+to+enter+Tamil+vocabulary&rft.pages=2&rft.date=2019-11-09&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehindu.com%2Fnews%2Fnational%2Ftamil-nadu%2Ftamil-to-get-9000-new-words%2Farticle29919044.ece&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-133"><a href="#cite_ref-133">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/anaconda">"Origin and Meaning of Anaconda"</a>. Online Etymology Dictionary. </li> <li id="cite_note-OED-134">^ <a href="#cite_ref-OED_134-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-OED_134-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-OED_134-2">c</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation cs2"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dictionary.oed.com">"Oxford English Dictionary Online"</a>, Oxford English Dictionary, retrieved 14 April 2007</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Oxford+English+Dictionary&rft.atitle=Oxford+English+Dictionary+Online&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.oed.com&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-oed-curry-135"><a href="#cite_ref-oed-curry_135-0">^</a> "curry, n.2", The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 14 August 2009 </li> <li id="cite_note-136"><a href="#cite_ref-136">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation cs2"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/mwc/12703/congee">"congee"</a>, academic.ru</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=academic.ru&rft.atitle=congee&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fen.academic.ru%2Fdic.nsf%2Fmwc%2F12703%2Fcongee&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Bibliography">Bibliography</h3></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239549316">.mw-parser-output .refbegin{margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul{margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{margin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul li{list-style:none}@media(max-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{padding-left:1.6em;text-indent:-1.6em}}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .refbegin{font-size:90%}}</style><div class="refbegin refbegin-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em"> <ul><li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAndronov1970" class="citation cs2">Andronov, M.S. 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(1975), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/poemsofancientta00hart">The poems of ancient Tamil : their milieu and their Sanskrit counterparts</a>, Berkeley: University of California Press, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-520-02672-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-520-02672-8"><bdi>978-0-520-02672-8</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+poems+of+ancient+Tamil+%3A+their+milieu+and+their+Sanskrit+counterparts&rft.place=Berkeley&rft.pub=University+of+California+Press&rft.date=1975&rft.isbn=978-0-520-02672-8&rft.aulast=Hart&rft.aufirst=George+L.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fpoemsofancientta00hart&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKrishnamurti2003" class="citation cs2">Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003), The Dravidian Languages, Cambridge Language Surveys, <a href="/wiki/Cambridge_University_Press" title="Cambridge University Press">Cambridge University Press</a>, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-77111-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-77111-5"><bdi>978-0-521-77111-5</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Dravidian+Languages&rft.series=Cambridge+Language+Surveys&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=978-0-521-77111-5&rft.aulast=Krishnamurti&rft.aufirst=Bhadriraju&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKesavapanyManiRamasamy2008" class="citation cs2">Kesavapany, K.; Mani, A; Ramasamy, Palanisamy (2008), Rising India and Indian Communities in East Asia, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-981-230-799-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-981-230-799-6"><bdi>978-981-230-799-6</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Rising+India+and+Indian+Communities+in+East+Asia&rft.place=Singapore&rft.pub=Institute+of+Southeast+Asian+Studies&rft.date=2008&rft.isbn=978-981-230-799-6&rft.aulast=Kesavapany&rft.aufirst=K.&rft.au=Mani%2C+A&rft.au=Ramasamy%2C+Palanisamy&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKuiper1958" class="citation cs2">Kuiper, F. 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Zvelebil)", Indo-Iranian Journal, 2 (3): 191–224, <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00162818">10.1007/BF00162818</a> (inactive 2 November 2024), <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:161402102">161402102</a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Indo-Iranian+Journal&rft.atitle=Two+problems+of+old+Tamil+phonology+I.+The+old+Tamil+%C4%81ytam+%28with+an+appendix+by+K.+Zvelebil%29&rft.volume=2&rft.issue=3&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E191-%3C%2Fspan%3E224&rft.date=1958&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1007%2FBF00162818&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A161402102%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Kuiper&rft.aufirst=F.+B.+J.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Citation" title="Template:Citation">citation</a>}}</code>: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (<a href="/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_DOI_inactive_as_of_November_2024" title="Category:CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024">link</a>)</li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLehmann1998" class="citation cs2">Lehmann, Thomas (1998), "Old Tamil", in Steever, Sanford (ed.), The Dravidian Languages, London: Routledge, pp. 75–99, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-415-10023-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-415-10023-6"><bdi>978-0-415-10023-6</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Old+Tamil&rft.btitle=The+Dravidian+Languages&rft.place=London&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E75-%3C%2Fspan%3E99&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=1998&rft.isbn=978-0-415-10023-6&rft.aulast=Lehmann&rft.aufirst=Thomas&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMahadevan2003" class="citation cs2"><a href="/wiki/Iravatham_Mahadevan" title="Iravatham Mahadevan">Mahadevan, Iravatham</a> (2003), Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D, <a href="/wiki/Harvard_Oriental_Series" title="Harvard Oriental Series">Harvard Oriental Series</a> vol. 62, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-01227-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-674-01227-1"><bdi>978-0-674-01227-1</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Early+Tamil+Epigraphy+from+the+Earliest+Times+to+the+Sixth+Century+A.D&rft.place=Cambridge%2C+Massachusetts&rft.series=Harvard+Oriental+Series+vol.+62&rft.pub=Harvard+University+Press&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=978-0-674-01227-1&rft.aulast=Mahadevan&rft.aufirst=Iravatham&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMeenakshisundaran1965" class="citation cs2">Meenakshisundaran, T.P. (1965), A History of Tamil Language, Poona: Deccan College, <a href="/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/246076230">246076230</a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+History+of+Tamil+Language&rft.place=Poona&rft.pub=Deccan+College&rft.date=1965&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F246076230&rft.aulast=Meenakshisundaran&rft.aufirst=T.P.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMurthyRaoVeluthatBari1990" class="citation cs2">Murthy, Srinivasa; Rao, Surendra; Veluthat, Kesavan; Bari, S.A. (1990), Essays on Indian History and culture: Felicitation volume in Honour of Professor B. Sheik Ali, New Delhi: Mittal, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-81-7099-211-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-81-7099-211-0"><bdi>978-81-7099-211-0</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Essays+on+Indian+History+and+culture%3A+Felicitation+volume+in+Honour+of+Professor+B.+Sheik+Ali&rft.place=New+Delhi&rft.pub=Mittal&rft.date=1990&rft.isbn=978-81-7099-211-0&rft.aulast=Murthy&rft.aufirst=Srinivasa&rft.au=Rao%2C+Surendra&rft.au=Veluthat%2C+Kesavan&rft.au=Bari%2C+S.A.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRamstedt2004" class="citation cs2">Ramstedt, Martin (2004), Hinduism in modern Indonesia, London: Routledge, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7007-1533-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-7007-1533-6"><bdi>978-0-7007-1533-6</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Hinduism+in+modern+Indonesia&rft.place=London&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2004&rft.isbn=978-0-7007-1533-6&rft.aulast=Ramstedt&rft.aufirst=Martin&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRajam1992" class="citation cs2">Rajam, VS (1992), A Reference Grammar of Classical Tamil Poetry, Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-87169-199-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-87169-199-6"><bdi>978-0-87169-199-6</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Reference+Grammar+of+Classical+Tamil+Poetry&rft.place=Philadelphia&rft.pub=The+American+Philosophical+Society&rft.date=1992&rft.isbn=978-0-87169-199-6&rft.aulast=Rajam&rft.aufirst=VS&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRamaswamy1997" class="citation cs2">Ramaswamy, Sumathy (1997), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft5199n9v7&chunk.id=ch4">"Laboring for language"</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft5199n9v7/">Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India, 1891–1970</a>, Berkeley: University of California Press, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-585-10600-7" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-585-10600-7"><bdi>978-0-585-10600-7</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Laboring+for+language&rft.btitle=Passions+of+the+Tongue%3A+Language+Devotion+in+Tamil+India%2C+1891%E2%80%931970&rft.place=Berkeley&rft.pub=University+of+California+Press&rft.date=1997&rft.isbn=978-0-585-10600-7&rft.aulast=Ramaswamy&rft.aufirst=Sumathy&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.cdlib.org%2Fview%3FdocId%3Dft5199n9v7%26chunk.id%3Dch4&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFShapiroSchiffman1983" class="citation cs2">Shapiro, Michael C.; Schiffman, Harold F. (1983), Language and society in South Asia, Dordrecht: Foris, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-70176-55-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-90-70176-55-6"><bdi>978-90-70176-55-6</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Language+and+society+in+South+Asia&rft.place=Dordrecht&rft.pub=Foris&rft.date=1983&rft.isbn=978-90-70176-55-6&rft.aulast=Shapiro&rft.aufirst=Michael+C.&rft.au=Schiffman%2C+Harold+F.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSchiffman1999" class="citation cs2">Schiffman, Harold F. (1999), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/book.html">A Reference Grammar of Spoken Tamil</a>, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-64074-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-64074-9"><bdi>978-0-521-64074-9</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Reference+Grammar+of+Spoken+Tamil&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1999&rft.isbn=978-0-521-64074-9&rft.aulast=Schiffman&rft.aufirst=Harold+F.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fccat.sas.upenn.edu%2Fplc%2Ftamilweb%2Fbook.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSouthworth1998" class="citation cs2">Southworth, Franklin C. (1998), "On the Origin of the word tamiz", <a href="/wiki/International_Journal_of_Dravidian_Linguistics" class="mw-redirect" title="International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics">International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics</a>, 27 (1): 129–132</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=International+Journal+of+Dravidian+Linguistics&rft.atitle=On+the+Origin+of+the+word+tamiz&rft.volume=27&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E129-%3C%2Fspan%3E132&rft.date=1998&rft.aulast=Southworth&rft.aufirst=Franklin+C.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSouthworth2005" class="citation cs2">Southworth, Franklin C. (2005), Linguistic archaeology of South Asia, Routledge, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-415-33323-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-415-33323-8"><bdi>978-0-415-33323-8</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Linguistic+archaeology+of+South+Asia&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2005&rft.isbn=978-0-415-33323-8&rft.aulast=Southworth&rft.aufirst=Franklin+C.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSteever1998" class="citation cs2">Steever, Sanford (1998), "Introduction", in Steever, Sanford (ed.), The Dravidian Languages, London: Routledge, pp. 1–39, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-415-10023-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-415-10023-6"><bdi>978-0-415-10023-6</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Introduction&rft.btitle=The+Dravidian+Languages&rft.place=London&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1-%3C%2Fspan%3E39&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=1998&rft.isbn=978-0-415-10023-6&rft.aulast=Steever&rft.aufirst=Sanford&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSteever2005" class="citation cs2">Steever, Sanford (2005), The Tamil auxiliary verb system, London: Routledge, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-415-34672-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-415-34672-6"><bdi>978-0-415-34672-6</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Tamil+auxiliary+verb+system&rft.place=London&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2005&rft.isbn=978-0-415-34672-6&rft.aulast=Steever&rft.aufirst=Sanford&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFTharuLalita1991" class="citation cs2">Tharu, Susie; Lalita, K., eds. (1991), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/womenwritinginin00thar">Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the present – Vol. 1: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century</a>, Feminist Press, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-55861-027-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-55861-027-9"><bdi>978-1-55861-027-9</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Women+Writing+in+India%3A+600+B.C.+to+the+present+%E2%80%93+Vol.+1%3A+600+B.C.+to+the+early+twentieth+century&rft.pub=Feminist+Press&rft.date=1991&rft.isbn=978-1-55861-027-9&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fwomenwritinginin00thar&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFTalbot2001" class="citation cs2">Talbot, Cynthia (2001), Precolonial India in practice: Society, Region and Identity in Medieval Andhra, New York: Oxford University Press, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-513661-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-19-513661-6"><bdi>978-0-19-513661-6</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Precolonial+India+in+practice%3A+Society%2C+Region+and+Identity+in+Medieval+Andhra&rft.place=New+York&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=2001&rft.isbn=978-0-19-513661-6&rft.aulast=Talbot&rft.aufirst=Cynthia&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFTieken2001" class="citation cs2">Tieken, Herman (2001), Kavya in South India: Old Tamil Cankam Poetry, Gonda Indological Studies, Volume X, Groningen: Egbert Forsten Publishing, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-6980-134-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-90-6980-134-6"><bdi>978-90-6980-134-6</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Kavya+in+South+India%3A+Old+Tamil+Cankam+Poetry&rft.place=Groningen&rft.series=Gonda+Indological+Studies%2C+Volume+X&rft.pub=Egbert+Forsten+Publishing&rft.date=2001&rft.isbn=978-90-6980-134-6&rft.aulast=Tieken&rft.aufirst=Herman&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFVaradarajan1988" class="citation cs2">Varadarajan, Mu. (1988), A History of Tamil Literature, translated by E.Sa. Viswanathan, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, <a href="/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/20170197">20170197</a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+History+of+Tamil+Literature&rft.place=New+Delhi&rft.pub=Sahitya+Akademi&rft.date=1988&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F20170197&rft.aulast=Varadarajan&rft.aufirst=Mu.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFZvelebil1992" class="citation cs2">Zvelebil, Kamil (1992), Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature, Leiden: Brill, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-04-09365-2" title="Special:BookSources/978-90-04-09365-2"><bdi>978-90-04-09365-2</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Companion+studies+to+the+history+of+Tamil+literature&rft.place=Leiden&rft.pub=Brill&rft.date=1992&rft.isbn=978-90-04-09365-2&rft.aulast=Zvelebil&rft.aufirst=Kamil&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li></ul> </div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(17)"><h2 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h2></div><section class="mf-section-17 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-17"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239549316"><div class="refbegin" style=""> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Johann_Philipp_Fabricius" class="mw-redirect" title="Johann Philipp Fabricius">Fabricius, Johann Philip</a> (1933 and 1972), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/fabricius/">Tamil and English Dictionary</a>. 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.</li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFFreeman1998" class="citation cs2">Freeman, Rich (February 1998), "Rubies and Coral: The Lapidary Crafting of Language in Kerala", The Journal of Asian Studies, 57 (1): 38–65, <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2659023">10.2307/2659023</a>, <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2659023">2659023</a>, <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:162294036">162294036</a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+Journal+of+Asian+Studies&rft.atitle=Rubies+and+Coral%3A+The+Lapidary+Crafting+of+Language+in+Kerala&rft.volume=57&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E38-%3C%2Fspan%3E65&rft.date=1998-02&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A162294036%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F2659023%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.2307%2F2659023&rft.aulast=Freeman&rft.aufirst=Rich&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKeane2004" class="citation cs2">Keane, Elinor (2004), "Tamil", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 111–116, <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100304001549">10.1017/S0025100304001549</a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+the+International+Phonetic+Association&rft.atitle=Tamil&rft.volume=34&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E111-%3C%2Fspan%3E116&rft.date=2004&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1017%2FS0025100304001549&rft.aulast=Keane&rft.aufirst=Elinor&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+language" class="Z3988"></li></ul> </div> </section><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 section-heading" onclick="mfTempOpenSection(18)"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div><section class="mf-section-18 collapsible-block" id="mf-section-18"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1235681985"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1237033735">@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox{display:none!important}}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}</style><div class="side-box side-box-right plainlinks sistersitebox"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><a href="/wiki/File:Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/40px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="37" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="103" data-file-height="94"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 40px;height: 37px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/40px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png" data-alt="" data-width="40" data-height="37" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/60px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/80/Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg/80px-Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist"><a href="https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/" class="extiw" title="ta:"> Tamil edition</a> of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a>, the free encyclopedia</div></div> </div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tamil-language">Tamil language</a> at <a href="/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica" title="Encyclopædia Britannica">Encyclopædia Britannica</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://tamilnation.org/literature/index.htm">Tamil language and literature</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/File:Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/16px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="512"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 16px;height: 16px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/16px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png" data-alt="" data-width="16" data-height="16" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/24px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/32px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a> The dictionary definition of <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Tamil_language" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:Category:Tamil language">Tamil language</a> at Wiktionary</li> <li><a href="/wiki/File:Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg/16px-Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="400" data-file-height="400"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 16px;height: 16px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg/16px-Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg.png" data-alt="" data-width="16" data-height="16" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg/24px-Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg/32px-Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a> Tamil language at Wikibooks</li> <li><a href="/wiki/File:Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg/16px-Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="193" data-file-height="193"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 16px;height: 16px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg/16px-Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg.png" data-alt="" data-width="16" data-height="16" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg/24px-Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg/32px-Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a> <a href="https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Tamil#Q5885" class="extiw" title="voy:Tamil">Tamil language</a> travel guide from Wikivoyage</li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1130092004">.mw-parser-output .portal-bar{font-size:88%;font-weight:bold;display:flex;justify-content:center;align-items:baseline}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-bordered{padding:0 2em;background-color:#fdfdfd;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;clear:both;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-related{font-size:100%;justify-content:flex-start}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-unbordered{padding:0 1.7em;margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-header{margin:0 1em 0 0.5em;flex:0 0 auto;min-height:24px}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-content{display:flex;flex-flow:row wrap;flex:0 1 auto;padding:0.15em 0;column-gap:1em;align-items:baseline;margin:0;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-content-related{margin:0;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-item{display:inline-block;margin:0.15em 0.2em;min-height:24px;line-height:24px}@media screen and (max-width:768px){.mw-parser-output .portal-bar{font-size:88%;font-weight:bold;display:flex;flex-flow:column wrap;align-items:baseline}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-header{text-align:center;flex:0;padding-left:0.5em;margin:0 auto}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-related{font-size:100%;align-items:flex-start}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-content{display:flex;flex-flow:row wrap;align-items:center;flex:0;column-gap:1em;border-top:1px solid #a2a9b1;margin:0 auto;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-content-related{border-top:none;margin:0;list-style:none}}.mw-parser-output .navbox+link+.portal-bar,.mw-parser-output .navbox+style+.portal-bar,.mw-parser-output .navbox+link+.portal-bar-bordered,.mw-parser-output .navbox+style+.portal-bar-bordered,.mw-parser-output .sister-bar+link+.portal-bar,.mw-parser-output .sister-bar+style+.portal-bar,.mw-parser-output .portal-bar+.navbox-styles+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .portal-bar+.navbox-styles+.sister-bar{margin-top:-1px}</style><div class="portal-bar noprint metadata noviewer portal-bar-bordered" role="navigation" aria-label="Portals"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Portals" title="Wikipedia:Contents/Portals">Portals</a>:<ul class="portal-bar-content"><li class="portal-bar-item"><a href="/wiki/File:Tamil_distribution.png" class="mw-file-description"><noscript><img alt="icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Tamil_distribution.png/17px-Tamil_distribution.png" decoding="async" width="17" height="19" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="1649" data-file-height="1858"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 17px;height: 19px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Tamil_distribution.png/17px-Tamil_distribution.png" data-alt="icon" data-width="17" data-height="19" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Tamil_distribution.png/26px-Tamil_distribution.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Tamil_distribution.png/34px-Tamil_distribution.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element"> </a> <a href="/wiki/Portal:Tamils" title="Portal:Tamils">Tamils</a></li><li class="portal-bar-item"><noscript><img alt="flag" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg/21px-Flag_of_India.svg.png" decoding="async" width="21" height="14" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="600"></noscript><span class="lazy-image-placeholder" style="width: 21px;height: 14px;" data-mw-src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg/21px-Flag_of_India.svg.png" data-alt="flag" data-width="21" data-height="14" data-srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg/32px-Flag_of_India.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg/42px-Flag_of_India.svg.png 2x" data-class="mw-file-element">  <a href="/wiki/Portal:India" title="Portal:India">India</a></li></ul></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1038841319">.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}</style><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"></div>    </section></div> <noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?useformat=mobile&type=1x1&usesul3=0" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tamil_language&oldid=1275497115">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tamil_language&oldid=1275497115</a>"</div></div> </div> <div class="post-content" id="page-secondary-actions"> </div> </main> <footer class="mw-footer minerva-footer" role="contentinfo"> <a class="last-modified-bar" href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_language&action=history"> <div class="post-content last-modified-bar__content"> Last edited on 13 February 2025, at 11:21 </div> </a> <div class="post-content footer-content"> <div id='mw-data-after-content'> <div class="read-more-container"></div> </div> <div id="p-lang"> <h4>Languages</h4> <section> <ul id="p-variants" class="minerva-languages"></ul> <ul class="minerva-languages"><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kbd mw-list-item"><a href="https://kbd.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8B%D0%B1%D0%B7%D1%8D" title="Тамилыбзэ – Kabardian" lang="kbd" hreflang="kbd" data-title="Тамилыбзэ" data-language-autonym="Адыгэбзэ" data-language-local-name="Kabardian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Адыгэбзэ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-af mw-list-item"><a href="https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil" title="Tamil – Afrikaans" lang="af" hreflang="af" data-title="Tamil" data-language-autonym="Afrikaans" data-language-local-name="Afrikaans" class="interlanguage-link-target">Afrikaans</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-am mw-list-item"><a href="https://am.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%89%B3%E1%88%9A%E1%88%8D%E1%8A%9B" title="ታሚልኛ – Amharic" lang="am" hreflang="am" data-title="ታሚልኛ" data-language-autonym="አማርኛ" data-language-local-name="Amharic" class="interlanguage-link-target">አማርኛ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-anp mw-list-item"><a href="https://anp.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2_%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%BE" title="तमिल भाषा – Angika" lang="anp" hreflang="anp" data-title="तमिल भाषा" data-language-autonym="अंगिका" data-language-local-name="Angika" class="interlanguage-link-target">अंगिका</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9" title="اللغة التاميلية – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="اللغة التاميلية" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target">العربية</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-an mw-list-item"><a href="https://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idioma_tamil" title="Idioma tamil – Aragonese" lang="an" hreflang="an" data-title="Idioma tamil" data-language-autonym="Aragonés" data-language-local-name="Aragonese" class="interlanguage-link-target">Aragonés</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-as mw-list-item"><a href="https://as.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B2_%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B7%E0%A6%BE" title="তামিল ভাষা – Assamese" lang="as" hreflang="as" data-title="তামিল ভাষা" data-language-autonym="অসমীয়া" data-language-local-name="Assamese" class="interlanguage-link-target">অসমীয়া</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ast mw-list-item"><a href="https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idioma_tamil" title="Idioma tamil – Asturian" lang="ast" hreflang="ast" data-title="Idioma tamil" data-language-autonym="Asturianu" data-language-local-name="Asturian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Asturianu</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-awa mw-list-item"><a href="https://awa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2" title="तमिल – Awadhi" lang="awa" hreflang="awa" data-title="तमिल" data-language-autonym="अवधी" data-language-local-name="Awadhi" class="interlanguage-link-target">अवधी</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gn mw-list-item"><a href="https://gn.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A1mil_%C3%B1e%27%E1%BA%BD" title="Támil ñe'ẽ – Guarani" lang="gn" hreflang="gn" data-title="Támil ñe'ẽ" data-language-autonym="Avañe'ẽ" data-language-local-name="Guarani" class="interlanguage-link-target">Avañe'ẽ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-az mw-list-item"><a href="https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_dili" title="Tamil dili – Azerbaijani" lang="az" hreflang="az" data-title="Tamil dili" data-language-autonym="Azərbaycanca" data-language-local-name="Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target">Azərbaycanca</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-azb mw-list-item"><a href="https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%84_%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C" title="تامیل دیلی – South Azerbaijani" lang="azb" hreflang="azb" data-title="تامیل دیلی" data-language-autonym="تۆرکجه" data-language-local-name="South Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target">تۆرکجه</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ban mw-list-item"><a href="https://ban.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basa_Tamil" title="Basa Tamil – Balinese" lang="ban" hreflang="ban" data-title="Basa Tamil" data-language-autonym="Basa Bali" data-language-local-name="Balinese" class="interlanguage-link-target">Basa Bali</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bn mw-list-item"><a href="https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B2_%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B7%E0%A6%BE" title="তামিল ভাষা – Bangla" lang="bn" hreflang="bn" data-title="তামিল ভাষা" data-language-autonym="বাংলা" data-language-local-name="Bangla" class="interlanguage-link-target">বাংলা</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bjn mw-list-item"><a href="https://bjn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basa_Tamil" title="Basa Tamil – Banjar" lang="bjn" hreflang="bjn" data-title="Basa Tamil" data-language-autonym="Banjar" data-language-local-name="Banjar" class="interlanguage-link-target">Banjar</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-min-nan mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh-min-nan.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil-g%C3%AD" title="Tamil-gí – Minnan" lang="nan" hreflang="nan" data-title="Tamil-gí" data-language-autonym="閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gú" data-language-local-name="Minnan" class="interlanguage-link-target">閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gú</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ba mw-list-item"><a href="https://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5" title="Тамил теле – Bashkir" lang="ba" hreflang="ba" data-title="Тамил теле" data-language-autonym="Башҡортса" data-language-local-name="Bashkir" class="interlanguage-link-target">Башҡортса</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-be mw-list-item"><a href="https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0" title="Тамільская мова – Belarusian" lang="be" hreflang="be" data-title="Тамільская мова" data-language-autonym="Беларуская" data-language-local-name="Belarusian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Беларуская</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-be-x-old mw-list-item"><a href="https://be-tarask.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0" title="Тамільская мова – Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography)" lang="be-tarask" hreflang="be-tarask" data-title="Тамільская мова" data-language-autonym="Беларуская (тарашкевіца)" data-language-local-name="Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography)" class="interlanguage-link-target">Беларуская (тарашкевіца)</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bh mw-list-item"><a href="https://bh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2" title="तमिल – Bhojpuri" lang="bh" hreflang="bh" data-title="तमिल" data-language-autonym="भोजपुरी" data-language-local-name="Bhojpuri" class="interlanguage-link-target">भोजपुरी</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bcl mw-list-item"><a href="https://bcl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil" title="Tamil – Central Bikol" lang="bcl" hreflang="bcl" data-title="Tamil" data-language-autonym="Bikol Central" data-language-local-name="Central Bikol" class="interlanguage-link-target">Bikol Central</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%BA" title="Тамилски език – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Тамилски език" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Български</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bs mw-list-item"><a href="https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilski_jezik" title="Tamilski jezik – Bosnian" lang="bs" hreflang="bs" data-title="Tamilski jezik" data-language-autonym="Bosanski" data-language-local-name="Bosnian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Bosanski</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-br mw-list-item"><a href="https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamileg" title="Tamileg – Breton" lang="br" hreflang="br" data-title="Tamileg" data-language-autonym="Brezhoneg" data-language-local-name="Breton" class="interlanguage-link-target">Brezhoneg</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A0mil" title="Tàmil – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Tàmil" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target">Català</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ceb mw-list-item"><a href="https://ceb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_(pinulongan)" title="Tamil (pinulongan) – Cebuano" lang="ceb" hreflang="ceb" data-title="Tamil (pinulongan)" data-language-autonym="Cebuano" data-language-local-name="Cebuano" class="interlanguage-link-target">Cebuano</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil%C5%A1tina" title="Tamilština – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Tamilština" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target">Čeština</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cy mw-list-item"><a href="https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamileg" title="Tamileg – Welsh" lang="cy" hreflang="cy" data-title="Tamileg" data-language-autonym="Cymraeg" data-language-local-name="Welsh" class="interlanguage-link-target">Cymraeg</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-da mw-list-item"><a href="https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_(sprog)" title="Tamil (sprog) – Danish" lang="da" hreflang="da" data-title="Tamil (sprog)" data-language-autonym="Dansk" data-language-local-name="Danish" class="interlanguage-link-target">Dansk</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de badge-Q17437796 badge-featuredarticle mw-list-item" title="featured article badge"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil" title="Tamil – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Tamil" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target">Deutsch</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-dv mw-list-item"><a href="https://dv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DE%8C%DE%A6%DE%89%DE%A6%DE%85%DE%A6" title="ތަމަޅަ – Divehi" lang="dv" hreflang="dv" data-title="ތަމަޅަ" data-language-autonym="ދިވެހިބަސް" data-language-local-name="Divehi" class="interlanguage-link-target">ދިވެހިބަސް</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-dty mw-list-item"><a href="https://dty.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2_%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%BE" title="तमिल भाषा – Doteli" lang="dty" hreflang="dty" data-title="तमिल भाषा" data-language-autonym="डोटेली" data-language-local-name="Doteli" class="interlanguage-link-target">डोटेली</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-et mw-list-item"><a href="https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamili_keel" title="Tamili keel – Estonian" lang="et" hreflang="et" data-title="Tamili keel" data-language-autonym="Eesti" data-language-local-name="Estonian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Eesti</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A4%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%AF%CE%BB_%CE%B3%CE%BB%CF%8E%CF%83%CF%83%CE%B1" title="Ταμίλ γλώσσα – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Ταμίλ γλώσσα" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target">Ελληνικά</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-myv mw-list-item"><a href="https://myv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8D%D0%BD%D1%8C_%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C" title="Тамилэнь кель – Erzya" lang="myv" hreflang="myv" data-title="Тамилэнь кель" data-language-autonym="Эрзянь" data-language-local-name="Erzya" class="interlanguage-link-target">Эрзянь</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idioma_tamil" title="Idioma tamil – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Idioma tamil" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target">Español</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamila_lingvo" title="Tamila lingvo – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Tamila lingvo" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target">Esperanto</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eu mw-list-item"><a href="https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilera" title="Tamilera – Basque" lang="eu" hreflang="eu" data-title="Tamilera" data-language-autonym="Euskara" data-language-local-name="Basque" class="interlanguage-link-target">Euskara</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C" title="زبان تامیلی – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="زبان تامیلی" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target">فارسی</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hif mw-list-item"><a href="https://hif.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_bhasa" title="Tamil bhasa – Fiji Hindi" lang="hif" hreflang="hif" data-title="Tamil bhasa" data-language-autonym="Fiji Hindi" data-language-local-name="Fiji Hindi" class="interlanguage-link-target">Fiji Hindi</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamoul" title="Tamoul – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Tamoul" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target">Français</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ga mw-list-item"><a href="https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Tamailis" title="An Tamailis – Irish" lang="ga" hreflang="ga" data-title="An Tamailis" data-language-autonym="Gaeilge" data-language-local-name="Irish" class="interlanguage-link-target">Gaeilge</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gv mw-list-item"><a href="https://gv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilish" title="Tamilish – Manx" lang="gv" hreflang="gv" data-title="Tamilish" data-language-autonym="Gaelg" data-language-local-name="Manx" class="interlanguage-link-target">Gaelg</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gd mw-list-item"><a href="https://gd.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamailis" title="Tamailis – Scottish Gaelic" lang="gd" hreflang="gd" data-title="Tamailis" data-language-autonym="Gàidhlig" data-language-local-name="Scottish Gaelic" class="interlanguage-link-target">Gàidhlig</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gl mw-list-item"><a href="https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_t%C3%A1mil" title="Lingua támil – Galician" lang="gl" hreflang="gl" data-title="Lingua támil" data-language-autonym="Galego" data-language-local-name="Galician" class="interlanguage-link-target">Galego</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gu mw-list-item"><a href="https://gu.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AA%A4%E0%AA%AE%E0%AA%BF%E0%AA%B3_%E0%AA%AD%E0%AA%BE%E0%AA%B7%E0%AA%BE" title="તમિળ ભાષા – Gujarati" lang="gu" hreflang="gu" data-title="તમિળ ભાષા" data-language-autonym="ગુજરાતી" data-language-local-name="Gujarati" class="interlanguage-link-target">ગુજરાતી</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hak mw-list-item"><a href="https://hak.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil-ng%C3%AE" title="Tamil-ngî – Hakka Chinese" lang="hak" hreflang="hak" data-title="Tamil-ngî" data-language-autonym="客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî" data-language-local-name="Hakka Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target">客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%83%80%EB%B0%80%EC%96%B4" title="타밀어 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="타밀어" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target">한국어</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hy mw-list-item"><a href="https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D4%B9%D5%A1%D5%B4%D5%AB%D5%AC%D5%A5%D6%80%D5%A5%D5%B6" title="Թամիլերեն – Armenian" lang="hy" hreflang="hy" data-title="Թամիլերեն" data-language-autonym="Հայերեն" data-language-local-name="Armenian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Հայերեն</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hi mw-list-item"><a href="https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2_%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%BE" title="तमिल भाषा – Hindi" lang="hi" hreflang="hi" data-title="तमिल भाषा" data-language-autonym="हिन्दी" data-language-local-name="Hindi" class="interlanguage-link-target">हिन्दी</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hr mw-list-item"><a href="https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilski_jezik" title="Tamilski jezik – Croatian" lang="hr" hreflang="hr" data-title="Tamilski jezik" data-language-autonym="Hrvatski" data-language-local-name="Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Hrvatski</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-io mw-list-item"><a href="https://io.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_linguo" title="Tamil linguo – Ido" lang="io" hreflang="io" data-title="Tamil linguo" data-language-autonym="Ido" data-language-local-name="Ido" class="interlanguage-link-target">Ido</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ig mw-list-item"><a href="https://ig.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_language" title="Tamil language – Igbo" lang="ig" hreflang="ig" data-title="Tamil language" data-language-autonym="Igbo" data-language-local-name="Igbo" class="interlanguage-link-target">Igbo</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ilo mw-list-item"><a href="https://ilo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagsasao_a_Tamil" title="Pagsasao a Tamil – Iloko" lang="ilo" hreflang="ilo" data-title="Pagsasao a Tamil" data-language-autonym="Ilokano" data-language-local-name="Iloko" class="interlanguage-link-target">Ilokano</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-id mw-list-item"><a href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahasa_Tamil" title="Bahasa Tamil – Indonesian" lang="id" hreflang="id" data-title="Bahasa Tamil" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Indonesia" data-language-local-name="Indonesian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Bahasa Indonesia</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ia mw-list-item"><a href="https://ia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_tamil" title="Lingua tamil – Interlingua" lang="ia" hreflang="ia" data-title="Lingua tamil" data-language-autonym="Interlingua" data-language-local-name="Interlingua" class="interlanguage-link-target">Interlingua</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-os mw-list-item"><a href="https://os.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B3_%C3%A6%D0%B2%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B3" title="Тамилаг æвзаг – Ossetic" lang="os" hreflang="os" data-title="Тамилаг æвзаг" data-language-autonym="Ирон" data-language-local-name="Ossetic" class="interlanguage-link-target">Ирон</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-is mw-list-item"><a href="https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tam%C3%ADlska" title="Tamílska – Icelandic" lang="is" hreflang="is" data-title="Tamílska" data-language-autonym="Íslenska" data-language-local-name="Icelandic" class="interlanguage-link-target">Íslenska</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_tamil" title="Lingua tamil – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Lingua tamil" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Italiano</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%98%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%AA" title="טמילית – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="טמילית" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target">עברית</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-jv mw-list-item"><a href="https://jv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basa_Tamil" title="Basa Tamil – Javanese" lang="jv" hreflang="jv" data-title="Basa Tamil" data-language-autonym="Jawa" data-language-local-name="Javanese" class="interlanguage-link-target">Jawa</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kn mw-list-item"><a href="https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%A4%E0%B2%AE%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%B3%E0%B3%81" title="ತಮಿಳು – Kannada" lang="kn" hreflang="kn" data-title="ತಮಿಳು" data-language-autonym="ಕನ್ನಡ" data-language-local-name="Kannada" class="interlanguage-link-target">ಕನ್ನಡ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-krc mw-list-item"><a href="https://krc.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BB" title="Тамил тил – Karachay-Balkar" lang="krc" hreflang="krc" data-title="Тамил тил" data-language-autonym="Къарачай-малкъар" data-language-local-name="Karachay-Balkar" class="interlanguage-link-target">Къарачай-малкъар</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ka mw-list-item"><a href="https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%A2%E1%83%90%E1%83%9B%E1%83%98%E1%83%9A%E1%83%A3%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98_%E1%83%94%E1%83%9C%E1%83%90" title="ტამილური ენა – Georgian" lang="ka" hreflang="ka" data-title="ტამილური ენა" data-language-autonym="ქართული" data-language-local-name="Georgian" class="interlanguage-link-target">ქართული</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ks mw-list-item"><a href="https://ks.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D9%B2%D9%85%D9%90%D9%84_%D8%B2%D9%8E%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86" title="تٲمِل زَبان – Kashmiri" lang="ks" hreflang="ks" data-title="تٲمِل زَبان" data-language-autonym="कॉशुर / کٲشُر" data-language-local-name="Kashmiri" class="interlanguage-link-target">कॉशुर / کٲشُر</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kw mw-list-item"><a href="https://kw.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilek" title="Tamilek – Cornish" lang="kw" hreflang="kw" data-title="Tamilek" data-language-autonym="Kernowek" data-language-local-name="Cornish" class="interlanguage-link-target">Kernowek</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-rw mw-list-item"><a href="https://rw.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igitamili" title="Igitamili – Kinyarwanda" lang="rw" hreflang="rw" data-title="Igitamili" data-language-autonym="Ikinyarwanda" data-language-local-name="Kinyarwanda" class="interlanguage-link-target">Ikinyarwanda</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sw mw-list-item"><a href="https://sw.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitamil" title="Kitamil – Swahili" lang="sw" hreflang="sw" data-title="Kitamil" data-language-autonym="Kiswahili" data-language-local-name="Swahili" class="interlanguage-link-target">Kiswahili</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kv mw-list-item"><a href="https://kv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D0%BA%D1%8B%D0%B2" title="Тамил кыв – Komi" lang="kv" hreflang="kv" data-title="Тамил кыв" data-language-autonym="Коми" data-language-local-name="Komi" class="interlanguage-link-target">Коми</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gcr mw-list-item"><a href="https://gcr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamoul" title="Tamoul – Guianan Creole" lang="gcr" hreflang="gcr" data-title="Tamoul" data-language-autonym="Kriyòl gwiyannen" data-language-local-name="Guianan Creole" class="interlanguage-link-target">Kriyòl gwiyannen</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ku mw-list-item"><a href="https://ku.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziman%C3%AA_tam%C3%AEl%C3%AE" title="Zimanê tamîlî – Kurdish" lang="ku" hreflang="ku" data-title="Zimanê tamîlî" data-language-autonym="Kurdî" data-language-local-name="Kurdish" class="interlanguage-link-target">Kurdî</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ky mw-list-item"><a href="https://ky.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8" title="Тамил тили – Kyrgyz" lang="ky" hreflang="ky" data-title="Тамил тили" data-language-autonym="Кыргызча" data-language-local-name="Kyrgyz" class="interlanguage-link-target">Кыргызча</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lo mw-list-item"><a href="https://lo.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%BA%9E%E0%BA%B2%E0%BA%AA%E0%BA%B2%E0%BA%97%E0%BA%B0%E0%BA%A1%E0%BA%B4%E0%BA%99" title="ພາສາທະມິນ – Lao" lang="lo" hreflang="lo" data-title="ພາສາທະມິນ" data-language-autonym="ລາວ" data-language-local-name="Lao" class="interlanguage-link-target">ລາວ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-la mw-list-item"><a href="https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_Tamulica" title="Lingua Tamulica – Latin" lang="la" hreflang="la" data-title="Lingua Tamulica" data-language-autonym="Latina" data-language-local-name="Latin" class="interlanguage-link-target">Latina</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lv mw-list-item"><a href="https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilu_valoda" title="Tamilu valoda – Latvian" lang="lv" hreflang="lv" data-title="Tamilu valoda" data-language-autonym="Latviešu" data-language-local-name="Latvian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Latviešu</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lb mw-list-item"><a href="https://lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil" title="Tamil – Luxembourgish" lang="lb" hreflang="lb" data-title="Tamil" data-language-autonym="Lëtzebuergesch" data-language-local-name="Luxembourgish" class="interlanguage-link-target">Lëtzebuergesch</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lt mw-list-item"><a href="https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil%C5%B3_kalba" title="Tamilų kalba – Lithuanian" lang="lt" hreflang="lt" data-title="Tamilų kalba" data-language-autonym="Lietuvių" data-language-local-name="Lithuanian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Lietuvių</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lij mw-list-item"><a href="https://lij.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lengua_tamil" title="Lengua tamil – Ligurian" lang="lij" hreflang="lij" data-title="Lengua tamil" data-language-autonym="Ligure" data-language-local-name="Ligurian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Ligure</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_nyelv" title="Tamil nyelv – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Tamil nyelv" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Magyar</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mai mw-list-item"><a href="https://mai.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2_%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%BE" title="तमिल भाषा – Maithili" lang="mai" hreflang="mai" data-title="तमिल भाषा" data-language-autonym="मैथिली" data-language-local-name="Maithili" class="interlanguage-link-target">मैथिली</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mk mw-list-item"><a href="https://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D1%98%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%BA" title="Тамилски јазик – Macedonian" lang="mk" hreflang="mk" data-title="Тамилски јазик" data-language-autonym="Македонски" data-language-local-name="Macedonian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Македонски</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mg mw-list-item"><a href="https://mg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiteny_tamily" title="Fiteny tamily – Malagasy" lang="mg" hreflang="mg" data-title="Fiteny tamily" data-language-autonym="Malagasy" data-language-local-name="Malagasy" class="interlanguage-link-target">Malagasy</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ml mw-list-item"><a href="https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%AE%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%B4%E0%B5%8D" title="തമിഴ് – Malayalam" lang="ml" hreflang="ml" data-title="തമിഴ്" data-language-autonym="മലയാളം" data-language-local-name="Malayalam" class="interlanguage-link-target">മലയാളം</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mr mw-list-item"><a href="https://mr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B3_%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%BE" title="तमिळ भाषा – Marathi" lang="mr" hreflang="mr" data-title="तमिळ भाषा" data-language-autonym="मराठी" data-language-local-name="Marathi" class="interlanguage-link-target">मराठी</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-xmf mw-list-item"><a href="https://xmf.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%A2%E1%83%90%E1%83%9B%E1%83%98%E1%83%9A%E1%83%A3%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98_%E1%83%9C%E1%83%98%E1%83%9C%E1%83%90" title="ტამილური ნინა – Mingrelian" lang="xmf" hreflang="xmf" data-title="ტამილური ნინა" data-language-autonym="მარგალური" data-language-local-name="Mingrelian" class="interlanguage-link-target">მარგალური</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-arz mw-list-item"><a href="https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%87" title="التاميليه – Egyptian Arabic" lang="arz" hreflang="arz" data-title="التاميليه" data-language-autonym="مصرى" data-language-local-name="Egyptian Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target">مصرى</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mzn mw-list-item"><a href="https://mzn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C" title="تامیلی – Mazanderani" lang="mzn" hreflang="mzn" data-title="تامیلی" data-language-autonym="مازِرونی" data-language-local-name="Mazanderani" class="interlanguage-link-target">مازِرونی</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ms mw-list-item"><a href="https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahasa_Tamil" title="Bahasa Tamil – Malay" lang="ms" hreflang="ms" data-title="Bahasa Tamil" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Melayu" data-language-local-name="Malay" class="interlanguage-link-target">Bahasa Melayu</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mni mw-list-item"><a href="https://mni.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EA%AF%87%EA%AF%A5%EA%AF%83%EA%AF%A4%EA%AF%9C_%EA%AF%82%EA%AF%A3%EA%AF%9F" title="ꯇꯥꯃꯤꯜ ꯂꯣꯟ – Manipuri" lang="mni" hreflang="mni" data-title="ꯇꯥꯃꯤꯜ ꯂꯣꯟ" data-language-autonym="ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯂꯣꯟ" data-language-local-name="Manipuri" class="interlanguage-link-target">ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯂꯣꯟ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-min mw-list-item"><a href="https://min.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahaso_Tamil" title="Bahaso Tamil – Minangkabau" lang="min" hreflang="min" data-title="Bahaso Tamil" data-language-autonym="Minangkabau" data-language-local-name="Minangkabau" class="interlanguage-link-target">Minangkabau</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cdo mw-list-item"><a href="https://cdo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil-ng%E1%B9%B3%CC%84" title="Tamil-ngṳ̄ – Mindong" lang="cdo" hreflang="cdo" data-title="Tamil-ngṳ̄" data-language-autonym="閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄" data-language-local-name="Mindong" class="interlanguage-link-target">閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mn mw-list-item"><a href="https://mn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D1%85%D1%8D%D0%BB" title="Тамил хэл – Mongolian" lang="mn" hreflang="mn" data-title="Тамил хэл" data-language-autonym="Монгол" data-language-local-name="Mongolian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Монгол</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nah mw-list-item"><a href="https://nah.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamillaht%C5%8Dlli" title="Tamillahtōlli – Nahuatl" lang="nah" hreflang="nah" data-title="Tamillahtōlli" data-language-autonym="Nāhuatl" data-language-local-name="Nahuatl" class="interlanguage-link-target">Nāhuatl</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_(taal)" title="Tamil (taal) – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Tamil (taal)" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target">Nederlands</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nds-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nds-nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_(taal)" title="Tamil (taal) – Low Saxon" lang="nds-NL" hreflang="nds-NL" data-title="Tamil (taal)" data-language-autonym="Nedersaksies" data-language-local-name="Low Saxon" class="interlanguage-link-target">Nedersaksies</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ne mw-list-item"><a href="https://ne.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2_%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%BE" title="तमिल भाषा – Nepali" lang="ne" hreflang="ne" data-title="तमिल भाषा" data-language-autonym="नेपाली" data-language-local-name="Nepali" class="interlanguage-link-target">नेपाली</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-new mw-list-item"><a href="https://new.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2_%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%BE" title="तमिल भाषा – Newari" lang="new" hreflang="new" data-title="तमिल भाषा" data-language-autonym="नेपाल भाषा" data-language-local-name="Newari" class="interlanguage-link-target">नेपाल भाषा</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%BF%E3%83%9F%E3%83%AB%E8%AA%9E" title="タミル語 – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="タミル語" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target">日本語</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-frr mw-list-item"><a href="https://frr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_(spriik)" title="Tamil (spriik) – Northern Frisian" lang="frr" hreflang="frr" data-title="Tamil (spriik)" data-language-autonym="Nordfriisk" data-language-local-name="Northern Frisian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Nordfriisk</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_(spr%C3%A5k)" title="Tamil (språk) – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="Tamil (språk)" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target">Norsk bokmål</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nn mw-list-item"><a href="https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil" title="Tamil – Norwegian Nynorsk" lang="nn" hreflang="nn" data-title="Tamil" data-language-autonym="Norsk nynorsk" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Nynorsk" class="interlanguage-link-target">Norsk nynorsk</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-oc mw-list-item"><a href="https://oc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil" title="Tamil – Occitan" lang="oc" hreflang="oc" data-title="Tamil" data-language-autonym="Occitan" data-language-local-name="Occitan" class="interlanguage-link-target">Occitan</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-or mw-list-item"><a href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%A4%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%AE%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B2_%E0%AC%AD%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B7%E0%AC%BE" title="ତାମିଲ ଭାଷା – Odia" lang="or" hreflang="or" data-title="ତାମିଲ ଭାଷା" data-language-autonym="ଓଡ଼ିଆ" data-language-local-name="Odia" class="interlanguage-link-target">ଓଡ଼ିଆ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uz mw-list-item"><a href="https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_tili" title="Tamil tili – Uzbek" lang="uz" hreflang="uz" data-title="Tamil tili" data-language-autonym="Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча" data-language-local-name="Uzbek" class="interlanguage-link-target">Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pa mw-list-item"><a href="https://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A8%A4%E0%A8%AE%E0%A8%BF%E0%A8%B2%E0%A8%BC_%E0%A8%AD%E0%A8%BE%E0%A8%B8%E0%A8%BC%E0%A8%BE" title="ਤਮਿਲ਼ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ – Punjabi" lang="pa" hreflang="pa" data-title="ਤਮਿਲ਼ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ" data-language-autonym="ਪੰਜਾਬੀ" data-language-local-name="Punjabi" class="interlanguage-link-target">ਪੰਜਾਬੀ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pnb mw-list-item"><a href="https://pnb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84" title="تامل – Western Punjabi" lang="pnb" hreflang="pnb" data-title="تامل" data-language-autonym="پنجابی" data-language-local-name="Western Punjabi" class="interlanguage-link-target">پنجابی</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pap mw-list-item"><a href="https://pap.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil" title="Tamil – Papiamento" lang="pap" hreflang="pap" data-title="Tamil" data-language-autonym="Papiamentu" data-language-local-name="Papiamento" class="interlanguage-link-target">Papiamentu</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ps mw-list-item"><a href="https://ps.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A_%DA%98%D8%A8%D9%87" title="تاميلي ژبه – Pashto" lang="ps" hreflang="ps" data-title="تاميلي ژبه" data-language-autonym="پښتو" data-language-local-name="Pashto" class="interlanguage-link-target">پښتو</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-km mw-list-item"><a href="https://km.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%9E%97%E1%9E%B6%E1%9E%9F%E1%9E%B6%E1%9E%91%E1%9E%98%E1%9E%B7%E1%9E%A1" title="ភាសាទមិឡ – Khmer" lang="km" hreflang="km" data-title="ភាសាទមិឡ" data-language-autonym="ភាសាខ្មែរ" data-language-local-name="Khmer" class="interlanguage-link-target">ភាសាខ្មែរ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pcd mw-list-item"><a href="https://pcd.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamoul" title="Tamoul – Picard" lang="pcd" hreflang="pcd" data-title="Tamoul" data-language-autonym="Picard" data-language-local-name="Picard" class="interlanguage-link-target">Picard</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pms mw-list-item"><a href="https://pms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenga_Tamil" title="Lenga Tamil – Piedmontese" lang="pms" hreflang="pms" data-title="Lenga Tamil" data-language-autonym="Piemontèis" data-language-local-name="Piedmontese" class="interlanguage-link-target">Piemontèis</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C4%99zyk_tamilski" title="Język tamilski – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Język tamilski" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target">Polski</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%ADngua_t%C3%A2mil" title="Língua tâmil – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Língua tâmil" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target">Português</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limba_tamil%C4%83" title="Limba tamilă – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Limba tamilă" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Română</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-rmy mw-list-item"><a href="https://rmy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilikani_chhib" title="Tamilikani chhib – Vlax Romani" lang="rmy" hreflang="rmy" data-title="Tamilikani chhib" data-language-autonym="Romani čhib" data-language-local-name="Vlax Romani" class="interlanguage-link-target">Romani čhib</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-qu mw-list-item"><a href="https://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_simi" title="Tamil simi – Quechua" lang="qu" hreflang="qu" data-title="Tamil simi" data-language-autonym="Runa Simi" data-language-local-name="Quechua" class="interlanguage-link-target">Runa Simi</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-rue mw-list-item"><a href="https://rue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA" title="Тамільскый язык – Rusyn" lang="rue" hreflang="rue" data-title="Тамільскый язык" data-language-autonym="Русиньскый" data-language-local-name="Rusyn" class="interlanguage-link-target">Русиньскый</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA" title="Тамильский язык – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Тамильский язык" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Русский</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sah mw-list-item"><a href="https://sah.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D1%82%D1%8B%D0%BB%D0%B0" title="Тамил тыла – Yakut" lang="sah" hreflang="sah" data-title="Тамил тыла" data-language-autonym="Саха тыла" data-language-local-name="Yakut" class="interlanguage-link-target">Саха тыла</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sa mw-list-item"><a href="https://sa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B3%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%BE" title="तमिळ्भाषा – Sanskrit" lang="sa" hreflang="sa" data-title="तमिळ्भाषा" data-language-autonym="संस्कृतम्" data-language-local-name="Sanskrit" class="interlanguage-link-target">संस्कृतम्</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sat mw-list-item"><a href="https://sat.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%B1%9B%E1%B1%9F%E1%B1%B9%E1%B1%A2%E1%B1%A4%E1%B1%9E_%E1%B1%AF%E1%B1%9F%E1%B1%B9%E1%B1%A8%E1%B1%A5%E1%B1%A4" title="ᱛᱟᱹᱢᱤᱞ ᱯᱟᱹᱨᱥᱤ – Santali" lang="sat" hreflang="sat" data-title="ᱛᱟᱹᱢᱤᱞ ᱯᱟᱹᱨᱥᱤ" data-language-autonym="ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ" data-language-local-name="Santali" class="interlanguage-link-target">ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sco mw-list-item"><a href="https://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_leid" title="Tamil leid – Scots" lang="sco" hreflang="sco" data-title="Tamil leid" data-language-autonym="Scots" data-language-local-name="Scots" class="interlanguage-link-target">Scots</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sq mw-list-item"><a href="https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjuha_tamile" title="Gjuha tamile – Albanian" lang="sq" hreflang="sq" data-title="Gjuha tamile" data-language-autonym="Shqip" data-language-local-name="Albanian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Shqip</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-scn mw-list-item"><a href="https://scn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_tamil" title="Lingua tamil – Sicilian" lang="scn" hreflang="scn" data-title="Lingua tamil" data-language-autonym="Sicilianu" data-language-local-name="Sicilian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Sicilianu</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-si mw-list-item"><a href="https://si.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B6%AF%E0%B7%99%E0%B6%B8%E0%B7%85_%E0%B6%B7%E0%B7%8F%E0%B7%82%E0%B7%8F%E0%B7%80" title="දෙමළ භාෂාව – Sinhala" lang="si" hreflang="si" data-title="දෙමළ භාෂාව" data-language-autonym="සිංහල" data-language-local-name="Sinhala" class="interlanguage-link-target">සිංහල</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_language" title="Tamil language – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Tamil language" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target">Simple English</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sd mw-list-item"><a href="https://sd.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84_%D9%BB%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A" title="تامل ٻولي – Sindhi" lang="sd" hreflang="sd" data-title="تامل ٻولي" data-language-autonym="سنڌي" data-language-local-name="Sindhi" class="interlanguage-link-target">سنڌي</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sl mw-list-item"><a href="https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil%C5%A1%C4%8Dina" title="Tamilščina – Slovenian" lang="sl" hreflang="sl" data-title="Tamilščina" data-language-autonym="Slovenščina" data-language-local-name="Slovenian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Slovenščina</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-szl mw-list-item"><a href="https://szl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilsk%C5%8F_g%C5%8Fdka" title="Tamilskŏ gŏdka – Silesian" lang="szl" hreflang="szl" data-title="Tamilskŏ gŏdka" data-language-autonym="Ślůnski" data-language-local-name="Silesian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Ślůnski</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-so mw-list-item"><a href="https://so.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luqada_Tamil-ka" title="Luqada Tamil-ka – Somali" lang="so" hreflang="so" data-title="Luqada Tamil-ka" data-language-autonym="Soomaaliga" data-language-local-name="Somali" class="interlanguage-link-target">Soomaaliga</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ckb mw-list-item"><a href="https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C_%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C" title="زمانی تامیلی – Central Kurdish" lang="ckb" hreflang="ckb" data-title="زمانی تامیلی" data-language-autonym="کوردی" data-language-local-name="Central Kurdish" class="interlanguage-link-target">کوردی</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sr mw-list-item"><a href="https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D1%98%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%BA" title="Тамилски језик – Serbian" lang="sr" hreflang="sr" data-title="Тамилски језик" data-language-autonym="Српски / srpski" data-language-local-name="Serbian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Српски / srpski</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sh mw-list-item"><a href="https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilski_jezik" title="Tamilski jezik – Serbo-Croatian" lang="sh" hreflang="sh" data-title="Tamilski jezik" data-language-autonym="Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски" data-language-local-name="Serbo-Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamili" title="Tamili – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Tamili" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target">Suomi</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil" title="Tamil – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Tamil" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target">Svenska</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tl mw-list-item"><a href="https://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikang_Tamil" title="Wikang Tamil – Tagalog" lang="tl" hreflang="tl" data-title="Wikang Tamil" data-language-autonym="Tagalog" data-language-local-name="Tagalog" class="interlanguage-link-target">Tagalog</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ta mw-list-item"><a href="https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D" title="தமிழ் – Tamil" lang="ta" hreflang="ta" data-title="தமிழ்" data-language-autonym="தமிழ்" data-language-local-name="Tamil" class="interlanguage-link-target">தமிழ்</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-roa-tara mw-list-item"><a href="https://roa-tara.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8nga_tamil" title="Lènga tamil – Tarantino" lang="nap-x-tara" hreflang="nap-x-tara" data-title="Lènga tamil" data-language-autonym="Tarandíne" data-language-local-name="Tarantino" class="interlanguage-link-target">Tarandíne</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tt mw-list-item"><a href="https://tt.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5" title="Тамил теле – Tatar" lang="tt" hreflang="tt" data-title="Тамил теле" data-language-autonym="Татарча / tatarça" data-language-local-name="Tatar" class="interlanguage-link-target">Татарча / tatarça</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-te mw-list-item"><a href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%A4%E0%B0%AE%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%B3_%E0%B0%AD%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%B7" title="తమిళ భాష – Telugu" lang="te" hreflang="te" data-title="తమిళ భాష" data-language-autonym="తెలుగు" data-language-local-name="Telugu" class="interlanguage-link-target">తెలుగు</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-th mw-list-item"><a href="https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%A0%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A9%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%AC" title="ภาษาทมิฬ – Thai" lang="th" hreflang="th" data-title="ภาษาทมิฬ" data-language-autonym="ไทย" data-language-local-name="Thai" class="interlanguage-link-target">ไทย</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tg mw-list-item"><a href="https://tg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8_%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D3%A3" title="Забони томилӣ – Tajik" lang="tg" hreflang="tg" data-title="Забони томилӣ" data-language-autonym="Тоҷикӣ" data-language-local-name="Tajik" class="interlanguage-link-target">Тоҷикӣ</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tcy mw-list-item"><a href="https://tcy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%A4%E0%B2%AE%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%B3%E0%B3%81_%E0%B2%AC%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%B8%E0%B3%86" title="ತಮಿಳು ಬಾಸೆ – Tulu" lang="tcy" hreflang="tcy" data-title="ತಮಿಳು ಬಾಸೆ" data-language-autonym="ತುಳು" data-language-local-name="Tulu" class="interlanguage-link-target">ತುಳು</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilce" title="Tamilce – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Tamilce" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target">Türkçe</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0" title="Тамільська мова – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Тамільська мова" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Українська</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ur mw-list-item"><a href="https://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%84_%D8%B2%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86" title="تمل زبان – Urdu" lang="ur" hreflang="ur" data-title="تمل زبان" data-language-autonym="اردو" data-language-local-name="Urdu" class="interlanguage-link-target">اردو</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ug mw-list-item"><a href="https://ug.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%89%D9%84_%D8%AA%D9%89%D9%84%D9%89" title="تامىل تىلى – Uyghur" lang="ug" hreflang="ug" data-title="تامىل تىلى" data-language-autonym="ئۇيغۇرچە / Uyghurche" data-language-local-name="Uyghur" class="interlanguage-link-target">ئۇيغۇرچە / Uyghurche</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti%E1%BA%BFng_Tamil" title="Tiếng Tamil – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Tiếng Tamil" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target">Tiếng Việt</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-war mw-list-item"><a href="https://war.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinamil" title="Tinamil – Waray" lang="war" hreflang="war" data-title="Tinamil" data-language-autonym="Winaray" data-language-local-name="Waray" class="interlanguage-link-target">Winaray</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-wuu mw-list-item"><a href="https://wuu.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B3%B0%E7%B1%B3%E5%B0%94%E8%AF%AD" title="泰米尔语 – Wu" lang="wuu" hreflang="wuu" data-title="泰米尔语" data-language-autonym="吴语" data-language-local-name="Wu" class="interlanguage-link-target">吴语</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-yi mw-list-item"><a href="https://yi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%98%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9C" title="טאמיל – Yiddish" lang="yi" hreflang="yi" data-title="טאמיל" data-language-autonym="ייִדיש" data-language-local-name="Yiddish" class="interlanguage-link-target">ייִדיש</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-yo mw-list-item"><a href="https://yo.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%88d%C3%A8_T%C3%A0mil" title="Èdè Tàmil – Yoruba" lang="yo" hreflang="yo" data-title="Èdè Tàmil" data-language-autonym="Yorùbá" data-language-local-name="Yoruba" class="interlanguage-link-target">Yorùbá</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-yue mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B7%A1%E7%B1%B3%E7%88%BE%E6%96%87" title="淡米爾文 – Cantonese" lang="yue" hreflang="yue" data-title="淡米爾文" data-language-autonym="粵語" data-language-local-name="Cantonese" class="interlanguage-link-target">粵語</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bat-smg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bat-smg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tam%C4%97lu_kalba" title="Tamėlu kalba – Samogitian" lang="sgs" hreflang="sgs" data-title="Tamėlu kalba" data-language-autonym="Žemaitėška" data-language-local-name="Samogitian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Žemaitėška</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B3%B0%E7%B1%B3%E5%B0%94%E8%AF%AD" title="泰米尔语 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="泰米尔语" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target">中文</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bbc mw-list-item"><a href="https://bbc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hata_Tamil" title="Hata Tamil – Batak Toba" lang="bbc" hreflang="bbc" data-title="Hata Tamil" data-language-autonym="Batak Toba" data-language-local-name="Batak Toba" class="interlanguage-link-target">Batak Toba</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-dtp mw-list-item"><a href="https://dtp.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boros_Tamil" title="Boros Tamil – Central Dusun" lang="dtp" hreflang="dtp" data-title="Boros Tamil" data-language-autonym="Kadazandusun" data-language-local-name="Central Dusun" class="interlanguage-link-target">Kadazandusun</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-iba mw-list-item"><a href="https://iba.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaku_Tamil" title="Jaku Tamil – Iban" lang="iba" hreflang="iba" data-title="Jaku Tamil" data-language-autonym="Jaku Iban" data-language-local-name="Iban" class="interlanguage-link-target">Jaku Iban</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kge mw-list-item"><a href="https://kge.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basa_Tamil" title="Basa Tamil – Komering" lang="kge" hreflang="kge" data-title="Basa Tamil" data-language-autonym="Kumoring" data-language-local-name="Komering" class="interlanguage-link-target">Kumoring</a></li></ul> </section> </div> <div class="minerva-footer-logo"><img src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" alt="Wikipedia" width="120" height="18" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"/> </div> <ul id="footer-info" class="footer-info hlist hlist-separated"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 13 February 2025, at 11:21 (UTC).</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Content is available under <a class="external" rel="nofollow" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted.</li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places" class="footer-places hlist hlist-separated"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> 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