Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language.[8] It is spoken in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry states of India and parts of Sri Lanka. Many people in Singapore and Malaysia also speak it. Many people speaking Tamil live in various places around the world.
| Tamil | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| தமிழ் Tamiḻ | ||||
 | ||||
| Pronunciation | [t̪amiɻ];  pronunciation (info • help) | |||
| Native to | India Sri Lanka Singapore Malaysia | |||
| Ethnicity | Tamil people | |||
| Native speakers | 75 million (2011–2015)[1][2] L2 speakers: 6 million[1] | |||
| Language family | ||||
| Early forms: | Old Tamil
| |||
| Writing system | Tamil (Brahmic) Tamil-Brahmi (historical) Grantha (historical) Vatteluttu (historical) Pallava (historical) Kolezhuthu (historical) Arwi (Abjad) Tamil Braille (Bharati) Latin script (informal) | |||
| Official status | ||||
| Official language in |  India: Sri Lanka SingaporeOrganizations  ASEAN[5] | |||
| Recognised minority language in |  Malaysia[6] South Africa[7] | |||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-1 | ta | |||
| ISO 639-2 | tam | |||
| ISO 639-3 | Either: tam – Modern Tamil oty – Old Tamil | |||
| Linguist List | oty Old Tamil | |||
| Linguasphere | 49-EBE-a | |||
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The Tamil language is part of the Dravidian language family, which includes Telugu,Odia, Kannada and Malayalam. According to a survey, 1863 newspapers are published in the Tamil language only every day.[9][10] The oldest text found in Tamil is a grammatical work called the Tolkāppiyam. Tamil has a long literary history, and is spoken by almost 100 million people.
Tamil script
The modern Tamil script is an abugida, much like the other brahmic scripts that surround it and from whom it developed from. The Tamil script has 18 consonants and 12 vowels and the āytam ஃ,. The āytam is used with other letters to represent sounds not native to the language (usually with the English sound f.) The vowels are written as symbols above, below or on either side of the consonant. Much like other brahmic scripts, it is written from left to right.
Tamil is the dominant language in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, and Northern provinces of Sri Lanka. It is also spoken by significant immigrant communities and the historical Tamil diaspora in like the United States, Germany, Fiji, Indonesia, France, Africa and Thailand.
Tamil Language Media
Civiltà_thamirabani,_reperti_da_adhichanallur,_02
Keezhadi site
Explanation for Mangulam Tamil Brahmi inscription in Mangulam, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, dated to Tamil Sangam period (c. 400 BC – c. 200 AD)
A model of the Mangulam Tamil Brahmi inscription at Dakshin Chithra, Chennai.
Tanjavur Tamil Inscription2
Jambai Tamil Brahmi inscription near Tirukkoyilur in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu dated to the early Tamil Sangam age (c. 400 BC)
Historical evolution of Tamil writing from the earlier Tamil Brahmi near the top to the current Tamil script at bottom
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tamil language at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
- ↑ "Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength - 2011" (PDF). Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
- ↑ "Official languages of Tamil Nadu", Tamil Nadu Government, archived from the original on 21 October 2012, retrieved 1 May 2007
- ↑ Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India: 50th report (delivered to the Lokh Sabha in 2014) (PDF), National Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, p. 155, archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016, retrieved 8 June 2017
- ↑ Languages of ASEAN, retrieved 7 August 2017
- ↑ School languages, LINGUAMON, archived from the original on 2 September 2015, retrieved 26 March 2016
- ↑ "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 – Chapter 1: Founding Provisions", www.gov.za, South African Government
- ↑ /ˈtæmɪl/ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
- ↑ Stein, Burton (1977), "Circulation and the Historical Geography of Tamil Country", The Journal of Asian Studies, 37 (1): 7–26, doi:10.2307/2053325, JSTOR 2053325, S2CID 144599197
- ↑ Steever, Sanford B. "The Dravidian languages", First Published (1998), pp. 6–9. ISBN 0-415-10023-2
Other websites
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This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Tamil language edition. |
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For a list of words relating to Tamil language, see the in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
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Wikivoyage has a travel guide about: Tamil |
Media related to Tamil language at Wikimedia Commons
