Languages of Tamilnadu
Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu state and one of the 18 languages mentioned in the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution. Tamil is one of the classical languages of the world, with a rich heritage of literature. It is the most widely spoken language in Tamil Nadu. Besides Tamil Nadu, Tamil is also spoken by a number of people in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Mauritius and Malaysia. The antiquity of Tamil is comparable to Sanskrit. Tamil is written in a derivative of the southern ‘Brahmi’ script. The alphabet of Tamil is unique (phonetic). That is, in Tamil language letters represent sounds, rather than ideas, as is the case in the ‘Mandarin’ language of China.
Tamil is spoken by most of the people while around 9 percent of the people residing in Tamil Nadu speak Telugu. Other languages that are popular in the state are Kannada, Urdu and Malayalam (though they are spoken by much smaller percentage). The influence of the Malayalam language is more prominent in the west while people residing mostly in the North Eastern part, bordering Karnataka, speak Kannada. Besides the above-mentioned languages, English is also spoken as a subsidiary language in Tamil Nadu. Tamil is spoken as the first language by 88.43 percent of the population followed by Telugu by 8.65 percent, Kannada by 2.68 percent, Urdu by 1.51 per cent, Malayalam by 0.89 percent and Marathi by 0.1 percent.
Various dialects of Tamil language
Arabic tamil : Arwi or Arabic-Tamil is an Arabic-influenced dialect of the Tamil language written with an extension of the Arabic alphabet, with extensive lexical and phonetic influences from the Arabic language.
Brahmin Tamil: Brahmin Tamil is the name for a series of closely-related Tamil dialects spoken by Tamil Brahmin communities.
Central Tamil : The Central Tamil dialect is considered to be one of the purest forms of spoken Tamil along with Madurai Tamil and is considered to be the basis of standard spoken Tamil. It is spoken in Thanjavur and Tiruchirapalli of Tamil Nadu.
Iyengar Tamil : Iyengar Tamil is a dialect of Kannada-Tamil language spoken mostly in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the adjoining areas in South India.
Junoon Tamil : Junoon Tamil is a Tamil dialect spoken with Hindi grammar. It is spoken by Hindi people in Tamil Nadu. This dialect is named after a Hindi drama Junoon which was dubbed in Tamil with Hindi grammar to promote lip sinking. Hindi people naturally choose this form and thus formed a new dialect of Tamil.
Kongu Tamil : Kongu Tamil is a dialect spoken by people who belong to the caste Gounder. This dialect is spoken widely in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Salem, Karur, and Erode.
Madrasi Tamil : Madrasi Tamil or Madras bashai is a colloquial slang of Tamil language spoken in the city of Chennai, India. It is a loose polyglot blend of Tamil and English, with loanwords from Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Urdu.
Madurai Tamil : Madurai Tamil is the dialect spoken in the city of Madurai and over a vast geographical area of South Tamil Nadu, the area once ruled by the Pandiya Kings. It differs substantially from Nellai Tamil, a region which was also part of the Pandiya domain. ·
Malayalam Tamil : Malayalam Tamil is a Tamil spoken in Malayalam accent. It is spoken by Malayalees in Tamil Nadu. This form of dialect often resembles Sri Lankan Tamil. ·
Nellai Tamil: Nellai Tamil also known as Tirunelveli Tamil, is one of the dialects of Tamil which is spoken in the districts of Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi as well as over the vast area of south Tamil Nadu which was once ruled by the Pandiya Kings. ·
Sankethi : Sankethi is a Tamil dialect spoken by a Brahmin sect known as Sankethis who originated from Sengottai (literally: Red Fort in Tamil) in Tamil Nadu. Historically, they are known to have migrated to Karnataka from Sengottai sometime in the last 200-400 years. Many still call it as dialect of Kannada while Kannada speakers hardly understand Sankethi. It is now declared as an independent language; nevertheless, Tamils find it very easy to comprehend the language.
Sri Lankan Tamil or Ealam Tamil : Sri Lankan is a Tamil dialect which is spoken by Sri Lankan Tamils. This dialect is known for its purity. Even now, it is spoken very similar to Old Tamil. The accent of this dialect resembles Malayalam. ·
Tanglish : Tanglish is a form of colloquial Tamil that has too many English loan words. The name of the dialect itself is the blend of Tamil and English. It is spoken only in metropolitan cities where the speakers overuse English even when conversing in Tamil.
Spoken Tamil vs written Tamil
Spoken Tamil is heavily nasalized and the long words are abridged colloquially. For example, He comes is translated as varugirán in Formal Tamil but, colloquially it is shortened as varán. Note that colloquially –án is pronounced as -ant in French avant. Tamil script does not support this phenomenon and hence Tamil speakers choose Formal Tamil while writing. This led to the state that Tamil is not spoken the way it is written. However, Formal Tamil is used in news report, public meetings, political speeches, formal gatherings etc.
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