Tamil (தமிழ் tamiḻ; IPA: [t̪əmɨɻ]) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius, Vietnam, Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world.[1] It is the administrative language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and the first Indian language to be declared as a classical language by the government of India in 2004.
Tamil literature has existed for over two thousand years.[8] The earliest epigraphic records found date from around the third century BCE.[9] The earliest period of Tamil literature, Sangam literature, is dated from the 300 BCE – 300 CE.[10][11] Inscriptions in Tamil Language from 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE have been discovered in Egypt and Thailand.[12][13] The first two ancient manuscripts from India,[14][15] to be acknowledged and registered by UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 & 2005 were in Tamil.[16] According to a 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, of which 353 were dailies.[17] More than 55% of the epigraphical inscriptions, about 55,000, found by the Archaeological Survey of India in India are in Tamil language[18]
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[edit] Classification
Tamil belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian languages, a family of around twenty-six languages native to the Indian subcontinent.[19] It is also classified as being part of a Tamil language family, which alongside Tamil proper, also includes the languages of about 35 ethno-linguistic groups[20] such as the Irula, and Yerukula languages (see SIL Ethnologue).
The closest major relative of Tamil is Malayalam. Until about the ninth century, Malayalam was a dialect of Tamil[21] Although many of the differences between Tamil and Malayalam evidence a pre-historic split of the western dialect,[22] the process of separation into distinct language, Malayalam was not completed until sometime in the 13th or 14th century.[23]
[edit] Etymology
The exact period when the name "Tamil" came to be applied to the language is unclear, as is the precise etymology of the name. Southworth suggests that the name comes from tam-miz > tam-iz 'self-speak', or 'one's own speech'.[24] Zvelebil suggests an etymology of tam-iz, with tam meaning "self" or "one's self", and "-iz" having the connotation of "unfolding sound". Alternately, he suggests a derivation of tamiz < id="cite_ref-24" class="reference">[25]
[edit] History
The earliest epigraphic attestations of Tamil date to c. the 3rd century BCE.[26][27] It flourished in India as a language with a rich literature during the Sangam period (300 BCE to 300 CE).[26][28] With an estimated 30,000 inscriptions, Tamil has the largest number of inscriptions in South Asia.[29]
The Tamil Sangam literature is the oldest extant literature in any Dravidian language[30] Literary works in India were preserved either in palm leaf manuscripts (implying repeated copying and recopying) or through oral transmission, making direct dating impossible.[31] External chronological records and internal linguistic evidence, however, indicate that the oldest extant works were probably compiled sometime between the 2nd century BCE and the 10th century CE.[32][33][34]
Tamil scholars categorize the history of the language into three periods,
- Old Tamil (300 BC - 700 CE),
- Middle Tamil (700 - 1600)
- Modern Tamil (1600–present).[35]
[edit] Old Tamil
Epigraphic attestation of Tamil begins with rock inscriptions from the 3rd century BC, written in Tamil-Brahmi, an adapted form of the Brahmi script.[36] The earliest extant literary text is the Tolkāppiyam, a work on poetics and grammar that describes the language of the classical period, dated variously between the 3rd century BCE and 5th century CE.
The Sangam literature contains about 50,000 lines of poetry contained in 2,381 poems attributed to 473 poets including many women poets.[37][38] Many of the poems of Sangam period were also set to music.[39]
During the post-Sangam period of Old Tamil, important works like Thirukkural and epic poems were composed, including Silappatikaram, Manimekalai, Sīvakacintāmani, Valaiyapathi and Kundalakesi. These latter five works are known as the five great epics.
[edit] Middle Tamil
The Bhakthi period is known for the great outpouring of devotional songs set to pann music, including over eight thousand Tevaram verses on Saivism and Nalayira Divya Prabandham (four thousand verses) on Vaishnavism.[40] The mediaeval period gave rise to a popular adaptation of the Ramayana in Tamil, known as Kamba Ramayanam (12th century) and a story of 63 Nayanmars known as Periyapuranam (13th century).[41]
In the later medieval period (14th to 16th century), Tamil became increasingly Sanskritized, to the point of the emergence of a mixed language known as maṇippiravāḷam.
[edit] Modern Tamil
In the early 20th century, the Pure Tamil Movement called for removal of all Sanskritic and other foreign elements from Tamil.[42] It received some support from Dravidian parties and nationalists who supported Tamil independence.[43] This led to the replacement of a significant number of Sanskrit loanwords by Tamil equivalents.[44] Tamil writers have won the Jnanpith awards twice.
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