Tamil belongs to the Dravidian family of languages, where it is
rightfully regarded as their most ancient and typical
representative.The number of speakers, which exceeds 70 million,
makes Tamil one of the major languages of the world. The groat bulk
of Tamils (approx. 90 per cent) live in South India, where Tamil is
an official language of Tamilnadu. A few millions of Tamils live in
Sri Lanka, mostly in its northern and eastern areas. Tamils also form
a sizable portion of the population in South East Asian countries,
primarily Malaysia (nearly 1 million), Indonesia (0.5 mill.). Nyanmar
(0.2 mill.) and Singapore (0.2 mill.). Many hundred thousand Tamils
reside in South Africa, Mauritius and elsewhere. As a second language
Tamil is regularly used by tribesmen of Tamilnadu and other Indian
bilinguals (ca 4 mill.).
The written history of the Tamil language is known for nearly
twenty-two centuries: the earliest specimens of writing Tamil date
back to the 2nd century B.C. The earliest extant monuments of Tamil
poetry belong to the last quarter of the 1st century A.D. Yet there
are evident signs of a long literary tradition that must have
preceded their appearance.
CONTENTS: The grammar includes chapters on: Orthography and Orthoepy
- Morphology (Nouns - Numerals - Pronouns - Personal nouns -
Adjectives - Verbs - Adverbs - Particles - Imitative words -
Echo-words - Interjections) - Syntax (Simple sentence (Subject -
Predicate - Agreement between subject and predicate - Attribute -
Object - Adverbial modifiers - Homogeneous parts of the sentence -
Word order - Inversion - Mononuclear sentences - Incomplete
sentences), Composite sentence (Complex sentences - Compound
sentences - Parenthetical sentences)). It concludes with an index of
sandhi transmutations, an index of inflexions, and References.
Linguistic Field(s): Language Description
Subject Language(s): Tamil (Language Code: TCV)
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