Tamil Language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in southern India. It is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is also spoken in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Large Tamil-speaking communities are found in Singapore and Malaysia.

Tamil has a long written history. The oldest known literary texts in Tamil are among the earliest surviving literary works in any Indian language. For this reason, the Indian government has recognized Tamil as a classical language.

Linguistic family

Tamil belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian language family. Its closest relatives are Malayalam, which diverged from Tamil centuries ago, and more distantly Kannada and Telugu. The Dravidian family is distinct from the Indo-Aryan family, which includes Hindi and Bengali.

Writing system

Tamil is written in its own script, called the Tamil script, which derives from the Brahmi writing system. The script is an abugida—each consonant carries an inherent vowel sound that is modified by diacritical marks. Compared to other Indian scripts, the Tamil script has relatively few consonant characters, because Tamil does not maintain a phonemic distinction in writing between aspirated and unaspirated consonants at the graphemic level.

Diglossia

Tamil exhibits diglossia—a distinction between a formal written variety and an informal spoken variety. The written variety, which closely resembles classical Tamil literature, is used in books, official publications, and education. The spoken variety comprises different dialects determined by region and community.

Geographic distribution

Tamil is an official language in Sri Lanka and Singapore and is a recognized language in India. Migration over recent centuries—including indentured laborers brought to colonial plantations—spread Tamil to Malaysia, Fiji, Réunion, Mauritius, and South Africa.