Sri Lankan Tamil dialects

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Sri Lankan Tamil
Native toSri Lanka
EthnicitySri Lankan Tamils
Native speakers
2 million[citation needed] (2012 census)
Dravidian
  • Southern
Dialects
Tamil script, Vatteluttu
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Distribution of languages and religious groups of Sri Lanka on D.S. division and sector level according to the 1981 Census of Population and Housing

The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects or Ceylon Tamil or commonly in Tamil language Eelam Tamil (

Coastal Vedda people
.

Characteristics

As Tamil is a

diglossic language the differences between the standard written languages across the globe is minimal but the spoken varieties differ considerably. The spoken Tamil varieties in Sri Lanka although different from those of Tamil Nadu in India share some common features with the southern dialects of Tamil Nadu. Sri Lankan Tamil dialects retain many words and grammatical forms that are not in everyday use in Tamil Nadu,[1][2] and use many other words slightly differently.[3] In general, Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are considered to be more conservative than the continental Tamil dialects.[4]

Dialects

Negombo Tamil

Main article: Negombo Tamil dialect

The

Sinhala as a consequence of contact with it.[5][6] It has also developed a number of other grammatical traits under the probable influence of Sinhala, including a postposed indefinite article, an indefinitizing postclitic –sari (apparently modeled on Sinhala –hari), and case assignments for defective verbs that follow the Sinhala, rather than Tamil, patterns of agreement.[5]

Batticaloa Tamil

Main article: Batticaloa Tamil dialect

Batticaloa Tamil dialect is shared between Tamils,

linguist, the Batticaloa Tamil dialect is the most literary like of all spoken dialects of Tamil, and it has preserved several very antique features, and has remained more true to the literary norm than any other form of Tamil while developing a few striking innovations. Although Batticaloa Tamil has some very specific features of vocabulary, it is classified with other Sri Lankan Tamil dialects as it is related to them by characteristic traits of its phonology. It also maintains some words that are unique to present day .[3][8]

Jaffna Tamil

Main article: Jaffna Tamil dialect

The dialect used in Jaffna is the oldest and most archaic of Tamil dialects in Sri Lanka and India. It is also very refined and considered to preserve many antique features of Old Tamil that predate

weavers. They also maintained the family records of their feudal lords and even practiced medicine and astrology in folk traditions [13]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Lehmann, Thomas (1998). "Old Tamil". In Steever, Sanford (ed.). The Dravidian Languages. Routledge. p. 75.
  2. ^ Annamalai, E.; Steever, S. (1998). "Modern Tamil". In Steever, Sanford (ed.). The Dravidian Languages. Routledge. pp. 100–128.
  3. ^
    S2CID 161144239
    .
  4. ^ Indrapala, K The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka, p.46
  5. ^ a b Bonta, Steven (October 12, 2003). "Contact-Induced Morphosyntactic Realignment in Negombo Fishermen's Tamil". South Asian Language Analysis Roundtable XXIII. The University of Texas at Austin. Archived from the original on February 29, 2008.
  6. ^ Bonta, Steven. "Negombo fishermen's Tamil: A case of contact-induced language change from Sri Lanka". Cornell University – via Ohio State University.[permanent dead link]
  7. S2CID 161679797
    .
  8. ^ Subramaniam, Folk traditionas and Songs..., p.9-10
  9. ^ Shanmugathas, A. "Yalpana Thamilil Sangath Thamil" (in Tamil). Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  10. ^ Schiffman, Harold F. (30 October 2009). "Language Shift in the Tamil Communities of Malaysia and Singapore: the Paradox of Egalitarian Language Policy". ccat.sas.upenn.edu. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  11. ^ Indrapala, K The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka, p.45
  12. ^ Indrapala, K The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka, p.389
  13. ^ Ragupathy, Tamil Social Formation in Sri Lanka: A Historical Outline, p.1

Cited literature

External links
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