Sri Lankan Tamil dialects

The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects or Ceylon Tamil dialects form a group of Tamil dialects used in the modern country of Sri Lanka by Sri Lankan Tamils that is distinct from the dialects of modern Tamil Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of India. Tamil dialects are differentiated by the phonological changes and sound shifts in their evolution from classical or old Tamil (300 BC - 700 CE). It is broadly categorized into three sub groups; the Jaffna Tamil, the Batticaloa Tamil and the Negombo Tamil dialects. These dialects are also used by ethnic groups other than Tamils such as Sri Lankan Moors, Veddhas and Sinhalese who consider them to be distinct.

Characteristics

, [Thomas Lehmann, "Old Tamil" in Sanford Steever (ed.), "The Dravidian Languages" Routledge, 1998 at p. 75; E. Annamalai and S. Steever, "Modern Tamil" in ibid. at pp. 100-128.] and use many other words slightly differently.Kamil Zvelebil, "Some features of Ceylon Tamil" "Indo-Iranian Journal" 9:2 (June 1996) pp. 113-138.] The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are less influenced by Sanskrit and the western languages, although there are western and Sanskrit loan words in day to day usage.In general Sri lankan Tamil dialects are considered to be more conservative than the continental Tamil dialects. [Indrapala, K "The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka", p.46]

Negombo Tamil

The Negombo Tamil dialect used in Negombo area by bilingual fishers who otherwise identify them as Sinhalese has undergone considerable morphosyntactic convergence with spoken or colloquial Sinhala, as a consequence of contact with it. [http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~sala23/abstracts/A17.doc Contact-Induced Morphosyntactic Realignment in Negombo Fishermen’s Tamil] By Bonta Stevens, South Asian Language Analysis Roundtable XXIII (October 12, 2003) The University of Texas at Austin] [http://nelc.osu.edu/news/folklore/yr2004/vol20num3/010DissertationAbstracts.cfm#South Negombo fishermen's Tamil: A case of contact-induced language change from Sri Lanka] by Bonta Stevens , Cornell University] It has 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.

Batticaloa Tamil

Batticalao Tamil dialect is shared between Tamils, Moors, Veddhas and Portuguese Burghers in the eastern province. The Tamil dialect used by residents of the Trincomalee district has many similarities with the Jaffna Tamil dialect.According to Kamil Zvelebil a 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 Malayalam a Dravidian language from Kerala that is considered to have begun as a dialect of old Tamil. [Subramaniam, "Folk traditionas and Songs...", p.9-10]

Jaffna Tamil

The dialect used in Jaffna is the oldest and most archaic and is claimed to be closest to old Tamil. It is considered to preserve many antique features of old Tamil that predates "Tolkappiyam", the grammatical treatise of Tamil. According to F B J Kuiper an Indologist, the Jaffna dialect with voiceless plosives preserves an antique feature of the language because the Jaffna Tamils, long isolated and noted as having retained many archaic Tamil customs long since lost by their continental kindred employ a form of ordinary speech closely approaching the classical Tamil. cite journal | last = Kuiper | first = L.B.J | title = Note on Old Tamil and Jaffna Tamil | journal = Indo-Iranian Journal | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 52-64 | publisher = Springer Netherlands | location = | date = March 1964 | accessdate = ] The Jaffna Tamil dialect is not mutually intelligible with Indian Tamil dialects, though both share a diglossic `H' variety in literary Tamil.cite web | last = Schiffman | first = Harold | title = Language Shift in the Tamil Communities of Malaysia and Singapore: the Paradox of Egalitarian Language Policy. | publisher = University of Pennsylvania | date = 1996-10-30 | url = http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/handouts/sparadox/sparadox.html | format = html | accessdate = 2008-04-04 ] It is frequently mistaken for Malayalam by native Indian Tamil speakers. [Indrapala, K "The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka", p.45] There are number of Prakrit loans words that are unique to the Jaffna Tamil. [Indrapala, K "The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka", p.389] A sub dialect retained by traditional drummers of Karainagar still retains a number of proto-Dravidian and a few Prakrit words, not found in any other dialects of Tamil. These drummers had historically played an important role as ritual players of drums at funerals and folk temples and as heralds and traditional weavers. They also maintained the family records of their feudal lords and even practiced medicine and astrology in folk traditions [Ragupathy, "Tamil Social Formation in Sri Lanka: A Historical Outline", p.1]

ee also

*Sinhala words of Tamil origin
*Loan words in Sri Lankan Tamil

References

External links

* [http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=H2fcGxrJX2Nk4YqpPtLyVvmQ89t7VGnvhmpTj7xxBbRqWxQhJcQh!1547526357?docId=5000213582 Collection of riddles from Jaffna Tamil]