Tamil

E6357

Dravidian language classical language language

Tamil is a classical Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in parts of Sri Lanka, with a rich literary tradition spanning over two millennia.

Aliases (9)

Statements (55)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Dravidian language → classical language → language →
belongsToSubgroup	Tamil–Kannada subgroup →
countryWhereOfficialLanguage	India → Singapore → Sri Lanka →
countryWhereRecognisedMinorityLanguage	Malaysia →
earliestLiteratureDate	circa 300 BCE →
family	Dravidian language family →
hasAncientForm	Old Tamil →
hasDialect	Indian Tamil dialects in Sri Lanka → Jaffna Tamil → Kongu Tamil → Madurai Tamil → Sri Lankan Tamil →
hasLiteraryTraditionDuration	over two millennia →
hasMajorLiteraryCorpus	Sangam literature →
hasMajorWork	Manimekalai → Silappatikaram → Tirukkural →
hasMedievalForm	Middle Tamil →
hasModernForm	Modern Tamil →
hasMorphologicalType	agglutinative →
hasNativeSpeakers	over 70 million →
hasOfficialStatusInInternationalBody	one of the official languages of Singapore →
hasPhonologicalFeature	retroflex consonants →
hasScriptOrigin	Brahmi script →
hasScriptUnicodeBlock	U+0B80–U+0BFF →
hasStandardVariety	Standard Tamil →
hasTotalSpeakers	over 80 million →
hasWritingReform	20th-century Tamil script reform →
isClassicalLanguageOf	India →
isCulturalLanguageOf	Tamil people →
isLiturgicalLanguageOf	Shaivism → Vaishnavism →
ISO639-1Code	ta →
ISO639-2Code	tam →
ISO639-3Code	tam →
primaryRegion	Malaysia → Puducherry → Singapore → Sri Lanka → Sri Lankan Tamil-majority areas → Tamil Nadu →
recognizedAsClassicalLanguageBy	Government of India →
stateWhereOfficialLanguage	Puducherry → Tamil Nadu →
subfamily	Southern Dravidian →
usedInMedium	Tamil cinema → Tamil newspapers → Tamil television →
writingDirection	left-to-right →
writingSystem	Tamil script →
writingSystemType	abugida →

Referenced by (129)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
Arcot → Chennai → Coimbatore → Erode → Jaffna → Madurai → Nagapattinam → Northern Province, Sri Lanka → Puducherry → Singapore → Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte → Tamil Nadu → Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly → Tanjore → Tiruchirappalli →	officialLanguage
Asian New Zealander → Colombo → Indian Malaysians → Ipoh → Manimekalai → Nagapattinam → Negombo → S. R. Ranganathan → Sri Lankan Moors → Srirangam → Tamil Nadu → Tamil literature → Tamil people ("Tamil language") → Tirukkural →	language
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam → D. Udaya Kumar → K. Balaji → M. A. Chidambaram → M.I.A. ("Sri Lankan Tamil") → Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan → Srinivasa Ramanujan → Sundar Pichai →	ethnicGroup
Asian American → Dutch Coromandel → Madras Port → Parliament of Singapore → Sri Lankan American → Trincomalee →	languageUsed
Dravidian languages → Indians → Johor Bahru → Kuala Lumpur → South India → Southern Dravidian ("Tamil language") →	majorLanguage
M. A. Chidambaram → Madurai → Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan → North Andaman Island → P. Chidambaram →	languageSpoken
Government of Tamil Nadu → Indian Opinion → Jaffna Public Library → Lalitha Chandrasekhar →	languageOfWorkOrName
British Ceylon → Penang → Straits Settlements →	commonLanguage
Indians in South Africa → Indo-Caribbean people → Indo-Mauritians →	heritageLanguage
Parliament of Ceylon → Tamil cinema → Tanjore →	primaryLanguage
Jaffna Tamil ("Indian Tamil dialects") → Malayalam →	closelyRelatedTo
Tamil ("Sri Lankan Tamil") → Tamil ("Kongu Tamil") →	hasDialect
Andaman district → Trichinopoly →	hasOfficialLanguage
Chennai English → Indian English →	influencedBy
Presidency College, Madras → University of Jaffna →	languageOfInstruction
Indian Malaysians → Indian Malaysians ("Sri Lankan Tamil") →	majorAncestralGroup
Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan → Srinivasa Ramanujan →	nativeLanguage
Nicobarese → Nicobarese languages ("Tamil language") →	neighboringLanguage
Northern Province, Sri Lanka →	administrativeLanguage
Proto-Dravidian →	ancestorOf
Dravidian peoples ("Tamil language") →	associatedLanguage
Vatteluttu script ("Tamil language") →	associatedWith
Bharatanatyam →	associatedWithLanguage
Google Translate →	availableLanguage
Tamil people →	classicalLanguage
Sinhala →	coOfficialWith
Jaffna Tamil ("Yalpana Tamil") →	hasAlternativeName
Andaman Hindi ("Tamil language") →	hasInfluenceFrom
SEATO →	hasLanguage
Samuel →	hasLanguageForm
Anish →	hasLanguageOfUse
Nicobar district →	hasLocalLanguage
Tamil ("Middle Tamil") →	hasMedievalForm
Tamil ("Modern Tamil") →	hasModernForm
Sriharikota →	hasSecondaryLanguage
Wikiversity →	hasVersionInLanguage
Puducherry →	heritageInfluence
Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India →	languageListed
Jaffna →	languageMajority
Nayakkar dynasty →	languageOfCourt
Fort St. George →	languageOfLocalAdministration
A2 coastal highway →	languageOfOfficialName
Shaivism →	languageOfScripture
Colombo–Matara railway line →	languageOfSignage
Coromandel Coast →	languageRegion
A. R. Rahman →	languagesOfWork
Uppuveli Beach →	languageSpokenInArea
Hogenakkal Falls →	languageSpokenInRegion
Old Malay →	lexicalInfluenceFrom
Portuguese Ceylon →	localLanguages
Sangam literature →	mainLanguage
Malay →	majorLoanwordSource
Tirupati →	otherSpokenLanguage
Erode →	primarySpokenLanguage
India →	recognizedLanguage
Proto-Dravidian →	reconstructedFrom
Sarawak →	regionalLanguage
Kandy →	secondaryLanguage
Andaman and Nicobar Islands →	spokenLanguage
Indology ("Classical Tamil") →	studiesLanguage
Tamil script ("Tamil language") →	usedFor
Greater Chennai Corporation →	usesLanguage
Kapaleeshwarar Temple →	worshipLanguage
Vatteluttu script ("Old Tamil") →	writingSystemOf