Tamil

E6357

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.

All labels observed (12)

How this entity was disambiguated

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 languages
surface form: Dravidian language family
hasAncientForm Old Tamil
hasDialect Indian Tamil dialects in Sri Lanka
Jaffna Tamil
Tamil self-linksurface differs
surface form: Kongu Tamil

Madurai Tamil
Tamil self-linksurface differs
surface form: Sri Lankan Tamil
hasLiteraryTraditionDuration over two millennia
hasMajorLiteraryCorpus Sangam literature
hasMajorWork Manimekalai
Manimekalai
surface form: Silappatikaram

Tirukkural
hasMedievalForm Tamil self-linksurface differs
surface form: Middle Tamil
hasModernForm Tamil self-linksurface differs
surface form: 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

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (968)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Akanānūru language Tamil
Puranānūru language Tamil
Kuruntokai language Tamil
Natrinai language Tamil
Malaipadukadām language Tamil
Maduraikāñci language Tamil
Pattinappālai language Tamil
ancient Tamilakam associatedLanguage Tamil
subject surface form: Ancient Tamilakam
Tamil Sangams associatedWithLanguage Tamil
this entity surface form: Tamil language
Dravidian literature hasLanguage Tamil
this entity surface form: Tamil language
Thiruvalluvar ethnicGroup Tamil
Thiruvalluvar language Tamil
Porul hasLanguage Tamil
Kural language Tamil
Eighteen Greater Texts of Tamil (Pattuppāṭṭu and associated epics) language Tamil
subject surface form: Pattuppāṭṭu
Eighteen Greater Texts of Tamil (Pattuppāṭṭu and associated epics) language Tamil
subject surface form: Tamil epics (associated with Eighteen Greater Texts of Tamil)
Madhavi culture Tamil
Madhavi languageOfWork Tamil
goddess Manimekala culture Tamil
subject surface form: Manimekala
Valayapathi language Tamil
Kundalakesi language Tamil
Therukoothu language Tamil
Andal ethnicity Tamil
Andal language Tamil
Kodambakkam language Tamil
Nilai languageUsed Tamil
Bahau languageUsed Tamil
Vijay Awards language Tamil
Roja languageVersion Tamil
Super Deluxe language Tamil
Irula language closelyRelatedTo Tamil
this entity surface form: Tamil language
Irula language contactWith Tamil
this entity surface form: Tamil language
Kurumba languages closelyRelatedTo Tamil
this entity surface form: Tamil language
Tamil–Malayalam subgroup includes Tamil
this entity surface form: Tamil language
Tamil–Malayalam subgroup hasNotableLanguage Tamil
this entity surface form: Tamil language
Tolkāppiyam language Tamil
Cilappatikāram language Tamil