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Tamil language |
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Tamil languageDravidian language spoken by more than 63 million people. It is an official language of Tamil Nadu state in India and one of the official languages of Sri Lanka. Large Tamil-speaking communities also reside in Malaysia and Singapore, South Africa, and the Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius. The earliest Tamil inscriptions date from c. 200 BC; literature in the language has a 2,000-year history. Tamil script is descended from the southern Indian Pallava script (see Indic writing systems). Tamil has several regional dialects, Brahman and non-Brahman caste dialects, and a marked division between literary and colloquial forms (see diglossia). How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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De Votta provides a clear account of the Sinhalese political elite's promotion of their own language and the subordination of the Tamil language spoken by one quarter of the citizens of the country. Schooled in English, Pramila Venkateswaran charts her journey back to her maternal roots in India: linguistically to the Tamil language, culturally to her native land, and personally to her mother through their intimate communication in Tamil. The author, founder of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (Federal party) in 1949 and its leader until his death in 1977, campaigned through every nonviolent means at his disposal to secure political autonomy for the "traditional Tamil homeland" in the north and east of the island, to grant citizenship rights to Plantation Tamils, and to gain parity for the Tamil language. |
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