Brahmin Tamil

Brahmin Tamil (Tamil: பிராமண தமிழ்) is the name for a series of closely related Tamil dialects spoken by Tamil Brahmin communities.

The language has heavy Sanskrit vocabulary, unlike the mainstream Tamil spoken by the non-Brahmin Tamils. Brahmin Tamil was largely used by Brahmins who introduced Sanskrit words connected with religion and ritual into conventional non-religious usage.

History

Brahmin Tamil is believed to have evolved over a long period of time starting from the days of the legendary sage Agastya. However, the dialect took its present form during the reign of the Vijayanagar Empire. During the heyday of Brahmin domination in the early 1900s, Brahmin Tamil was used as the lingua-franca for inter-caste communication. The principal characters in the Tamil movies of the period also spoke the Brahmin dialect. However, with the rise of the Pure Tamil Movement and the entry of Dravidian ideologues into Tamil cinema in the 1950s, Brahmin Tamil was gradually displaced from public spheres. Brahmin Tamil, has however, continued to flourish among the expatriate community.

Dialects

The differences between Thanjavur and Palakkad sub-dialects are:

1. In the words ending in m and n preceded by a vowel, the vowel is nasalised but the nasal stops themselves are not pronounced except when followed by a word beginning with a vowel in the Thanjavur style. In the Palakkad style the nasal stops in these cases are always pronounced.
2. There is also often a difference in the vocabulary of the two styles.

Both styles of Brahmin Tamil dialects augment their vocabulary by freely borrowing from Tamil and Sanskrit

The Iyengars, particularly those outside the Tamil region, have a dialect retaining many archaic words from old religious texts like naalaayira dhivya prabandham. For a detailed mapping of words and spoken dialects and standard Tamil, see Wiki reference Iyengar Tamil.

The Braahmik Alphabet

• Short vowels : a, i, u, e, o
• Long vowels : aa, ii /ie, uu, ee, oo
• Diphthongs : ai / ei, au
• Velar consonants : k, g
• Palatal consonants : ch, j
• Retroflex consonants : t, d
• Dental consonants : th, dh
• Labial consonants : p, b
• Velar nasal : ng
• Palatal nasal : nj
• Retroflex nasal : hn
• Dental or Alveolar nasal : n
• Bilabial nasal : m
• Fricatives and continuants : y, r, l, v, zh, hl, sz, sh, s, h, rr, z

Many of these can occur as geminates : kk, gg, nng, nnj, hnn, mm, nn, cch, jj, tt, dd, tth, ddh, pp, bb, ll, hll, trr

There are also aspirated stop consonants : kh, gh, chh, jh, t'h, d'h, thh, dhh, ph, bh

Idhu 'this, this is'. The link verb 'to be' is not used in the present tense. There is no article, definite or indefinite. 'This table' as a full sentence means 'this is a table'.

The final -u in words is pronounced as an unrounded back vowel, something between i and u.

Nouns are followed by postpositions like kite 'near', le 'in' or kiizhe 'below'. There are also compound postpostions made up of a postposition plus noun plus postposition like k adi le 'below'. The verb iruku means 'is' or 'there is'.

Nouns are in an oblique form before a preposition. Most nouns have no special oblique form. Many have. Pusthahath is the oblique form of pusthaham. Sometimes between the oblique form and the postposition a dummy particle like u or n is placed. Chevar has an oblique form chevath. English words in English spelling are freely used in Braahmik.

Differences with standard spoken Tamil

Brahmin Tamil varies slightly from the standard spoken Tamil used by non-Brahmin communities. Brahmin Tamil retains minor adaptations of classical Tamil (Centamil) words which are no longer in common usage, like ām, the Brahmin Tamil word for "house" which is derived from the archaic Tamil word Agam while it also incorporates Sanskrit corruptions as the Brahmin Tamil word for water thūtham which is a corruption of the Sanskrit theertham. Apart from these, orthodox Brahmins may also incorporate pure Sanskrit words in their normal speech.

Differences with standard spoken Tamil

Brahmin Tamil	Spoken Tamil	English
avāl, avā	averkal	they
ivāl, ivā	iverkal	these people
ām	vīdu	house
thūtham, jalam	thanneer	water
sittha	konjam	some
manni	anni	elder brother's wife
neku	enakku	to me
noku	unakku	to you

Apart from vocabulary, Brahmin Tamil also differs from standard spoken Tamil in its grammatical structure, particularly in verbs which express the perfect aspect.

Differences with standard spoken Tamil

Brahmin Tamil	Spoken Tamil	English
āyirthu	āyirchu, āchu	It is over
poyirthu	poyirchu	Gone/It has gone
Vandhiruthu	Vandhiruchu	Come/It has come

See also

• Sankethi language

References

• K. Karunakaran, C. Sivashanmugman (1981). Study of social dialects in Tamil. All India Tamil Linguistics Association.