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Tamil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2004

Elinor Keane
Affiliation:
Oxford University Phonetics Laboratory, elinor.keane@phonetics.oxford.ac.uk
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Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken by 53 million speakers in India, according to census figures from 1991, predominantly in the state of Tamil Nadu. There are also sizeable communities of Tamil speakers elsewhere, including Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore, in all of which it has the status of a national language. Tamil is diglossic, the formal or ‘literary’ variety still largely conforming to standards set in the thirteenth century by the Tamil grammarian Pavanandi. It is used in almost all written media, and also for certain high-register functions. In all other situations colloquial Tamil is used and is characterized by considerable regional and social variation.

Type
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE IPA
Copyright
© Journal of the International Phonetic Association 2004
Supplementary material: File

Tamil sound files

These audio files are licensed to the IPA by their authors and accompany the phonetic descriptions published in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association. The audio files may be downloaded for personal use but may not be incorporated in another product without the permission of Cambridge University Press

Download Tamil sound files(File)
File 2.7 MB