Tamil

Tamil is a Dravidian language primarily spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in India and many other countries.

Tamil has the greatest geographical spread and the richest and most ancient literature, parallelled only by that of Sanskrit, of all Dravidian languages. It has an unbroken literary tradition of over two thousand years during which time the written language has undergone relatively little change. As a result, the classical literature is a part of everyday Tamil along with modern literature. Tamil children still use a thousand-year old alphabet rhyme. The rich and varied Tamil literature includes an indigenous grammar that was created independently from that of Sanskrit. The earliest text that describes the language of the classical period dates back to 200 BC.

Status
Tamil is spoken as a native language by 62 million people in India. It is the official language of the state of Tamil Nadu, and is the majority language in northern and northeastern Sri Lanka. During the British rule of India, Tamil-speaking indentured labourers were sent to many parts of the British empire where they founded Tamil-speaking communities. Today, their descendants form sizable Tamil-speaking populations in Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius and South Africa. The total Tamil-speaking population worldwide, including second-language speakers, is estimated to be around 74 million people (Ethnologue).

Tamil's phonological and grammatical systems correspond in many ways to the parent language, called Proto-Dravidian.

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