Specialties of Tamil language

o  Tamil is an ancient language. The origin of the Tamil language is unknown.

o  Tamil is known to be one of the first languages to originate in the world.

o  Tamil is the oldest living language in the world today.

o  Tamil has 12 vowels and 18 consonants. It also has 216 auxiliary letters for writing consonants. Akenam ( ஃ ) is also a special letter in Tamil.

o  Tamil language holds the ability to stand independently without the influence of any foreign vocabulary.

o  The sounds of Tamil alphabets blend together naturally and easily without hindrance.

o  The sound 'ழ' is found only in Tamil and Malayalam languages.

o  Tamil has survived for more than 3000 years, withstanding any changes of time.

o  Ancient Tamils wrote on palm leaves. Hundreds of literary works and ‘mechanics of language’ were written on palm leaves. Many of them are now extinct.

o  Tholkappiyam, is an invaluable piece of work for the Tamil language. It is the oldest book known to the language, written by Tholkappiyar.

o  In the grammar book Tholkappiyam, grammar is written for letters, words, and     Human life.

o  This is the first book in the world to lay out the grammar of Human life.

o  There are hundreds of literary works in the Tamil language.

o  The first collection of literature to appear in Tamil was a series of eighteen books called Ettuthokai and Paththuppattu.

o  These book’s contain written more than 2000 years ago by 473 poets. There are 2381 songs in total.

o  These books tell the history of Tamil kings like Paari who gave a chariot to Mullai, Athiyaman who gave Nellikani to Avvai, Kumanan who gave his head to his brother, Karikalan who built the Grand Anicut.

o  Poets categorized Tamil literature into two sections: Internal (Aham) and External (Puram).

o  Literature categorized as ‘internal’ is based on love that comes from the heart.

o  Meanwhile, literature categorized as ‘external’ surrounds ideas of virtue, worship, charity etc.

o  Many Tamil books were written on ideas of virtue. Thirukkural is the most known among them. It was written 2000 years ago.

o  Many scholars of the world have praised Thirukkural; with it being translated into more than 70 languages so far.

o  There are five great literatures in Tamil. They are the following: Silapathikaram, Manimekalai, Seevakachintamani, Valaiyapathi and Kundalakesi.

o  Tamil language is known to be a devotional language. Thousands of devotional hymns have been sung in Tamil including: ‘Thevaram’, ‘Thiruvasakam’ and ‘Pasurams’.

o  Avvaiyar is a well-known female poet who has written great works of literature including the “Aathisoodi”, “Nalvazhi” and “Moothurai”.

o  Mahabharatam and Ramayanam are two great Indian epics written in Tamil. The Ramayanam written by the poet Kambar is the most famous.

o  The Tamil language gained prominence during the Chola rule from the 8th century to the 14th century.

o  Sanskrit words are mixed in Tamil. To write and speak foreign words like these, letters like J, Sa, Sha, Shri, and Ha were added to the Tamil alphabet. These are called Grantha letters.

o  There are also many smaller works of literature created in Tamil. Some of them are Kalingathu Parani, Kutralakuravanchi, and Thamilvidu thoothu.

o  Tamil was the first printed language in India.

o  The practice of writing Tamil in prose originated in the 18th century.

o  The name of the first novel that appeared in Tamil was 'Pradapa Mudaliar Sarithiram' and the author was Vedanayakam Pillai.

o  Tamil is also the official language in Sri Lanka and Singapore.

o  In India, Tamil is the official language in both the states of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

o  Banknotes of India, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Singapore have Tamil script.

o  Tamil language is spoken in more than 50 countries in the world.

o  In 2004, Tamil was recognized as a 'Classic Language' internationally.

o  It is best to use the Tamil language without mixing other languages.New Paragraph