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This document provides an overview and comparison of two early grammars - Tolkaappiyam, the earliest Tamil grammar from the 3rd century BC, and Kaviraajamaarga, the earliest Kannada grammar from the 9th century AD. It describes the structure and content of Tolkaappiyam, including its 27 chapters covering phonology, morphology, syntax, poetics, and categorization of the world. It also briefly outlines the structure of Kaviraajamaarga and notes it was influenced by earlier Sanskrit works. The document aims to compare these two important early grammars of Tamil and Kannada and highlight both their similarities as Dravidian languages and differences in approach.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
793 views

Language in India

This document provides an overview and comparison of two early grammars - Tolkaappiyam, the earliest Tamil grammar from the 3rd century BC, and Kaviraajamaarga, the earliest Kannada grammar from the 9th century AD. It describes the structure and content of Tolkaappiyam, including its 27 chapters covering phonology, morphology, syntax, poetics, and categorization of the world. It also briefly outlines the structure of Kaviraajamaarga and notes it was influenced by earlier Sanskrit works. The document aims to compare these two important early grammars of Tamil and Kannada and highlight both their similarities as Dravidian languages and differences in approach.

Uploaded by

Lee Barnes
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow


Volume 10 : 6 June 2010
ISSN 1930-2940
Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D. Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D. Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D. B. A. Sharada, Ph.D. A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D. Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D. K. Karunakaran, Ph.D. Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D. S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.

Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in Classical-Modern Tamil Grammar
A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D.
Contents
Chapter 1 Importance of Descriptive Grammar in Preserving and Enriching Tamil as a Living-Classical Language Chapter 2 Tolkaappiyam Kaviraajamaarga A Brief Note of Comparison Lexical Opposites in Tamil Relative Compounds in Tamil and Kannada Relative Compounds in Tamil and Kannada Agreement in Tamil and Telugu 217

Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar

Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11

Auxiliary Verbs in Modern Tamil Noun Reduplication in Tamil Noun Reduplication in Tamil and Telugu Noun Reduplication in Tamil and Kannada Verb Reduplication in Tamil

Chapter 12 Verb Reduplication in Tamil and Telugu Epilogue References

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1 Importance of Descriptive Grammar in Preserving and Enriching a Living Classical Language


Students and teachers view grammar more as a static list of rules that every one must follow. These static rules or authoritarian" instructions are best studied, they seem to think, using established works of grammatical treatises. This approach to the teaching and learning of grammar is easily evident in learning every Indian language, including English. While studying time-honored classical languages such as Sanskrit, Latin and Greek may greatly benefit from this approach to maintain their system of rules, studying a livingclassical language such as Tamil requires a different approach. Older rules of grammar are needed to learn and interpret the early stages of such a living-classical language. But newly evolved and evolving rules of usage become indispensable to connect oneself to the best use of a living-classical language. An important feature of a living-classical language is its continuity in its grammatical base, and this continuity must be understood, cherished and put to use, according to Thirumalai (personal communication). He also argues that while literary forms will be added in much greater variety, with each generation of creative writers adding new forms and dynamic literary nuances, addition to grammatical patterns are usually limited in any living-classical language such as Tamil. This basic reality makes a living-classical language distinct from other varieties of classical languages. This distinction must be recognized and exploited in any teaching program for Chemmozhi Tamil. While the most of the rules of grammar noted in traditional grammars such as Tolkappiyam and Nannuul are relevant even today, the need to continuously update our knowledge and understanding of the grammatical operation of Tamil should be recognized. We want our language Tamil to be alive and dynamic to meet our current and future needs. Lexical items are continuously added and these additions have brought in some variations in rules, especially in the areas of compounds, spelling and inflections. Verb inflections have undergone changes, and the need to develop bias-free style of writing that would eliminate caste-prone expressions, prejudicial gender expressions, etc., must Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 219

be recognized and such trends in current speech and writing must be recognized and taught. Innovations in language use need to be encouraged to reflect the current state of art of modern living. Business and other office communications need to be developed fully. All these require an understanding of the patterns of language use. This understanding comes from a descriptive study of current use even as such study relates to the continuity and other sociolinguistic goals. I enjoy reading Tolkappiyam, Nannuul and other traditional grammatical treatises. We all see how grammar and sociolinguistic decisions are closely related to each other when we read these grammatical treatises. We also see how attempts were made later on to impose elements and patterns of use not native to Tamil. Some of the later grammatical works are simple reproductions and distractions of earlier grammatical works. These assumed a more prescriptive approach in presenting the patterns of grammar. This trend of prescriptivism is unfortunately well entrenched in our Tamil grammar classes. The portions of grammar in our Tamil textbooks need to be based more on living language, not the earlier stages of Tamil. At the same time there should also be provisions to learn, master and even use classical variations for stylistic purposes. I believe that describing Tamil as it is used in current standard written Tamil will help improve our language use. In the pages that follow Ive made initial attempts to describe some aspects of elements of Tamil grammar. My focus here is on reduplication, nominal compounds, lexical opposites, auxiliary verb and agreement. Descriptions of these aspects will help write appropriate grammar lessons with an eye on acquiring and using that will impart modernity and continuity. Another focus of this work is to compare some of the aspects of Tamil grammar with two other Dravidian languages, namely, Kannada and Telugu. Additional information derived from these two languages will help decide on the selection, gradation and presentation of grammatical elements for the teaching of Tamil to bilingual populations in Tamilnadu.

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2
Tolkaappiyam Kaviraajamaarga A Brief Note of Comparison
Introduction This paper tries to compare the first grammatical work of Tamil Tolkaappiyam and the first grammatical work of Kannada Kaviraajamaarga. These two works are not contemporary products but these occupy very important positions in the development of Tamil and Kannada respective. A comparative study of grammars of two different languages helps us to appreciate their commonness and specialty. The main aim of this paper is to bring together these two grammars and briefly see the similarities and differences between them. Even though the two languages belong to the same language group within the same language family, there are some differences. Tolkaappiyam Tolkaappiyam is the earliest available grammar in Tamil. It belongs to third century B.C. There are three main divisions in this grammar. Each division has nine chapters. In total, there are 27 chapters with 1611 nuuRpaa or sutra or aphorisms . Tolkaappiyam is a grammar of both the common usage and the literary usage (vazhakku and ceyyuL). Tolkaappiyar deals not only with phonology, morphology and syntax but also poetics and rhetoric and the way the world is categorized (poruL). The division on poruL is a special feature of this grammatical work. This is a part that deals with, among other things, how one enters into wedded life. Tolkappiyam makes several references to the dialects of Tamil and other adjacent languages. It is largely a grammar of written Tamil, but takes into account the possibilities of variation through the spoken medium. The grapheme-phoneme interconnection is highlighted. Graphemics is also part of the grammar within phonology. Morphophonemics is described in great detail even as morphology and syntax are dealt within the same division, highlighting the interconnection and interdependence between the two. Semantics and discourse are also dealt with. The language of Tolkaappiyam is amazingly simple, straightforward and full of content and analysis. There are references to various religious or sectarian practices, but the Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 221

writer seems to adopt a sort of neutral position relating to deities, but deals with principles of nature and the world with many significant thoughts. The descriptive and explanatory power of the grammar presented and the technical terms coined and used are distinctly Tamil with very little dependence, if any, on other sources. Tamil textbooks taught their grammar lessons based on information from Nannuul, not from Tolkappiyam. Early modern syllabus framers and textbook writers relegated Tolkappiyam to advanced courses for students who specialized in Tamil grammar and literature and used verses from Nannuul for lower classes in high school. Kavirajamarga Kavirajamarga is the earliest available writing on grammar, rhetoric, and poetics in the Kannada language. It is a lakshana grantha and it is the first attempt of writing the grammar of Kannada. The author of Kaviraajamarga was King Nripatunga Amoghavarsha I (850 AD). It is the earliest existing literary work in Kannada. It is based partly on an earlier Sanskrit writing Kavyadarsa. It is an interesting piece of writing on literary criticism and poetics meant to standardize various written Kannada dialects used in literature in previous centuries. The author of this treatise has mentioned many references from the pre Kannada Ramayana and Mahabharata and also his own poetry references (references to Kannada works by early writers such as king Durvinita of the 6th century and Ravikriti, the author of the Aihole record of 630 AD). From the references made in this writing to earlier Kannada poetry and literature it is clear that a considerable body of work in prose and poetry must have existed in the preceding centuries. Kavirajamaarga makes important references not only to earlier Kannada writers and poets but also to early literary styles in vogue in the various written dialects of Kannada. The aim of this writing was to standardize these written styles. The king mentions two styles of composition, the Bedande and the Chatthana and indicates that these styles were recognized as earlier styles. The name Kavirajamaarga means literary royal path for poets and scholars (Kavishiksha). It is an important milestone in the literary growth of Kannada and is a Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 222

guide book to the Kannada grammar that existed in that period. It laid a royal road of guiding many aspiring writers. This treatise helps us to know more about the Kannada country, people and their culture. Regarding Kavirajamarga, Dr. A. Murigeppa is of the opinion that the reference to Kannada grammar made in this study, here and there, is not a full-fledged work on grammar. It is a work of prosody. Apart from that, it has helped the growth of a variety of literary traditions. K. Venkatachalam (Kaviraajamaarga, 2002, preface vii) mentions that a person who is well versed in pre-old Kannada can understand kavirajamaarga clearly. Tolkaappiyam and Kaviraajamarga: A Comparison Tolkaappiyam is the earliest available grammar which is a muula nuul primary Work. Regarding Kavirajamarga, some persons are of the opinion that it is the translation of the Sanskrit Treatise taNDis kaaviyaadarsam; and some persons are of the opinion that kaaviyaadarsam is the primary work and kavirajamarga is the Secondary Work. Divisions or Parts of Tolkaappiyam and Kavirajamaarga Tolkaappiyam contains three parts and they are: i) Treatise on phonology (Ezhuttathikaaram). This part with nine chapters deals with the pronunciation, positions, combinations usage, etc., of the letters of the Tamil alphabet in 483 aphorisms. ii) The treatise on Morphology (Collathikaaram) with nine chapters deals with the formation of words, cases, nouns, verbs, verbal suffixes, qualificatives etc. of Tamil words in 463 aphorisms. iii) The treatise on literary study (PoruLathikaaram) also contains nine chapters which speak about the themes of literature and methods of literary appreciation. It contains altogether 665 aphorisms. Like Tolkaappiyam, Kavirajamaarga also contains three paricceethams (taNdis three main divisions carukkam, ilampakam and paricceetham). Each paricceetham contains padyams. First paricceetham, that is the introductory part of the grammatical work, presents the praise of the king Nirubhatunga, the goddess Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 223

Saraswathi and the poets, the grammar of kavya and its divisions poetry style and the prose style, the description of the Kannada county and its boundaries, four errors of a treatise, nine common errors, country errors, common preface, etc. It contains 150 padyams. The second paricceetham deals with the prosody of words. The prosody of a kavya, and the methods of expressing it, combination of foot, combination of words, some words, case markers lengthening, repetition, prasaas, grammatical rules, Sanskrit rules and the Dravidian rules, ten main rules, nine rasas, picture poems, one letter songs, two letter songs, rare words, yamakam, nuDi, varNac cudhakam, etc. It contains 155 padyams. The third paricceetham deals with 36 kinds of alankaaraas (prosodies) and ends with the praising of the king Nirubhatunga. It contains 231 padyams. Apart from these, five additional padyams are also available in Kavurajamarga. On Rhymes Tolkaappiyam talks about Etukai rhyme. Tolkaappiyar keeps etukai rhyme as one among the four divisions of toDai. Etukai rhyme means the rhymes of the second letter of all the lines in the stanza. But Kavirajamaarga divides six kinds of prasas and explains it clearly with suitable examples. i) Vinutha prasa vinutha etukai that is the second letter of all lines is same; ii) Shantha prasa (shaantha etukai) that is the two consonants combine with different vowels; iii) Varga prasa (varga etukai) means the related letters of one particular letter. (the letter ka has the related letters as kha, ga. and gha); iv) Shamya prasa (shamya etukai), that is the letter sa has the letters sa and sha; v) Anugatha prasa (anugatha etukai) means the coming letters are repeatedly coming; and vi) (Anthya prasa) (iRuti etukai), means the ending letter are the same. Examples: kuttam, pattam yuttam. It also deals with the maatre time duration of a phoneme of prasa. In the additional padyams, Kavirajamaarga deals with the other varieties of prasa. That is, the Dvitiyakshara prasa(iirezhuttu etukai), punaruktaartta prasa (irucol etukai), thryakshara prasa (muuvezhttu etukai) and the Aadi prasa Antya prasa (mutal-iiRRuetukai). Tolkaappiyar describes several types of rhymes, which include the Moonai Rhyme (the rhymes of the initial letters in the foot of each line), MuRan Rhyme(differing in words and meanings), Iyaipu Rhyme(the identity of sounds, letters or syllables or words) at the end of each foot in a verse), ALapeTai rhyme (is the elongation of letters in every line), Pozhippu Rhyme(agreement in second letters in the alternate feet of a line) and ORRu Rhyme (agreement in the feet of line with the intervention of two feet in Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 224

between). The expansions of rhymes are around thirteen thousand and ninety nine (13699). Moonai rhyme 1019; etukai rhyme 2473; muRan rhyme 2; iyaipu rhyme 182; aLapeTai rhyme 159; pozhippu rhyme 654; oruuu rhyme 654; (non rhyme) centoDai 8556; in total it is 13699. But Kaviraajamaarga is not dealing with the above mentioned rhymes and Moonai Rhyme is not used in Kannada. Elements of Prosody Tolkaappiyam deals with the relevant elements of poetry in one particular part ceyyuLiyal Literary Compositions. 1.Maattirai time duration of a phoneme, 2. Ezhuttu iyal letter (Phoneme) kinds, 3. Acai the metrical syllable, 4. Ciir - themetrical foot, 5. ATi the metrical line, 6.Yaappu metrical structuring, 7. Marapu Traditional usage, poetic diction, 8. Tuukku related to melody or rhyme, 9. toTai rhyme patterns, rhetorical elements, 10. Nookku The total import of verse, 11. Paa is the verse form, 12. ALaviyal line limit of verse, 13. tiNai conduct of human life, 14. KaikkooL Secret and wedded phases of love, 15. KuuRRu vakai utterances of characters, 16. KeeTppoor hearers, 17. kaLan the place where all theforesaid things are happening, 18. kaalam divisions of time and seasons, 19. Payan effect, 20. MeyppaaTu Physical manifestations, 21. Eccham that which is left to be understood, 22. MuNNam is facial expression, not speaking from the mouth, but showing through face, 23. PoruL deals with the universality of the conten t matter, 24. TuRai subthemes, 25. MaaTTu Syntactical linkage, 26. VaNNam - Specific sound features in verses. Besides these twenty six elements, the following are also dealt with: Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 225

27. Ammai verses which are composed in a harmonious succession of mellifluent words of fewer in number is ammai. 28. Azhaku Choice of four kinds of words with proper rhyme, 29. ToNmai antique literary source interspersed with prose, 30. Tool speaks noble ideas inmelliflous diction, and composed in many lines at wide range. 31. Viruntu composition of newness and novelty, 32. iyaipu narrative poems ending in n, N, n, n, m, y, r, l, v, L, zha. 33. pUzhan compositions in the popular language that lend to easy comprehension with no discernment of the mind needed. 34. iLaipu easy flowing style keeping off hard consonants composed in the five kinds of lines. But Kavirajamarga is not dealing about this. Treatment of Simile Tolkaappiyar deals with the uvamaiyaNi and the five kinds of ULLuRai uvamai Implied Simile in one chapter uvamaiyiyal Simile. But kavirajamaarga deals with 36 kinds of Alankaara (aNi) in Kannada, elaborately with suitable examples and Upame Alankara is one among them. He also describes 26 kinds of Upame Alankara (uvamai aNi). He gives good examples for that also. Moreover, he also deals with Upame Doosha/ Upame Skalitya (uvamai vazhu) and Upame Doosharahita/ Upame Skalityarahitha (vazhaa nilai). Noverbal Expressions Kavirajamaarga deals with nine rasas in the second paricceetham padyams (98 102) Veera (viiram), Karune (karuNai), Adbutha (aRputam), Srungaara (kaatal), Shanta (caantham), Hasya (nakaiccuvai), Bhibatsa (iLivaral), Bhayanaka (accham) and Rowdra (vekuLi) with suitable examples. But Tolkaappiyar in the chapter meyyppaaTTiyal Physical Manifestations mentions eight kinds of meyppaaTukaL as nakai Laughter, azhukai Crying, iLivaral Disgust, maruTkai Wonder, accham Fear, perumitam Pride, vekuLi Anger and uvakai Joy. He also mentions that beyond the eight principal emotions there are thirty-two emotions which can be seen among the people for various reasons. Grammatical Case

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Tolkaappiyar deals with the cases elaborately in the second division Morphology in three sections as veeRRumaiyal Case Systems, veeRRumai mayankiyal Case Markers Interchanges and viLi marapu Vocative Conventions. But Kavirajamaarga deals with prathamas (Cases) in four or five padyams. The padyam number 114 points out the prathama vibhakthi and the other six kinds of cases (prathamaas) in the first paricceetham; the padyam numbers 15, 16, 17 and 18 of second paricceetham mention about the prathama markers lengthening and the mistakes of the markers lengthening and shortening. The padyam number 23 of the same second paricceetham deals about the vocative case. Tolkaappiyar deals with the vocative case elaborately. He clearly points out the four endings of the vocative case human class i, u, ai and oo (Aphorism: 605). He also gives the changes of the about said vowels as i>ii, ai>aa/aay, oo, u>ee. (Aphorism: 606, 607). Tolkaappiyar says that scholars are of the opinion that the other vowels in the human nouns will not take the vocative case (Aphorism: 609). . He not only points out the vowel endings of the vocative case but also the consonant endings n, r, l and L of the vocative (Aphorism: 613). Like vowels, the other consonants will not take vocative case. Tolkaappiyar also mentions that the Demonstrative Pronouns (aval She (Remote), ivaL She (Proximate) and the interrogative Pronouns (yaavaL Who is she?) will not take vocative case (aphorism: 633). Vocative Case Kavirajamaarga does not deal with the Sambhodhana vibhakthi (vocative case) as elaborately as Tolkaappiyam. It mentions that in the vocative case the lengthening is possible but if the lengthening is too much then the sweetness will go and it is very horrible to hear. Compounds Tolkaappiyam mentions six kinds of compounds. But kavirajamaarga is not dealing with the compounds. Euphonic Repetition Tolkaappiyam deals with the Euphonic repetition, immediacy repetition and the limit of repetition for the euphonic and the immediacy. The limit for euphonic repetition is four and the limit of repetition of immediacy is three. It also deals about the euphonic particles. Kavirajamaarga just mentions that the repetition is not a mistake. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 227

Homonyms The Homonyms are described in three ways as neeyaarttam oor nudi and cileeDai in Kavirajamaarga. Kavirajamaarga doesnt mention synonymy. But Tolkaappiyam refers to this Homonym as pala poruL kuRitta oru col/ kiLavi, and synonymy as oru poruL kuRitta pala col/kiLavi. Phonological Changes Kavirajamaarga left out things like uTampaTumey Consonantal Glide, kuRRiyalukaram Shortening u, poozhi Dipthong caariyai Euphonic Particles puNarcci Coalescence, etc. Conclusion Tolkaappiyam presupposes a vast body of literature and number of grammatical treatises, which unfortunately have not come down to us. It is a product of great and rich tradition which was in vogue in Tamil Nadu in early times. Kavirajamaarga on its part reflects the great traditions of grammatical and prosodic analysis in Kannada and Karnataka. Both these works contribute greatly to an understanding of Indian grammatical traditions. Application Tolkappiyam offers a worldview of ancient times as well as possibility of application in modern times. So, syllabus framers and textbook writers should study the text with practical application in mine. For example, there are interesting grammatical rules for compounds, rules for borrowing and acceptance of borrowed items into Tamil, interesting exposition of regional dialects and literary devices. Literature is seen via geographical landscape, relating the physical landscape to the interior landscape of human psychology and values. Tolkappiyam thus offers many items for adoption and incorporation into modern Tamil teaching. Concept and definition of errors in speech and writing and errors in prosody, ideas relating to what constitute literature and how literature mirrors human values adopted in the society are some of the items that should be included in the LivingClassical Tamil language teaching.

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3 Lexical Opposites in Tamil


Introduction The study of Tamil Semantics is a neglected field. This may be due to the fact that semantics is in a state of flux and that it has not attained the status of rigorous methodological discipline, like other major branches of linguistics. As Lyons states in his major work on semantics (1977), there is so much vagueness, ambiguity and confusion about various concepts in semantic studies and, hence, we had to examine them afresh and to redefine them. This chapter takes Lyons treatment of the sense relations of i) Opposition and Contrast and ii) Directional Orthogonal and Anti Podal Opposition as a model and relate some of the illustrations given for English by Lyons to Tamil. But my goal is to describe the lexical opposites and use this concept in developing syllabus and textbooks for the teaching of Chemmozhi Tamil. Once again, my goal is to achieve continuity even as I would like to take care of and use modern developments. Tradition and continuity mark semantics as well in Tamil. We are greatly surprised when we find that many words used in Sangam and other classics such as Tirukkural are still current in Tamil. Two-thousand years have passed by and yet words of ancient heritage still are preserved and actively used in Tamil. Application How many Tamil words do we know? How many Tamil words a child entering First Standard knows? How many of these words are active and how many are passive words? What semantic domains are emphasized while acquiring words in initial stages in childhood? Does our textbook reflect these stages?

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Study of Tamil vocabulary acquisition is not a strong streak in educational research in Tamil. Tamil linguists need to show greater interest in identifying childrens vocabulary, based on gender, region, socio-economic criteria, parental background, etc. Regional words have been identified in large numbers and have also been published. However, use of these words in textbooks is not done enthusiastically. We need to select words and use these in textbooks to bring them into popular usage. Remember that Chemmozhi does not close its door to receive new words through various means. If we conceive our Tamil language a living phenomenon then we should be willing to receive and use newly created and/or borrowed words from various sources while adapting these to the lexical patterns of Tamil. Lexical Opposites As in other Dravidian languages, in Tamil also, vocabulary contains a large number of opposites. The standard technical term for Lexical Opposites, that is, oppositeness of meaning between Lexemes is antonymy. The term antonymy was coined in the nineteenth century to describe oppositeness of meaning which was itself conceived as the opposite of synonymy. Antonymy, in its broader sense, has often been thought of as referring to the opposite extreme from identity of meaning. But this is obviously wrong as when two objects are compared and contrasted with respect to their possession or lack of some property, this is done generally on recognition of their similarity in other respects. The standard term antonymy has become as imprecise as the term oppositeness because all kinds of dichotomization are referred as antonymy. Lyons (1983:68) suggests that the fact that antonyms not only have polarity relative to one another, along the dimension that they constitute, but differ in their privilege of occurrence and in the relations that they contract with other lexical items may be thought of as contributing to the very definite sense which we have as native speakers that some lexical items have a positive and others a negative ring about them. Binary opposition is one of the most important principles governing the structure of languages. Lyons draws up a workable and convenient classification and this will be the basis for the present paper. Oppositeness will be restricted to dichotomous or binary contrasts. Antonymy will be restricted still further in to gradable opposites. Ungradable opposites will be termed complementariness. To be distinguished from both antonymy and complementarity is converseness. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 230

Lexical Opposites in Tamil Lexical opposites in Tamil can be classified as: Lexical Opposites

Gradable

Ungradable

Antonymy

Complementarity

Converseness

Directional

Orthogonal Gradable Lexical Opposites Antonymy

Anti podal

In Tamil, the gradable opposites reflect the real polarization in sense relations. For example one can ask, i) inta viiDu anta viiDu poola periyata? Is this house as big as that house? The fact that one can say ii) inta viiDu anta viiDu poola periyatu This house is as big as that house (or) inta viiDu anta viiTTilum periyatu This house is bigger than that house Depends upon the gradability of periyatu. iii)

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The predication of the one implies the predication of the negation of the other; but not vice versa. The expression cuuTaana paal Hot Milk implies aaraata paal Not Cold Milk and aaRina paal Cold Milk implies cuTaata paal Not Hot Milk not generally imply aaRina paal Cold Milk. The traditional logical categories of contraries correspond in this oppositeness but it applies more widely. Grading (Term given by Sapir) is bound up with the operation of comparison. The comparison may be explicit, implicit or semi-explicit. Explicit comparison involves two types of comparison i) two things may be compared with respect to a particular property and this property predicated of the one in a greater degree than it is of the other. For Example iv) enkaL viiDu unkaL viiTTilum/viTa periyatu Our house is bigger than your house

ii) two states of the same thing may be compared with respect to the property in question. For Example v) enkaL viiDu saataaraNamaana viiTTai vita/ilum periyatu Our house is bigger than the normal house

These utterances (without context) may be ambiguous between the two types of comparison. The substitution of one pair of a gradable antonym for the other and the transposition of the relevant nominal expression with in a comparative sentence results in a semantically equivalent sentence. This grading may also be implicit and semi-explicitly. For Example vi) ennuTaiya aRai periyatu My Room is big

We are ascribing the property or periyatu bigness/size to the referent of our room. Here the grading is made implicitly with some norm which is generally understood. We are implicitly comparing the room with something else and asserting that it is bigger. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 232

The standard of comparison may here been explicitly introduced in the context where the sentence is uttered. We say then, vii) viii) enkaL viiDu periyatu Our house is big will usually mean something like enkaL viiDu cumaaraana viiTTilum periyatu Our house is bigger than the ordinary house (Or) ix) enkaL viiDu oru viiTTukkuriya aLaviLum periyatu Our house is bigger than the normal house

Failure to recognize the logical properties of gradable, antonyms can give rise to a number of pseudo-problems. By semi-explicitly grading is meant the use of some comparative construction without explicit mention of standard of comparison. For Example ennuTaiya viiDu rompap/mikap periyatu My house is very/too big is graded semi-explicitly and the standard of comparison will usually have been previously introduced in the context. Ungradable Lexical Opposites This type of Lexical Opposites is not possible in the comparison. For Example aaN Male peN Female aaciriyan Male teacher aaciriyai Female Teacher and so on. In each pairs not only the predication of either one of the pair implies the predication of the negation of other, but also that the predication of the negation of either implies the predication of the other (Lyons: 1977:272). These ungradable lexical opposites can be classified in to three types namely i) Complementarity ii) Converseness and iii) Directional. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 233 x)

Complementarity It deals with the ungradable opposites. For example aaN Male peN Female, a typical pair of ungradable opposites. For Example xi) kaNNan oor aaN Kannan is a male implies kaNNan oru peN illai Kannan is not a female

This dichotomization is due to the difference of sex which can be further illustrated from Tamil usages where both members of a pair are marked for Masculine and Feminine genders respectively. For Example xii) maaNavan Male Student maaNavi xiii) aaciriyan Male Teacher aaciriyai Female Student Female Teacher

Tamil Language has no common singular term to cover each of those pairs. Honorific singular form like maanavar Student aaciriyar Teacher can be used when one does not want to state the sex of the person concerned. In such cases there is a neutralization of oppositeness. This relationship is also illustrated by the following pairs of words. For example xiv) maNamaana Married maNamaakaata xv) uyiuTan iru Be alive iRa Un Married To die

The pair kanni verses maNamaanavaL expresses the complementarity in the case of a woman of marriageable age. Converseness Opposition different from antonymy and complementarity is converseness exemplified by pairs like kaNavan Husband manaivi Wife which may be regarded as two-place predicates while Lyons suggests the term converseness for such type of relations. Palmer Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 234

(1976:82) points out their essential relational characteristics and thus prefers the term relational opposites. The comparative forms of explicitly graded antonyms and the corresponding active and passive forms of transitive verbs operate within the sentences as converses. For Example xvi) ravi kaNNanai vita uyaramaanavan Ravi is taller than kannan is the converse of kaNnan raviyai viTak kuLLamaanavan Kannan is shorter than Ravi

xvii)

xviii) raaman siitaiyai virumpinaan Rama loves sita xix) siitai raamanaal virumpappaTTaaL Sita was loved by Rama

Provided the appropriate grammatical changes are carried out after the transposition of the nominal expressions. Pairs of sentence containing converse lexemes or expressions can be so written that the two members of each pair of sentences will be equivalent. Converse relations between lexemes which may be used as two place predicative expressions are especially common in areas of the vocabulary having to do with reciprocal social rules. For Example xx) maruttuvar/vaittiyar Doctor xxi) mudalaaLi Boss xxii) guru Teacher xxiii aaNTaan God X X X X nooyaaLi Patient tozhilaaLi Servant siiTan Follower/Student aTimai Slave

The idea of presupposition and expectancy is expressed by some pairs. For Example xxiv) vinaa Question viTai/patil Answer 235

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Directional Lexical Opposites The directional lexical opposites can be further divided into two types as i) Orthogonal and ii) Antipodal. It is also a major category of lexical opposites. John Lyons (1977:211) states that though the directional lexical opposites cannot always be distinguished from the other three types of lexical opposites, that is, antonymy, complementarity and converseness is sufficiently important in language to be given a separate label. This type of opposition is seen most clearly in the relationship which holds between meelee Up kiizhee Down vaa Come poo Go vantatu arrived it puRappaTTatu Departure it iTa Left vala Right munnaal Front pinnaal Behind The directionality of meelee X kiizhee in the vertical dimension is absolute in a way that the directionality of iTam X valam and mun X pin is not absolute. Orthogonal The oppositions which holes with in the set vaTakku North teRkku South kizhakku East meeRkku West each of the four members of the set is opposed in this way to kizhakku and meeRkku; kizhakku is opposed to teRkku and vaTakku. Antipodal Oppositions This opposition which holds with in the set, that is, in the four directions, is to be opposed to one another. vaTakku is thus opposed to teRkku and kizhakku is opposed to meeRkku. The antipodal oppositions are dominant than the orthogonal oppositions. In Tamil vaTakku X teRkku and kizhakku X meeRkku are opposites rather than vaTakku and kizhakku or teRkku and meeRkku. This opposition also seems to operate to some extent in the area of colour. John Lyons (1977:286) neither concludes nor is the distinction between orthogonal and antipodal opposition always as clear in the vocabulary as might appear to be the case. Unlike in English, opposites in Tamil are usually expressed by suffixes. Loan words opposites are usually expressed by native prefixes. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 236

For Example xxv) dharmaa Justice X adharmaa In justice niithi Justice X aniithi In justice niyaayam Justice X aniyaayam In justice Lexical opposites in Tamil may be morphologically related or unrelated irrespective of the fact that whether they are gradable or ungradable. As in English and many other languages the most commonly used opposites in Tamil tend to be morphologically unrelated. Fro Example xxvi) nalla uyaram azhaku mutiya vanmai tuuram Good Tall/height Beautiful Old Hardness Distance X X X X X X keTTa Bad taazhvu Low avalaTshaNam Ugly iLaiya Young menmai Softness kiTTa Near

Morphologically Related Opposites In the case of morphologically related opposites the base form of one member of the pair is derived from the base form of the other by substituting the negative suffix. For Example xxvii) aRivuTaiyaar Knowledgeable people X aRivilaar maNamaana Knowledge less people Married X maNamaakaata Un married 237

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naTppaana

Friendly X

naTppillaata

Un friendly

Morphologically Reduplicative Unrelated Pairs aTikkaTi Frequently UTanukkuTan At once Private Opposition A privative opposition is a contrastive relation between two lexemes one of which denotes some positive property and the other of which denotes the absence of their property. For Example xxviii) uyiruLLa With Life uyirillaata Without life acaiyum Movable acaivillaata Immovable Equipollent Opposition An equipollent opposition is a relation in which each of the contrasting lexemes denotes a positive property. For Example xxix) Conclusion 1. In Tamil the gradable opposites, that is, the antonymy is possible. 2. Grading is possible in Tamil by explicitly, implicitly and semi-explicitly. 3. Ungradable Lexical Opposite is not possible in the comparison. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 238 aaN Male X peN Female iTaiiTai Not frequently mellamella Slowly

4. Ungradable opposites other than comparison, that is, the complementarity, Converseness and Directional are possible in Tamil. 5. The two types of Directional opposites, that is, the orthogonal and the antipodal are possible in Tamil. 6. Morphologically related opposites, morphologically reduplicated unrelated opposites, private and equipollent opposition are possible in Tamil. In Tamil the opposites are suffixed to the words.

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4 Relative Compounds in Tamil


Introduction Relative compounds are very common in Tamil. We find them greatly used in literary compositions, commentaries on didactic works, inscriptions and, in modern times, day to day speech. Political speeches abound in relative compounds, and textbooks use them greatly. It is also true that excessive use of relative compounds becomes a stylistic feature in classical writing adopted by Tamil scholars. Excessive and obscure combinations do help the comprehension of the texts that abound in relative compounds. Early grammars in Tamil have expended great energy to describe and delineate the sturcure and use relative compounds in Tamil. Definition of Compounds Compounds are the combination of two words. In grammar, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc. are combined together to form compounds. Tolkaappiyar in his traditional grammar Tolkkappiyam classified the compounds into six types. In Tamil, there is another compound which is named as Doublets by P. S. Subramanyam (1984), Relative Compounds by K. Rangan, and ina aTukkuccoRkaL by A. Srinivasan. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the syntactic structures of the Relative Compounds and the semantic meanings conveyed by them. Relative Compound Construction In the Relative Compound construction, the combination of the words may be Noun+Noun, Noun+Verb, Verb+Noun and Verb+Verb. The following are the examples for this type of compounds. i) viiDu vaasal - Noun+Noun viiDu means House and vaasal means the front portion of the house. These two are combined together to frame a compound to give the meaning Property, which is new to the basic meaning of the component words. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar

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ii)

uppu cappu - Noun+Verb. Uppu means salt cappu means To lick. These two are combined together to frame a Relative compound which means Taste, which is completely different to the basic meanings of constituent words.

the koTTu meeLam - Verb+Noun. koTTu means To beat or tap with knuckles. meeLam means One kind of musical instrument used in various celebrations. These two words are combined together to frame a compound which gives the meaning The publicity for the celebration. ONDi Othunki - Verb+Verb. ONDi means To hide or be alone. Othunki means To leave aside. These two are combined together to frame a Compound, which indicates the meaning Without oneself getting involved in anything.

iii)

iv)

Noun + Noun Construction The Noun+Noun construction is further divided into i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii) viii) ix) Parallel Nouns combination, Opposite Nouns combination, Related Nouns combination Small + Big Nouns combination Big + Small Nouns combination Body parts Nouns combination Resultive nouns combination Different nouns combination and Opposite nouns combination etc.

Verb+Verb Construction Like the above, the Verb+Verb construction also has sub divisions as i) ii) iii) iv) Parallel verbs combination Related verbs combination Different verbs combinations and Resultive verbs combination etc. 241

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The combination of Noun+Verb and the vice versa combination are very rare occurrences. So they do not have any subdivisions. Meanings Conveyed by Relative Compounds The above types of Relative compounds convey Idiomatic meaning, Totality meaning, Adverbial meaning, and Adjectival meaning, etc. The following present the examples for the above: avaL vaayum vayirumaaka iruntaaL She is pregnant (Idiomatic meaning) avanukku kaaDu karai ellaam irukku He owns so much of wealth (Totality meaning) kaLLam kapaDam illaatavan He is innocent (Adverbial meaning) antap puuvellaam vaadi vathankip pooyiRRu The flowers are fathered away (Adverbial meaning) The sections that follow explain the remaining constructions elaborately. Further Divisions of Noun+Noun Construction Noun+Noun construction is further divided into i) Parallel Nouns combination, ii) Opposite Nouns combination, iii) Related Nouns combination, iv) Small + Big Nouns combination, v) Big + Small Nouns combination, vi) Body parts Nouns combination, vii) Resultive nouns combination, viii) Different nouns combination and ix) Opposite nouns combination, etc. i) In the parallel noun combination, both the nouns are parallel to one another. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 242

Examples for the parallel Nouns combination 1. IiDu iNai Comparison AtaRku iiDu iNai eethumillai There is no comparison for that In this compound the first part Noun iiDu means Equal and the second part Noun iNai means Pair but the compound in total means that Comparison which is different from the basic meaning of the words. 2. Miccham miidhi The remaining AvaLukenRu miccam miidhitaan irukkum The last one or the wasted one is for her In this, miccham means Remaining one and miidhi also means Remaining one but the combination of these two words gives the meaning wasted one. Like this the nouns iivu irakkam Pity-ness ii) In the Related noun compound both the nouns are related to one another. Examples for the Related Nouns combination 3. ViiDu Vaasal The house and the portico

In it viiDu means House and vaasal means the front portion of the House These two combined together to frame a compound viiDu vaasal and give the meaning in the sentence avanukku viidu vaasal ethuvum illai He doesnt have anything (Wealth) 4. TuNi maNi The dresses and the ornaments In it TuNi means Cloth and MaNi means Ornaments both are combined to frame a compound TuNi maNi and give the meaning in the sentence avan tunimaNi ellaatthaiyum eTuttu vai Take all of his things Like this cooRu taNNi, the food and the water iii) In the small+big noun combination the first part of the noun is the small one and the second part of the noun is the big one. Example for the small+big noun combination Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 243

5. Kaasu PaNam The rupee and the change In it kaasu means Change and PaNam means Rupee Both are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence avanukku kaasu paNamellaam kiDaiyaadu There is no money for him means Money 6. CaTTi MuTTi The small vessel and the big one In it CaTTi means The small vessel and MuTTi means The big vessel Both combined together to frame a compound Pooliisukaaran caTTi MuTTi ellaam uTaittaan The Police broke all the things Here CaTi MuTTi means things. Like this kallu karaDu The stone and the rock, paayum paDukkaiyum The mate and the bed, veyilum venkanalum The day light of the sun and the heavy fire iv) In the Big+Small nouns combination the first part of the compound is the big one and the second part of the noun is the small one. Examples for the Big+Small nouns combination 7. Kaalam Neeram Time In it Kaalam means the time and the season Neeram means the particular time combined together to frame a compound in the sentence which means Particular time avanukku kaalam neeramellaam keDaiyaadu There is no particular time for him 8. Nakai NaTTu The ornaments and the etc things Here Nakai means Ornaments naTTu means the Screw or bolt both are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence PoNNukku nakai naTTellaam pooTTaaccaa? Did you wear the ornaments and the other things to the bride? Like this the compounds mazhai tuLi The rain and the drops, MuuTTai muTiccu the big package and the small package, uur Deesam The village and the state, maaDu kannu The Cow and the small cow kulam koottiram The caste and the particular division of the caste. v) In the body parts Nouns combination both the parts of the compound are the body parts which give completely different from the basic meaning of the parts. Examples for the body parts nouns combination 9. vaayum vayirum Both the mouth and the stomach In it vaay means Mouth and vayiRu means Stomach both are combined together to frame a compound Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 244

in the sentence avaL vaayum vayiRumaa irukkiRaaL which means She is pregnant . This meaning is completely different from the basic meanings of the parts which are idiomatic meaning. 10. muukkum muzhiyum Both the nose and the eyes In it muukku means Nose and the muzhi means Eye both are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence avaL muukkkum muzhiyumaaga irukkiRaaL She is very beautiful which is different from the basic meaning of the body parts. (Idiomatic meaning) vi) In the Resultive noun combination either the first part of the noun may be the result of the second one or the second part of the compound may be the result of the first one. Example of the Resultive compounds 11. Contam pantam The relatives and the relation among them In it contham means the Relatives pantham means the connection between one to the other. Both are combined together to frame a compound which means Relatives in the sentence contham panthamellaam vantu vaazhttunkaL All the Relatives Come! and bless. Because of the relatives the relation will come. 12. Kuttam KuRai The fault and the remaining thing In it Kuttam or kuRRam The fault and kuRai The in completed one both are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence avan kuttam kuRai eethum ceyallee He is not committing any mistake or the other thing which is different from the basic meaning of the parts of the compound. Like this, cottu sukam The property and the convenience vii) In the different nouns combination Nouns of different kinds are joined together to frame a compound. Examples for the Different nouns compound 13. kaNNum karuttum Most consciously In it kaNNu means Eye and karuttu means Content Both are combined together and frame a compound in the sentence avan kaNNum karuttumaagap paarttaan He looked it very carefully or consciously which is different from the basic meaning of the nouns. 14. maNNum mayiRum The sand and the hair In it maNNu means sand and Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 245

mayiRu means Hair both are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence athilee ore maNNum mayiRumaaga irukku In it full of dirties viii) In the opposite nouns combinations both the nouns are opposite to one another. Examples for the opposite Nouns compound 15. kuNTum kuzhiyum The Up and Down In it the first noun KuNDu means the Upward portion of the path and kuzhi means The downward digging portion Both are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence. intap paathai kuNtum kuzhiyumaaga irukkiRatu. The path is not a regular one. 16. TaNNiir Venniir Cold water and the Hot Water The first noun TaNNiir is opposite to the second Noun venniir . Both are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence avan TaNNii Vennii illaamal cettaan He died without taking anything The Verb+Verb Construction The Verb+Verb construction also has subdivisions as i) ii) iii) iv) v) Parallel verbs combination, ii) Related verbs combination, Different verbs combinations, Resultive verbs combination Opposite verbs combination, etc.

The combination of Noun+Verb and the vice versa combination are very rare occurrences. So, they are not having subdivisions. i) In the parallel verbs combination both the parts of the compound are the same meaning but each one is parallel to one another. Examples of Parallel verbs compound 1. muuTi MaRaittu To hide muuTi To cover and maRai To hide. These two are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence avan ethaiyoo muuTi maRaittaan He hided something (Idiomatic Expression). 246

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2.

puuci mezhuki To made neat puuci means To smear and mezhuki also means To smear. These two are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence avan puuci mezhukinaan He manages the thing (Idiomatic meaning).

Like this, muTTi moothi To Hit muTTi means To hit moothi means To hit ii) In the Related verbs combination, both parts of the compound are related to one another. Examples of Related verbs compound 3. kazhuvi mezhuki To make neat and clean kazhuvi means To clean by water and mezhuki means To smear by cow dong or some other smearing things. These two verbs are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence avaL viiTTaik kazhuvi mezhukinaaL She cleaned the house neatly. KiNTi kiLaRi To mix it nicely KiNTi means To mix KiLaRi means To mix These two verbs combined together to frame a compound in the sentence poolisu kiNTikkiLaRi uNmaiyai vaankiyadhu Police tried so much and get the truth (Idiomatic meaning). iii) In the different verbs combination both parts of the compound are completely different from one another and conveyed a meaning which is different from the basic meaning of the verb when they occur as individually. Examples of Different verbs compound 5. kuuDi kulaavi To gether and enjoy kuuDi means To gather or To join kulaavi To enjoy. These two verbs are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence avarkaL kuuDik kulaavinaarkaL They combined together and enjoyed like anything. AaDippaaDi To enjoy aaDi means | To dance paaDi To sing. These two verbs join togeher and frame a compound in the sentence avaL aaDipaaDi makizhntaaL She enjoyed like anything.

4.

6.

iv) In the resultive verbs compound the first part of the verb compound or the second part of the verb compound may be the result of the other one. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 247

Examples of Resultive verbs compound 7. tappi tavaRi Incidentally. tappi means wrongly and tavaRi means Wrongone Both the verbs combined together and give the meaning in the sentence raaman tappittavaRi ceytiTTaan Rama has done it incidently. The conveyed meaning by this compound is adverbial. vaaDi vatanki withered away. vaaDi means To dry vatanki To fry. Both are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence puu vaaDi vatankippooccu The flower withered away completely. Here it conveys the adverbial meaning.

8.

v) In the opposite verbs compound, both the parts of the compound are opposite to one another are combined together and give a separate meaning which is not related to the basic meaning of the verb. Examples of opposite verbs compound 9. oTTiyum veTTiyum Intelligently In it oTTi means Relatedly veTTiyum means Differently. These two are combined together and frame a compound in the sentence avan oTTiyum veTTiyum peecinaan He is talking very cleverly.

10. kuuTTi kuRaittu Not in a proper way the first verb kuuTTi means adding to and kuRaittu means by deleting. Both are combined together to frame a compound in the sentence avan kuuTTik kuRaittu visayattaic connaan He reported the news with some additions and deletions. That is, not in a proper way. The compounds of the type Noun+Verb and verb+Noun are very rare in Tamil. The above types of Relative compounds convey the Idiomatic meaning, Totality meaning, Adverbial meaning Adjectival meaning, etc. The following are the examples for the above: AvaL vaayum vayirumaaka iruntaaL She is pregnant (Idiomatic meaning) Avanukku kaaDu karai ellaam irukku He owns so much of wealth (Totality meaning) Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 248

KaLLam kapaDam illaatavan

He is innocent

(Adjectival meaning)

Antap puuvellaam vaadi vathankip pooyiRRu The flowers are fathered away (Adverbial meaning) It is possible from the above four types of compounds that both the parts of the compound may have meaning; only the first part may have some meaning; only the second part may have some meaning and both the parts may not have any specific meanings. The following are the examples for the above said types: 1. Avanukku viiDu vaasal ellam irukku He owns all kinds of wealth In it the first part viiDu means House and the second part vaasal means The front portion of the house. This is a Noun compound. aval puuci mezhukinaaL She filled the house by smearing and covering. In it both the first part and the second part have meanings. Puucu means To cover and mezhku means To smear. This is a verb compound. 2. vaNDi vaasi vantaalum poogalaam If the cart and the remaining or the etc is coming, we will go. Here the first part VaNDi has the meaning Vehicle but the second part has no specific meaning. 3. avan veLLaiyum coLLaiyumaa kiLampiTTaan He goes neatly. Here the second part does not have any specific meaning. The first part veLLai means White But the compound VeLLaiyum coLLaiyum means Neatly which is an adverbial meaning. 4. avan kaaccumuuccunnu kattinaan He shouted like anything. Here both kaaccu muuccu do not have meaning. But the compound kaaccu muuccu has the meaning terribly or noisily Conclusion Relative Compounds have found a special niche in the colloquial language. Perhaps such compounds carry information that could not be easily conveyed without such compounding. But this needs further investigation. In any case, as I wrote above in the beginning of this chapter, relative compounds are found throughout the historical stages of Tamil in all its domains: literature, grammar, Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 249

prose, prosody, inscriptions, day to day speech and so on. Accordingly, our textbooks should pay adequate attention to the acquision and elegant use of this feature. Exercises to develop this are not many in the textbooks that I viewed. Perhaps those who are in charge of developing Living Classical Tamil textbooks and syllabus should bear this in mind. We must recognize that each language may have some preference for one or the other creative aspects of language use. For example, English probably shows greatest ease in accepting and adopting words from other languages. Tamil, I believe, has a preference for relative compounds. Modern political speeches have further popularized the dominant use of this feature both in writing and speaking.

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5 Relative Compounds in Tamil and Kannada


Introduction Compounds are the combination of two words. In grammar, Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, etc. are combined together to form compounds. Tolkaappiyar in his traditional grammar Tolkkappiyam classified the compounds into six types. 1. VeeRRumaitokai (Casal Compounds), 2.Vinaittokai (Compounds of verbs), 3.PaNputtokai (Compounds of quality), 4.Uvamattokai (Compounds of Comparison), 5. Ummaittokai (Compounds of Conjunction) and 6. Anmozhittokai (Compounds of Metonymy). Doublets In Tamil, there is another compound available. This type of compound is named as Doublets in Telugu by P. S. Subramanyam (1984), Conjunctive Compounds by K. Rangan (2003), iNai mozhikaL by R.Rengaraajan (2004) Allatu Compound by Pon. Kothanda Raman and as aTukkuccoRkaL by A. Srinivasan. In English it is named as Paired Construction, or binomial. In Telugu, it is named lexical duet by B. Ramakrishna Reddy (2004). In Kannada, it is named as JooDu nuDi. In Telugu it is termed also as Janta paadhaalu. Tamil and Kannada Tamil and Kannada are the two major languages belonging to the same language family, which is the Dravidian family. Both languages are treated as sister languages. This study of relative compounds structure in Tamil and Kannada reveals the fact that though relative compound is a general morphological feature of all the languages, some specific characteristics in individual languages can be drawn from the functional point of view and from the semantic point of view as well. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 251

Focus of This Chapter An attempt is made in this chapter to study the relative compounds from the point of view of occurrence in individual languages, its function and semantic interpretation. The purpose of this paper is to high light the syntactic structures of the Relative Compounds in Tamil and Kannada and the semantic meanings conveyed by them. In the Relative Compound construction, the combination of the words may be Noun+Noun, Noun+Verb, Verb+Noun and Verb+Verb. The following are the examples for this type of compounds. i) viiDu vaasal - Noun+Noun viiDu means "House" and vaasal means "The front portion of the House". These two are combined together to frame a compound to give the meaning "Property," which is new to the basic meaning of the component words.

Like this in Kannada also: Mane maTa Noun + Noun mane means House and maTa means The front portion of the House. These two combined together and formed a compound and indicate the meaning Property. ii) uppu cappu - Noun+Verb. Uppu means "salt" cappu means "To suck". These two are combined together to frame a Relative compound which means "Taste". This meaning is completely different from the basic meanings of the constituent words.

These types of compounds are not found in Kannada. But the above said compound is used as uppu kaara Noun + Abstract Noun compound. iii) koTTu meeLam - Verb+Noun. koTTu means "To beat or tap with knuckles" meeLam means "One kind of musical instrument used in various celebrations". These two words are combined together to frame a compound which gives the meaning "The publicity for the celebration".

This type of compounds is not found in Kannada. iv) oNDi othunki - Verb+Verb. oNDi means "To hide or be alone." othunki means "To leave aside". These two are combined together 252

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to frame a Compound, which indicates the meaning "Without oneself getting involved in anything". Like this in Kannada Eddu biddu Verb+Verb. Eddu means To get up and Biddu means To fall down. Both verbs are opposite to one another and formed a compound Eddu biddu which means Very urgently The Noun + Noun construction is further divided into 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Parallel Nouns combination, Opposite Nouns combination, Related Nouns combination Small + Big Nouns combination Big + Small Nouns combination Body parts Nouns combination Resultive nouns combination and Different nouns combination

Like the above Noun+Noun compound the Verb+Verb compound is further divided into iii) iv) v) vi) Parallel verbs combination Related verbs combination Different verbs combination and Resultive verb combination

The combination of Noun+Verb and the Verb+Noun combinations have very rare occurrences. So they do not have subdivisions. The above types of Relative compounds convey the Idiomatic meaning, Totality meaning, Adverbial meaning and Adjectival meaning. The following are the examples for the above said meanings. Ex. From Tamil Vaayum vayirum The mouth and the stomach

avaL vaayum vayirumaagaa irukiRaaL Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 253

She is pregnant (Idiomatic Meaning) Kaiyum kaalum The hand and the leg

Enakku kaiyum kaalum ooTalee It is not able to do anything for me (Idiomatic Meaning) Ex. From Kannada Kai Kaalu The hand and the leg Nanagee ketharikai kaal oogatilla It is not able to do anything for me (Idiomatic meaning) Ex. From Tamil Avanukku kaaDu karai ellaam irukku He owns so much of wealth (Totality Meaning) Ex. From Kannada Aadu maathu ottu kottillaa Totally I dont know anything Ex. From Tamil KaLLam kapaDam illaatavan He is innocent (Adjectival Meaning) Ex. From Kannada Kapeeka maneyannu Gudisi saarisiddaree Because of festival they clean the house Ex. From Tamil Anta puuvellaam vaadi vadankip pooyiRRu The flowers are feathered away (Adverbial meaning) This type of construction is not found in Kannada. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 254

I Noun+Noun Compounds: i) In the parallel Nouns combination, both the nouns are parallel to one another.

Ex. From Tamil iiDu iNai Comparison

In this compound the first part Noun iiDu means Equal and the second part Noun iNai means Comparison. Both are combined together and frame a compound iiDu iNai which means comparison in the sentence ataRkku iiDuiNai illai There is no equivalent for that which is completely different from the basic meaning of the words. Ex. From Kannada Ulpa swalpa Little

In the above-said compound ulpa means Little and swalpa means Little. Both are combined together and frame a compound ulpa swalpa which means Little in the sentence nanagee ulpaswalpa malayaalam goddu I know a little bit Malayalam. ii) In the Opposite Noun compound both the nouns are opposite to one another.

Ex. From Tamil taNNiir Venniir Cold water and the Hot water

In this compound the first noun taNNiir Cold Water is opposite to the second noun venniir Hot Water. Both are combined together and frame a compound in the sentence avan taNNii venniii illaama cettaan means He died without having anything which is different from the basic meaning of the nouns.

Ex. From Kannada Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 255

Hinde Munde back and front In this compound the first word hinde means back is opposite to the second noun munde means front. Both are combined together and frame a compound hinde munde which means Back and front in the sentence Avanu hindee mundee yoocchisaadee maattaaDudia He talks without thinking iii) In the related Nouns compound both the nouns are related to one another

Ex. From Tamil viiDu vaasal The property/wealth

In the above said compound viiDu means House and vaasal means The front portion of the house. These two are combined together to frame a compound viidu vaasal which gives the meaning Property/wealth in the sentence avanukku viidu vaasal oNNum illai He doesnt has anything (Wealth) Ex. From Kannada Mane maTa The Property/Wealth In the above said Compound mane means House and maTa means The front portion of the house. Both are combined together and frame a compound mane maTa means Property in the sentence avanugeeane maTa ellavu ide He is not having any property iv) In the Small+Big Nouns combination the first part of the compound noun is small and the second part of the compound noun is big.

Ex. From Tamil Kaasu PaNam The Money In the above compound kaasu means Change and paNam means Rupee. Both are combined together and frame a compound kaasu paNam and it means Moneyin the sentence avanukku kaasu paNam eduvum illai He doesnt has Money at all Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 256

In Kannada the compound kaasu paNam is not available but the vice versa compound HaNa kaasu is available. But the small+big compound the example Badava Sreemantha is available. In it Badava means Poor man and Sreemantha means Rich man. v) In the Big+Small Nouns combination the first part of the compound noun is big and the second part of the compound noun is small.

Ex. From Tamil Kaalam Neeram Particular Time In the above compound Kaalam means The season and the Neeram means The particular time. Both are combined together, form a compound and indicate the meaning Particular Time in the sentence avanukku kaalam Neeramellam kiTaiyaatu There is no particular time for him. Ex. From Kannada HaNa Kaasu Money In the above mentioned compound HaNa means Rupee and Kaasu means Change. Both are combined together as a compound means Money. vi) In the Body Parts Noun combination both parts of the compound are framed by the combination of the parts of the body.

Ex. From Tamil Vaayum Vayirum Pregnant In the above compound Vaay means Mouth and Vayiru means stomach. Both are combined together as a compound and menas Pregnant in the sentence avaL vaayum vayiRumaaka irukkiRaaL She is pregnant. Ex. From Kannada KaiKaalu Inability In the above example Kai means Hand and Kaal means Leg. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 257

Both are combined together and frame a compound kai kaal which means the Inability in the sentence nanagee kai kaal oogatilla It is not able to do anything This meaning is the Idiomatic expressive meaning. vii) In the Resultive Nouns Combination the first part of the Noun is the root cause of the thing and the second part of the Noun is the result of that action.

Ex. From Tamil Tappu taNDaa Mistake In the above compound Tappu means mistake/Fault and taNDa means Punishment. Both are combined together and frame a compound Tappu taNDa which means Mistake in the sentence atilee tappu taNDa eetum illee In that no mistake. In Kannada also the same type of compound is found in the same way. Ex. From Kannada Tappu DaNDa Mistake

In the above said compound tappu means mistake/fault and DaNDa means punishment. Both are combined together and frame a compound tappu DaNDaa which means Mistake in the sentence avanu tappu DaNDa maaDuvan allaa He is not the type of doing mistake. viii) In the different Nouns combination both the Nouns are completely different and the combined together and frame a compound and gives a completely different meaning from the basic meaning of the nouns.

Ex. From Tamil MaNNum Mayirum Dirty In the above compound MaNNu means Sand and Mayir means Hair. Both are combined together and frame a compound means Dirty in the sentence adu maNNum Mayirumaa irukku It is full of dirty things.

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Ex. From Kannada maNNu kesaru Dirty

In trhe above compound maNNu means Sand and kesaru means Mud. Both are combined together and frame a compound maNNukesaru which means Dirty in the sentence magu maNNu kesarralli aaDutidree The Children are playing in the dirty place II Verb+Verb Compounds: The verb+verb construction also has sub divisions as i) ii) iii) iv) v) i) Parallel verb combination Related verbs combination Different verbs combination Opposite verbs combination and Resultive verbs combination. In the parallel verbs combination both the verbs in the compounds are parallel to one another.

Ex. From Tamil Puuci Mezhuki To make it clean In the above compound the first part verb Puuci means To repair and the second part verb Mezhuki means To smear. Both are combined together and frame a compound means To Manage in the sentence avaL puuci mezhukinaaL She manages in some way. Ex. From Kannada ToLedu BaLedu To make it clean In the above compound the first part of the verb ToLedu means To clean by water and the second part of the verb means BaLedu means To smear. Both are combined together and frame a compound means To manage in the sentence vishesha dinagalangu maneye cutta toledu baledu maaDutaaveo During festival days all clean the houses very neatly Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 259

ii)

In the related verbs compound both the verbs are related to one another.

Ex. From Tamil kiNTi kiLaRi To search keenly

In the above combination the first verb kiNTi means To mix and the second verb KiLaRi means To mix. Both are related to one another and frame a compound means Very keenly in the sentence avan avarai kinTi kiLaRi vishayattai vaankinaan He get the news by keen enquiry. This is different from the basic meaning of the verbs. This meaning is an Idiomatic meaning. Ex. From Kannada iii) In the Different verbs combination the combined verbs are not related ones but different verbs.

Ex. From Tamil kuuDi kuzhaavi To gather and enjoy

In the above said compound the first verb kuuDi To join and the second verb kuzhaavi To enjoy. Both are combined together and frame a compound means To enjoy much in the sentence avarkaL kuuDik kuzhaavinaarkaL They are enjoyed joint together. Ex. From Kannada Hodedu Badedu Mix together and enjoy In the above said compound hodedu means To join and the second verb badedu means To enjoy. Both are join together and frame a compound which means mix together and enjoy in the sentence makkaligee hodedu badedu maadudu cariyillaa Children are joined together and enjoy is not good iv) In the opposite verbs compound both the verbs are opposite to one another. 260

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Ex. From Tamil OTTi veTTi Tactfully

In the above-said compound the first verb OTTi means To co-operate and the second verb veTTi which is opposite to the first verb. Both are combined together and frame a compound veTTi oTTi means Tactfully in the sentence avan oTTiyum veTTiyum peecinaan He talks very tactfully. Ex. From Kannada Eddu Biddu Hurily In the above-said compound the first verb eddu means To get up and the second verb Biddu means To get down which is opposite to the first verb. Both are combined together and frame a compound which means Hurrily in the sentence bussu bandaaga avanu eddu biddi ooTidee He runs hurrily Because, the bus is coming v) In the Resultive Verb Compound the first verb of the compound is the root caste and the second verb is the result of the action of the compound.

Ex. From Tamil vaaDi vatanki To withther

In the above example the first verb which is the root cause verb vaaDi means To become fade and vatanki means To shrink. Both are combined together and frame a compound vaaDivatanki means To whether in a sentence puukkaL vaaDivatankina The flowers are weathered away. Ex. From Kannada

The types of the compound Noun+Verb and the Verb+Noun are very rare in Tamil and Kannada. It is also possible that i) Two parts having meaning Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 261

ii) Two parts dont have meaning iii) One part of the compound (Either the first or the second part) have meaning. i) Two Parts having meaning avanukku viidu vaasal ellaam irukku He owns all kind of wealth (Tamil Noun+Noun) avanagee mane maTa ellava idee He owns all kinds of Property (Kannada Noun+Noun) avaL puuci mezhukinaaL She managed in some way (Tamil Verb+Verb) ii) Two parts are not having meaning guNDakkaa maNDakkaaNNu peecaatee Dont talk rubbish niinu yagva thadva maatthu naada beedaa Dont talk rubbish iii) One part having meaning avan veLLaiyum coLLaiyumaa kiLampiTTaan He goes neatly (Tamil first part has meaning) avaru ThoTa GeeTa maaDikoNTillaa He doesnt own any property (Kannada) Akkam pakkam paarttup peecu Talk by seeing the surroundings Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 262

(Tamil)

(Kannada)

(Tamil second part has meaning) nammee akka pakka cennakira beekkhu Ours neighbours should good (Kannada) Conclusion It is clear from our study here that even in two genetically related languages relative compounds can develop interesting distinctive features. Kannada and Tamil are closely related languages, and yet there are differences. Such differences need to be noted when we want to translate materials from one language into another. Also, we need to recognize the fact that even as most states in the Indian Union were linguistically re-organized, none of the states is totally predominantly monolingual. Even as the Indian Union is multilingual, the states that constitute the Union are also multilingual. It only means that fostering an understanding between the various speech forms and patters of linguistic groups would add to the richness of civilization within these states. Text composition and comprehension become easier when we have a good command over the features of composition of relative compounds. Ultimately, discovery of the minute and detailed grammatical rules should not be the major goal, but using such rules for practical purposes should be our major concern.

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6 Agreement in Tamil and Telugu


Introduction The system of agreement in any language is a vital grammatical phenomenon. Earlier both the terms agreement and concord were used as if they were synonyms. John Lyons 1968: p.239 describes concord as a kind of inflection. Agreement may be studied with reference to morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic levels of the language. Moravcsik 1978: p.333 defines agreement as a grammatical constituent A will be said to agree with a grammatical constituent B in properties C in language L, if C is a set of meaning-related properties of constituent B across some subset of the sentences of language L, where constituent B1 is adjacent to B and the meaning related noncategorical properties of constituent B1 are the properties of C. This chapter highlights the variations in the agreement system between Tamil and Telugu, two genetically related languages of the family of Dravidian languages. Though Tamil and Telugu belong to the same language family, they show variations in agreement system in addition to the similarities between these two languages. Sociolinguistic Importance of the Agreement Feature Agreement is an important aspect of all the major Indian languages. Through the agreement feature, we not only indicate the number and person, but also important sociolinguistic information such as respect, honor, and social status, etc. Our cultural and social patterns thus are expressed through linguistic device of agreement. Historically speaking, agreement features had a lesser load of such sociolinguistic information in the early stages of Tamil. For example, number inflection was not important to assign respect in several classical works in Tamil. A king or a god may be referred to (and even addressed) in singular person in such works. That did not mean that the writers of these literary works did not care for or did not have respect for the kings or gods, etc. The writers simply followed the linguistic convention prevailing then. In other words, as our social stratification became more elaborate and stringent within the Tamil society, agreement features also got elaborated and became more specific and focused. Slowly freedom in using these features is heavily restricted since switch from plural Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 264

marker to a singular reference would be taken as an offence and would entail physical quarrels. When continuity of our Chemmozhi across generations and classes now and into the future becomes our focus in teaching Tamil, we will give an understanding of these classical features, only for comprehension purposes and not for daily communication. Tamil and Telugu offer interesting contrasts in the use of the agreement feature. Agreement Markers in Tamil and Telugu The following table shows the agreement markers of Tamil and Telugu briefly. Tamil Person I II III Sg. een aay aan/aaL/tu Pl. oom iir/iirkaL aar/aarkaL/na Sg. nu vu Du/di Telugu Pl. mu ru ru

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Examples from Tamil naan vanteen naam vantoom naankaL vantoom nii vantaay niinkaL vantiirkaL avan vantaan neenu vacceenu manamu vacceemu meemu vacceemu nuvvu vacceevu miiru vacceeru waaDu vacceeDu I came We (inclu.) came We (Exclu.) came You came You (pl.) came He came 265

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avaL vantaaL adu vantatu avar vantaar avarkaL vantaarkaL avai vantana

adi vaccindi adi vaccindi waaru vacceeru waaru vacceeru avi vaccaayi

She came It came He (Hon.) came They (Human) came They (Non-Human) came

Third Person and Agreement There are two more forms in Telugu for third person Masculine and Feminine atanu/aayana, aame/aawiDa to indicate the degree of respect. These forms have the agreement marker ru and have the variants -Du and -di in spoken language. Examples from Telugu Atanu/aayana vacceeDu/vacceeru Aamee/aawiDa vaccindi/vacceeru Prestigious Forms and Agreement In Tamil and Telugu the most prestigious forms are taankaL and tamaru which mean You (Hon.). These forms have the agreement markers iirkaL and ru. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil Telugu taankaL vantiirkaL tamaru vacceeru Plural Marker in Agreement In Tamil the plural marker kaL not only functions as plural marker but also functions as an agreement marker. But in Telugu the plural marker lu cannot function as an agreement marker. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 266 You (Hon.) came He came She came

Tamil

Telugu The Ministers came

mantirikaL vantarkaL mantrulu vacceeru

In the sentence intira kaanti vantaarkaL Indira Gandhi came, the third person singular noun Indira Gandhi takes the plural agreement marker aarkaL (Plural agreement marker ar+ the plural marker kaL) due to socio-cultural reasons. But in Telugu the above sentence takes the honorific marker gaaru after the proper noun intira kaanti and takes the honorific agreement marker ru but it does not take the plural marker lu as in the sentence intira kaanti gaaru vacceeru (Te.). Conjoined and Collective Nominals and Agreement Like this the conjoined nominal and collective nominal take the plural agreement + the plural marker -kaL in Tamil. But in Telugu the above-said two nominal take the plural agreement but not the plural marker lu. Example from Tamil and Telugu Tamil Telugu

avanum avaLum vantaarkaL waaDu aame vacceeru He and she came Tamil makkaL vantaarkaL Titles and Agreement In Tamil, popular persons like amaiccar Minister, tuNai veentar Vice-Chancellor, janaadipathi President etc., have the plural form avarkaL. This form means They. It also functions as honorific form. It has the plural agreement marker kaL. This third person pronoun avarkaL is morphologically segmental. But in Telugu mantri Minister upaadiyakshulu - Vice-Chancellor raastrapathi - President etc., have the honorific form -waaru/-gaaru. These forms are the honorific forms and not the plural forms. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 267 Telugu manishulu vacceru people came

amaiccar avarkaL vantaarkal Telugu mantrula waaru/mantri waariyulu vacceeru The honorable Minister came Tamil tuNaiveentar avarkaL vantaarkaL Telugu upaatiyakshula waaru vacceeru The honorable Vice - Chancellor came In the above examples, Telugu is similar to Tamil when it adds the plural marker with honorific form as avarkaL to the form mantri waariyulu vacceeru. Telugu can also add the plural marker -lu with mantri as mantrula waaru vacceeru. But there is a difference in the usage of the agreement marker. Tamil uses the marker kaL and Telugu uses the marker -ru.

Elder Persons and Agreement Elder persons like father, teacher, officers etc. in Tamil are having the agreement marker aar. But in Telugu the above said persons may have the agreement marker either Du or ru. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil appaa vantaar Tamil saar vantaar Telugu naannaa vacceeDu/vacceeru Telugu saar vacceee|Du/vacceeru Teacher came 268 Father came

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Telugu manushulu vacceeru Telugu kukkalu vacceeyi Dogs came Human beings came

Mass Noun and Agreement In Tamil the nouns like paal milk, taNNi, water, moor, buttermilk etc. are considered as singular and take the singular agreement marker. But in Telugu the abovesaid nouns are considered as ever plural and take the plural agreement marker. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil paal irukku Tamil taNNi irukku Tamil moor irukku Telugu paalu unnaayi Telugu niiLLu unnaayi Telugu majjiga unnaayi Butter-milk is there Water is there Milk is there

Second Person Interrogative and Agreement In Tamil for the question nii yaar who are you? the answer is naan parimala I am parimala wont take agreement marker. But in Telugu the answer for the above question is neenu parimalanu. In this nu is the agreement marker of neenu. Like this the other personal pronouns have the agreement markers. Human and Nonhuman Nouns and Agreement Both in Tamil and Telugu, one human and one non-human nouns are combined together and occur as subject. In this condition, human plural agreement is used. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 269

Example from Tamil and Telugu Tamil oru manitanum oru naayum vantaarkaL Telugu oo manushi oka kukka vacceeru One man and one dog came. The inanimate nouns like kal stone, ilai leaf, maNal sand etc. do not use a plural marker or an agreement marker in Tamil. But in Telugu the above-said nouns take the agreement markers compulsorily. Example from Tamil and Telugu Tamil anta iTattil kal niraiya irukku Telugu akkaDa caalaa raaLLu unnaayi There are so many stones When more than one non-human noun occurs as subject, the subject does not take the plural marker kaL but it takes the conjunctive marker -um. The plural agreement marker is also optional in Tamil. But in Telugu the plural marker with noun is obligatory and the agreement marker with the verb is also obligatory. Example from Tamil and Telugu Tamil reNDu naayum muunu puunaiyum vantatu/vandhana Telugu Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 270

reNDu kukkalu muuDu pillulu vacceeyi Two dogs and three cats came In Tamil though the non-human plural nouns have the agreement marker na the usage of that marker is the optional one whereas in Telugu the non-human plural nouns have the agreement marker yi. This use is obligatory. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil ankee niraiya marankaL irukku Telugu akkaDa caalaa ceTTLu unnaayi There are so many trees Tamil naaykaL vantuccu Telugu kukkaLu vaccaayi The dogs came Proper Names and Agreement In Tamil, the proper names like raaman, kaNNan, kumaar and baabu are combined together and occur as subject. But they may not take plural marker kaL. Instead they may take the form ellaarum and the plural agreement marker ar+ the plural marker kaL. In Telugu for the above-said combined subject, the last proper name takes the plural marker lu and the plural agreement marker ru in the final position. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 271

Tamil raaman kaNNan kumaar baabu vantaarkaL raaman kaNNan kumaar baabu elloorum vantaarkaL Telugu raama kaNNa kumaar baabulu vacceeru Rama kaNNan kumar baabu came Honorific Nouns and Agreement In Tamil, the honorific human nouns like amaiccar minister, talaivar head, tuNai veentar Vice-Chancellor etc. take the honorific plural agreement marker avarkaL. But in Telugu the above-said nouns take either the plural marker-lu or the honorific form vaaru. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil talaivar avarkaL peesuvaarkaL Telugu adyakshula vaaru maaTlaaDutaaru Telugu adyakshulu maaTlaaDutaaru The honorable leader will take Tamil tuNai veentar avarkaL varuvaar/varuvaarkaL Telugu Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 272

upagulapathila/upaadyaashula vaaru vastaaru Telugu upagulapathilu/upaadyaashulu vastaaru The Vice-Chancellor will come. The Potential Auxiliary Verb The potential auxiliary verb muTiyum capable cannot take the agreement marker. The oblique form + instrumental case maker + muTiyum is the construction. But in Telugu the potential auxiliary verb gala capable can take the agreement marker. The nominative form + the potential auxiliary verb + -nu is the construction. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil ennaal vara muTiyum Telugu neenu raa galanu I can come We (Inclu.) can come We (Exclu.) can come You can come You (pl.) can come He can come She can come They can come It can come They (non-Hum.) can come

nammaal vara muTiyum manamu raa galamu enkalaal vara muTiyum unnaal vara muTiyum unkalaal vara muTiyum avanaal vara muTiyum avaLaal vara muTiyum avarkalaal vara muTiyum adaal vara muTiyum avaikaLaal vara muTiyum meemu raa galamu nuvvu raa galavu miiru raa galaru waaDu raa galaDu aamee raa galadu waaru raa galaru adi raa galadu avi raa galavu

Neuter Singular and Agreement Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 273

The neuter singular atu it and the plural avai- they in Tamil take the plural marker kaL. Whereas in Telugu the neuter singular adi- it and the plural avi they do not take the plural marker lu. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil adu/aduka vantuccu Telugu adi vaccindi It (non-Human) came They (non-Hum.) came

avai/avaikaL vantana avi vaccaayi Numerals and Agreement

In Tamil, more than one numerical noun, that is, two, three etc. are used in a syntactical construction the agreement marker is optional both for the human and the non-human. But the agreement depends upon the numerical noun not the person. Whereas in Telugu the agreement marker for the above-said is obligatory. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil avaLukku muunu puLLe/ puLLaiga Telugu avaLukku mugguru pillalu She has three children Tamil naalu pustakam/pustakanka irukku Telugu naalugu pustakaaLLu unnaayi There are four books Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 274

Tamil

Telugu Two persons came

iraNDu peer vantaar/vantaarkaL iddaru vaccaaru Tamil aaru peer vantaar/vantaarkaL Telugu

aruguru vaccaaru Six persons came

Animate and Inanimate Nouns and Agreement When more than one animate or inanimate noun is used in combination then the agreement marker with subject and predicate is optional in Tamil. But in Telugu agreement marker is obligatory with subject and predicate. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil Telugu

naalu puunai/puunaikaL vantadu naalugu pillulu vaccaayi Four cats came Tamil eezhu nari vantatu Tamil muunRu miin kiTaittadu Tamil reNDu kallu kuDu Telugu eeDu nakkalu vaccaayi Seven foxes came Telugu muuDu ceepalu cikkaayi Got three Fishes Telugu reNDu raaLLu ivvu Give two stones

Interrogative Markers and Agreement In Telugu, the interrogative marker enta How much is used with inanimate nouns and entamandi/endaru How many is used with human nouns, and,enni How many is used with non-human nouns. In Tamil, ettanai How many evvavlavu How much are the equivalent forms for all the above- mentioned forms of Telugu. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 275

Tamil

Telugu

ettanai peer vantiirkaL miiru endaru occaaru How many of you came? Tamil ettanai manitarkaL Tamil Telugu endaru manusulu Telugu How many cattle came? How many persons?

ettanai maDu vantadu enni aawulu occaayi Tamil ettanai aaDu cettatu Telugu

enni meekalu caaccaayi How many goats died?

From the above examples we come to the conclusion that though the agreement system is more or less same in Tamil and Telugu as far as the Human is concerned, there are differences between Tamil and Telugu in marking agreement. Negative Constructions and Agreement The Telugu negative form kaadu not does not take the agreement marker of the person like leedu and Tamil illai. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil naan illai Tamil naanga illai Tamil naama illai Telugu neenu kaadu Telugu meemu kaadu Telugu manamu kaadu not our self 276 not our self not myself

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In Tamil, the simple negative marker illai not does not take the agreement marker, whereas in Telugu the simple negative marker leedu takes the agreement marker depending on the person. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil naan ankee illai naam ankee illai Telugu neenu akkaDa leenu manamu akkaDa leemu I am not there We (Inclu.) are not there We (Exclu.) are not there" You are not there You (pl.) are not there He is not there He is not there

naankaL ankee illai meemu akkaDa leemu nii ankee illai niinkaL ankee illai avan ankee illai . avaL ankee illai . Avar ankee illai Adu ankee illai Avai ankee illai avarkaL ankee illai nuvvu akkaDa leevu miiru akkaDa leeru waaDu akkaDa leeDu atanu akkaDa leeDu

aayana akkaDa leeDu/leeru He is not there adi akkaDa leedu aame akkaDa leedu aawiDa akkaDa leedu/leeru waaru akkaDa leeru adi akkaDa leedu avi akkaDa leevu She is not there She is not there She is not there

He/She (Hon.) is not there It is not there They (Non-Hum.) are not there

waaLLu akkaDa leeru They (Hum.) are not there

Negative Potential Auxiliary Verb Construction Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 277

The negative potential auxiliary verb muTiyaadu not capable/impossible do not take the agreement marker. The oblique form + case maker + the negative potential auxiliary verb is the construction. But in Telugu the negative potential auxiliary verb leedu not capable/impossible can take the agreement marker according to the person with the nominative form. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil ennaal vara muTiyaadu Telugu neenu raa leenu I cannot come

nammaal vara muTiyaadu manamu raa leemu We (Inclu.) cannot come enkalaal vara muTiyaadu unnaal vara muTiyaadu unkalaal vara muTiyaadu avanaal vara muTiyaadu avaLaal vara muTiyaadu avarkalaal vara muTiyaadu adaal vara muTiyaadu meemu raa leemu nuvvu raa leevu miiru raa leeru waaDu raa leeDu aamee raa leedu waaru raa leeru adi raa leedu We (Exclu.) cannot come You cannot come You (pl.) cannot come He cannot come She cannot come They cannot come It cannot come

avaikaLaal vara muTiyaadu avi raa leevuThey (Non-Hum.) cannot come Equative Sentences and Agreement In the negative equative sentences, the negative form illai wont take agreement marker in Tamil. But, in Telugu, the negative form kaadu can take agreement marker depending upon the person. Moreover the nouns with the first and second person pronouns also take the agreement marker. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil Telugu 278

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naan DaakTar illai

neenu DaakTarunu kaanu I am not a Doctor

naangaL DaakTar illai meemu DaakTaramu kaamu We are not Doctors naam DaakTar illai nii DaakTar illai manamu DaakTaramu kaamu We are Doctors nii DaakTaruvu kaavu You are not a Doctor You are not a Doctor He is not a Doctor She is a not a doctor He (Hon.) is not a Doctor

niingaL DaakTar illai miiru Daaktaru kaaru avan DaakTar illai avaL DaakTar illai avar DaakTar illai avan DaakTar kaaDu aame DaakTar kaadu vaaru DaakTaru kaaru

avarkaL DaakTar illai vaaLLu DaakTarlu kaaru They are not Doctors adu DaakTar illai ati DaakTar kaadu It is not a Doctor

avai DaakTar illai avi DaakTarlu kaavu They (Non-Hum.) are not Doctor Conclusion From the above-mentioned discussions we can conclude that, though Tamil and Telugu are genetically related languages and belong to same language family and share many features, still there are eye-catching differences between them found in those languages. Textbook writers and syllabus framers have the responsibility to focus on the sociolinguistic features of agreement. Let us not take the functions of agreement in Tamil for granted. How we should communicate with each other and what truth value our communication must carry have all been discussed in Tirukkural and other didactic literature. Chemmozhi early grammars as well as literary works wrote on communication mostly from moral angles. Moral instruction imparted through works such as NaalaTiyaar are recognized and faithfully included in our textbooks. However, how language should be used in speaking and writing for persuasive communication showing due respect and Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 279

dererence to our addressees needs to be demonstrated through drills and exercises in our classrooms. Arguments are very important for clarity of truth but arguments should be carried out in a manner emotions are kept under control and only facts are focused upon. Switch from from singular to plural and from plural to singular endings have great social implications. Unfortunately, caste and other social criteria as well as economic status play a crucial role in such choice. This should change so that all could participate as equal partners in the communication process.

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7 Auxiliary Verbs in Modern Tamil


Introduction Auxiliary verbs are the verbs which lose their original syntactic and semantic properties when they collocate with other verbs as auxiliary and signify various grammatical meanings which are the auxiliary meanings of the other verbs in the sentences. Example raaman ankee iruntaan raaman ankee vantiruntaan Rama is there - Main Verb Ram has come there Auxiliary verb

The verbs which thus become auxiliaries may also function like full verbs elsewhere, resulting in formally being identical but functionally different pairs of verbs. The difference is manifested in their different syntactic distribution and semantic denotation. The function of an auxiliary in any language is to express the voice, mode, tense or aspect of the action denoted by the main verb of a sentence. Various Names of Auxiliary Auxiliary verbs have various names. Walther, 1739, Pope, 1859, Arden 1891, Agesthialingom, 1964, Meenakshisundaram, 1965, Isreal, 1976, Karthikeyani, 1976, Srinivasan, 1976, Joseph, 1981 and Steever, 1983 addressed this auxiliary as auxiliary verbs. Bahl, 1967 termed this as Explicator. Hock, 1974 mentioned this auxiliary as Compound Verbs. Subbarao, 1979 called this as Secondary Verbs. Bhat, 1979 termed this as Vector. Kachru pointed out this as Serial verbs. Auxiliary Verbs and Language Teaching Auxiliary verbs play a very crucial role in sentence construction. They support or negate the content, and they supply additional information. Auxiliary verbs have been used throughout the history of Tamil. However, modern expressions, especially in official communications, scientific writing and business communications, exploit the use of auxiliary verbs as part of logic and reason. In this respect, it is important that our students are well trained in the correct and efficient use of auxiliary constructions. Extending and Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 281

developing use of auxiliary verbs in Tamil to meet various needs will add to the continuity of Chemmozhi in the future. Characteristics of Auxiliary Verbs 1. Auxiliary verb always occurs after the main verbs and it is dependent upon the main verbs. Example: iRaivan ceyya vaittaan naan payantu pooneen God made him to do this I was afraid of that

2. Most of the auxiliary verbs have PNG markers and negative markers but the modal auxiliary verbs do not have the PNG markers and the negative markers except the Model auxiliary verb maaTTu. Example: murugan ceytu kaaTTinaan Murugan demonstrated it. inRu mazhai varakkuuDum Today the rain may come. avan vara maaTTaan He wont come definitely. 3. Auxiliary verbs come after the verb root of the main verb, infinitive form of the main verb, verbal participle form of the main verb, relative participle form of the main verb, finite verb of the main verb, verbal noun form of the main verb and the participial noun of the main verb and the conditional infinitive form. Example: puRaa viTu paTTatu iraaman colla vantaan kaNNan vantu irukkiRaan kaTaikku vantirunta raaman kala vantaaL illai nii varalaam The pigeon left out Verb root Rama has come for telling this Infinitive Kannan has come here already Verbal Participle Rama who has come to the shop Relative Participle, Kala who had not come Finite Verb You may come 282

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Verbal Noun iraamantaan paarttavanaam Rama one who saw that Participial Noun geetha paaDip paarttaal teriyum If Geetha try to sing then it will be clear Conditional Infinitive Form 4. When Auxiliary verbs occur in compound sentences, then the auxiliary may be deleted from the sentences. Example: naan paarttum irukkiReen: naan keeTTum irukkiReen = naan paarttum keeTTum irukkiReen. I had seen; I had heard = I both seen and heard 4. Auxiliary verbs are reduplicated to indicate various grammatical meanings. Example: latha varukiRaaL sita vantu koNTiRukkiRaaL cirittuk koNTirukka veeNTaam Sita comes Present Perfect Sita is coming Present Progressive It is not necessary to laugh Negative Present Progressive

5. In between the main verb and the auxiliary verb no meaningful units will occur. Example: aaciriyar paTittu viTTaar Teacher had read aaciriyar paTittu ippootu viTTaar Now the Teacher read it and left But some words which have lexical meanings occur in between the main verb and the auxiliary verb. Example: unnaal paTikka muTiyaatu unnaal paTikka ippoootu muTiyaati unnaal ceyya iyalum unnaal ceyya inRu iyalum You cannot read You cannot read now You can do this You can do this today

6. Auxiliary doesnt take complements by itself. 7. Auxiliary doesnt give the meaning of its homophonous full verb. 8. Auxiliary loses its meaning if it is permuted. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 283

9. Infinitive that occurs before auxiliary cannot be converted into verbal noun. 10. The verb V1 alone cannot be negated without negating the auxiliary V2. 11. When the auxiliary V2 is negated the preceding verb V1 also comes under the scope of negation. 12. The verb V1 cannot be reduplicated before V2 if the verb V2 is an auxiliary. 13. Auxiliary construction doesnt permit negative simultaneous for both V1 and V2. 14. Auxiliary verb cannot form single word utterance. 15. An Auxiliary can take another auxiliary so that the sequence of V1, V2, and V3 can be seen among which the last two can be auxiliaries. 16. The auxiliary verb V2 can be replaced by another auxiliary where as the second member of the compound verb cannot be replaces by another verbs. 17. Compound verb is semantically one unit but whereas the auxiliary structure is not so, expressing one main notion plus some auxiliary notion.

Modern Tamil Auxiliary Verbs In Tamil, the following verbs are function as auxiliaries: aTi To beat, aruL To become grace, aam To accept, aaccu To finish, iyalum Possible, iru To be, il To be not, uL Inside, eTu To take, ozhi To destroy, kaaTTu To show, kuuTum To be possible, koNTiru To have, koL To have, cey To do, takum to be worth, taLLu To push, teri To know, tolai To go, neer To face, paTu To suffer, paNNu To do, paar To see, peRu To get, poo To go, pooTu To put, maaTTu To hang, muTiyum To be possible, varu To come, viTu To leave, veeNTum To need and vai To put Kinds of Auxiliary Verbs Auxiliary verbs are broadly classified in to three types. They are Voice Auxiliary, Aspectual Auxiliary and Modern Auxiliary. Voice Auxiliary Voice Auxiliaries are the auxiliaries which come after the infinitive forms of the main verbs. The verbs like paTu, peRu, koL, cey, vai, paNNu, aruL are the voice denoting auxiliaries. Among the above paTu and peru are the passive voice denoting auxiliaries. koL is the reflexive voice, benefactive denoting auxiliaries. aruL is the Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 284

benedictive voice denoting auxiliaries. Cey, vai and paNNu are the causative voice denting auxiliaries. Example: avanaal katai ezhutappaTTatu The story was written by him baalu kaTitam varappeRRaan Balu received letter avan tanakkut taanee peecikkoNTaan He talked by himself avanai varapa paNNineen I made him to come avanai naantaan ceyya vaitteen I made him to do avanai varac ceyteen I made him to come avar vantaruLinaar He came gracefully Aspectual Auxiliary Aspectual auxiliary are the auxiliaries which come after the verbal participle forms of the main verbs. iru, koNTiru, viTu, ozhi, vaa, vai, Avan vantiruntaan He had come Past perfect Avan vantu koNTiruntaan He is coming Present Progressive Avan cirittuk koNTirukka veeNTaam It is not necessary for him to laugh Negative present progressive anpuTan pazhaki varum tankai Ever lovable sister Habitual thing raaman taan paarttavanaam Rama who had seen it murukan ceytu kaaTTinaan Murugan demonstrated it nii paatip paarttaal teriyum If you try to sing then it will clear avan paarttu viTTaan He had seen it (Completion) unakku collat terital veeNTum You must know how to tell it naan ezhutikkoNTatu ennavenRaal The written thing was muttu vizhuntaTittu ooTinaan Muthu ran like anything Idiomatic meaning Speediness amaiccar vantarulinaar The Minister has come meaning Honorific naan caappiTTaaccu I finished eating meaning Completeness avan cettuppoonaan He dead meaning Completeness avan caRRaip pizhinteTuttaan He extracted the juice meaning Excess raaman vantuLLaan He came meaning Complete raaman ceytu kaaTTinaan Rama demonstrated it avan ezhutit taLLiTTaan He wrote like anything meaning Impatience avan aTittuttaLLiTTaan He beat like anything meaning Idiomatic Expression Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 285 (Passive) (Passive) (Reflexive) (Causative) (Causative) (Causative) (Benedictine)

pooyt tolai kannanaip paarkka neerntatu uma eTuttup paarttaaL muTiyavilai naankaL vazhakkamaaka keTTu varukiRoom avan paarttu viTTaan Modal Auxiliary

Get lost meaning Riddance Accidentily I met kannan Uma tried it but it was not possible Habitually we heard He saw definitely

Model Auxiliary verbs are the auxiliary verbs which come after the infinitive form or the verbal noun of the main verbs and they dont have the PNG markers and the negative markers except the Modal Auxiliary maaTTu . Example: baama varalaam Baama may come Meanings Permission, possibility, ennaaal cappiTa iyalum I can eat Meaning ability ennnaal paarkka muTiyum I can see Meaning possibility avan paarkkkavilllai, He did not see Meaning Negative avan paarkkka maaTTaan He never seen Meaning negative conformity Mazhai varak/varutal kuuTum Rain may come Meaning Possibility Itu collat takum It is worth to say Meaning appropriation Enakku aaTat teriyum I know dance Meaning fact Nii paaTa veeNTum You must sing Meaning completion, request ennaal paaTa iyalum I can sing Meaning ability avanaal paaTa iyallaatu He is not able to sing Meaning Inability peeca veeNTum You must talk Meaning Condition nii varalaam You may come Meaning Permission Sequence of Auxiliary Auxiliaries are coming in sequence as two or three or even four in a sentence. Example: I am coming (Two auxiliaries koNTu and iru are the two auxiliaries combined in one sentence) pazhattai paRittup paarkka veeNTum Pluck the fruit and see (Two auxiliaries paar and veeNTum in one sentence) avan saami vantaruLa vaittaan He made the force to come (Two auxiliaries vantu koNTirukkiRaan Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 286

aruL and vai) baala caTTail pooTTuk koLLac ceytaan Bala made him to put his shirt (Two auxiliaries koL and cey) miira pooTTuk koLLa neerntatu Meera had the occasion to wear (Two auxiliaries koL and neer) kolai ceyyappaTaveeNTum He/She/It/They must be killed (Two auxiliaries paTu and veeNTum) avanai caTTai pooTTu koLLac ceyya veeNTum Made him to wear the shirt (Three auxiliaries koL, cey and veeNTum in one sentence) miira pooTTu kola neeravillai Meera did not have the occasion to wear (Three auxiliaries kol, neer and illai in one sentence) raja ipppoo paarkka neerntirukka veeNTum Now the Raja has the occasion to see (Three auxiliaries neer, iru and veeNTum nii ceytu paarkka veeNTiatu illai It is not necessary to do this (Three auxiliaries paar, veeNTum and illai in one sentence. nii caTTaiyai pooTTuk koLLac ceyya veeNTiyatu illai It is not necessary to take steps to wear the shirt (There are four auxiliaries koL, cey , veeNTum and illai in one sentence) Conclusion 1) From the above data I conclude that auxiliary verbs are very much useful to the main verbs. So it is apt to address these auxiliary verbs as helping verbs. 2) Without the help of the helping verbs it is not possible to get some grammatical meanings like perfect, aspectual and modal, etc. 3) The emotional feeling is correctly expressed by using these auxiliaries. 4) Logical thinking, speaking and writing demand the use of auxiliary verbs. 5) In literary works, auxiliary verbs are used to create effects such as doubt, question, worry, suspicion, etc. The potential of auxiliary verbs in Tamil is not fully exploited. Appropriate exercises with examples from current social and academic affairs would help use the auxiliary verbs to meet the demands of science education, appropriate language use for law, framing of rules and regulations and their interpretation. 6) I argue that we look at grammatical elements from their possible use in our daily life and in carrying out transactions in various realms such as law, governance, Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 287

education, business, etc. Through this approach we will contribute to the continuance of the use of Tamil as a living-classical language in the future.

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8 Noun Reduplication in Tamil

Introduction Reduplication is an important word formation processe in all Indian languages. This should be considered as an important areal feature. This fact, in itself, makes it important for us to study various aspects of reduplication. Study of reduplication will enable us also to see how this linguistic process is involved in culture expressions. Reduplication may be defined as the total or partial bimodal reduplication meaning thereby repetition of the base of the word or the stem. Either a syllable or a constituent of a word or of the whole may iterate. Whatever may be the unit of repetition the end result is a new word that has no parallel in its non-reduplicated counterpart. Lawral J. Brinton, in his Structure of English - An Introduction (1991, p.91), defines: Reduplication is an initial process similar to derivation in which the initial syllable or the entire word is doubled, exactly or with a slight morphological change. Abbi (1992) talks about two types of reduplication, viz., Morphological and Lexical reduplication. She further divides the lexical reduplication in to three types: EchoFormation, Compounds and Word Reduplication. Reduplication may be further divided also into three processes: Complete, Partial and Discontinuous Reduplication. Chemmozhi Tamil and Reduplication Reduplication is easily attested in classical Tamil literary and grammatical works. To provide a description of movements, processes, and characteristics of objects, individuals, birds and animals and social groups, these classical works employ reduplicated words and phrases. Focus of This Chapter Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 289

This chapter highlights the process of Noun reduplication in Tamil. The study of reduplicated structure in Tamil reveals the fact that though reduplication is a general morphological feature of the language, some specifications can be drawn from the functional and as semantic points of view as well. An attempt is made in this paper to study the reduplicated Noun from the point of view of occurrence in the language, its function and the semantic interpretation. Tamil language has eight parts of speech, namely, Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Adjective, Conjunction, Postposition and Interjunction. The formation of Reduplication occurs in almost all the parts of speech. Noun, which is the primary item of the parts of speech reduplicates and give different meanings in Tamil. I. Common Reduplicted Nouns and the Meanings Indicated by Them

i) All the kinship terms are reduplicated and give the addressive meaning. E.g. appa in Tamil which means Father. When it reduplicates as appaa... appaa... and expresses the meaning addressive. Like this the names of the persons are reduplicated and conveyed the addressive meaning. ii) The nouns like paampu which means Snake reduplicate and give the meaning of Caution. E.g. From Tamil paampuu paampuu Oh! Snake Snake

Like this the nouns tiruTan Thief, pooliisu Police, buudham etc are reduplicated and give the meaning caution. iii) The Commercial nouns like kattarikkaay Brinjal veNDaikkay Ladies finger etc are reduplicated and drawing the attention of the people. E.g. From Tamil Kattirikaa kattirikkaa Brinjal 290

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iv) The place names of are reduplicated and give the Emphatic meaning. That is, to point out a particular place of the bus, importance of that particular place etc. E.g. From Tamil Madhuree madhuree The place Madurai

v) The verbal nouns like veelai Work kasTam Difficulties etc are reduplicated and expressing the meaning of Irritation. E.g. From Tamil Veelai veelai oree veelai Work, work always works kasTam kasTam eppa paaru kasTam Difficulty, difficulty always difficulty vi) The nouns like vaattu which means Swan/Duck, kazhutai which means Donkey, kuNTu which means Fatty, payttiyam which means Mad Man/Lady etc are reduplicated and give the Ironical meaning. E.g. From Tamil Vaattu vaattu Kazhutai kazhutai Payttiyam payttiyam kuNTu kuNTu Swan oh! Swan Donkey oh! Donkey Mad oh! Mad Fatty oh! Fatty

vi) The Interrogative Nouns like yaar Who enku Where eppa When enna What etc are repeatedly coming and give the meaning of Emotion. E.g. From Tamil Yaaru yaaru Enkee enkee Eppa eppa Enna enna Who? Who? Where? Where? When? When? What? What?

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viii) The names of the Gods Raamaa, KaNNaa, Sivaa, etc and the Kinship Nouns amma, appa in Tamil and are reduplicated and give the meanings of Emotion and Relieving of Burdens. The other kinds of kinship terms are not reduplicated. E.g. From Tamil Siva Sivaa Raama Raamaa Appappaa. Ammammaa Oh! God Siva Oh! God Rama I cannot express it I cannot express

ix) The Exclamatory Noun ayyoo Alas reduplicates and gives the Sympathy meaning. E.g. From Tamil Ayyoo ayyoo Oh! What a pitty

x) The Common Nouns like kizham which means Old People karmam which means fruits of deeds Saniyan which means Troublesome person etc are reduplicated and give the meaning of Irritation or Expressing the hatefulness. E.g. From Tamil Kezham kezham Saniyan saniyan Karmam karmam Old one old one Trouble some one Fruits of deeds

xi) Sometimes particular kinds of nouns or words are reduplicated by some particular persons and give the meaning of Irritation. That irritation reveals some past time incidents or events and makes the hearer to become frighten by uttering the word repeatedly. E.g. From Tamil takaDu takaDu Piece of iron

xii) Some kinds of nouns like kanchi Watery food kandal Piece of cloth followed by the post position taan are reduplicated in Tamil and give the Idiomatic meaning. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 292

E.g. From Tamil Ini katai kandal kandaltaan Inimee nii kanchi kanchitann You are almost closed You are almost closed

xiii) The Temporal Nouns like aaNDu/ varusham Year dinam Day nittam Daily etc are reduplicated and give the meaning of Continuity. E.g. From Tamil Varushaavarusham aaNDuaaNDu kaalamaa nittam nittam Each and every year Traditionally Daily

xiv) Nouns like paNam Money niyaayam Justice are followed by the post position marker taan reduplicated and give the meanings Emphatic and Compulsion. E.g. From Tamil paNam paNamtaan niyaayam niyaayamtann Money only Money Justice only justice

xv) The praising nouns like vaazhka vaLarka praising in Tamil are reduplicated and give the meaning of Excitement. E.g. From Tamil Talaivar vaazhka vaazhka Leader you live more days

By the influence of this reduplication the English words like jolly, happy etc are reduplicated and reveal the meaning of Over Happiness, Over Enjoyment and Over Excitement. E.g. Hay jolly jolly II. Idiomatic Meaning

The following nouns are reduplicated in the sentences and give the Idiomatic meaning. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 293

i) The Qualitative Nouns like paccai Green reduplicated with the particle aaka To become and give the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan paccai paccaiyaakap peecinaan He talked vulgarly

ii) The Portative Nouns (In Tamil it is called as CinaipPeyar) like kaadhu Ear, kaN Eye etc are reduplicated and give the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil avaL tirumaNam kaadhum kaadhum vaittaaRpool naTantatu Her marriage was happened very secretly avaL kuzhandaiyai kaNNukku kaNNaaka vaLarttaaL She brought up the child very carefully iii) The Inanimate Noun vaazhai Banana/ plantain in Combination with the particles aTi and aaka reduplicated and give the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan kuTumbam vaazhaiyaDi vaazhaiyaaka tazhaittatu His family prosperous likes anything iv) The Mass Noun puyal Strom and the Non - Human Noun ciTTu Sparrow are reduplicated and give the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan puyal puyalaakap puRappaTTaaL She goes very fastly avaL ciTTu ciTTaakap paRantaasL She has done her work very fastly v) The Abstract Noun alai Wave is reduplicating and giving the Idiomatic meaning. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 294

E.g. From Tamil Karunaanidhiyaip paarkka makkaL kuuTTaam alai alaiyaakak vandadu To see the C.M. Karunanidhi the people are gathering like anything vi) The Noun kuuzh Semi-Liquid food is reduplicated and expressed the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil Kuzhandai kaaril aTipaTTu kuuzh kuuzh aakiyadu The child died in an accident vii) The Temporal Noun vidiyal Dawn is reduplicating and expressing the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan vidiya vidiyak kaN muzhittup paTittaan He woke-up the whole night and study viii) The Material Noun muttu Pearl maNi Bell are in combination with the particle aaka reduplicated and indicate the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil kaNNan muttu muttaakak kaNNiir vaDittaan KaNNan weeps like anything Kuzhandai maNi maNiyaakap peeciyatu The Child is taking very clearly ix) The Noun aTukku Portion is in combination with the particle aaka reduplicating and indicating the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan aTukkaTukkaaka poy connaan He tells lie continuously Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 295

x) The Interrogative Noun enna What is reduplicating and conveying the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan varuvataRkkuL ennaennavoomellaam naTantuviTtatu Before his arrival so many things are happened here xi) The Natural Noun malai Mountain is reduplicated and expressed the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avanukku selvam malaimalaiyaak kuvintatu The wealth is coming like anything to him xii) The Noun vaazh Fame is reduplicated and indicated the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil Vaazh vaazhinnnu kattaatee Dont shout like anything xiii) The noun tuNDu piece is reduplicating and indicating the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil tuNDU tuNDaakiRuveen jaakiratai Be careful Ill spoil your life III. Adjectival Meaning

The following nouns are reduplicated in the sentences and give the Adjectival meaning and function as an Adjective. i) The Portative Nouns kulai/ kottu/ caram / caTai Wreath 296

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of a flower are reduplicated in the sentences in combination with the particle aaka To become and indicated the Adjectival meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Kulaikulaiyaakap puutta senkaandal puu The red species of Malabar lily blooms as bunches Avan tooTTattil muntiri kottu kottaakak kaayttiruntau In his garden the graphs are in bunches ii) The Measuremental Noun paTi Measurement is in combination with the particle aaka reduplicates and indicates the Adjectival meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan vaazhkkaiyil paTippaTiyaaka munneRinaan He gradually develops in his life iii) The Demonstrative Noun vidham Kind is in combination with the particle aaka repeatedly coming and gives the Adjectival meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avanukku ovvaru paTattileeyum vidhavidhamaana keeracter In each and every film his role is a different one iv) The Neuter Noun kuTTi Small kuDam Small pot are reduplicating and indicating the adjectival meaning. In the above two the noun kuDam is coming with the particle aaka in the sentence. E.g. From Tamil Avaiyellam kuTTikkuTTi kataikaL Those are very small stories kaDavulukku kuDamkuDamaakat taNNiir uuRRinaarkaL People are pouring pot pot of water to the God

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v) The Quality Noun vaNNam Color is reduplicated and indicated the adjectival meaning. E.g. From Tamil vaNNa vaNNak kanavukaL Colorful dreams IV) Adverbial Meaning

The following Nouns are reduplicating and giving the adverbial meaning and functions as an Adverb. i) The Adverbial Noun veekam Speed is in combination with the particle aaka in the sentences reduplicated and indicates the Adverbial meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan veeka veekamaaka ooTinaan He ran very speedily ii) The Abstract Noun aacai Desire, koopam Anger, azhukai Weeping etc are in combination with the particle aaka in the sentences reduplicated and indicated the adverbial meaning. E.g. From Tamil Aacaiaacaiyaa irukku It is too desirable Koopamkoopamaa varutu I got too much angry Azhukaiazhukaiyaa varutu I felt too weepy iii) The Temporal Noun talaimuRai Tradition is in combination with the particle aaka in the sentences reduplicated and expressed the adverbial meaning. It conveys the continuity of the action. E.g. From Tamil talaimuRaitalaimuRaiyaakap pinpaRRapaTTu varukiRatu It is followed by traditionally or generation to generation Continuously

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iv) The Noun tuNDu Piece is in combination with the particle aaka in sentences reduplicates and indicates the adverbial meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan pazhattai tuNDu tuNDaaka veTTinaan He cuts the fruit in to pieces v) The Portative Noun pakkam Page is in combination with the particle aaka in the sentences reduplicates and indicates the adverbial meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan pakkam pakkammaka ezhutittaLLinaan He writes so many pages V) Regarding the Temporal Noun, when it reduplicates the meaning given by it is from the broad sense to the particular sense and the particular sense to the broad sense in Tamil. The Noun kaalam Time/ Season reduplicates and indicates the meaning of sense from the broad sense to the particular sense. E.g. From Tamil Kaalaakaalattil tirumaNam naTakkanum The marriage should taken place at a particular time The Noun vidiyal Dawn reduplicates and indicates the meaning from the particular sense to the broad sense. E.g. From Tamil Vidiya vidiyak kalyaaNam The marriage is taken place over the whole night VI) Regarding the Numeral Noun the Countable Noun kooDi Crore, laksham Lakh, kaTTu Bundle are reduplicated and give the uncountable meaning. E.g. From Tamil Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 299

kooDikooDiyaap paNam lakshalakshamaa paNam kaTTukkaTTaap paNam

Chores of Money Lakhs of money Bundles of money

The Cardinal Numerical Noun oNNu One is reduplicated and indicated the Emphatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil oNNu oNNuaak koTu oNNu oNNu koTu Give one by one Give one to Each one is reduplicated and indicated the

The Ordinal Numerical Noun oru meaning of wholeness. E. g, From Tamil Ovvoru maadamum

Each and every month

The Noun mudhal First is reduplicated and expressed the earlier meaning. E.g. From Tamil Mudhanmudhalil idu toTankiyatu japaanil At first it was started in Japan Like the Ordinal Numerals the Personal Pronouns like avan He, avaL She etc are reduplicated and give the meaning from single to the whole meaning and the vice versa in Tamil. E.g. From Tamil Avan avanaa ceyvaan Each and every one will do it

VII) Regarding the Demonstrative noun anta That, inta This are reduplicated and give the specific meaning. E.g. From Tamil Entaenta veelaiyai eppaappa ceyyanumoo anta anta veelaiyai Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 300

appaappa ceyanum At what time what work is going to be done that time that work will be done in that particular time VIII) Regarding the Interrogative Nouns when they are reduplicated give the plural meaning for the singular one and the vice versa. The nouns yaar Who, eppaDi How, and enna What are reduplicated and indicated the plural meaning. E.g. From Tamil Yaar yaaroo vantaanga So many persons were coming here

IX) The Abstract Noun and the Quality Nouns like veyiloo veyil Too hot tangamoo tangam So many Gold paccaiyoo paccai Greenish etc give the meaning of excessiveness in Tamil. X) The Nouns which are used for pointing out the colors reduplicated and indicated the Emphatic meaning in Tamil. E.g. From Tamil Paccai paceel enRa tooTTam Greenish Garden Conclusion To conclude, the Nouns of above-said kinds are reduplicated and given various meanings. They are addressive meaning, meaning of caution, meaning to draws the attention of the people, Emphatic meaning, meaning of Irritation, Ironical, Emotional, Sympathetic, Emphasis, Compulsive, Continuity, Idiomatic, Adjectival and Adverbial. It also gives the meaning from Broad sense to particular sense and particular sense to broad sense, Count to Countless, individual to Wholeness. It also gives the meaning of Specificity, plurality, Excessiveness, Excitement, Enjoyment and over happiness. Implications for Teaching and Learning Tamil Let us not take things for granted. Reduplication is a natural process and every mother tongue or first language learner of Tamil knows how it operates as he or she uses it in a natural manner. However, second language learners of Tamil or those students hailing from bilingual families may have some difficulty in making use of reduplication as a creative process. They may not have either internalized the overall underlying process Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 301

with all its exceptions, because of their limited exposure to Tamil. Even for the mother tongue or first language learners, the processes of reduplication may pose some difficulties since new vocabulary are subjected to the reduplication process in a dynamic and radical manner. Pronunciation of reduplicated forms with appropriate emotions may also be demonstrated and emphasized as part of natural conversations. Furthermore, reduplication plays a very important role in plays, movies and platform speeches to wider audience (both political and faith-based speech deliveries). Humour also is generated through the process of reduplication. Once again I argue here in favour of looking at grammatical features not as items for memory and reproduction or even for correct style, but items that should be exploited efficiently for practical purposes. Then teaching grammar in Chemmozhi classes will become more fun-filled. Loyalty toward Chemmozhi and its continuity in the future can be further ensured.

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9 Noun Reduplication in Tamil and Telugu


Introduction Tamil and Telugu belong to the same family of Dravidian languages belonging to the same language group. These two languages are considered as sister languages. Tamil had very rich grammatical and literary traditions dating from the 3rd century B.C. Telugu also has rich grammatical works and has literary traditions. The present chapter highlights Noun reduplication in Tamil and Telugu. An attempt is made in this chapter to study reduplicated Nouns from the point of view of occurrence in these two languages, its function and the semantic interpretation. Common Reduplicted Nouns and the Meanings Indicated by Them i) All the kinship terms are reduplicated and give the addressive meaning. E.g. appa in Tamil and naanaa in Telugu which means Father. When it reduplicates as appaa... appaa...in Tamil and naanaa naanaa in Telugu and express the meaning addressive. Like this the names of the persons are reduplicated and conveyed the addressive meaning. ii) The nouns like paampu in Tamil and paamu in Telugu which means Snake reduplicate and give the meaning of Caution. Ex. From Tamil paampuu paampuu Ex. From Telugu Paamu paamu Oh! Snake Snake Oh! Snake Snake

Like this the nouns tiruTan (Ta.) tongalu (Te.) Thief, pooliisu Police, buudham bhuudhamu etc., are reduplicated and give the meaning of caution. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar

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iii) The Commercial nouns like kattarikkaay (Ta.) onkaaylu (Te.) Brinjal veNDaikkay (Ta.) beNdakkaay (Te.) Ladies finger, etc. are reduplicated and drawing the attention of the people.

Ex. From Tamil Kattirikaa kattirikkaa Ex. From Telugu Onkaaylu onkaaylu Brinjal Brinjal

vii) The place names of are reduplicated and give the Emphatic meaning. That is, to point out a particular place of the bus, importance of that particular place etc., Example madhuree madhuree (Ta.) cittuuruu cittuuruu(Te.) E.g. From Tamil Madhuree madhuree Ex. From Telugu cittuuruu cittuuruu viii) The place Citturu The place Madurai

The verbal nouns like veelai (Ta.) paNi (Te.) Work kasTam(Ta.) kasTaalu (Te.) Difficulties etc are reduplicated and expressing the meaning of Irritation.

E.g. From Tamil Veelai veelai oree veelai Work, work always works kasTam kasTam eppa paaru kasTam Difficult, difficult always difficult Ex. From Telugu paNi paNi eppuDu paNi Work, work always works 304

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kasTaalu kasTaalu eppuDu cuuDu kasTaalee Difficult, difficult always difficult vi) The nouns like vaattu which means Swan/Duck, kazhutai which means Donkey, kuNTu which means Fatty, payttiyam which means Mad Man/Lady etc are reduplicated and give the Ironical meaning. But these types of nouns are not reduplicated in Telugu. E.g. From Tamil Vaattu vaattu Kazhutai kazhutai Payttiyam payttiyam kuNTu kuNTu Swan oh! Swan Donkey oh! Donkey Mad oh! Mad Fatty oh! Fatty

ix) The Interrogative Nouns like yaar(Ta.) evaru (Te.) Who enku (Ta.) ekkaDa (Te.) Where eppa (Ta.) eppuDu (Te.) When enna eeNTi What etc., are repeatedly coming and give the meaning of Emotion. E.g. From Tamil Yaaru yaaru Enkee enkee Eppa eppa Enna enna Ex. From Telugu evaru evaru Who? Who? ekkaDa ekkaDa Where? Where? eppuDu eppuDu When? When? eeNTi eeNTi What? What? Who? Who? Where? Where? When? When? What? What?

vii) The names of the Gods Raamaa, KaNNaa, Sivaa, etc and the Kinship Nouns amma, appa in Tamil and are reduplicated and give the meanings of Emotion and Relieving of Burdens. The other kinds of kinship terms are not reduplicated. But in Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 305

Telugu the kinship term amma only reduplicated and give the emotional and burden meaning. The other kinship terms are not reduplicated. E.g. From Tamil Siva Sivaa Raama Raamaa Appappaa. Ammammaa Oh! God Siva Oh! God Rama I cannot express it I cannot express

x) The Exclamatory Noun ayyoo Alas reduplicates and gives the Sympathy meaning. This type of reduplication is not possible in Telugu. E.g. From Tamil Ayyoo ayyoo Oh! What a pitty

viii) The Common Nouns like kizham which means Old People karmam which means fruits of deeds Saniyan which means Troublesome person etc are reduplicated and give the meaning of Irritation or Expressing the hatefulness. This type is also not possible in Telugu. E.g. From Tamil Kezham kezham Saniyan saniyan Karmam karmam Old one old one Troublesome person Fruits of deeds

xi) Sometimes particular kinds of nouns or words are reduplicated by some particular persons and give the meaning of Irritation. That irritation reveals some past time incidents or events and makes the hearer to become frighten by uttering the word repeatedly. This is also not possible in Telugu. Ex. From Tamil takaDu takaDu Piece of iron

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xi) Some kinds of nouns like kanchi Watery food kandal Piece of cloth followed by the post position taan are reduplicated in Tamil and give the Idiomatic meaning. This is also not possible in Telugu. Ex. From Tamil Ini katai kandal kandaltaan Inimee nii kanchi kanchitann You are almost closed You are almost closed

xii) The Temporal Nouns like aaNDu/ varusham Year dinam Day nittam Daily etc are reduplicated and give the meaning of Continuity. In Telugu these types of nouns are reduplicated and give the meaning continuity. Ex. From Tamil Varushaavarusham aaNDuaaNDu kaalamaa nittam nittam Ex. From Telugu Samaccuraalu samaccuraalu Roojuu roojuu Each and every year Daily Each and every year Traditionally Daily

xiii) Nouns like paNam Money niyaayam Justice are followed by the post position marker taan in Tamil and ee in Telugu reduplicated and give the meanings Emphatic and Compulsion. Ex. From Tamil paNam paNamtaan niyaayam niyaayamtann Ex. From Telugu Dabbu Dabbee niyaayam niyaayamee Money only Money Justice only justice 307 Money only Money Justice only justice

Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar

xiv) The praising nouns like vaazhka vaLarka praising in Tamil are reduplicated and give the meaning of Excitement. In Telugu they are using the Sanskrit or English words for this kind of reduplication. Ex. From Tamil Talaivar vaazhka vaazhka Leader you live more days

By the influence of this reduplication the English words like jolly, happy etc are reduplicated in both the languages and reveal the meaning of Over Happiness, Over Enjoyment and Over Excitement. E.g. Hay jolly jolly Idiomatic Meanings The following nouns are reduplicated in the sentences and give the Idiomatic meaning. xiv) The Qualitative Nouns like paccai Green reduplicated with the particle aakain Tamil and gaa in Telugu which means To become and give the Idiomatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil Avan paccai paccaiyaakap peecukiRaan Ex. From Telugu waaDu pacci paccigaa maaTlaaDutunnaaDu He talks vulgarly He talks vulgarly

xv) The Portative Nouns (In Tamil it is called as CinaipPeyar) like kaadhu Ear, kaN Eye etc are reduplicated and give the Idiomatic meaning. . Ex. From Tamil avaL tirumaNam kaadhum kaadhum vaittaaRpool naTantatu Her marriage was happened very secretly avaL kuzhandaiyai kaNNukku kaNNaaka vaLarttaaL She brought up the child very carefully Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 308

This type of noun reduplication is not possible in Telugu. Instead of this portative noun kaadhu ear the abstract noun gudda Secrete is repeatedly coming and express the Idiomatic meaning. Like this the portative noun kaN Eye is not repeated in Telugu. But the reduplication type of Tamil is expressed in another way as kamala aa piTTanee reppalaakka pensutundi. Ex. From Telugu Aamee pelli gudda guddagaa jarigindi Her marriage was happened very secretly xvi) The Inanimate Noun vaazhai Banana/ plantain in Combination with the particles aTi and aaka reduplicated and give the Idiomatic meaning. The same thing is expressed in Telugu by using the particle aagaa. Ex. From Tamil Avan kuTumbam vaazhaiyaDi vaazhaiyaaka tazhaittatu His family prosperous likes anything Ex. From Telugu waaDu kuDumbam taamara taamparagaa abiviruthi ceestundi His family prosperous likes anything xvii) The Mass Noun puyal Strom and the Non - Human Noun ciTTu Sparrow are reduplicated and give the Idiomatic meaning. Ex. From Tamil Avan puyal puyalaakap puRappaTTaaL She goes very fastly avaL ciTTu ciTTaakap paRantaasL She has done her work very fastly This type of reduplication is not found in Telugu. But the same thing is expressed in another way. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 309

Aamee kaNNu minnu kaanuguNDa pravateestundi She is behaving like anything (Proudly) xviii) The Abstract Noun alai Wave is reduplicating and giving the Idiomatic meaning. Ex. From Tamil Karunaanidhiyaip paarkka makkaL kuuTTaam alai alaiyaakak vandadu To see the C.M. Karunanidhi the people are gathering like anything The same thing is expressed in another way by using the noun kumbalu Group. Ex. From Telugu Sabhakku prajaalu kumpulu pumpulukaa occeeru The people came for the meeting as sea of humanity xix) The Noun kuuzh Semi-Liquid food is reduplicated and expressed the Idiomatic meaning. Ex. From Tamil Kuzhandai kaaril aTipaTTu kuuzh kuuzh aakiyadu The child died in an accident The same is expressed by the following way in Telugu. Ex. From Telugu aa pillee nojju nojju aayppooyindi The child died in an accident xx) The Temporal Noun vidiyal Dawn is reduplicating and expressing the Idiomatic meaning. This type of expression is not found in Telugu. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 310

Ex. From Tamil Avan vidiya vidiyak kaN muzhittup paTittaan He woke-up the whole night and study xxi) The Material Noun muttu Pearl maNi Bell are in combination with the particle aaka reduplicated and indicate the Idiomatic meaning. Ex. From Tamil kaNNan muttu muttaakak kaNNiir vaDittaan KaNNan weeps like anything Kuzhandai maNi maNiyaakap peeciyatu The Child is taking very clearly The sentence the child is talking very clearly is expressed in Telugu as aa paappaa muddhu muddugaa palukkutundi. xxii) The Noun aTukku Portion is in combination with the particle aaka reduplicating and indicating the Idiomatic meaning. Ex. From Tamil Avan aTukkaTukkaaka poy connaan He tells lie continuously xxiii) The Interrogative Noun enna in Tamil and eemi in Telugu What is reduplicating and conveying the Idiomatic meaning. Ex. From Tamil Avan varuvataRkkuL ennaennavoomellaam naTantuviTtatu Before his arrival so many things are happened here Ex. From Telugu Waadu occee looppala eemeemoo jarigindhi Before his arrival so many things are happened here Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 311

xxiv) The Natural Noun malai Mountain is reduplicated and expressed the Idiomatic meaning. The same is expressed in Telugu by using the noun kuppulu. Ex. From Tamil Avanukku selvam malaimalaiyaak kuvintatu The wealth is coming like anything to him Ex. From Telugu waaDikki kuppulu kuppalaagaa maNi ostundi The wealth is coming like anything to him xxv) The Noun vaazh Fame is reduplicated and indicated the Idiomatic meaning. This type of reduplication is not possible in Telugu. Ex. From Tamil Vaazh vaazhinnnu kattaatee Dont shout like anything xxvi) The noun tuNDu piece is reduplicating in combination with the particle aaka which means To become and indicating the Idiomatic meaning. The same is expressed in Telugu by using the noun mukkulu Piece with the particleaaga and indicating the idiomatic meaning. Ex. From Tamil tuNDU tuNDaakiRuveen jaakiratai Be careful Ill spoil your life Ex. From Telugu Mukkulu mukkulugaa koosthaanu/ceestaanu Be careful Ill spoil your life

Adjectival Meaning Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 312

The following nouns are reduplicated in the sentences and give the Adjectival meaning and function as an Adjective. ii) The Portative Nouns kulai/ kottu/ caram / caTai Wreath of a flower are reduplicated in the sentences in combination with the particle aaka To become and indicated the Adjectival meaning. Ex. From Tamil Kulaikulaiyaakap puutta senkaandal puu The red species of Malabar lily blooms as bunches Avan tooTTattil muntiri kottu kottaakak kaayttiruntau In his garden the graphs are in bunches In Telugu the above sentences are expressed in the following way. thooTTaloo puulu kutthlukutthulugaa puucaayii; mucirikaayalu kutthulu kutthulugaa kaaseeyii. ii) The Measuremental Noun paTi Measurement is in combination with the particle -aaka reduplicates and indicates the Adjectival meaning. Ex. From Tamil Avan vaazhkkaiyil paTippaTiyaaka munneRinaan He gradually develops in his life The same thing is expressed in the following way in Telugu. Ex. From Telugu WaaDini laifloo/ jiividhamloo meTTu meTTugaa payakiceeDu He gradually develops in his life iii) The Demonstrative Noun vidham Kind is in combination with the particle aaka repeatedly coming and gives the Adjectival meaning. Ex. From Tamil Avanukku ovvaru paTattileeyum vidhavidhamaana keeracter Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 313

In each and every film his role is a different one The same is expressed in Telugu as okkaokka cinimaaloo okkaokka veeruveeru veesaalu veesaaDu iv) The Neuter Noun kuTTi Small kuDam Small pot are reduplicating and indicating the adjectival meaning. In the above two the noun kuDam is coming with the particle aaka in the sentence. Ex. From Tamil Avaiyellam kuTTikkuTTi kataikaL Those are very small stories In Telugu this type of construction is not possible. kaDavulukku kuDamkuDamaakat taNNiir uuRRinaarkaL People are pouring pot full of water to the God In Telugu this type of construction is kaDuvulu kaDuvulugaa niilu poostaaru v) The noun taarai is repeatedly coming and give the adjectival meaning.

Ex. From Tamil Avar kaankaLiruntu taarai taaraiyaakak kaNNiir vaTindadhu He wept like anything In Telugu the same is expressed in the following way waaDu kaLLununci taara taaragaa kaNNiilu kaarcceeDu He wept like anything vi) The Quality Noun vaNNam Color is reduplicated and indicated the adjectival meaning.

Ex. From Tamil Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 314

vaNNa vaNNak kanavukaL Colorful dreams Adverbial Meaning The following Nouns are reduplicating and giving the adverbial meaning and functions as an Adverb. iii) The Adverbial Noun veekam Speed is in combination with the particle aaka in the sentences reduplicated and indicates the Adverbial meaning. Ex. From Tamil Avan veeka veekamaaka ooTinaan He ran very speedily This type of reduplication is not possible in Telugu. Instead of that onomatopoeia words are coming in that context. iv) The Abstract Noun aacai Desire, koopam Anger, azhukai Weeping etc are in combination with the particle aaka in the sentences reduplicated and indicated the adverbial meaning.

Ex. From Tamil Aacaiaacaiyaa irukku Koopamkoopamaa varutu Azhukaiazhukaiyaa varutu It is too desirable I got too much angry I felt too weepy

This type opf reduplication is not possible in Telugu. Instead of this they are using kaNNiir muNNiirgaa eeDustundhi; aacaai aacaigaa undi. iii) The Temporal Noun talaimuRai Tradition is in combination with the particle aaka in the sentences reduplicated and expressed the adverbial meaning. It conveys the continuity of the action. Ex. From Tamil talaimuRaitalaimuRaiyaakap pinpaRRapaTTu varukiRatu It is followed by traditionally or generation to generation Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 315

Continuously In Telugu it is param parangaa ostundi iv) The Noun tuNDu Piece is in combination with the particle aaka in sentences reduplicates and indicates the adverbial meaning. Ex. From Tamil Avan pazhattai tuNDu tuNDaaka veTTinaan He cuts the fruit in to pieces In Telugu it is mukkalu mukkalugaa keeseeDu v) The Portative Noun pakkam Page is in combination with the particle aaka in the sentences reduplicates and indicates the adverbial meaning. Ex. From Tamil Avan pakkam pakkammaka ezhutittaLLinaan He writes so many pages In Telugu it is either peegilu peegilugaa or puTTulu puTTlugaa raaseeDu. The Telugu people are using the lu suffix. VII) Regarding the Temporal Noun, when it reduplicates the meaning given by it is from the broad sense to the particular sense and the particular sense to the broad sense in Tamil. The Noun kaalam Time/ Season reduplicates and indicates the meaning of sense from the broad sense to the particular sense. Ex. From Tamil Kaalaakaalattil tirumaNam naTakkanum The marriage should taken place at a particular time The Noun vidiyal Dawn reduplicates and indicates the meaning from the particular sense to the broad sense. Ex. From Tamil Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 316

Vidiya vidiyak kalyaaNam The marriage is taken place over the whole night These two types are not available in Telugu. VIII) Regarding the Numeral Noun the Countable Noun kooDi Crore, laksham Lakh, kaTTu Bundle are reduplicated and give the uncountable meaning. Ex. From Tamil kooDikooDiyaap paNam lakshalakshamaa paNam kaTTukkaTTaap paNam Chores of Money Lakhs of money Bundles of money

The Cardinal Numerical Noun oNNu One is reduplicated and indicated the Emphatic meaning. Ex. From Tamil oNNu oNNuaak koTu oNNu oNNu koTu Give one by one Give one to Each

In Telugu it is okaokaTTi ivvu The Ordinal Numerical Noun oru meaning of wholeness. E. g, From Tamil Ovvoru maadamum Each and every month one is reduplicated and indicated the

The Noun mudhal First is reduplicated and expressed the earlier meaning. Ex. From Tamil Mudhanmudhalil idu toTankiyatu japaanil At first it was started in Japan

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Like the Ordinal Numerals the Personal Pronouns like avan He, avaL She etc are reduplicated and give the meaning from single to the whole meaning and the vice versa in Tamil. In Telugu also it is reduplicated in the same manner. Ex. From Tamil Avan avanaa ceyvaan Each and every one will do it

VII) Regarding the Demonstrative noun anta That, inta This are reduplicated and give the specific meaning. Ex. From Tamil Entaenta veelaiyai eppaappa ceyyanumoo anta anta veelaiyai appaappa ceyanum At what time what work is going to be done that time that work will be done in that particular time The same is expressed in Telugu as ee ee paNilu eppuDu eppuDu ceyyaala. XI) Regarding the Interrogative Nouns when they are reduplicated give the plural meaning for the singular one and the vice versa. The nouns yaar Who, eppaDi How, and enna What are reduplicated and indicated the plural meaning. Ex. From Tamil Yaar yaaroo vantaanga So many persons were coming here

In Telugu it is evaru evaroo occeesaaru XII) The Abstract Noun and the Quality Nouns like veyiloo veyil Too hot tangamoo tangam So many Gold paccaiyoo paccai Greenish etc give the meaning of excessiveness in Tamil. XIII) The Nouns which are used for pointing out the colors reduplicated and indicated the Emphatic meaning in Tamil and Telugu. Ex. From Tamil Paccai paceel enRa tooTTam Greenish Garden Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 318

Ex. From Telugu tooTTa pacca paccagaa undi Conclusion 1. To conclude, nouns of above-said kinds are reduplicated and they express the following meanings in Tamil: addressive, caution, and draws the attention of the people, Emphatic, Irritation, Ironical, Emotional, Sympathetic, Emphasis, Compulsive, Continuity, Idiomatic, Adjectival, Adverbial, Broad sense to particular sense, particular sense to broad sense, Countless, Wholeness, Specificity, plurality, Excessiveness, Excitement, Enjoyment and over happiness. 2. In Telugu some nouns do not reduplicte. Greenish garden

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10 Noun Reduplication in Tamil and Kannada


The Focus of This Chapter Tamil and Kannada belong to the same language group, the Dravidian family. Both languages are treated as sister languages. The present chapter highlights the Noun reduplication in Tamil and Kannada. Noun Reduplication Noun, which is an important item of the parts of speech, reduplicates and gives different meanings, both in Tamil and Kannada. I. i) Common Nouns Reduplicated and the Meanings Indicated by Them: All the kinship terms of Nouns are reduplicated and give the addressive meaning. E.g. appa in Tamil and appa in Kannada are the kinship terms which mean Father in both the languages. When it reduplicates as appaa... appaa... in Tamil and appaa appaa in Kannada it expresses the meaning addressive. Like this the Proper Names are reduplicated and indicated the meaning addressive. The nouns like paampu which means snake in Tamil (Ta.) and haavu in (Ka.) reduplicates and give the meaning of caution.

ii)

E.g. From Tamil paampuu paampuu E.g. From Kannada haavu haavu Oh! Snake Snake Oh! Snake Snake.

Like this, the nouns tiruTan Thief, pooliisu Police, buudham, etc., are reduplicated and give the meaning caution.

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iii) The Commercial nouns like kattarikkaay in (Ta.) badanekaay in (Ka.) means Brinjal veNDaikkay in (Ta.) benDakaay in (Ka.) means Ladies finger, etc., are reduplicated and draw the attention of the people. E.g. From Tamil Kattirikaa kattirikkaa Brinjal

E.g. From Kannada Badanekaay badanekaay iv) Brinjal

Both in Tamil and Kannada the names of the places are reduplicated and give the Emphatic meaning. That is, to point out a particular place oo the bus, importance of that particular place.

E.g. From Tamil Madhuree madhuree E.g. From Kannada BengaLuur BengaLuur v) The place Bangalore The place Madurai

The verbal nouns like veelai in (Ta.) kelsa in (Ka.) means Work kasTam in (Ta.) kasTaa in (Ka.) means Difficulties, etc., are reduplicated and express the meaning of irritation.

E.g. From Tamil Veelai veelai oree veelai Work, work always work. kasTam kasTam eppa paaru kasTam Difficulty, difficulty always difficulty E.g. From Kannada Kelsa kelsa baari kelsa Work, work always work. kasTaa kasTaa baari kasTaa Difficulty, difficulty Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 321

always difficulty vi) The nouns like vaattu which means Swan/Duck, kazhutai which means Donkey, kuNTu which means Fatty, payttiyam which means Mad Man/Lady, etc are reduplicated and give the ironical meaning. These types of nouns are not reduplicated in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Vaattu vaattu Kazhutai kazhutai Payttiyam payttiyam kuNTu kuNTu vii) Swan oh! Swan Donkey oh! Donkey Mad oh! Mad Fatty oh! Fatty

Both Tamil and Kannada, the Interrogative nouns like yaar Who enku Where eppa When enna What etc are repeatedly coming and give the meaning of emotion.

E.g. From Tamil Yaaru yaaru Enkee enkee Eppa eppa Enna enna E.g. From Kannada Yaar yaar Who? Who? Yaavaaga yaavaaga When? When? viii) Both in Tamil and Kannada, the names of the Gods raamaa, kaNNaa, sivaa, etc and the kinship nouns amma, appa are reduplicated and give the meanings of emotion and relieving of burdens. The other kinds of kinship terms are not reduplicated in both the languages. Who? Who? Where? Where? When? When? What? What?

E.g. From Tamil Siva sivaa Raama raamaa Oh! God Siva Oh! God Ram 322

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Appappaa. Ammammaa E.g. From Kannada Shiva shiva Raama raamaa Appappaa. Ammammaa

I cannot express it I cannot express

Oh! God Siva Oh! God Ram I cannot express it I cannot express alas

ix)

Both in Tamil and Kannada, the exclamatory noun ayyoo reduplicates and gives the sympathetic meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Ayyoo ayyoo E.g. From Kannada Ayyoo ayyoo x) Oh! What a pity Oh! What a pity

The Common Nouns like kizham in (Ta.) muduka in (Ka.) which means Old People karmam which means fruits of deeds saniyan which means Troublesome person etc., are reduplicated and give the meaning of irritation or expressing the hatefulness.

E.g. From Tamil Kezham kezham Saniyan saniyan Karmam karmam E.g. From Kannada Muduka muduka xi) Old one old one Old one old one Trouble some one Fruits of deeds

Sometimes individuals reduplicate some words of their choice to give the meaning of irritation. That irritation reveals some past time incidents or 323

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events and make the hearer to become frightened by uttering the noun repeatedly. This type of construction is not possible in Kannada. E.g. From Tamil takaDu takaDu Piece of iron

xii)

Some kinds of nouns like kanchi Watery food kandal rags, torn cloth followed by the postposition taan are reduplicated in (Ta.) and give idiomatic meaning. This type of construction is not possible in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Ini katai kandal kandaltaan You are almost finished! Inimee nii kanchi kanchitann now! You are almost finished! xiii) Your story (fate) is just like rags now! Your story (fate) is just like porridge

The temporal Nouns like aaNDu/ varusham in (Ta.) varSa in (Ka.) means Year dinam in (Ta.) dinaa in (Ka.) K Day nittam Daily etc., are reduplicated and give the meaning of continuity.

E.g. From Tamil Varushaavarusham aaNDuaaNDui kaalamaa nittam nittam E.g. From Kannada VaruSavaruSa Dina dinaa.. xiv) Each and every year Daily Each and every year Traditionally Daily

Nouns like paNam in (Ta.) rakka in (Ka.), niyaayam in (Ta.) and nyaaya in Kannada are followed by postposition -taan in (Ta.) and ne in Kannada and are reduplicated to give the meanings emphasis and compulsion. 324

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E.g. From Tamil paNam paNamtaan Money only Money niyaayam niyaayamtann Justice only justice E.g. From Kannada Rakka rakkane Nyaaya nyaayane xv) Money only Money Justice only justice

The nouns that praise and greet like vaazhka vaLarka praising in (Ta.) are reduplicated and give the meaning of excitement. This type of reduplication is not possible in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Talaivar vaazhka vaazhka Leader you live more days

By the influence of this reduplication the English words like jolly, happy etc., are reduplicated and reveal the meaning of great happiness, great enjoyment and over excitement. E.g. Hay jolly jolly Idiomatic Meaning in Reduplication The following nouns are reduplicated in the sentences and give some idiomatic meaning. i) In Tamil the qualitative nouns like paccai Green reduplicated with the particles -aaka To become and give the idiomatic meaning. This is not possible in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Avan paccai paccaiyaakap peecinaan ii) He talked vulgarly.

In Tamil the portative nouns (In Tamil it is called as cinaippeyar) like kaadhu Ear, kaN Eye etc., are reduplicated and give the idiomatic meaning. This is not possible in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 325

avaL tirumaNam kaadhum kaadhum vaittaaRpool naTantatu Her marriage was happened very secretly. avaL kuzhandaiyai kaNNukku kaNNaaka vaLarttaaL She brought up the child very carefully. iii) In Tamil the Inanimate Noun vaazhai Banana/ plantain combined with the particles aTi and taan are reduplicated and these give some idiomatic meaning. This type of construction is not possible in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Avan kuTumbam vaazhaiyaDi vaazhaiyaaka tazhaittatu His family prosperous likes anything. iv) In Tamil the mass noun puyal Storm and the non-human noun ciTTu Sparrow are reduplicated and give some idiomatic meaning. This is not possible in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Avan puyal puyalaakap puRappaTTaaL She started like a storm. avaL ciTTu ciTTaakap paRantaasL She has done her work very fast, like a sparrow v) The Abstract Noun alai in (Ta.) ale in (Ka.) means Wave and is reduplicated to give some idiomatic meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Karunaanidhiyaip paarkka makkaL kuuTTaam alai alaiyaaka Vandadu. To see Karunanidhi, the people came like waves. E.g. From Kannada Ale aleyante bandaru People came like waves. 326

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vi)

In Tami the Noun kuuzh Semi-Liquid food is reduplicated to express some idiomatic meaning. The same thing is expressed by cuur which means piece in Kannada to expresses some idiomatic meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Kuzhandai kaaril aTipaTTu kuuzh kuuzh aakiyadu The child became like semi-liquid in the accident. (The condition of the body of the child was like semi-liquid food. E.g. From Kannada Cuurc cuuraagi nooyitu vii) It became pieces.

In Tamil, the Temporal Noun vidiyal Dawn is reduplicated to expresses the idiomatic meaning. This type of construction is not possible in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Avan vidiya vidiyak kaN muzhittup paTittaan He woke-up the whole night and study viii) In Tamil the Material Noun muttu Pearl maNi Bell are in combination with the particle aaka reduplicated and it indicates the idiomatic meaning. In Kannada muddu means Fresh is reduplicated and indicates the idiomatic meaning.

E.g. From Tamil kaNNan muttu muttaakak kaNNiir vaDittaan KaNNan weeps like anything Kuzhandai maNi maNiyaakap peeciyatu The Child is talking very clearly E.g. From Kannada Mogu muddu muddaagidee Child is so cute Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 327

ix)

In Tamil the Noun aTukku Portion is in combination with the particle aaka reduplicated and it indicates the idiomatic meaning. In Kannada the noun matte means again is reduplicated and it indicates the idiomatic meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Avan aTukkaTukkaaka poy connaan He tells lies continuously E.g. From Kannada Matte matteheNuu mattaLige janma kaTTaLu Who has the birth of female child continuously x) In Tamil the Noun maNi means bell which in combination with the particle -aaka is reduplicated and it indicates the idiomatic meaning. This type is not found in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Avan kuzhantai maNimaNiyaakap peeciyadu His child speaks very clearly xi) The Interrogative Noun enna in (Ta.) eenu in (Ka.) means What is reduplicated and they convey the idiomatic meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Avan varuvataRkkuL ennaennavoomellaam naTantuviTtatu Before his arrival so many things happened E.g. From Kannada Eeneena kelsa maaDide xii) What all works you did?

In Tamil the Natural Noun malai Mountain is reduplicated and it expresses the idiomatic meaning. This type is not found in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 328

Avanukku selvam malaimalaiyaak kuvintatu The wealth is coming like anything to him xiii) The Noun vaazh Fame is reduplicated and it indicates the idiomatic meaning. This type is not found in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Vaazh vaazhinnnu kattaatee Dont shout like anything xiv) Both in Tamil and Kannada the noun tuNDu piece is reduplicated and it indicates the idiomatic meaning.

E.g. From Tamil tuNDU tuNDaakiRuveen jaakiratai Be careful Ill spoil your life E.g. From Kannada tuNDu tuNDaagi kattarisida He cuts like anything Adjectival Meaning The following nouns are reduplicated in the sentence and they give the adjectival meaning and function as an adjective. i) In Tamil the portative nouns kulai/ kottu/ caram / caTai Wreath of a flower are reduplicated in a sentence in combination with the particle aaka To become and indicate the adjectival meaning. In Kannada the noun hosa means Fresh is reduplicated in the sentences in combination with the particle -aagi and indicates the adjectival meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Kulaikulaiyaakap puutta senkaandal puu The red species of Malabar lily blooms as bunches Avan tooTTattil muntiri kottu kottaakak kaayttiruntau Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 329

In his garden the graphs are in bunches E.g. From Kannada Hosa hosadaagi ivee ii) They are very fresh

In Tamil the Measurement Noun paTi Measurement is in combination with the particle aaka is reduplicated and indicates the adjectival meaning. In Kannada the Numerical Noun ondu which means One is reduplicated and indicates the adjectival meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Avan vaazhkkaiyil paTippaTiyaaka munneRinaan He gradually develops in his life E.g. From Kannada Ondondaagi daTioda iii) He closed one by one

The Demonstrative Noun vidham in (Ta.) vidha in kannada means Kind is in combination with the particle aaka in (Ta.) -aagi in (Ka.) repeatedly coming and giving the adjectival meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Avanukku ovvaru paTattileeyum vidhavidhamaana keeracter In each and every film his role is a different one E.g. From Kannada Vidha vidhaagiruvudu In each and every film his role is a different one

iv)

The Neuter Noun kuTTi in (Ta.) saNNa in Kannada means Small and kuDam in Tamil koDa in Kannada means Small pot are reduplicated and indicat the adjectival meaning. In the above two the nouns kuDam occurs with the particle -aaka in the sentence.

E.g. From Tamil Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 330

Avaiyellam kuTTikkuTTi kataikaL Those are very small stories kaDavulukku kuDamkuDamaakat taNNiir uuRRinaarkaL People are pouring pots of water to God E.g. From Kannada saNNa saNNa kategaLu koDa koDa niiru suridaru Those are very small stories People pour pots of water to God

v)

The Noun taarai in (Ta.) dhaare in Kannada means continuous. It is in combination with the particle -aaka in Tamil -aagi in (Ka.) and give the adjectival meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Avav kaNkaliruntu taarai taaraiyaakak kaNNir vantatu He wept like anything E.g. From Kannada Dhaare dhaareyaagi harigitu He wept like anything The Quality Noun vaNNam in (Ta.) baNNa in (Ka.) means Color is reduplicated and it indicates the adjectival meaning.

vi)

E.g. From Tamil vaNNa vaNNak kanavukaL Colorful dreams E.g. From Kannada baNNa baNNavaagi kanasu gaadivee Colourful dreams Adverbial Meaning Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 331

The following Nouns are reduplicated and they give the adverbial meaning and function as an adverb. i) The Adverbial Noun veekam in (Ta.) veega in (Ka.) means Speed is in combination with the particle -aaka in (Ta.) -aagi in Kannada in the sentences are reduplicated and indicate the adverbial meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Avan veeka veekamaaka ooTinaan He ran very speedily E.g. From Kannada Veega veegavaagi oDida ii) Ran very fast

In Tamil the Abstract Noun aacai Desire, koopam Anger, azhukai Weeping etc., are in combination with the particle aaka in the sentences and are reduplicated. They indicate the adverbial meaning. In Kannada the Abstract Noun siTTu means anger. It is in combination with the particle -aagi in the sentences when reduplicated and they indicate the adverbial meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Aacaiaacaiyaa irukku Koopamkoopamaa varutu Azhukaiazhukaiyaa varutu E.g. From Kannada siTTu siTTaagi noda He gave with anger iii) In Tamil the Temporal Noun talaimuRai Tradition is in combination with the particle aaka in the sentences reduplicated and these express the adverbial meaning. It conveys the continuity of the action. Instead of this Kannada language speakers use talemaarininda bandidee. It is too desirable I got too much angry I felt too weepy

E.g. From Tamil Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 332

talaimuRaitalaimuRaiyaakap pinpaRRapaTTu varukiRatu It is followed by traditionally from generation to generation Continuously. iv) In Tamil the Noun tuNDu Piece is in combination with the particle aaka in sentences that are reduplicated and these indicate the adverbial meaning. Like this in Kannada the Noun tuNDu means piece. It is in combination with the particle -aagi in sentences and gives the adverbial meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Avan pazhattai tuNDu tuNDaaka veTTinaan He cuts the fruit in to pieces E.g. From Kannada tuNDu tuNDaagi kattarisida v) He cuts into pieces

Both in Tamil and Kannada the portative Noun pakkam in (Ta.) pakka in (Ka.) which means Page is in combination with the particle aaka in (Ta.). These are reduplicated in sentences and indicate the adverbial meaning.

E.g. From Tamil Avan pakkam pakkammaka ezhutittaLLinaan He writes so many pages E.g. From Kannada Pakka pakkadalli bareda IV) He wrote so many pages

Regarding the Temporal Noun, when it reduplicates the meaning given by it is from the broad sense to the particular sense and the particular sense to the broad sense in Tamil. The Noun kaalam Time/ Season reduplicates and indicates the meaning of sense from the broad sense to the particular sense. But in Kannada the Temporal Noun kaalam which means Time reduplicates and gives the meaning continuous. 333

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E.g. From Tamil Kaalaakaalattil tirumaNam naTakkanum The marriage should taken place at a particular time E.g. From Kannada Kaala kaaladivda bandide It has come from age In Tamil, the Noun vidiyal Dawn reduplicates and indicates the meaning from the particular sense to the broad sense. This type of construction is not found in Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Vidiya vidiyak kalyaaNam The marriage is taken place over the whole night V) Both in Tamil and Kannada, regarding the Numeral Noun, the Countable Noun kooDi Crore, laksham Lakh, kaTTu Bundle are reduplicated and give the uncountable meaning.

E.g. From Tamil kooDikooDiyaap paNam Crores of Money lakshalakshamaa paNam Lakhs of money kaTTukkaTTaap paNam Bundles of money E.g. From Kannada kooTi kooTi janariddaru laksha laksha janariddaru Crores of People are there lakhs of people are there

The Cardinal Numerical Noun oNNu in (Ta.) ondu in (Ka.) which means One is reduplicated and indicate the emphatic meaning. E.g. From Tamil oNNu oNNuaak koTu Give one by one Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 334

E.g. From Kannada Ondondagi koDi Give one by one

The ordinal Numerical Noun oru in (Ta.) obbu in (Ka.) means one is reduplicated and indicates the meaning of wholeness. E. g, From Tamil Ovvaru maadamum Each and every month E.g. From Kannada Obbobbaru Each and every person

The Noun mudhal First is reduplicated and expresses the earlier/first occurrence meaning. E.g. From Tamil Mudhanmudhalil idu toTankiyatu japaanil At first it was started in Japan E.g. From Kannada moTTa modalaaki idu piraaramba koTTidu jappaanalli At first it was started in Japan Like the Ordinal Numerals the Personal Pronouns like avan He, avaL She etc., are reduplicated and give the single to whole meaning and the vice versa in Tamil. This type of construction is not reduplicated in avan and avaLin Kannada but it is possible with the honorific and the Plural Noun avar He. E.g. From Tamil Avan avanaa ceyvaan Each and every one will do it E.g. From Kannada Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 335

Avaravaraagi maaDu ballaru Each and every one will do this VII) In Tamil, regarding the Demonstrative noun anta That, inta This are reduplicated and give the specific meaning. In Kannada the Demonstrative Noun yaavu means What is reduplicated and indicates the meaning of specific.

E.g. From Tamil Entaenta veelaiyai eppaappa ceyyanumoo anta anta veelaiyai appaappa ceyanum At what time what work is going to be done, that time that work will be done in that particular time E.g. From Kannada Yaavu yaavu samayadalli At what time

VIII) In Tamil, the interrogative nouns are reduplicated and give the plural meaning for the singular one and vice versa. The nouns yaar Who, eppaDi How, and enna What are reduplicated and indicate the plural meaning. The same thing happens in Kannada also. The Interrogative Noun yaar means Who, is reduplicated and it gives the meaning of plurality. E.g. From Tamil Yaar yaaroo vantaanga So many persons were come here E.g. From Kannada Yaar yaar bandiddaaree IX) So many persons were come here

The Abstract Noun and the Quality Nouns like veyiloo veyil So hot tangamoo tangam So much gold paccaiyoo paccai Greenish etc are reduplicated and give the excessive meaning in Tamil. Like this in Kannada the Abstract Nouns like hasi which means wet kempu which means reddish bangaravee bangara which means Good Gold 336

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aloode aloodu Too much cry etc., are reduplicated and indicate the excessive meaning. X) The Nouns which are used for pointing out the colors reduplicated and indicated the emphatic meaning in Tamil and Kannada.

E.g. From Tamil Paccaipaceel enRa tooTTam Greenish Garden E.g. From Kannada Kempu kempaagidee It is reddish Conclusion i) Both in Tamil and Kannada Nouns are reduplicated and the process indicates the following meanings: addressive, caution, draws the attention of the people, meanings of irritation, emphasis, unbearable, emotional, hatefulness, and idiomatic adjectival and adverbial. Some Nouns are reduplicated in Tamil which indicate idiomatic meanings, which is not possible in Kannada. In several cases, this holds true not only for the idiomatic meanings but also for some other types of meanings.

ii)

iii)

Some Nouns are reduplicated both in Tamil and Kannada but the constructions of these may be different. Eventhough both the languages belong to the same language group within the same family, they maintaining different structures in reduplication in several contexts.

iv)

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11 Verb Reduplication in Tamil


An attempt is made in this chapter to study the reduplicated verb from the point of view of occurrence in the language, its function and semantic interpretation. Both the kinds of verbs, finite as well as the non-verbs are reduplicated in Tamil. Verbs occur as predicates in the rightmost position of a clause. Thomas Lehman in his A grammar of Modern Tamil divides the Tamil verb forms into finite and nonfinite and nominalized verb forms. Again he divides the finite verbs into imperative, indicative and optative and the non-finite verb forms into infinitive, verbal participle, conditional and adjectival participle. Modern Tamil distinguishes between singular and plural imperative forms. These are further distinguished into positive and negative forms. One of the imperative forms is also overtly marked for the category of person, that is, for second person. Singular Imperative Positive (+Ive) The positive singular imperative form is identical with the verb stem and thus devoid of any marker. These verbs are reduplicated and give the following meanings: Emphatic, repetition, entertainment, irritation, cordiality etc. Exx. cey cey paNNu paNNu paaru paaru poo poo vaa vaa do do see go come Emphatic Repetition Entertainment Irritation Cordiality

The imperative and second person morphemes are not overtly expressed and are realized by a zero morph each. Singular Imperative Negative (-ive) Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 338

The negative singular Imperative form consists of the verb stem to which the negative allomorph -aat- is suffixed followed by the euphonic suffix ee- . These types of verbs are reduplicated and give the following meanings: command, request, and caution.

Exx. pookaatee pookaatee ceyyaatee ceyyaatee varaatee varaatee Dont go Command Dont do Request Dont come Caution

Like this the plural structures of the imperative also reduplicated and give the above said meanings.

Indicative Verb Forms Tamil has both positive and negative indicative verb forms. Positive indicative verb forms are marked for the category of tense, person, number and gender + status. Negative indicative verb forms are however, not marked in the same way for these categories as the positive indicative forms are. There is one to one correspondence between positive and negative indicative forms. These types of verb forms are reduplicated and give the confirmative meaning. Ist person sing. Vanteen vanteen Vareen vareen Varuveen varuveen Ist person plu. Vantee vantee Varee varee Varuveen varuveen I came Surety or confirmative I am coming Surety I will come Surety You came You come I will come

Surety

IInd person pl Vantee vantee You came Varee varee You are coming Compulsion Varuvee varuvee you must come Surety

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Like this the plural form of the verbs also reduplicated and the future form of the IInd person verbs are reduplicated and give the confirmative as well as the challenging meanings. IIIrd person sing. avan vantaan vantaan avan varaan varaan He came Confirmative

He is coming Confirmative

avan varuvaan varuvaan He will come Confirmative IIIrd person plu. avunka vantaanka vantaanka They came Confirmative avanuka varaanka varaanka They are coming Confirmative avanukha varuvaanka varuvaanka They will come Confirmative All the three persons both sing. And plural the verb forms are reduplicated and give the confirmative meanings. Negative Indicative Verb Forms Negative indicative verb forms are not marked for the category of tense. The verb stem combines only with the negative morpheme and the three morphemes of person, number and gender. In old Tamil the negative morpheme is realized by a zero morph or by the negative allomorph aa- depending on the following person, number and gender morphemes. Only with the third person singular and plural neuter morpheme is the negative morpheme overtly expressed by the allomorph aa-. In the case of occurrence with all other person, number and gender morphemes, the negative morpheme is not overtly expressed. In modern Tamil, the form inflected for third person singular number and neuter gender viTaathu. This form is interpreted as referring to future time or expressing habitually. These types of verbs are reduplicated and give the meaning surety Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 340

Ex. viTaatu viTaatu It will not leave SURETY

Tamil uses two defective auxiliary verb maaTTu- will and il - be not both of which follow a lexical main verb inflected for infinitive. The construction like viTamaaTTan viTamaaTTan expresses the future negativity meaning surety. To express the past and present negativity, the auxiliary verb il be not is used. This defective verb occurs in a finite form unmarked for tense and marked with the person number gender suffix ai. The verb constructions reduplicated and give the meaning confirmation and surety. Ex. viTavillai viTavillai viTalee viTalee (in spoken) I dont leave. The three verbs veeNTu To need pooTu To place and taku To be opt have the infinitive form veeNTa pooTa and taka combined or the co occurrence with the emphatic clitic ee is a reduplicated construction with the negative form of the respective verb. Ex. veeNTavee veeNTaam Dont need (Complete Objection).

Optative The optative is formed by the addition of the optative suffix ka (allomorph kka) to the verb stem. These types of verbs are reduplicated and give the appraisal meaning. Exx. vazhka vazhka ozika ozhika You may live Down down

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Non - Finite Verb Forms Tamil distinguishes between four types of non finite verb forms i) infinitive, ii) verbal participle iii) conditional iv) adjective participle. The entire above verb forms except the infinitive have both positive and negative forms. Adjectival participle distinguishes tense. All the other non-finite verb forms are tenseness. Each of the verb suffixes, which is either added to the verb stem (when the form is tense less) or to the tense suffix in the case of negative forms. Infinitive The infinitive verb is formed by the affixation of the infinitive suffix a- to the verb stem. The infinitive form occurs mainly in compound verb constructions and in complex sentence constructions, there also a few cases where the predicate of a simple clause, also it occurs as predicate of a simple interrogative clause with a first person subject NP. These types of infinitive verb forms are reduplicated and give the following meanings: i) Intensity ii) Repetition iii) Continuity of action iv) Adjectival meaning v) Resultive vi) More vii) Negligence meaning viii) Graduality and ix) Adverbial meaning. i) TooNDat tooNDth thaNNiir vantathu Continuously digging the water comes out ceyyacceyyap pazhakkam varum Do it again and again you will get practiced pazhakap pazhakap paazhum puLikkum In due course even the milk became sour pazhakhap pazhakha varum icai 342

(Intensity)

ii)

(Repetition)

iii)

(Graduality)

iv)

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By practice the music will come rhythmically v) ooDa ooDa viraTTinaan He chased him even though he is running

(Continuity) (Resultive)

vi)

keeTkka keeTkka avan koTukkavillai Even though he is asking two or three times he is not giving (More) peecap peeca peecaamalee iruntaan Even though we talk he kept quite kuniyak kuniyak kuTTinaan Even though he is bending he beat him avan peecap peeca alupputh thaTTiyathu Repeatedly speaking makes tiredness

vii)

(Negligence meaning)

viii)

(Adverbial meaning)

ix)

(Adjectival meaning)

Annamalai (1980:162) and Paramasivam (1983:265) note that an infinitive clause with adverbial function can have various semantic interpretations such as i) purpose ii) cause iii) time and iv) result. Of the four types of in finitive adverbial clauses except purpose infinitive clauses can be reduplicated to express intensity, repettion or continuvity of an action. In the case of causal and temporal infinitive clauses there is often ambiquity between a causal and temporal interpretation. Ex. kaalam chella chella athu maariviTTatu Latter and later that has been changed Verbal Participle The verbal participle is the second tense less non finite verb form. It has both a positive and a negative form. The positive verbal participle is formed by the affixation of the verbal participle suffix to the verb stem. The verbal participle suffix is homophonous with the various past tense allomorphs. The past tense allomorphs have been given above as t - , - nt -, - in -, - i and tt. This kind of verbal participle forms are reduplicated and give the following meanings: i) intensity ii) cause iii) continuity iv) Resultive v) Habitually vi) Idiomatic vii) Discontinuous viii) Adverbial meaning. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 343

i)

paarthu paarthuc ceytaan He is doing that work very calculative peecip peeci toNDai varandatu Throat became dry by repeatedly talking azhuthu azhuthu kaN civanthatu By continuous crying the eyes became reddish vizhuntu vizhuntu upacarittaan He laughed too much paaTam naTatti naTatti pazhakkam aanathu By taking class continuously it became habitual kaaRi kaaRit tuppinaan He spits continuously mazhai viTTu viTTup peeyintatu The rain rains discontinuously turuvit turuvit aaraayntaan He searched it very keenly koTutu koTutu civantakai He gives too much because of that he got fame

(Intensity) (causative) (Resultive)

ii)

iii)

iv)

(idiomatic)

v)

(Habitual)

vi)

(Adjectival function)

vii)

(Discontinuously)

viii)

(Continuity) (Adjectival function)

ix)

Negative Verbal Participle Negative verbal participle gives the following meaning. i) collic colli alutthu poccu Again and again telling gets bored cenju cenjum oru pirayojanam illai There is no use of repeatedly doing paTiccu paTiccu colliyum nii keeTkavillai 344

(Adverbial function)

ii)

(Adjectival function)

iii)

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Repeatedly telling you are not listening Miscellaneous Types i) uri urinnu uriccan

(Idiomatically)

He compelled me like anything (Idiomatic expression) About to tell (Idiomatic expression) He may do (Imminence), (Probability) He leave away (Auxiliary) He will do (Inability)

ii)

colic colvatarkku mun

iii)

cenjaalum ceyvaan

iv) v)

avan viTTuviTTaan avan peecuvaan peecuvaan

When the reduplicated verb from occurs with the modal auxiliary form aam the modality of probability and possibility is likewise expressed. However in comparison with the reduplicated verb form inflected for future tense a lesser degree of possibility or probability is implied. Ex. kumaar vantaalum varalaam Kumar may come or may not The predicate of a simple clause can consists of the conditional form of the verb+clitic+um and a reduplicated form of the respective verb, which is inflected either for past or future tense or followed by the modal auxiliary form aam. When the reduplicated verb form is inflected for past tense the speaker expresses that the action of the following sentence which is semantically related to the action of the preceding sentence. E.g. by being a consequence is not approved by him. Ex. kumar oru puthu caTTai vaankinaalum vaankinaan Kumar has bought a new shirt but now he is wearing the same shirt daily Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 345

When the reduplicated verb form is inflected for future tense the modality of probability and possibility is expressed. Ex. kumar inkee vantaalum varuvaan Kumar may come here

Conclusion The outline picture of verb reduplication in Tamil: i) Imperative verbs both positive and negative are reduplicated and these give various meanings. Indicative verbs (only the positive forms) are reduplicated. In the negative indicative verb forms only the IIrd person singular and plural neuter are reduplicated. In optative verb construction, both the positive and negative forms are reduplicated and give the related meanings. Regarding the infinitive, the positive structure gives the positive and the negative meaning.

ii)

iii)

iv)

Practical Implication It is very clear from the description above that noun and verb reduplications are complex even though they appear to use simple devices. It is also clear from the descriptions Ive provided that writing a school grammar or applying grammar for various purposes of writing using grammatical rules that are appropriate is not an easy task. We need to investigate the nuances of grammar, identify the most relevant and apply using these nuances in our speech and written communications. At present, both grammar books and exercises that are presented in Tamil textbooks focus more on identification and memorization of grammar rules, not their application in creative ways. True, the lessons as well as grammar books do give illustrative examples. These are inadequate and focus on a limited number of possibilities, not selected and graded. This situation should change, and we should integrate rules with creativity. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 346

12 Verb Reduplication in Tamil and Telugu


Focus of This Chapter This chapter highlights the verb reduplication processes in Tamil and Telugu. This study of reduplicated structure in Tamil and Telugu reveals the fact that though reduplication is a general morphological feature of the language, some specific characteristics in individual languages can be drawn from the functional point of view and from the semantic point of view as well. An attempt is made in this chapter to study the reduplicated verb from the point of view of occurrence in individual languages, its function and semantic interpretation. Both the kinds of verbs, finite as well as the nonfinite verbs, reduplicate in Tamil and Telugu which are related to tense, aspect and person. Tamil Verbs Verbs occur as predicates in the rightmost position of a clause. Thomas Lehman in his A Grammar of Modern Tamil divides the verbs in Tamil into finite and non-finite and nominalized verb forms. He further divides the finite verbs in to Imperative, Indicative and Optative, and the non-finite verb forms into Infinitive, Verbal Participle, Conditional and Adjectival Participle. Singular Imperative Positive Reduplication In Tamil and Telugu, the positive Imperative form is identical with the verb stem or root and thus devoid of any marker. These verbs are reduplicated and give the meanings Emphatic, Repetition, Entertainment, Irritation, Cordiality etc. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil Telugu cey cey cey cey (You) do Emphatic meaning paaru paaru cuuDu cuuDu (You) see Entertainment poo poo weLLu weLLu (You) go Irritation vaa vaa raa raa (You) come Cordiality kuTi kuTi taagu taagu (You) drink repetition The imperative and the second person morphemes are not overtly marked and are realized as zero morph. Singular Imperative Negative Reduplication

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In Tamil, the negative singular Imperative form consists of the verb stem to which the negative allomorph aat is suffixed followed by the euphonic suffix ee. These types of verbs are reduplicated and give the meanings Command, Request and Caution. But in Telugu the structure of the negative singular imperative form is verb+the negative form oddu and give the above mentioned meanings. Examples from Tamil and Telugu Tamil Telugu Pookaatee pookaatee poo/weLLoddu poo/weLLoddu Dont go Command Ceyyaatee ceyyaatee ceyoddu ceyoddu Dont do. Request Varaatee varaatee raaoddu raaoddu Dont come. Caution Like this, the plural structures of the positive and the negative reduplication occur by adding the plural suffixes inga and -iirkaL in Tamil. In Telugu, for both positive and negative, the plural suffix aNDi is added with the above said examples. But the conveying meanings by them are the same. Exx. from Tamil and Telugu Tamil 1 person Sing. Vanteen vanteen
st

Vareen vareen

Telugu occeenu occeenu I came Surety or Conformation ostunnaanu ostunnaanu I am coming I will come

Varuveen varuveen ostaanu ostaanu 2nd person Sing. Vantee vantee

occeevu occeevu You came Surety or Conformation You are coming Commanding

Varee varee ostunnaavu ostunnaavu Varuvee varuvee ostaav ostaavu

Youll come Sarcastic meaning 3rd person sing. avan vantaan vantaan waaDu occeeDu occeeDu He came Conformation varRaan varRaan ostunnaaDu ostunnaaDu He is coming Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 348

Conformation Varuvaan varuvaan ostaaDu ostaaDu Hell come Challenging or Conformation Like this, the plural forms of the above verbs are reduplicated and give the confirmative meaning. But the future form of the Indicative verbs is reduplicated and gives either the confirmative meaning or the challenging meaning. All the three persons both singular and plural forms are reduplicated. Negative Indicative Reduplicated Verb Forms: Negative Indicative verb forms are not marked with Person, Number and Gender. (Here after PNG markers). The verb stem combines with the negative marker. In old Tamil the negative morpheme is realized by a zero morph or by the negative allomorph aa depending upon the PNG morphemes. Only with the third person singular and the plural neuter morpheme, the negative morpheme is overtly marked by the allomorph aa. In the case of occurrence with the all other person, number and gender morphemes, the negative morpheme is not overtly marked. In Modern Tamil, the form inflected for third person singular number and neuter gender viTaatu. This form is interpreted as referring to future time or expressing the meaning Habitual. These types of verbs are reduplicated and give the meaning Surety. Exx. From Tamil viTaatu viTaatu It will not leave (You) Surety

Modern Tamil uses two defective auxiliary verbs maaTTu will not and il be not. These two auxiliary verbs come after the infinitive form of the main verb and convey the future negative meaning Surety. To express the past and the present negative meaning the auxiliary verb il is not is used. It is unmarked. These types of construction reduplicated and convey the meaning Surety or Conformation. Exx. From Tamil viTavillai viTavillai > viTalee viTalee (in spoken) Not leaving ceyyavillai ceyyavillai > ceyyalee ceyyalee Not doing

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The infinitive forms of the verbs veeNTu Need pooTu To place and taku It is worth are veeNTa pooTa and taka are in combination with the clitic ee are reduplicated and give the meaning Complete Objection. Exx. From Tamil veeNTavee veeNTaam I dont need Complete objection

But in Telugu the above said forms have PNG markers and they will not reduplicate. Optative Reduplicated Verbs The optative form is framed by adding the optative marker ka to the verb stems. These forms are reduplicated and give the meaning of Appraisal. Ex. from Tamil and Telugu Tamil Vaazhka vaazhka Non-Finite Verb Forms Tamil and Telugu distinguish four types of non-finite verb forms i) infinitive ii) verbal participle iii) conditional and iv) adjective participle. All the forms have the negative forms. i) Infinitive The infinitive verb is formed by affixing the infinitive marker a to the verb stem. The infinitive form occurs mainly in the compound verb and the complex verb constructions. There are also a few cases where the predicate of a simple clause also occurs as a predicate of a simple interrogative clause with a first person subject NP. The infinitive verbs are reduplicated and give the following meanings: i) intensity ii) repetition iii) continuity of action iv) adjectival meaning v) resultive vi) more vii) negligence meaning viii) gradually and ix) adverbial meaning. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 350 Telugu zindaabaadh zindaabaadh You may live

Exx. from Tamil and Telugu Tamil tooNDat tooNDa niir varum Continuously digging the water will come out Intensity muyyakka muyyakka roogam The disease will increase by continuous strain Intensity The same meaning intensity is expressed by different forms in Tamil and Telugu. Tamil Telugu

ceyyac ceyyap pazhakkam varum ceyyagaa ceyyagaa tiruku tundi Do it again and again you will get practice Repetition The same types of reduplicated infinitive forms are expressed by different proverbs in Tamil and Telugu. Ex. From Tamil and Telugu pazhakap pazhakp paalum puLikkum (Tamil) tinaga tinaga veeppaakku tiyagaa undu/undundi (Telugu) In due course even the milk become sour Gradually

Tamil

Telugu

pazhakap pazhaka varum icai paadagaa paadagaa raagam ostadi By practrising continuouisly the music will come rhythmically Continuity Ex. From Tamil ooDa ooDa viTaTTinaan He chased him even though the opposite party is running Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 351

Resultive This type is not found in Telugu. Ex. From Tamil keeTka keeTka avan taravillai Even though he is asking again and again he is not giving More

This type of reduplication is not possible in Telugu. This type of expression is expressed by the ordinary structure as enta aDiginaa kuuTa ivva leedu/ivvalee. Ex. From Tamil peecap peecap peecavee maaTTenkiRaan Though we talk again and again he is not answering Negligence meaning Ex. From Telugu ceppinaa ceppinaa kaani vinaleedu ceptu ceptuunnaam vina leedu Though we are telling again and again he is not hearing Negligence meaning In the above examples of Tamil and Telugu, the Tamil verb peecu To talk is substituted by the verb ceppu To tell. The infinitive reduplicated verb gives the idiomatic adverbial meaning in Tamil. But this type of reduplicated structure does not occur in Telugu. However, Telugu expresses this in the ordinary adverbial structure. Ex. From Tamil kuniyak kuniyak kuTTinaan Though he is bending enough again and again he is beating Adverbial meaning Ex. From Telugu Vininakoddii ceptaadu Even though we are not hearing hell tell Adverbial meaning Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 352

Tamil

Telugu

avar peecap peeca alupput taTTiyatu vinakka vinakka visukku occindi His repeated speech makes tiredness Adjectival meaning In the above example, the verb peecu To tell in Tamil is substituted by the verb vinu To hear in Telugu. Annamalai (1980:162) and Paramasivam (1983:265) note that an infinitive clause with adverbial function can have various interpretations such as i) purpose ii) cause iii) time and iv) result. Of the four types of infinitive adverbial clauses all clauses except the purpose infinitive clause can be reduplicated to express intensity, repetition or continuity of an action. In the case of causal and temporal infinitive clauses, there is often ambiguity between a causal and temporal interpretation E.g. kaalam cellac cella adu maaRiviTum When/became it becomes latter and latter that was changed. ii) Verbal Participle The verbal participle is the second tenseless nonfinite verb form. It has both a positive and a negative from. The positive verbal participle is formed by the affixation of the verbal participle suffix to the verb stem. The verbal participle is homophonous with the various past tense allomorphs. The past tense allomorphs are t-, -nt-, -in-, -i- and tt. This kind of verbal participle are reduplicated and give the following meanings: i) intensity, ii) cause, iii) continuity, iv) resultive, v) habitual, vi) idiomatic, vii) discontinuous and viii) adverbial meaning. Exx. from Tamil and Telugu Tamil Telugu Intensity

Paarttu paarttuc ceyteen cuusi cuusi ceesaanu Do the thing very carefully Tamil Telugu

peecip peecit toNDai vaRanDatu vaagi vaagi gontu pooyindi By repeated talking the throat becomes dry Causative Tamil Telugu 353

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azhutu azhutu kaN civantatu eeDisi eeDisi kaLLu erragaa baTindi By the continuous crying the eyes become reddish Resultive Tamil Telugu

vizhuntu vizhuntu upacarittaan ongi ongi seevai ceesaaDu He invited in a grand manner Idiomatic paaTam naTatti naTatti pazhakkam aanadu (Tamil) paaTTam ceppi ceppi alavaadu aayindi (Telugu) By talking the classes continuously it became habitual Tamil kaaRi kaaRit tuppinaan He spits continuously Tamil Telugu kaaRi kaaRi uncinaaDu Adverb Telugu

Habituality

mazhai viTTu viTTup peytatu vaana aagi aagi kuurcindi/paDinti The rain rains discontinuously Discontinuous Tamil tuRuvut tuRuvi aaraayntaan He searches it very keenly Telugu tirugi tirugi/malli malli aDigeedu Continuity

koTuttu koTuttuc civanta kaikaL He donated a lot because of that his hands become reddish Adjectival function Negative Verbal Participle The negative structure of the reduplicated verbal participle from conveys the adverbial and the adjectival functional meaning. Exx. From Tamil and Telugu Tamil Telugu 354

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collic colli azhuttup pooccu ceppi ceppi visugu/virakti puTTindi Repeated saying gets boring Adverbial function cenju cenju oru prayojanamumillai ceesi ceesi ee palitam leedu There is no use of repeatedly doing for him Adjectival function The following type of negative idiomatic expression is only available in Tamil. The equivalent of this type is in ordinary type not in the reduplicated form. The ordinary structure is enta ceppinaak kuuda vinaleedu. Ex. From Tamil paTiccu paTiccuc colliyum keeTkavillai/keeTkalee I have told repeatedly but you did not listen Idiomatic

Miscellaneous Types The following first type of idiomatic expression is not possible in Telugu. It is only in Tamil. The other meanings conveyed by the repetition of verbs are possible both in Tamil and Telugu. Tamil uri urinnu uriccaaan He compelled me like anything Tamil collic colvataRkku mun About to tell Tamil cenjaalum ceyvaan He may do Tamil avan viTTuviTTaan >viTTiTTaan

Idiomatic Telugu ceppi ceppakka mundu Idiomatic Telugu ceesina ceestaaDu Imminence Probability Telugu

waaDu odalina odaluttaaDu 355

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He left away Tamil avan peecuvaan peecuvaan He will talk

Auxiliary function Telugu waaDu maaTlaaDutaaDu maaTlaaDutaaDu

When the reduplicated verb form occurs with the modal auxiliary verb form aam, the modality of probability is likewise expressed. However in comparison with the reduplicated verb form inflected for future tense a lesser degree of possibility or probability is implied.

Tamil Kumaar vantaalum varalaam

Telugu Kumaar ostee ostaaDu Probability

Kumar may come or may not come

The predicate of a simple clause can consists of the conditional form of the verb + clitic + um and a reduplicated form of the respective verb, which is inflected either for past or future tense or followed by the modal auxiliary form aam. When the reduplicated verb form is inflected for past tense speaker expresses that the action of the following sentence which is semantically related to the action of the preceding sentence. E.g by being a consequence is not approved by him. Ex. From Tamil and Telugu Kumaar oru pudhu cattail vaankinaalum vaankinaan (Tamil ) Kumaar tiisukuneedeedoo tiisukunnaaDu daanee veesukuni raawaalu (Te.) Kumar has brought a new shirt but now he is wearing the same shirt daily When the reduplicated verb form is inflected for future tense the modality of probability and possibility is expressed. Exx. From Tamil and Telugu Tamil Telugu 356

Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar

Kumaar inkee vantaalum varuvaan kumaar ikkaDa ostee ostaaDu Kumar may/may not come here Conclusion i) Imperative verbs, both positive and negative forms, are reduplicated and these give various meanings which are not one to one correspondence with each other. Positive Indicative verb forms are also reduplicated and these indicate a variety of meanings. Regarding the negative Indicative verb forms, only the IInd person singular and plural neuter forms are reduplicated. Regarding the optative verb forms, both the positive and the negative forms are reduplicated and convey the related meanings. Regarding the Infinitive and the verbal participle forms, the positive forms give the positive related meaning and the negative forms give the negative related meanings.

ii)

iii)

iv)

Comparative and contrastive studies between related languages are useful to design materials for teaching these languages. Tamilnadu follows an open policy to teaching a variety of languages. Telugu is taught in schools in major urban centers as well as in border districts. To teach Telugu and to design Telugu textbooks specifically meant for such populations, comparative and contrastive information relating to Tamil, the dominant language of the state, is very useful.

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Epilogue
Grammar is not a popular subject, unpopular not simply in Tamil classrooms but also in every language classroom around the world! We have a rich grammatical tradition in Tamil and several other Indian languages. However, these traditions have been imparted largely as knowledge, assuming that knowledge will easily translate into better writing. Because we are burdened with technical terms in grammar lessons and also because we learn grammartical rules of English for better use of that language, we tend to ignore grammar in Tamil classrooms. After all, Tamil is our mother tongue or first language, and so we all know it and use it effectively so goes our thinking. Traditional grammars are excellent pieces of research and application. But we should recognize the fact that grammar of a language is always evolving and the standard grammar written for a time and age need not be always one hundred percent applicable to current situation in Tamil. Tthis is hard for many of us to accept, for various reasons. Moreover, Tamil grammars are excellent aphoristic treatises. And because of this intrinsic brevity of such works, we are at a loss to understand and apply the rules easily. In addition, brevity does not reveal the extent to which such rules cover the usage. Many changes have taken place in the underlying rules that enable us to use Tamil in a natural way. Use of agreement, auxiliary verbs, tenses, conditional clauses, lexical choice, verb inflections and so on has changed over the centuries. Mixing spoken and written varities is most common now, whereas these two were apparently kept separate in written disourses in traditional Tamil. For these and other reasons not detailed here, there is a great need to study in depth the grammar of modern Tamil and relate it to the grammar of early literary and grammatical texts. Chemmozhi is not a fossilized tool of communication. Tamil as a chemmozhi is a living and dynamic language, unlike other classical languages. If we want to keep our language that way for generations, we need to identify the links of continuity between modern and ancient Tamil. Such links are, fortunately, not hard to find. Descriptive Tamil grammar will help us to identify the deeper nuances of the current language and link these nuances to the ancient usage because there is so much similarity between the two. Language in India www.languageinindia.com 10 : 6 June 2010 A. Boologa Rambai, Ph.D. Improving Chemmozhi Learning and Teaching Descriptive Studies in ClassicalModern Tamil Grammar 358

Ive tried in this book to present a detailed study of rules that underly various componenents of Tamil grammar. This is only a partial treatment. Further exhaustive and deeper research will bring out detailed picture of how Tamil operates. In addition, through such studies we will be able to redesign our grammar lessons for practical applications.

A. Boologarambai, Ph.D. Department of Tamil Language and Translation Studies Dravidian University Kuppam - 517 425 Andhra Pradesh, India [email protected]

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