Misplaced Pages

Brahmin Tamil: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 09:36, 1 January 2008 editRavichandar84 (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers47,685 edits Propose deletion using VP← Previous edit Revision as of 02:58, 6 January 2008 edit undoRavichandar84 (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers47,685 editsm Minor editNext edit →
Line 1: Line 1:
{{dated prod|concern = {{{concern|There exists w Wikibook of the same name and this article is made exclusively of the content copied and pasted from the Wikibook}}}|month = January|day = 1|year = 2008|time = 09:36|timestamp = 20080101093625}} {{dated prod|concern = {{{concern|There exists a Wikibook of the same name and this article is made exclusively of the content copied and pasted from the Wikibook}}}|month = January|day = 1|year = 2008|time = 09:36|timestamp = 20080101093625}}
<!-- Do not use the "dated prod" template directly; the above line is generated by "subst:prod|reason" --> <!-- Do not use the "dated prod" template directly; the above line is generated by "subst:prod|reason" -->
{{Refimprove|date=August 2006}} {{Refimprove|date=August 2006}}

Revision as of 02:58, 6 January 2008

This article may have been previously nominated for deletion: Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/Brahmin Tamil exists.
It is proposed that this article be deleted because of the following concern:

There exists a Wikibook of the same name and this article is made exclusively of the content copied and pasted from the Wikibook

If you can address this concern by improving, copyediting, sourcing, renaming, or merging the page, please edit this page and do so. You may remove this message if you improve the article or otherwise object to deletion for any reason. Although not required, you are encouraged to explain why you object to the deletion, either in your edit summary or on the talk page. If this template is removed, do not replace it.

This message has remained in place for seven days, so the article may be deleted without further notice.

If you created the article, please don't be offended. Instead, consider improving the article so that it is acceptable according to the deletion policy.
Find sources: "Brahmin Tamil" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR
PRODExpired+%5B%5BWP%3APROD%7CPROD%5D%5D%2C+concern+was%3A+There+exists+a+Wikibook+of+the+same+name+and+this+article+is+made+exclusively+of+the+content+copied+and+pasted+from+the+WikibookExpired ], concern was: There exists a Wikibook of the same name and this article is made exclusively of the content copied and pasted from the Wikibook
Nominator: Please consider notifying the author/project: {{subst:proposed deletion notify|Brahmin Tamil|concern=There exists a Wikibook of the same name and this article is made exclusively of the content copied and pasted from the Wikibook}} ~~~~
Timestamp: 20080101093625 09:36, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
Administrators: delete
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Brahmin Tamil" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2006) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article.
When placing this tag, consider associating this request with a WikiProject.
This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Misplaced Pages. See Misplaced Pages's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (December 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Brahmin Tamil or Braahmik is the name for a number of closely related Tamil dialects used by the Tamil Brahmin communities (Iyers and Iyengars) of Tamil Nadu and in the neighbouring states.

Dialects

Braahmik is the proposed name for these dialects .

The 2 dialects are

There are two main differences between these two styles :

  1. In the words ending in m and n preceded by a vowel, the vowel is nasalised but the [[nasal consonants themselves are not pronounced except when followed by a word beginning with a vowel in the Thanju style. In the Paalu style the nasal consonants in these cases are always pronounced.
  2. There is also often a difference in the vocabulary of the two styles. To give only one example, the word for 'news' is samaachaaram in Thanju, but varthamaanam in Paalu.

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

A common orthography based on the latin alphabet has been proposed for both styles of Braahmik.

The Braahmik Alphabet

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grammar

The article 'a' or 'the' has to be understood from context.

Verbs are usually given in their imperative singular form in the dictionary. They form their three main tenses from three different bases. Often the bases are identical. But in most other cases they are different.

The verb iru 'to be' is in its imperative singular form. Its present tense base is 'iruk'. In all three tense forms, verbs have different endings for different persons in the singular and plural numbers.

The third person singular neuter form of iru is iruku

Pronouns and their oblique forms:

In the table below the personal pronouns and their oblique forms are given:

Personal Pronouns and Oblique Forms
Thanju Paalu English
naan (en, ena) naan (en, ena) I
nie (on, ona) nie (on, ona) you (sg)
nier (om, oma) nier (om, oma) you (sg, hon)
avan (avan) avan (avan) he
ava(hl) (avahl) avahl (avahl) she
avar (avar) avar (avar) he / (she) (hon)
adhu (adhu) adhu (adhu) it
naama, namma(hl) (nammahl) nammahl (nammahl) we (incl)
naanga(hl) (engalh) naangahl (engahl) we (excl)
nienga(hl) (ongahl) niengahl (ongahl) you (pl / sg(hon))
avaa(hl) (avaahl) avaa(hl) (avaahl) they (m / f pl, sg(hon))
adhuha(hl) (adhuhahl) adhuhahl (adhuhahl) they (n pl)

The oblique forms given above are followed by postpositions. Pronouns have attributive forms that are placed before nouns as possessive adjectives. The table below gives the attributive forms of pronouns, that is the possessive adjectives.

Possessive Adjectives:

Possessive Adjectives
Thanju Paalu English
en en my
on on your (sg)
om om your (sg hon)
avan avan his
avahl avahl her
avar avar his (/ her) (hon)
adhu adhu, adhu n its
namma namma our (incl)
enga enga our (excl)
onga onga your (pl)
avaa avaa their (m / f)
adhuha adhuha their (n pl)



Verb Forms:

The most important forms of verbs in Braahmik are : the imperative form, the infinitive form, the present tense base, the past tense base, the past participle form, the future tense base and the personal endings for the past /present and future tenses.

In the following tables, these forms are grouped as follows :
1) Imperative – Infinitive – Past Participle
2) (Personal Endings for:) Past / Present – (and) Future
3) Imperative – Present Base – Past Base – Future Base

Imperative—Infinitive—Past Participle:

'Imperative—Infinitive—Past
Participle

(Both Thanju and Paalu)
Imperative Infinitive Past Paticiple
padi 'read, study' padika padichu
iru 'be' iruka irundhu
peeszu 'speak, talk; peesza peeszi
chaapdu, szaapdu 'eat, have food' chaapda, szaapda chaaptu, szaaptu
oodu 'run' ooda oodi
nada 'walk' nadaka nadandhu
po, poo 'go' pooha pooy
nillu 'stand, stop' nika ninnu
edu 'take, remove' eduka eduthu
vizhu 'fall' vizha vizhundhu
chiri, sziri 'laugh' chirika, szirika chirichu, szirichu
chollu, szollu 'say, tell' cholla, szolla cholli, szolli
keehlu 'ask, hear, listen' keeka keetu
vei 'put, keep' veika vechu
vei 'scold' veia vesszu (mainly Thanju)
thitu 'scold' thita thiti
kaahnu 'meet, be seen' kaahna kahndu

Personal Endings of Past / Present and Future

Personal Endings (Past / Present
and Future)
Pronoun Past / Presnet Future
naan en en
nie e, aay e, aay
nier ier ier
avan aan an. aan
ava(hl) aa(hl) a(hl)
adhu adhu / dhu* um*
naama, namma(hl) om om
naanga(hl) om om
nienga(hl) ehl ehl
avaa(hl) aa(hl) aa(hl)
adhuha(hl) adhu(hahl) / *dhu(hagl) *um

Notes:

(*) The future tense third p. n. ending -um is generally attached to the infinitive form after removing the ending -a.

The present tense and past tense endings also differ (-adhu / -dhu) in the 3 rd p. n. forms..

In the verbs in which the past tense base ends in -in, the 3 rd p. n. ending is -thu (as in oodithu 'it ran') in the past tense.

The forms poochu 'it went' and aachu 'it was over' are prominent exceptions..

Imperative – Present Base – Past Base – Future Base:

'Imperative—Present Base—Past
Base—Future Base
Imperative Present Base Past Base Future Base
padi padikar padichu padipu
iru iruku irundhu irupu
peeszu peeszar peeszin peeszuv
chaapdu, szaapdu chaapdar, szaapdar chaaptu, szaaptu chaapduv, szaapduv
oodu, oodar oodin ooduv
nada nadakar nadandhu nadapu
po, poo poohar, poor poon poov
nillu nikar ninnu nipu
edu edukar eduthu edupu
vizhu vizhar vizhundhu vizhuv
chiri, sziri chirikarm szirikar chirichu, szirichu chiripu, sziripu
chollum szollu chollar, szollar chonn, szonn cholluv, szolluv
keehlu keekar keetu keepu
vei vekar vechu vepu
vei veiar veszzu veiv
thitu thitar thitin thituv
kaahnu kaahnar kanhd / kand kaanhuv

The verb forms uhlla, thangara and thaamasikara in the above Thanju and Paalu passages are present participial adjective forms.

The phrases containing these forms are equivalent to a relative clause in English:

Hotel le thaamasikara puhlleiahl means 'the boys. who stay in a hotel' or 'the boys staying in a hotel'.

In Braahmik there is no relative clause, threre are only participial adjectival phrases that precede the head noun.

Participial adjectives can be formed from the present and past tense bases by just adding the suffix -a. The future 3 rd p n form itself serves as the future adjectival participle, but that form is very rarely used in Braahmik.

A few verbs like iru 'to be', poo 'to go' or aa 'to be, become' have these forms formed irregularly. They are listed below :

Irukara, irundha, irukum, poora / poohara, poona, poohum and aara / aahara, aana, aahum

Dilli ki poora vandi means 'the Delhi bound train'

Poona varsham means 'last year, the year that went by'

Naan poona varsham Madras le irundha poodhu means 'when I was in Madras last year'

The participial adjectives are the same for all genders and numbers.

Padikara paian, padikara paszangahl, padikara pohnnu all mean 'student(s)'.

Padicha manushan, padicha pohnnu mean 'the educated man, the educated girl'

For the future tense, instead of using the form ending in -um, the construction made up of the infinitive of a verb plus the present adjectival participle poora is used:

Nie padicha paadam 3 (muuhn) aavadhu, nie padika poora paadam 4 (naal) aavadhu means 'the lesson you studied is the 3 rd, the lesson you are going to study is the 4 th'.

Braahmik at one time had, like Tamil, separate auciliary verbs to give a reflexive, concessive or perfective sense to the main verb. Being a rapidly growing colloquial language, it contracted these auxiliary verbs into mere verbal suffixes to convert the main verb into a reflexive, concessive or perfective verb. The verbs are kohllu (reflexive / concessive) contracted to -ko and vidu (perfect tense auxiliary) contracted to -du.

In the following table, ordinary verbs and the corresponding reflexive / concessive and prefective verbs are given:

Verbs
Ordinary Reflexive / concessive Perfective
poo 'go' pooyko 'you may go' pooydu 'go away'
vaa 'come' vandhuko / -ho 'you may come' vandhudu 'come away'
edu 'take' eduthuko 'you may take' eduthudu 'ake it away'
okaaru 'sit down' okaandhuko / -ho 'take your seat' okandhudu '(just) sit down (and don't get up)'
sziri /chiri 'Laugh' sziri- / chirichuko 'snuke, laugh in your sleeves' sziri- / chirithudu 'burst out laughing'


Cardinal Numerals

1 ohnnu, 2 rendu, 3 muuhnu / muunnu, 4 naalu, 5 anju, 6 aarru, 7 eezhu, 8 etu, 9 ombadhu, 10 pathu.

The verb iru does work for both 'to be' and 'to have', The difference is brought out by syntax :

Avan oru kozhandhei 'he (is) a child'

Avan u ku oru kozhandhei iruku 'he has a child'

Naan pahna kaaran 'I am a rich man'

En kite pahnam iruku 'I have money'

King Midas u ku kazhudhei kaadhu '[[King Midas]] has ass's ears'.

Enga thaathaa ku romba vayas aachu 'My gandfather is very old'.

Kozhandhei ki pathu vayasu 'The child is 10 years old'.

En kite oru pusthaham iruku 'I have a book'.

Ena k oru thambi irukaan 'I have a younger brother'.

Braahmik uses English words freely, especially when discussing science subjects or when referring to modern equipment of western origin.

The infinitive form of some verbs can also serve as an adjective:

Nerreia (infinitive of nerrei (nerreiar, nereinj, nerreiuv) 'to fill up, fill to the brim'). As an adjective it means 'a lot of'

English verbs can be turned into a braahmik verb by placing the verb pahnnu after the English infinitive :

Arrange pahnnu 'to arrange'

The past participle of one or more verbs followed by another verb is a common construction, often translatable by a single word in English :

Vaangi thaa 'buy (for me), buy and give'

Eduthu kondu vaa (eduthundu vaa), kondu vandhu thaa 'bring'

Kuutindu poo 'accompany, escort'

Arrange pahnni vei 'keep smth. arranged' (ordinary)

Arrange pahnni vech iru 'keep smth arranged. (perfective)

Possessive Pronouns

Corresponding to the English possessive adjectives (mu, your, his, her, our, etc.), there are possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, etc.)

In Braahmik too there are possessive pronouns corresponding to the possessive adjectives. Negative Forms of Verbs:

The negative form of the verb common to the simple past and present is obtained by placing the negative particle lei after the infinitive form of a verb. The verb maaten, maate, .... placed after the infinitive form, acts as the future negative:

Naan pooha lei 'I didn't go, I don't go, I am not going' Naan pooha maaten 'I will not go, I am not going

Participial Nouns

Participial nouns referring to the action indicated by the verb are formed by affixing -adhu to the present or past tense bases/ The future participial noun of the same kind is obtained by placing the participial nouns pooradhu or poonadhu after the infinitive of a verb:

Kalambra oodaradhu odambu ku nalladhu 'Running in the morning is good for the body'. Padichadhu manasu le nikahnum 'What was studied must be retained in the mind'.

The participial noun can also refer to the person or thing that performed the action. In this case the endings attached to the present and past bases are:

-an (m sg), -a(hl) (f sg), -ar (hon sg), -dhu (n sg), -vaa(hl) (pl) -adhu(ha(hl)):

Vandhavan, (-vahl, -dhu) yaaru ? 'Who is the one that came ?'

Vandhavaahl u k ellaam szaapadu pootaa 'They served lunch for all who came.

Exercises 6:

Exercise 6.1: Translate into English

1.Indha pakam poonadhu on thambi a ? 2.Naan innei ki Madraas u ku poo lei. 3.Nahlei ki pooha poore a ? 4.Vehli le poonavaahl ellaam aathu ku vandhutaahl a ?

Exercise 6.2: Translate into Braahmik:

1.Go home. . 2.I won't go to the office tomorrow.

3.If you come, I will also come.

4.Did you have school yesterday ?

The Imperative (2 nd p) Singular and Plural Forms of Verbs

The imperative Singular and Plural of Verbs
Infinitive Imp Sinfular Imp Plural
po, poo 'to go' (nie) po, (nier) pom (nienga(hl)) poongo(hl)
oodu 'to run' (nie) oodu, (nier) oodum (nienga(hl)) odungo(hl)
padi 'to read, study' (nie) padi, (nier) padium (nienga(hl)) padingo(hl)
nillu 'stand up, stop, wait' (nie) nillu (nier) nillum (nienga(hl)) nillungo(hl)
porrapadu 'get ready, start' (nie) porrapadu (nier) porrapadum (nienga(hl)) porrapadungo(hl)
vaa 'come' (nie) vaa (nier) vaarum \\ (nienga(hl)) vaango(hl)
iru 'be, stay, wait' (nie) iru (nier) irum (nienga(hl)) irungo(hl)
nada 'walk' (nie) nada (nier) nadaum (nienga(hl)) nadango(hl)/nadaungo(hl)
eduthuko 'you may take' (nie) eduthuko (nier) duthukum (nienga(hl)) eduthukongo(hl) eduthukungo(hl)

The negative imperative

The negative imperative forms are obtained from the infinitive form by removing the final -a and attaching -aadhe, aadheum, aadhengo / aadheungo / aadhungo:

Indha edam szuddham aa illei. Nier inge varaadheum, ange e irum ' This place is not clean. (Please) don't come here, (sir), Please stay there itself'.

Impersonal Verbs

Braahmik has a number of imprsoanal verbs that have only the 3 rd person neuter singular form.

It has usually a passive sense. The main recipient or subject of the action is a noun or pronoun with the postposition ku.

A few such verbs are given in the following table:

Impersonal Verbs
Braahmik English
their (theriaradhu, therinjudhu, therium to be known.
veendi iru (iruku, irundhudhu, irukum) to be needed
kaanhu (kaahnaradhu, kandudhu, kaahnum) to be seen
pidi (pidikaradhu, pidichudhu, pidikum) to be liked

There is also a defective impersonal verbal particle that has only one form:

  • veehnam, veehnum 'it is needed'.
  • Its negative form is veendaam, veehnaam 'it is not needed'.
  • This defective verb in its abbreviated form of -nham, -nhum and its negative form -hndaa(m), -hnaam 'it is not needed' is attached to the infinitive form of any verb, meaning 'it is necessary to' or 'it is not necessary to', translatable by the words 'must' or 'don't':
  • The negative forms of the defective impersonal verbs are obtained as follows:
  • The infinitive followed by the negative particle lei gives the common past and present tense form.
  • For the future tense the suffix -aadhu is affixed to the infinitive after dropping the final -a:
  • Ena ku theria lei 'I cannot / could not see, didn't / don't know'.
  • Theriaadhu 'I will not be able to (I generally cannot) see, willl not know, I don't, as a matter of fact, know'.
  • innei ki mazhei peium a ? 'Willl it rain today ?'
  • Theria lei / theriaadhu 'I don't know'
  • Maapahlei ki sweets pidikaadhu 'The bridegroom doesn't like sweets'.
  • The use of the particle e as avan irukaan e 'as for him', nie iruke e 'as for you; oh, you, you', adhu iruk e 'that one, oh God; as far as that is concerned', has no parallel in English.
  • Degrees of comparison are expressed by using the expression ei vida followed by an adjective like peria, chinna 'great(er), small(er)':
  • idhu adh ei vida peria thapu 'this is a greater mistake than that'.
  • Nie en ei vida oyaram 'you are taller than I', where oyaram 'height' is a noun.
  • Onomotopoetic words followed by innu, na, nu give rise to adverbs:
  • Chat na 'quickly, suddenly', pahlich nu 'dazzlingly', mazha mazha nu 'sloppily' O nu, oo nu 'loudly' as in kozhandhei oo nu azhudhudhu 'the child cried loudly'.
  • When giving strong advice to children or when admonishing subordinates, instead of 'you should do this, you should do that', a construction that translates 'we did this, we did that, it should be like that' is used :
  • poonom, vandhom innu irukanham 'you should go quickly and come back quickly'.
  • The particle a has several meanings, depending on context:
  • It converts a statement into a question : nie padiche a, illei a ? 'did you study or not ?'
  • Placed after any word in a question, it emphasises that word in the question : idh ei nie a ezhudhine ? 'is it you who wrote this ?'
  • The particle a converts a noun into an adverb : Indhy puu azhah a iruku 'this flower is beautiful'. (a is an abbreviation of aaha, infinitive of the verb aa to become).
  • The particle a (abbr. of aaha) is used with the link verb in the past and future tenses : Eng apaa vaadhiaar 'my father is a teacher', avar vadhiaar a irundhaar 'he was a teacher'.
  • The particle a / aal is a conditional clause or phrase marker: nie kadei ki poon a, saamaan vangindu vaa.” 'If you go to the shop, buy (and bring) the things'. Nie padikara paian a irundh a. 'If you are a student'.
  • Further numerals : 11 padhin ohnnu / onnu, 12 pannendu / pandhrendu, 13 padhi muuynu / muunnu, 14 padhi naalu, 15 padjin anju, 16 padhin aarru, 17 padhin eezhu, 18 padhin etu, 19 path ombadhu, 20 iruvadhu.
  • When giving expression to an approximate number, one may say :
  • ohnn o rend o or ohnnu rendu 'one or two'.

En kite pathu padhin anju ruubaay iruku, 'I have 10 or 15 rupees with me'.

See also

References

Dr. P. C. Ganeshsundaram (Sydney)

Rudin (Leningrad / Petrograd)

Categories: