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one of the Dravidian languages.
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one of the Classical languages of the world.
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Tamil Literature spans across the space of 2500
years.
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it was the first language
to develop a distinct prose form of writing among the classical
languages of the world.
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Tamil's origins are independent of
Sanskrit (which
belongs to the Indo-European
language family and is the ancestor of many Indian languages), but it has
borrowed a number of words from
Sanskrit in recent centuries. Quite
significantly for its age, Tamil seems to have undergone minimal changes and
adaptations over the years.
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Tamil is a member of the Tamil languages group of languages, along with
Irula, Kaikadi, Betta Kurumba, Sholaga, Yerukula. The Tamil languages are a
subgroup of the Tamil-Malayalam languages, which in turn is a subgroup of
Tamil-Kodagu languages, a subgroup of Tamil-Kannada-Telugu languages.
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Tamil is spoken mainly in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Other areas where Tamil is also spoken include
Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Malaysia.
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Dialects of Tamil identified by the Ethnologue are: Adi Dravida, Aiyar,
Aiyangar, Arava, Burgandi, Kasuva, Kongar, Korava, Korchi, Madrasi, Parikala,
Pattapu Bhasha, Sri Lanka Tamil, Malaya Tamil, Burma Tamil, South Africa
Tamil, Tigalu, Harijan, Sanketi, Hebbar, Tirunelveli, Madurai.
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Malayalam developed from a dialect of Tamil called Koduntamil or Malaithamil
(literally Tamil of the mountains), spoken by the people around the hilly
ranges bordering Kerala and Tamil Nadu states.
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Tamil has its own writing system, which is similar to the Brahmi script of
ancient India.
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