A Reference Grammar of Classical Tamil Poetry: 150 B.C.-pre-fifth/sixth Century A.D.A reference tool for those who seek an understanding of the structure of classical Tamil poetry. This poetry reflects indigenous literary and cultural traditions of southern India, and therefore, a study of it is imperative for obtaining a balanced view of India's past and present cultures. The language which produced this poetry, Tamil, is the only living language of modern India that has an uninterrupted history spanning more than two millennia, and therefore, a study of it becomes even more crucial for a thorough understanding of India's linguistic complexity. Includes a bibliography. |
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Common terms and phrases
1st person 2nd person 3rd person neuter acai āciriya āciriya-t-taļai action/state adjectival noun adjectival participle adjective adverbial participle āka alapețai alliteration ați avan avar āyin āyinum ciru classical Tamil classical Tamil poetry consonant context derived elongated eluttu etukai extra-short finite verb following item following the stem Formation mechanism glide imperative/optative infinitive kali kāņ locative spatial long vowel mannō meter metrical feet modern Tamil Murukan negative nēr nēr-nēr nēr-nirai nērpu nirai nirai-nēr nirai-nirai niraipu nominal non-oblique stem non-past stem non-past/non-completive stem Note oblique stem onru participial noun particle past stem past/completive marker past/completive stem patu periphrasis person singular personal verb plural poru postposition short vowel stem ending stem-final vowel Structure and Example suffix syllable Tolkāppiyam Vaiyai vañci vaņņam veņpā verb stem verbal noun word yām yān நிரை நிரைபு நேர் நேர்பு
Popular passages
Page 56 - Intransitive themes become transitive by the hardening and doubling of the consonant of the appended formative — eg, peru-gu, to abound, by this process becomes peru-kku, to increase (actively), to cause to abound. Transitives of this kind, which are formed from intransitives in actual use, are often called causals, and they are as well entitled to be called by that name as many causal verbs in the Indo-European tongues ; but as there is a class of Dravidian verbs which are...
Page 897 - Properly speaking, the Dravidian languages have no adverbs at all. Every word that is used as an adverb in the Dravidian languages is either a noun declinable or indeclinable, or a verbal theme, or the infinitive or gerund of a verb
Page 534 - The Dravidian verb is entirely destitute of a passive voice, properly so called, nor is there any reason to suppose that it ever had a passive. None of the Dravidian dialects possesses any passive particle or suffix, or any means of expressing passivity by direct inflexional changes ; the signification of the passive voice is, nevertheless, capable of being expressed in a variety of ways.
Page 534 - I have been accustomed to eat well. The Dravidian languages, indeed, are destitute of passives properly so called, and, therefore, resist every effort to bring pad-u into general use. Such efforts are constantly being made by foreigners, who are accustomed to passives in their own tongues, and fancy that they cannot get on without them ; but nothing sounds more barbarous to the Dravidian ear than the unnecessary use of padu as a passive auxiliary.
Page 534 - ... therefore, resist every effort to bring pad-u into general use. Such efforts are constantly being made by foreigners, who are accustomed to passives in their own tongues, and fancy that they cannot get on without them ; but nothing sounds more barbarous to the Dravidian ear than the unnecessary use of padu as a passive auxiliary. It is only when combined with nouns that its use is thoroughly allowable.
Page 41 - There are twelve vowels, viz. a, a, a:, i, i:, u, u:, e, e:, ai, o, o: and au...
Page 8 - Tamil, one of the two classical languages of India, is the only language of contemporary India which is recognizably continuous with a classical past.