A PROGRESSIVE GRAMMAR OF COMMON TA MI L V H A R D N M . A . T HE R E . A . E , P UBLI S HED A ND S O LD BY THE S O C I ET Y F O R P R O M O T I NG CHR I S TI A N KNO W LE DG E 17 CHUR CH S TR EE T V E P ER Y M A DR A S , , , (A ll rig ht s reserve d) P R E F A C E ’ S E V E RAL years expe rience in teaching Tamil to the m embers of the Indian Civil Service at Cambridge h as made the author increasingly to feel the need that exists for a Tamil G r rammar , w itten on the same general system as the G ich i h h M Telugu rammar , wh he publ s ed , w en in adras , 18 3 n in the year 7 , and which has for lo g been adopted as the textbook for the as well as by the various M i i h T C ssionary Soc eties , working in t e elugu ountry . The author is far from undervaluing the works which h c ave already been published on the same subje t . The f i v f Dr. P h student o Tam l must e er eel grateful to ope , w o has done so much to promote the study of this interesting ’ t Dr P T Han . Bu xc amil language e ellent as . ope s dboo k i f its o wn c e w h s , or parti ular purpos , being ritten on t e i h r f O llendorf system , it necessar ly presents t e g ammar o h i c the language in a somew at broken and p e emeal form . h f f There appears , t ere ore , to be a real need or an addi E tio n al book in the nglish language , giving a compact outline of Tamil G rammar ; and this need the author has n o w endeavoured to supply . E . R he n iu s The Tamil G rammar of the R e v . C . T supplies the want to some extent ; but not only is it almost out f vi o print , but it needs re sion and rearrangement ; and w as ad as many years have passed since it published , ditio n al light h as been thrown upon the language, and great impr ovements have been made in Tamil type . 2047 445 4 The object of this book is to present the reader with is o grammar of common Tamil only , as it correctly sp ken t and writ en . In ordinary conversation and writing several vulgarisms and colloquialisms are used . These can easily t t wit h be mas ered by observa ion , and by intercourse h t e people of the country ; and therefore they are only briefly noticed in these pages . When once the correct forms and w c expressions are kno n , vulgarisms and colloquialisms an easily be recogni zed and understood . t t G w h be Af er mastering his rammar , the student ill t en in a position to proceed to the study of the higher dialect , th and to the perusal of Native G rammars . It is in e h higher dialect that Tamil poetry , and some also of t e . S f fr Native prose works , are written o dif erent is it om i e rso n w h o k the common d alect , that a p only nows the t t h . th latter , canno unders and t e former It requires , ere c f t fore , separate treatment , and practi ally orms a dis inct branch of study . It is hardly necessary to add that the N ative G rammars were composed for those who were already well acquainted with common Tamil as their own vernacular ; and hence t w t h t hi i t hey are rit en in Tamil , and deal wit he gher d alec . H w t a v c t o ever useful herefore to d an ed students , hey are d m E not adapte for teaching common Ta il to uropeans . th G th ff In is , as in the Telugu rammar , e special e ort of the au thor h as been to adopt a strictly progressive system ; in other words not to introduce matter which prac tically implies a knowledge of Tamil which has not th h been as yet imparted ; and on e other and , only to give such information as is absolutely required at the t w t e h s age at hich the s ud nt a s arrived . Strict attention t wh l to his principle , i e it makes the b ook much easier b e ' le ade d as to study , must p an excuse for any features 5 h - w h in t e arrangement of the subject matter , hic may at first sight strike the reader as somewhat peculiar . As h instances of this , may be mentioned t e explanation in 6 . 8 f t t t para o the pronunciation of the firs consonan , after he explanation of several letters which precede it in the alphabet —the insertion of syntax in Chapter VI—the reservation f t Ch t X t I . of in ormation to the supplemen ary ap er , e c n Though , in some instances , it might have bee advisable l . w a h rm . h t some hat to ter t e te s used , e g t e word s em in many places for the word root , etc . , yet to prevent h as any confusion , the author thought it best to retain those terms which have been already adopted in his own G D r . P Telugu rammar , and in the Tamil works of ope . The examples given have been chiefly selected from the textbooks prescribed for the examinations . h h The first chapter , on the alphabet and ort ograp y , may t w perhaps seem o be some hat long , and to be written in w h ct a style , hic stri ly speaking , may not be quite suited B to the pages of a G rammar . u t after some years of c , h as experien e in teaching Tamil the author found that , t t t s owing to he peculiari ies of the Tamil language , he y s h t h tem ere adopted is at once the easiest and he s ortest . f He there ore does not hesitate to insert it . It enables the student , with the indispensable assistan ce of a quali t w fie d teacher , to acquire he po er to read and to pronounce is Tamil correctly , which the first great and essential step in mastering the language . M uch time and labour have been Spent upon the verbs f h and the rules for the formation o t eir tenses . All the ’ verbs in Winslow s Dictio nary have been collected and arranged under rules ; and thus a regular classification h as w h been made , hich , w en once mastered , will give the c c h i student a learLand ompre ens ve view of the subject . 6 A c i x o E i iv opious nde , b th in Tamil and ngl sh , is g en at the end of the book , and will be found most useful for reference . A few introductory remarks are added in reference to h the Tamil language , and t e manner in which it should be acqu ired . S th f wh ch is The languages of ou ern India, o i Tamil the t D . h most impor ant , are termed ravidian T e principal mem bers of this group of languages are T i - is th c (1) am l . This e verna ular of about thirteen f e wh o i h millions o p ople , principally nhabit t e country on the E astern side of the G hauts from M adras to Cape S r v c h Comorin , outh T a an ore on t e Western side of the l N C h f . G auts , and a so the orthern parts o eylon — (2) Malayalam This is closely akin to Tamil . It is h t v f t e vernacular of abou fi e millions o people , who principally t th e f G inhabi the country on Western side o the hats , from M angalore to Trivandrum . — 3 Te u u . h ( ) l g T is is next to Tamil in importance , from f which it di fers very considerably . It uses an entirely distinct written character ; and introduces the Sanskrit d i w . s v aspirates , hich Tamil oes not It the ernacular of w c about seventeen millions of people , ho prin ipally inhabit the country stretching North from M adras to the confines f f h of Bengal , and ar inland into the heart o t e Dekhan . — 4 C n rese . t ( ) a a This language is closely akin o Telugu . is h l f It the vernacular of about eig t mil ions o people , o M C w h principally inhabit ysore and anara . i h Wh le , on the one hand , it may truly be said t at no oriental living language can be properly mastered with th e c h out a residence in ountry w ere it is spoken , yet , on h h e t the other and , the aut or b lieves , tha if a suitable c cu i is f h hi va s te a her can be pro red , t o t e ghest lue , e pecially 7 f i Civi i to h i or an Ind an l an , study t e language for a t me , n before he leaves his o w country .