Editing Tamil language (section)

=== Morphology ===

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Tamil nouns (and pronouns) are classified into two super-classes (''{{IAST|tiṇai}}'')—the "rational" (''{{IAST|uyartiṇai}}''), and the "irrational" (''{{transliteration|ta|ISO|akṟiṇai}}'')—which include a total of five classes (''pāl'', which literally means "gender"). Humans and [[deity|deities]] are classified as "rational", and all other nouns (animals, objects, abstract nouns) are classified as irrational. The "rational" nouns and pronouns belong to one of three classes (''pāl'')—masculine singular, feminine singular, and rational plural. The "irrational" nouns and pronouns belong to one of two classes: irrational singular and irrational plural. The ''pāl'' is often indicated through suffixes. The plural form for rational nouns may be used as an [[honorific]], gender-neutral, singular form.<ref name="classes_of_nouns">{{Citation

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AfwCAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Classes+of+nouns+in+Tamil%22&pg=RA1-PA156
| title = Classes of nouns in Tamil
| access-date =1 June 2007
| publisher = Trübner
| last1 = Caldwell | first1 = Robert
| year = 1875}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" align="center"
|-
|colspan="5" style="background: #f2f2f2;"  align="center"|'''peyarccol (Name-words)'''<ref name="classes_of_nouns2">{{citation
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AfwCAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Classes+of+nouns+in+Tamil%22&pg=RA1-PA156
| title = Classes of nouns in Tamil
| access-date = 1 June 2007| last1 = Caldwell
| first1 = Robert
| year = 1875
}}</ref>
|-
|colspan="3" style="background: #f2f2f2;" align="center"|'''''uyartiṇai'''''<br />(rational)
|colspan="2" style="background: #f2f2f2;" align="center"|'''''aḵṟiṇai'''''<br />(irrational)
|-
|align="center" style="background: #f9f9f9;"|''āṇpāl''<br />Male
|align="center" style="background: #f9f9f9;"|''peṇpāl''<br />Female
|align="center" style="background: #f9f9f9;"|''palarpāl''<br />Collective
|align="center" style="background: #f9f9f9;"|''oṉṟaṉpāl''<br />One
|align="center" style="background: #f9f9f9;"|''palaviṉpāl''<br />Many
|-
|colspan="5" style="background: #f2f2f2;" align="center"|'''Example: the Tamil words for "doer"'''
|-
|align="center" style="background:#f9f9f9;"|''ceytavaṉ''<br />He who did
|align="center" style="background:#f9f9f9;"|''ceytavaḷ''<br />She who did
|align="center" style="background:#f9f9f9;"|''ceytavar(kaḷ)''<br />They who did
|align="center" style="background:#f9f9f9;"|''ceytatu''<br />That which did
|align="center" style="background:#f9f9f9;"|''ceytavai''<br />Those ones which did
|}

Suffixes are used to perform the functions of [[Grammatical case|cases]] or [[postposition]]s. Traditional grammarians tried to group the various suffixes into eight cases corresponding to the cases used in [[Sanskrit]]. These were the [[nominative case|nominative]], [[accusative case|accusative]], [[dative case|dative]], [[sociative case|sociative]], [[genitive case|genitive]], [[instrumental case|instrumental]], [[locative case|locative]], and [[ablative case|ablative]]. Modern grammarians argue that this classification is artificial,<ref name='CaseMarkerZvelebil'>{{citation|title=Dravidian Case-Suffixes: Attempt at a Reconstruction|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|date=April–June 1972|first=K. V.|last=Zvelebil|volume=92|issue=2|pages=272–276 |jstor=600654|quote=The entire problem of the concept of "case" in Dravidian will be ignored in this paper. In fact, we might posit a great number of "cases" for perhaps any Dravidian language once we departed from the familiar types of paradigms forced upon us by traditional, indigenous and European grammars, especially of the literary languages. It is, for instance, sheer convention based on Tamil grammatical tradition (influenced no doubt by Sanskrit) that, as a rule, the number of cases in Tamil is given as eight.|doi=10.2307/600654}}</ref> and that Tamil usage is best understood if each suffix or combination of suffixes is seen as marking a separate case.<ref name="Standard restandard" /> Tamil nouns can take one of four [[Prefix (linguistics)|prefixes]]: ''i'', ''a'', ''u'', and ''e'' which are functionally equivalent to the [[demonstrative]]s in English. For example, the word ''vazhi'' (வழி) meaning "way" can take these to produce ''ivvazhi'' (இவ்வழி) "this way", ''avvazhi'' (அவ்வழி) "that way", ''uvvazhi'' (உவ்வழி) "the medial way" and ''evvazhi'' (எவ்வழி) "which way".

Tamil verbs are also inflected through the use of suffixes. A typical Tamil verb form will have a number of [[suffix]]es, which show person, number, mood, tense, and voice.
* Person and number are indicated by suffixing the [[oblique case]] of the relevant pronoun. The suffixes to indicate tenses and voice are formed from [[grammatical particle]]s, which are added to the stem.
* Tamil has two voices. The first indicates that the subject of the sentence ''undergoes'' or ''is the object of'' the action named by the verb stem, and the second indicates that the subject of the sentence ''directs'' the action referred to by the verb stem.
* Tamil has three simple tenses—past, present, and future—indicated by the suffixes, as well as a series of perfects indicated by compound suffixes. Mood is implicit in Tamil, and is normally reflected by the same [[morpheme]]s which mark tense categories. Tamil verbs also mark [[evidentiality]], through the addition of the hearsay [[clitic]] ''{{IAST|ām}}.''<ref name="steeverevidentiality">{{Citation |first=Sanford B. |last=Steever | editor-last=Güldemann | editor-first=Tom | editor2-last=von Roncador | editor2-first=Manfred | contribution=Direct and indirect discourse in Tamil |title=Reported Discourse: A Meeting Ground for Different Linguistic Domains |year=2002 |page=105 | place=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company   |isbn=978-90-272-2958-8}}</ref> Verb inflection is shown below using example ''aḻintukkoṇṭiruntēṉ''; (அழிந்துக்கொண்டிருந்தேன்); "(I) was being destroyed".

{| class="wikitable" align="center"
|-
|align="center"|''அழி''
|align="center"|''ந்து''
|align="center"|''கொண்டு''
|align="center"|''இரு''
|align="center"|''ந்த்''
|align="center"|''ஏன்''
|-
|align="center"|''aḻi''
|align="center"|''ntu''
|align="center"|''koṇṭu''
|align="center"|''iru''
|align="center"|''nt''
|align="center"|''ēn''
|-
|align="center"|'''root'''<br />destroy
|align="center"|'''transitivity marker'''<br />intransitive
|align="center"|'''aspect marker'''<br />continuous
|align="center"|'''aspect marker'''<br />continuous
|align="center"|'''tense marker'''<br />past tense
|align="center"|'''person marker'''<br />first person,<br />singular
|-
|}

Traditional grammars of Tamil do not distinguish between [[adjective]]s and [[adverb]]s, including both of them under the category ''uriccol'', although modern grammarians tend to distinguish between them on morphological and syntactical grounds.<ref name="lehmann1989">{{Citation |last=Lehmann |first=Thomas |title=A Grammar of Modern Tamil |year=1989 |publisher=Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture |location=Pondicherry|pages= 9–11}}</ref> Tamil has many [[ideophone]]s that act as adverbs indicating the way the object in a given state "says" or "sounds".<ref>{{Citation |last=Swiderski |first = Richard M. |title=The metamorphosis of English: versions of other languages |publisher=Bergin & Garvey |location=New York |year=1996 |page=61 |isbn=978-0-89789-468-5 }}</ref>

Tamil does not have [[article (grammar)|articles]]. Definiteness and indefiniteness are either indicated by special grammatical devices, such as using the number "one" as an indefinite article, or by the context.<ref name="steeversummary">{{Harvnb|Annamalai|Steever|1998|p=109}}</ref> In the first person plural, Tamil makes a distinction between [[Clusivity|inclusive]] pronouns {{lang|ta|நாம் }} ''{{IAST|nām}}'' (we), {{lang|ta|நமது}} ''{{IAST|namatu}}'' (our) that include the addressee and exclusive pronouns {{lang|ta|நாங்கள் }} ''{{IAST|nāṅkaḷ}}'' (we), {{lang|ta|எமது}} ''{{IAST|ematu}}'' (our) that do not.<ref name="steeversummary"/>