Tolkaappiyam Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Tolkaappiyam is a book on the grammar of the Tamil language. Tolkaappiyam which was published in about the 6th century BC by Tolkaappiyar, is said to be the world's oldest surviving grammar for any language.Tolkaappiyam classifies the Tamil language into "senthamil" and "kotunthamil". The former refers to the classical Tamil used exclusively in literary works and the latter refers to the colloquial Tamil, spoken by the people. The book is based on the analysis of both spoken and written Tamil.
The classification of the alphabet into consonants and vowels by splitting the conso-vowels was a scientific breakthrough. Grammatising this phenomenon was also an achievement of that time. Tolkaappiyam starts by defining the alphabet for optimal writing, grammatises the use of words and syntaxes and moves into higher modes of language analysis. The style and structure of narration of these rules is similar to that of the Backus-Naur form, which was formalised only as recently as 1963. Tolkaappiyam formulated thirty characters and three diacritic like symbols for Tamil. The 12 vowels combine with the 18 consonants bringing the total tally of alphabets to 247 (12+18+(12x18)+1=247). The alphabet has evolved since then. For a detailed treatment of the alphabet see Tamil alphabet. Though the alphabet has evolved largely, the language as such has remained mostly in tact earning the sobriquet, kannith thamil meaning ever young Tamil.
Also, the visual representation of the alphabets is explained.
This section talks about the word modifiers that are added at the end of nouns and pronouns when they are used as an object as opposed to when they are used as subjects.
The chapter Sollathikaaram is sub divided into the following 9 sections.
Scientific treatment to Natural Language Grammar
Chapters
Tolkaappiyam is organised into the following chapters each of which is sub divided into various sections.Ezhuththathikaaram
Ezhuththathikaaram is further subdivided into the following 9 sections.
Nuul Marabu
This section enumerates the alphabets of the language, organises them into consonants, vowels and diacritic symbols. The vowels are sub classified into short and long vowels based on duration of pronunciation. Similarly, the consonants are sub classified into three categories based on the stress. Mozhi Marabu
This section defines rules which specify where in a word can a letter not occur and which letter can not come after a particular letter. It also talks about two sounds which occur when certain compound letters (consonant-vowel combo) formed with the vowels u and i come at the end of words.PiRappiyal
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This is a section on articulatory phonetics. It talks about pronunciation methods of Tamil alphabets at the level of diaphragm, larynx, jaws, tongue position, teeth, lips and nose.PuNaRiyal
This section talks about the changes to words due to the following word i.e. it specifies rules that govern the transformations on the last alphabet of a word (nilaimozhi iiRu) because of the first alpabet of the following word (varumozhi muthal) when used in a sentence.Thokai Marabu
Urubiyal
Uyir Mayangial
PuLLi Mayangial
KutriyalukarappunaRiyal
Sollathikaaram
Sollathikaaram deals with words and parts of speech. It classifies Tamil words into four categories -
There are certain rules to be adhered to in borrowing words from Sanskrit. The borrowed words need to strictly conform to the Tamil phonetic system and be written in the Tamil script.KiLaviyaakkam
KiLaviyaakkam literally translates to word formation. This section deals with gender, number, person etc.VEtRumaiyiyal
VEtrumaimayangial
ViLimaRabu
Peyariyal
This section deals with nouns.Vinaiyiyal
This section deals with verbs.Idaiyiyal
Uriyiyal
This literally translates to the nature or science of qualifiers and deals with adjectives and adverbs.Echchaviyal
PoruLathikaaram
Tolkaappiyam is possibly the only book on grammar that describes a grammar for life. PoruLathikaaram gives the classification of land types, and seasons and defines modes of life for each of the combinations of land types and seasons for different kinds of people. This chapter is subdivided into the following 9 sections.
AkaththiNaiyiyal
This section defines the modes of personal life i.e. life of couples.PuRaththiNaiyiyal
This section defines the modes of one's public life.KaLaviyal
KaRpiyal
PoruLiyal
Meyppaattiyal
Uvamayiyal
The name Uvamayiyal literally translates to the nature or science of metaphors.SeyyuLiyal
This interesting section deals with a grammar for classical Tamil Poetry based on principles of prosody.