Brahmin Tamil/Introduction

Brahmin Tamil or Braahmik is the name for a number of closely related Tamil dialects used by the Tamil Brahmin communities (Iyers and Iyengars) of Tamil Nadu and in the neighbouring states.

Various dialects

Braahmik is the proposed name for these dialects .

The 2 dialects are :

• The Thanju style, spoken in Tamil Nadu, mainly represented by Tanjore or Thanjavur and

• The Paalu style spoken in Kerala mainly represented by Palghat or Palakkad.

There are two main differences between these two styles :

1. In the words ending in m and n preceded by a vowel, the vowel is nasalised but the nasal consonants themselves are not pronounced except when followed by a word beginning with a vowel in the Thanju style. In the Paalu style the nasal consonants in these cases are always pronounced.

1. There is also often a difference in the vocabulary of the two styles. To give only one example, the word for 'news' is samaachaaram in Thanju, but varthamaanam in Paalu.

Both styles of Brahmin Tamil dialects augment their vocabulary by freely borrowing from Tamil language|Tamil, Sanskrit and English language|English.

A common orthography based on the Latin alphabet has been proposed for both styles of Braahmik.