Classical Tamil

Tamil
தமிழ் Tamiḻ

Pronunciation	[t̪ɐmɨɻ]; pronunciation
Native to	India Sri Lanka
Ethnicity	Tamil people
Native speakers	70 million (2007) 8 million L2 speakers in India (no date)
Language family	Dravidian Southern Tamil–Kannada Tamil–Kodagu Tamil–Malayalam Tamil languages Tamil
Early forms	Old Tamil Middle Tamil Tamil
Writing system	Tamil alphabet (Brahmic) Arwi Script (Abjad) Tamil Braille (Bharati) Tamil-Brahmi (historical) Vatteluttu (historical) Pallava (historical) Kolezhuthu (historical) Grantha (historical)
Signed forms	Signed Tamil
Official status
Official language in	Sri Lanka Singapore India: Tamil Nadu Puducherry
Recognised minority language in	Malaysia
Language codes
ISO 639-1	`ta`
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3	Variously: `tam` – Modern Tamil `oty` – Old Tamil `ptq` – Pattapu Bhasha
Linguist list	`oty` Old Tamil
Glottolog	`tami1289` (Modern Tamil) `oldt1248` (Old Tamil)
Linguasphere	`49-EBE-a`

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Tamil (English pronunciation: /ˈtæmɪl/; தமிழ்; Tamiḻ; [t̪ɐmɨɻ]; pronunciation ) is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the Tamil people of India and Sri Lanka, and also by the Tamil diaspora, Sri Lankan Moors, Burghers, Douglas, and Chindians. Tamil is an official language of two countries, Singapore and Sri Lanka. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. It is also used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin. In India, outside of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Tamil is also spoken in the states of Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a secondary language, and by significant minorities in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India.