Tamil (language)

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
Writing system	Tamil alphabet (Brahmic) Arwi Script (Abjad) Tamil Braille (Bharati) Tamil-Brahmi (historical) Vatteluttu (historical) Pallava (historical) Kolezhuthu (historical) Grantha (historical) Latin script (informal)
Signed forms	Signed Tamil
Official status
Official language in	Sri Lanka Singapore India: Tamil Nadu Puducherry
Recognised minority language in	Malaysia Mauritius South Africa
Language codes
ISO 639-1	`ta`
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3	Variously: `tam` – Modern Tamil `oty` – Old Tamil `ptq` – Pattapu Bhashai
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, Sri Lanka and Singapore. 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. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India.