Some features of Ceylon Tamil.pdf

7/28/2019 Some features of Ceylon Tamil.pdf

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S O M E F E A TU R E S O F C E Y L O N T A M I L

byKAMIL ZVELEBILPraha

0.1. T h e m a t e r i a l . The analysis and description is based on data col-leered between 1958-1962 in direct field-work w ith eleven Ceylon Tam ilspeakers. These informan ts must be classified into fo ur g roups: a. spea-kers from Jaffna, b. from Trincomalee, c. from Batticaloa, d. speakerso f mixed comm on Cey lonese.

a. JAFFNA nfo rm an ts: (1) K . Sithamparanathan, m ale, age 24, fro mTunnale, Jaffna; (2) K . Sivasithamparam , m ale, age 24, H igh CasteTam il, fro m Karaveddy, Jaffna; (3) K . P. Balasingham, age 21, v e l . l . d l a ,fro m K araveddy, Jaffna.

b. TRINCOMALEE nf or m an t: (4) T ilak am Selvam ani Vadiv elu, fem ale,ag e 17, ef. w0.3.

c. BATTICALOA nfo rm an t: (5) K. M anik kam , male, age 23, H ind uv e l l d l a , born in K annank uda, Bat tica loa .d. Sp eak ers o f MIXEO COMMON CEYLONESE: (6) K o ki la m Su bbia h,

female, age 32, Hindu v e i l . d r [ a , born in South India, l iving in Jaffna,Colombo, Badulla, cf . w0.3. (7) M. Tambinayakam, male, age 22,Cathol ic vel . l .a l .a , born in f t r ka va _ r _ r u _ r a i ,Jaffna, who had lived in Co lom bofo r ten years. (8) T. G unaraja, male, age 21, v e i l S [ a , born in M alaya f romJaffna parents, wh o had lived in Jaffna an d Co lom bo since 1950.

These data were supplemented by m aterial ga thered from three othe rinformants picked up among Ceylonese Tamilians studying in Madrasand Trivandrum.

The material consists of several hundred test-sentences and a fewtexts, as well as of lists of test-words an d stretches of conversation an dnarratives, tape-recorded on Grundig, speed 3,75 inch/s, an d o n StartTesla AN P 402, speed 4 ,76 cm/s.

0.2. W a y o f p r e s e n ta t i o n . Th e m aterial is presented so tha t th e typical,selected features o f phonology , m orph olog y and vocabulary of the th ree


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114 KAMIL ZVELEBILt e r r i t o r i a l s ubd i a l e c t s ( J a f f na , T r i nc om a l e e , Ba t t i c a l oa ) p l u s m i xe dCe y l one s e a r e g i ve n f i r s t , a nd t he n Ce y l one s e T a m i l a s a m a j o r r e g i ona ld i a l e c t i s de s c r i be d in i t s d i a gnos t i c f e a tu r e s . T he t r e a t m e n t i s pu r e l ys y n c h r o n i c a n d d e s c r i p t i v e w i t h o n l y v e r y o c c a s i o n a l e x c u r s i o n s i n t oh i s t o r i c a l a nd c om pa r a t i ve s phe i e s .0.3. Bibliographic Preview. Re c e n t l y , s e ve r a l pa pe r s w e r e pub l i s he dd i r e ct ly o r i n d i r e c tl y c o n c e r n e d w i t h C e y l o n e s e T a m i l . T h e y a r e K . K a n a -p a t h i P i ll a i' s " T h e J a f f n a D i a l e c t o f T a m i l " , lnd. Ling., Turner Jub.Vol., I (1 95 8), p p . 2 1 9 -2 2 7; S u s u m u K u n o ' s " P h o n e m i c S tr u c t u r e o fC o l l o q u i a l T a m i l " , G e n g o K e n k y u, No. 34 (1958) , p . 41f f . ; my own" D i a l e c ts o f T a m i l , I " , Ar. O r., 27 (1959) ; pp . 286-96 co nta in the m a te r i a lf o r T r i n c o m a l e e d ia l e c t; m y o w n " D i a l e c ts o f T a m i l I I A p p . " , Ar. Or. ,28 ( 1960 ) , pp . 220 - 4 w i t h w ha t I t he n c a l l e d J a f f na m a t e r i a l bu t t oda yw o u l d r a t h e r p r e f e r t o c al l m i x e d c o m m o n C e y lo n e s e . F u r t h e r c f.K a m i l Z v e l e b i l , " N o t e s o n T w o D i a l e c t s o f C e y l o n T a m i l " , i n Trans.Ling. Circle o f Delhi, Dr. Siddhesw. Parm a Jub. V ol . (1959-60), pp. 28-3 6 ; M . A n d r o n o v , Razgovornyj tam i l 'sk i j ja zy k i ego d ia lekty ( M o s k v a ,1 96 2). F o r a h i s t o r ic a l tr e a t m e n t o f s o m e i m p o r t a n t a s p e c ts o f C e y l o n e s eT a m i l o f . F . B . J . K u i p e r , " N o t e o n O l d T a m i l a n d J a f f n a T a m i l " i nI I J , vol . V , N o. 1 (1962) , pp . 52-64 . M . Sh an m ug am P i l l a i ' s T a m i lDialect in Ceylon w a s m a d e a c c e s s i b l e t o m e i n m a n u s c r i p t f o r m , v e r yk i n d l y se n t b y th e a u t h o r i n 1 9 5 9 . C f . a ls o S . T h a n a n j a y a r a j a s i n g h a m ," S o m e P h o n o l o g i c a l F e a t u r e s o f t h e J a f f n a D i a l e c t o f T a m i l " , Univ.o f Ceylon Rev. , XX, 2 (1962), pp. 292-302.

1. JAFFNA1.1. Phonology

1.11. Vow els 11 .11.11. O ne o f t he m os t s t r i k i ng f e a t u r e s o f J a f f na T a . voc a l i s m

i s t he r e a l i z a t i on o f / a / i n i t i a ll y a n d i n f i rs t s y l la b l e s ve r y f r e qu e n t l ya s [ ~i] t o [ a ] , i. e ., c om pa r e d w i t h m os t c o n t i ne n t a l d i a le c t s a n d c om m onC T w h i c h ha ve [ A ], t he J a f f n a (i n pa r t i c u l a r ) a n d Ce y l on e s e ( i n ge ne r a l)/ a / i n th i s p os i t io n i s m uc h m ore f ro n te d a nd low. ~ Ins t anc es : [~tVA.1,

Space and time do no t perm it me to give a full description of the entire phonem icand phonetic systems of the different subdialects. O n ly typical, characteristic, se-lected features are given, wh ich m ay pr ov e diagnostic for this or that sub-dialect.Cf. m y paper "The V owels of Colloquial Tam il", Ar. Or., 31 (1963), p. 227.


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TAM IL 115avAn, amm~i:], LT ava l . , avan_ , a m m d and [padAm, p i tTey , marAm], LTp a ! a m , p a k a i , m a r a m .1 .11.12. T h i s s h i f t t o t he f r on t is s om e t i m e s a c c o m pa n i e d by a s l i gh tr i s ing , so th a t o f t e n we have , in the s am e pos i t ion , [~] to [ re ], i .e . a cen t ra lto f ro n t h ighe r - low /a / , c f . [~enbm, kh~e.dfimpA~ey, m ~r om ] L T a np u ,k a l u m p a c c a i , m a r a m .

1.11 .13 . Som et im es [~] to [a~] occu rs in o the r po s i t ions , too , c f .[p i tT , | , ma~ . l , ~pp~e] fo r pakal , makal . , ipp6.

1 .1 1.2 . L o n g / a : / w h i c h i n a l l d i a le c t s o f c o n t i n e n t a l T a . a s w e ll a si n C o n t i n e n t a l c o l l o q u i a l T a m i l i s a l w a y s c e n t r a l t o b a c k , u n r o u n d e d ,l ow , i s ve r y o f t e n , i n J a f f na , c e n t r a l t o f r on t , h i ghe r - l ow [ ~ : ] t o [ ~e : ] ,c f . [~ :m] drn, [nia3gA.l~:r] n~hka l , ydr , [VA0~l~:r] vantdr, [po:xmr~e:r]p t k i . r d r , [ave.lab:r| ava l . d r . T hi s f e a t u r e w a s ve r y c ons i s t e n t e s pe c i a l l yw i t h i n f o r m a n t N o . 1. ~

1.11.3. Init ial / e / , / e : / o c c u r r e g u l a r l y w i t h o n l y v e r y s l i g h t o r n op a l a t a l o n g l i d e a t a l l , c o n t r a r y t o m o s t c o n t i n e n t a l d i a l e c t s a n d C T ,cf. [ennfi .deyA, enAkkm, e, lfimb~v~:n, ennA seyyApo:re:] for LT en_n_ut.aiya,e_nakku, e .lumpuv~_n, e_nn_a ce yy a ptki_ rdy .

1 .1 1.4 . / u / i n A n l a u t o r i n f ir st s y ll a bl e s r e m a i n s m o s t l y u n c h a n g e d ,c o n t r a r y t o c o n t i n e n t a l s u b s t a n d a r d a n d C T c h an g e o f / u / > / o / i nce r t a in ne ighbourhood, c f . [ku . lA .n~le ] kul_antai , [Ul3gA,le uhka[a i , t h o u g hthe same speaker used [o . l eykki~t rh :n] for u_laikki_n.r~.

1.11 .5 . i be fore _r i s p r on ou nc ed ne a r ly a lw ays as [ I ] ; r a re ly as [e ] ,ve r y e xc e p t i ona l l y a s [a ]. T h i s i s one o f t he t yp i c a l J a f f na f e a tu r e s . C f .[dsAnnA1 tlrAn~ ttu:] ja_n_nal tiran tu, [~IrAppA.t.tAttU] ti_rappat.t.atu, b u t o n c e[ to rA kkO m ] b y the s a m e i n f o r m a n t .

1 .1 1.6 . S o m e t i m e s / o : / i s r e a l iz e d a s a m o r e o r le ss u n r o u n d e d , m e a n -mid [8: ] , c f . [pS:y] for p t y .

1.11 .7 . The (graphic ) s equence -a i w hi c h i s m or e o r l e s s r e gu l a r l ym o n o p h t h o n g i z e d i n c o n t i n e n t a l d i a l e c t s , r e m a i n s m o s t l y u n c h a n g e dm e d i a l l y ; i n A us l a u t , t he r e s e e m s t o be f r e e va r i a t i on be t w e e n t he s e -que nc e [ - ey ] a n d t he vow e l I- e | . I n s t a nc e s : m e d i a l l y L T n d [ a i k k u ;J a f f n a n a : [ e y k k i , , , n a : [ e y k k u ; L T i_nraikku J a f f n a i n t e y k k i ~ i n t e y k k u ;L T a_laittirukkira[ J a f f n a a[ey t l i r i kk i ra : [ ; f i na l l y L T t 6 c a i J a f f na t o : j e ;L T ki_lamai J a f f n a k i [ a m e ; L T ava_nai J a f f n a a v a n e ; L T i l lai J a f f n a i l l e ;b u t ( t h e s a m e i n f o r m a n t s ) L T m ( c a i J a f f n a m e : j e y ; L T k a l a i J a f f n a k a : l a y . 4

1 .1 1.8 . F i n a l / m / a n d / n / i s l o st a n d t h e p r e ce d i ng v o w e l m o r e o r le ss3 K. Sithamparanathan.4 CL my "No tes on Tw o Dialects of Ceylon Tam il", p. 33, 2.3.


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116 KAMIL ZVELEBILs t r o n g l y n a s a l i z e d i n a l l c o n t i n e n t a l s u b s t a n d a r d d i a l e c t s a n d i n C T .T h i s i m p o r t a n t p h e n o m e n o n i s t o t a l ly a b s e n t i n J a ff n a T a m i l. A l l m yJ a f fn a i n fo r m a n t s u s e d fo r m s l i k e [m a rA m , t o :. t. tA m , n e :rA m , 1 3isu tk6: t . . t~m p&lum, po:rom, / t : ru~umft~ /om] for LT m ara m , t6t.t.am, nOram ,pisk6t .t .um pdlurn, p6 kir6 m , drum uka m , and [aven , po :ve :n , ge ixI rAn,maTAn, n/t:n, m~t:. t. t/ t:n] fo r L T ava_n,p6 vO , ceyki.r@ , makan_, n ~ , mdt.t.~ .1.12. Consonants

1 .1 2 .1 . I n t e rv o c a l i c p l o s i v e s 51 .1 2.1 1. / k / . T h e i n f o I m a n t s f r o m J a f f n a p r o n o u n c e d t h e v a r i a n t s

o f i n t e r v o c a l i c / k / i n t h e f o l l o w i n g r a t i o : v o i c e d a l l o p h o n e s [ 7, 7 h , g ] :u n v o i c e d [ x ,k h] = 5 : 2.A m o n g b o t h t h e v o i c e d a n d v o ic e le ss p r o n u n c i a t i o n t h e r e w e r e so m e

p e c u l i a r v a r i a n t s t o b e h e a r d , n a m e l y [ 7 h , g ] a n d [ k h] .T h e m o s t u s u a l v o i c e d a l l o p h o n e o f / k / w a s , h o w e v e r , t h e v o i c e d

f r i c a t i v e [ 7 ] j u s t a s i n c o n t i n e n t a l T a m i l . A ll m y i n f o r m a n t s f o r J a f f n ah a d t h i s s o u n d i n t h e i r p h o n e t i c i n v e n t o ry , c f . [SU T A m , p a y ae l, pa q 'e y ,t A T A . d I I I , mhTi.r~Si, mAy/t:n/~:.dtu, n~t:TAm ma:, pus~tAThm ] fo r L T c u k a m ,pakal , pakai , takat .u , maki lcci , makdndt .u , ndkammd, pustakam.

O n e o f t h e i n f o r m a n t s , 6 h o w e v e r , p r e f e r r e d t h e v o i c e d I'L OSIV E [ g]i n th i s p o s i t i o n : [S Ug A m, / tg h m ] . T h e s a m e a l l o p h o n e w a s o c c a s i o n a l l yh e a rd w i t h t h e o t h e r i n fo rm a n t s , e . g . [ v i : rA b / t : g t u ] , a n d I s u s p e c t t h a tt h e v a r i a t i o n b e t w e e n t h e f r i c a t iv e a n d o c c l u s iv e in t h i s p o s i t i o n i s t oa c o n s i d e r a b l e e x t e n t c o n d i t i o n e d b y d i f fe r e n t f o r c e a n d m u s c u l a rt e n s i o n (fo rtis : lenis o p p o s i t i o n ) a n d b y t h e f a c t w h e t h e r t h e p r o n u n -c i a t i o n i s c a r e f u l a n d s l o w , o r c a r e l e s s a n d f a s t .

R a r e l y , t h e a l l o p h o n e [ 7 h ] o c c u r r e d , a n d t h i s o n l y i n o n e i t e m , v i z .[gu.dtuTh/t:.dtu: cut.ukdt.u " b u r n i n g g r o u n d " .

T h e m o s t f r e q u e n t a l l o p h o n e a m o n g t h e v o ic e le ss v a r i a n ts w a s u n -d o u b t e d l y Ix ] , a c l e a r v o i c e l e ss f r i c a t i v e : [m A X A n , m A x u.d hm , m u x A m ,su.dfix/t: .di] for LT makan, makut .am, mukam, cut .ukdt .u . T h i s [ x ] , t o o ,w a s f a m i l i a r t o a ll J a f f n a i n f o r m a n t s . [ k h I o c c u r r e d t h r e e t i m e s i n t e r -v o c a l i c a l l y , a l w a y s o n t h e b o u n d a r y b e t w e e n t w o c o m p o n e n t m e m b e r sin a c o m p o u n d , cf. [~u.dmkh/t:.dtu:, pA.l.likhu:.dhm, t~A~/~:lkhA.n~io:r].

5 This paragraph, to o, contains a p urely descriptive and synchronic statement.No historical or comparative discussion of the matter is attempted.Mr. Balasingham. I met with an obstinately consequent [g] allophone of inter-voc alic/k] even in M adras, pronounced by an informant who could n ot be suspectedof any Ceylonese affinities or relations. I hope I shall have opportunity to elaboratethis matte r in the future.


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TAM IL 117T h u s t h e m o s t f r e q u e n t v o i c e d a n d v o ic e le ss v a r i an t s o f in t e r v o c a l ic

/ k / a r e , i n J a f f na T a m i l , D'] a n d [ x] r e spe c t ive l y .1 .12.12. / c / . A pa r t f r o m va r i a n t s c u r r e n t i n c o n t i ne n t a l T a m i l ap e c u l i a r v o i c e d [z] o c c u r r e d q u i t e f r e q u e n t l y in t h e s p e e ch o f o n e i n -fo rm an t : 7 [k~.du6/ t: zi] fo r kat.utdci , [ve:l~z~yxIrAn] for v F l a i c e y k i . r ~ .

1.12 .13 . / .t/ was a lw ays - w i th a s ing le im po r ta n t exc ept ion - rea l -i zed in te rv oca l i ca l ly a s a vo iced s top : [pA.dAm, mu.dIvm: , v i.duclAley ,ennfi.deyA, vi:d.tu:] for pat .am, m ut . iv u , v i t .u ta la i , en_nut.a iya , v~t .u . T h eex ce pt io n w as t he gen i t ive-po ssess ive suff ix -. ta ,,~ - . te in e .g. [h: r. t^] fo rydrut .a iya , or [m/t:m/t:n. tA] for m d m ~ u t . a i y a .

1 .12.14. A n a l og i c a l l y t o t he pa t t e r n o f t he m a i n va r i a n t s [Y , g ] a n dIx ] o f i n t e r v o c a l i c / k / , t h e s p e e c h o f J a f f n a h a s th e f o l l o w i n g v a r i a n t so f i n t e r vo c a l i c / t / : [ 6 , ~1] a n d L t ] . T h e r a t i o i s s om e w ha t d i f f e r e n t f r o mth a t o f the va r i an t s o f / k / , v i z . [6 ] : [r : [0] ~ [ t ] = 7 : 5 : 1 . Cf . in -s tan ces fo r [6] : [mA 6Ore, thAlevi6i, sey6i , m/ t :6i r i , A6fi ] fo r L T m a t u r a i ,ta la iv i t i , cey t i , mat ir i , a tu; e xa m pl e s o f [ ~1 ], a n a p i c a l vo i c e d s t op :[mA ~tippm, mA ct~rey, vi.dfidAley, IdO, pAT Odi] fo r m a t i p p u , m a t u r a i ,v i t .u ta la i , i tu , pakut i . Ins ta nce s of [0] ~ [ t ]: [po :0o] in ve ry fas t speechf o r L T p6ki_ratu , C T / p o : k u . t u / ; c f . f u r t h e r [ p e y 0 t u ] f o r p e y t u , [ tAyeyms e y t ~ ] f o r L T t a y a v u c e y t u . I t ] oc c u r r e d on l y i n t h i s s i ng l e i n s t a nc e .1 .12.15. T h i s pa t t e r n r e a pp e a r s w i t h i n t e r voc a l i c / p / . T he m os tf r e qu e n t v a r i a n t i s a v o i c e d f r i c a ti ve [13]; m uc h l es s f r e qu e n t i s a vo i c e dp l os i ve [ b ] ; a n d t he unvo i c e d va r i a n t i s e x t r e m e l y r a r e . T he r a t i o i sap pr ox im ate ly 7 : 3 : less tha n 1. Ins tan ce s o f [13]: [ko:13Am, VlI3As/t:rAm,pirAl3AInm, tAI3it:lkhAn~to:r, ayy~:13e:r] f o r L T k S p a m , v i p a c d r a m , p i r a -pa lam , tapd lkan t6r, ay yd pFr . I n s t a nc e s o f [ b ]: [ ko : ba m , s o :bA m ,thAbfi:lkAo~o:r] for k ~ p a m , c ~ p a m , t a p d l k a n t 6 r ; for [p] [ennfi .deyape:r] .

T he i n t e r voc a l i c p l o s ive s / k , .t, t , p / a r e t hus , i n t he J a f f n a T a m i l o fm y info rm an ts , rea l i zed m os t ly a s VOICED a l t e rn an t s , u sua l ly FRICATIVE[7, 6 , [~] , VOICED PLOSIVES oc cu r inte rvo cal ic a l ly w i th /k , t / , an d /p /[g, ~l, b] an d o f co urs e w i t h / t . / [ .d] ; VOICELESS inter vo cal ic va r ian ts [x]o r [ kh ], [. t] , [ t] o r [ 0 ] , [p ] a r e m uc h l e s s f r e que n t . N e a r l y a l l quo t e dvar ian t s occ ur in th e speech o f J a f fn a spe akers in FREE VARIATION. Th es a m e i t e m i s now r e a l iz e d w i t h v o i c e d , t he n w i t h vo i c el e ss va r i a n t , sT h u s I m u s t a g re e , o n t h e f o rc e o f m y d a t a w h i c h s e e m t o b e r a t h e rc o n v in c in g , w i t h M . S h a n m u g a m (op. cir.) t h a t i n t h e p r e s e n t -d a y J a f f n asp ee ch BOT H VOICED an d VOICELESS STOPS OCC UR INTERVOCALICALLY,7 Mr. Sithamparanathan. The same [z] occurred in the speech of another informantfor "m ixed" comm on Ceylonese.s Cf. the short discussion in w1.4., pp. 30-31, in m y "No tes o n Two D ialects".


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118 KAMIL ZVELEBILa n d n o t w i t h K . K a n a p a t h i P i l l a i (op. c ir. , 222-3) who s t a t e s the in t e r -voc a l i c vo ic e le s s s tops t o be t he u s ua l p r o nu nc i a t i on i n J a f f n a T a m i l . a1 .12.2 . A s p i r a t i on o f i n i ti a l / k , t , p / . A p a r t f r om t he oc c u r r e nc e o fvo i ce l es s a l l ophon e s o f i n t e r vo c a l i c s t ops l i ke I x, .t, t ] , the s t r on g a s p i r a t i ono f i n i ti a l s t ops i s a f e a t u r e w h i c h i s t yp i c a l a n d c ha r a c t e r i st i c o f J a f f na(an d Cey lone se) Ta m il . Cf . [khArmpp~nAn, khh.dam pA~ fi , t~Ami.lAri ,thAp ptu, tnAmbi: , thAlevi~Ji, ph fi :rkk ir& y, plaI.18] fo r L T karuppa_nan ,ka t .u m pa ceu , tami_ lan_, tapp u , tam pf , ta la iv i ti , pdrkk i_rdy , p i_ lai .

1.12 .3 . Va r i an t s o f / c / . In th e J a f fn a d ia l ec t , t he a f f r i ca te p los ivep r o nu nc i a t i on o f i n i ti a l r s e e m s t o be p r e f e r r e d by a l l i n f o r m a n t s , c f.[6uTA m, t~Ariy/t:nz, t~fi.dtnhT/t:.dm, ~f~llfi, ~/t:ppirrA6m ] fo r c u k a m ,e a r iy ~ a , cu t .ukd t .u , co l lu , cdppi t.uk i_ra tu . H o w e v e r , a l l i n f o r m a n t s h a v et he o t he r t w o a l l ophone s o f / c / , v i z [ ~ ] a nd [ s ] , i n f r e e va r i a t i on , o f .[~ivnpp/t:y, ~fid.mTh~:d.m] fo r c ivappdy , eu t .ukd t .u , and [seyyA, say6i] fore e y y a , c e y t i .

A v e r y i n te r e st in g , q u i t e f r e q u e n t a n d t h e r e f o r e i m p o r t a n t , v a r i a n to f i n i t i a l c - i s, how e ve r , t he f r on t a l s t op [ts ] w h i c h w a s f a m i l i a r to a l lt h r e e i n f o r m a n t s a n d u s e d b y t h e m i n u t t e r a n c e s l i k e t h e f o l l o w i n g :[Y en dA p e :r t s u n d A r a m ] " m y n a m e i s S u n d a r a m " , [AVAn s~yyAvlll~]"h e has no t d on e" , [ ieppud. i t s i: t fi : ] "h o w (did) Si ta " , [ tsAnOsykklT1] " t ot h e m a r k e t " . T h i s i s p r o b a b l y t h e f e a tu r e d es c r ib e d b y K . K a n a p a t h i ,op. c it . , p. 223.

1 . 1 2 . 4 . A l l m y i n f o r m a n t s f o r J a f f n a h a d a n e a r l y h u n d r e d p e r c e n tm e r g e r o f t h e p h o n e m e _/ w it h ./. T h e n o r m a l a n d m o s t fr e q u e n t p r o n u n -c i a t io n o f ( g r a p h ic ) [ m a y b e i l l u s tr a t ed b y t h e f o l lo w i n g e x a m p l e s :[ thAmi.l , m/ t:mbA.1Am, m e:s~y m kfi . le : , e .l fimbfive:n, k u !A n ~ , ma. lA,Ippo.lfi~tm, o.leykkI.ar~:n] fo r L T tami_ l , mdm pal_am, m~ caiy i_n M_I~, e_ lum-p u v ~ , ku_ lan ta i, m a_la i , ippo . lu tu , ul_aikki_n_rdn. I n a s m a l l m i n o r i t y o fcases , on e o f th e in fo rm an ts use d [ .r ], c f . [mA.rA, mA.re, kh:y6A m e.r~6A]f o r m a ! a i , k d k i t a m e ! u t a .

1 .1 2.5 . A n i n t e re s t in g ca s e w a s th e r e a l iz a t i o n o f / r / i n t h e a d j . n u m .o ru " o n e " a s [d ~] an d [d] , cf . [n& n od ~ e i n~tlyen, a o |o d m t Am~.l men ia l ]" I a m a n I n d i a n , s h e i s a T a m i l w o m a n " .

1.12.6. S o m e co n s o n an t s, p a r t i c u l a r l y / k / a n d / v / a re w e a k en e d a n dl o s t i n t he i n t e r voc a l i c pos i t i on qu i t e f r e que n t l y , c f . u t t e r a nc e s l i ke[SAO:rIyIn] L T cakOtariy in , [m/ t :n ] LT ma k a _ n , [mA~e.1] L T m a k a [ ? ~ F o ra How ever, wh en speaking about "intervocalic voiceless plosives", we should ratheruse - as already stressed - the term v oiceless ricatives in the absolute majority ofcases - at least in case o f/k /.10 Th e s am e info rm ant w ho h ad [mA~e.1] or "da ughter" , u se d [mAXAn] for "son".


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TAM IL 119t he l o s s o f / v / , c f . t he v e r y f r e que n t f o r m s [ ~ t:n ] f o r ava_n, [/l:.lo] aval.ai ,[h:r d.ellIyil] avar t . e l l i y i l , [enAkkAon] e_nakku ava_n, [an t0..I~vAo~IAvu.dAn]avan u l lY van tavu ta_n . T h i s l o ss o f in t e r v o c al i c c o n s o n a n t m a y b e a l soo b s e r v e d w i t h o t h e r c o n s o n a n t s , t h o u g h n o t a t a l l a s f r e q u e n t l y as w i t h/ k / a n d / v / , cf. [ve:le!.yIr~:r] v Ol a i c e y k i r d r . T h e t e n d e n c y w a s f o u n di n t he i d i o l e c t s o f a l l m y i n f o r m a n t s , i t w a s none t he l e s s s t r onge s t w i t hN o . 1 .

1 .12.7 . C on s o na n t c l u s te r s .1 .12 .7 .1 . Th e c lus t e r s / i l k / an d / t i c / were ALWAYS pr on ou nc ed as a

s e que nc e o f hom or g a n i c na s a l - k vO ICE O a l l oph one o f t he p l o s i ve , i .e .log, r id5] wi th one s ingle except ion: once, No. 2 ut tered [Ye:6o:13g:r jk~]f o r ~ t 6 v d ~ k i .

1 .1 2.7 .2 . T h e p h o n a t i o n o f th e s e q u e n c e / n t / h o w e v e r s h o w e d m o s ti n t e r e st i n g f r ee v a r i a ti o n . W h i l e a ll i n f o r m a n t s u s e d q u i t e o f t e n t h esequence wi th vo iced s top , the c lus t e r w i th vo ice les s s top , v i z . [0 t ] wasne ar ly equ a l ly f req uen t . Th us , s ide by s ide wi th [S~igclnm, sun~IArnm,vnr~gltu] for c o n t a i n , c u n t a r a m , v a n t u , a l l i n f o r m a n t s u s e d f o r m s l i k e[vnngur f ivA, vhn t f i , ye l jge :y irn tuvA0~t r tu~ktu] for L T (?) v a n t i r u p p d [ ,v a n t u , e h k ~ y i r u n t u v a n t i r u k k i _ r a t u . U n d e r t h e i m p a c t o f a p r e c e d i n g / i / ,/ n t / was pa la t a l i zed : [Anf id3o:m] a_rint6m.1.12.7.3. T h e c lust ers _np a n d m p w e r e a l w a y s p r o n o u n c e d w i t h aVOICED s to p : m y m ate r i a l show s on ly [an btu] ,,~ [ renbtu] an d [am btu]o r [ r e m b t u ] f o r a n_ p u, a m p u .

1 .12.7 .4 . V e r y i m po r t a n t i s t he p hon e t i c r e a l i z a t i on o f the ( g r a ph i c )s e que nc e _n_r. T h i s i s p r o no un c e d i n t h r e e w a ys : by f a r t he m os t f r e q ue n tr e a l i z a t i on o f t h i s g r oup i s t he a l ve o l a r vo i c e d c l u s t e r [nd ] , w h i c h is o fc o u r s e i n s h a r p c o n t r a s t t o t h e c o n t i n e n t a l ( l a t e M i d d l e T a m i l ) [ n n ]a n d ( m od e r n c o l l oqu i a l ) [ .no] . I ha ve e . g . t he f o l l ow i ng i t e m s i n m yda t a : [ n& .l hnd~yk] f o r L T ndl.a_n.raikku, [md~Ykk~nnA] for i_n_raikke_nna,[ ve : rt uond f i m e yf l le ] f o r v~'u o_n_rum~yi l la i , [pA.di:rendtu] for pat.?ren_ru,[ f~ndtu] for o_n_ru.

O nl y i n one i t e m , t he s t op w a s f r e q ue n t l y c l e a r l y vo i ce l es s , v i z. i nL T e n r u " h a v i n g s a i d s o - a n d - s o " : [ v h : r A n e n t m ] f o r L T varuki_r~ne_n_ru.O nl y onc e I ha ve i n m y da t a t he c on t i ne n t a l I nn ] : [ A pp0 . d l y i : nnm ] f o rappat, iye_nru.

1.12.7.5. Th e l on g (gr aph ic) _rr was a lw ays rea l ized as [Lt] , of . [n~:Lt tu]

The transition from on e vow el to another is, in Ce Ta, alway s a sm ooth hiatus withoutany glottalization as is often the case in continental dialects. Glottal catch to stopis q uite alien to all Ce T a dialects.


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1 2 0 K A M I L Z V E LE B IL

" y e s t e r d a y " . I n [ p f ~ :~ o ] f o r p S y i r r u , i t i s p a l a t a l i z e d u n d e r t h e i m p a c to f t h e p r e c e d i n g / i / .

1 .2 . M o r p h o l o g y1 . 2 . 1 . N o u n s .

T h e m o s t t y p i c a l a n d t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t f e a t u re o f n o m i n a l m o r -p h o l o g y o f J a f f n a T a m i l i s t h e g e n i t i v e - p o s s e s s iv e s u ff ix -n t . e , , , - n t . a /- n t e , ~ n t a , i x e l . f o r m s l i k e m a : r n a : n t . e " o f t h e u n c l e " , j o : n s i n t . a[ d5 o :n s in d .A ] " o f M r . J o n e s " , a m m a : n l e " m o t h e r ' s " , a k k a : n t e " e l d e rs i s t e r ' s " , a p p u n t a " f a t h e r ' s " .1 . 2 . 2 . P r o n o u n s .

1 .2 .2 1 . 3 . p . s g . m . i s o f t e n r e a l i z e d a s a : n , ~ a n , L T ava_n, o w i n g t o t h el o ss o f i n t e r v o c a l i c / v / .

3 . p . s g . f . i s o f t e n a:l., 3 . p . h o n o r . a : r .3 . p . p l . u y a r t . i s a v i y a l . , s i d e b y s i d e w i t h a v a r k a l . [ a v a t i k a l . .3 . p . p l . a h r . i t u k a .1 .2 .2 2 . V e r y i n t e r e s t i n g i s t h e a c c u s , o f 2 . p . s g . : u n t e / u n t a , c f . a n

u t t e r a n c e l ik e [ u n d h m a n i ~ t u k k o . l . lt u v a n ] " I s h al l e x c u s e y o u " .1 .2 .2 3 . T h e s o c i a t i v e i s f o r m e d w i t h - o : t . a / - o : t . a y .1 . 2 . 2 4 . T h e g e n i t i v e - p o s s e s s i v e h a s t h e s u f f i x - t .a / - t a ~ - r e , c f . t h e

f o r m s a : r t . a " w h o s e " ( L T y d r u t . a i y a ) , e t ik a t , a " o u r " , a:nt. a " h i s " , a v a r t a" h i s " ( h o n o r . ) , a v u t . a " t h e i r " , e n t a " m i n e " , u n t a " y o u r " ( s g . ) , e n t e " m y " .E q u a l l y o f t en , h o w e v e r , o n e m a y h e a r t h e f o r m s w i t h - u t . e y a , c f . a v a n u -f e y a , u m m u ! e y a , a : r u t e y a , eh k a l . u t. e ya , e n n u t .e y a .

1 . 2 . 3 . V e r b s .1 .2 .3 1 . M y d a t a s h o w t h e f o l l o w i n g f i n it e v e r b s u f f i x e s u s e d i n F RE E

V A RIA T IO N b y a / / i n f o r m a n t s f o r J a f f n a : TM11 Hi s to r i ca l ly , t h is su ff ix seems to ha ve evo lved ou t o f OT a gen . poss . -ut.ai (el .avarut.ai nat.t .u " i n h i s l a n d " , K u r u n t o k a i 11.8): -_n q- -u t a i >*- _n q - -u . t e > -n t . e >-rite; t h i s i s a n a l o g i c a l t o t h e M a l a y a l a m d e v e l o p m e n t o f iva_nut.aiya > * ivan_ute > *iv ant.e > * ivan_.re > iva n.re ( i. e. [ iv^nde] ). Th e p r ocess and the r e su l t ing f o r m a r eb o t h c o m m o n t o J a f fn a T a . a n d M a l a y a la m .x2 S o m e o f t h e in f o r m a n t s p r e f e r r e d t he f i r s t se t ( t he f i r s t co lumn ) o f su f fixes , wh ichI t h ink i s h i s to r i ca l l y p r io r , t o t he second , wh ich seems to be an i nnova t ion in Ja f f naT a m i l . H o w e v e r , n e i t h e r o f t h e m u s e d t h i s o r t h a t s y s t e m t o t h e exc l u s i o n o f t h eo the r . Th us t he J a f f na d i a l ec t i s o f m uch in t e r es t a l so f o r gene r a l l ingu is ti cs a s ani l lu s t r a ti o n o f a s y s t e m w h i c h is , in o u r d a y s , ra t h e r u n s t e a d y a n d i n r a p i d d e v e l o p m e n t .


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TA MILS g . P 1 .

1.p. - a n / - e n ~ - e :n - a m ,~ a : m / - o r e2 . p . -a y / -a :y / -e: - iyal. / - i :t ikal .3 . p . m . - a n / - a : n e p i c e n e - i na m / -a :rka l. ~ -a : t i ka ( l . )

f . -a / -a : l. N -a : n . -u kan . - u / - u t u

h o n o r . - a r / - a : r

121

I l l u s t r a t i o n s :1 .p . sg . ceyt_an " I d i d , I m a d e " , kol.l .uvan " I s h a l l t a k e " , p o : r a n " I g o " ,

v a : r a n " I c o m e " , i r u k k i r a n " I a m " , po:y i t . t .an " I w e n t a w a y , I l e f t " , n a : ne ~ t i r u v a n " I s h a l l b e r i s i n g " ; 1 3 p o : r e n " I g o " , p o : k r e : n " I g o " .2 . p . s g . i r u k k i r a y " y o u a r e " ; p a : r k k i r a : y " y o u s e e " ; ca:pp i t .u re : " y o u

e a t " , i r u k k i r e : " y o u a r e " .3 . p . s g . m . v a ~ t i r u v a n " h e w i l l b e c o m i n g " , c a : p p i r r a n " h e e a t s " , ca ' .pp i -

t .uvan " h e w i l l e a t " , ca:ppit.t.vit.t.a:n " h e f i n i s h e d e a t i n g " .3 .p . sg . f . v a ~ t u r u v a " s h e w i l l b e c o m i n g " , t a r u v a : l . " s h e w i l l g i v e " ,

a: t ina : l . " s h e d a n c e d " , c e y k i r a : " s h e d o e s " .3 . p . s g . n . i r u k k u " i t i s " , n a t . a k k u t u " i t w a l k s " , p o : u t u " i t g o e s " .3 . p . h o n o r , v a ~ t i r u v a r " h e [ h o n . ] w i l l b e c o m i n g " , i r u k k i r a : r " h e

[ h o n . ] i s " .1 .p .p l . p o : r a m , p o : r a : m , p o : r o m " w e g o " .2 . p . p l . p o : r i y a l . " y o u g o " , ca:pp i t .uv iya l . " y o u w i ll e a t " , p a : r k k i r i y a l .

" y o u s e e " , vat31iyal. " y o u c a m e " , p o : n i : h k a l . " y o u w e n t " .3 .p .p l . ep i c . a v iy a l, p o : y i n a m " t h e y w e n t " , k u t . i k k i n a m " t h e y d r i n k " ;

c e y k i r a : r k a l . " t h e y d o " , a ! i c c u p p o : t . t . a : h k a , " t h e y d i d b e a t " .3 . p . p l . n . p o : y i t . t . u k a " t h e y l e f t" .1 .2 .3 2. A f e w ti m e s I w a s h a p p y t o h a v e t a p e - r e c o r d e d t h e r a r e f o r m s ,

h i s t o r i c a l l y m o s t p r o b a b l y p r i o r t o t h o s e d e s c r i b e d a b o v e , f o r m s w h i c hm a y i n d i c a t e h o w T a m i l f i n i t e v e r b a l f l e x i o n a s s u c h o r i g i n a t e d a n dd e v e l o p e d . C f . va_nt_ani i n [ t h A m b i :n i : y e p p o T o . l ~ m b I l ~ : y r o d t u v ~ n ~ t^ n I ]1~ This and similar form s are somewhat difficult for segmentation and analysis.They are m et with in a ll Ceylon dialects o f Ta ., el. an utterance from m y Batticaloamaterial: na:n enatu ve:leye ompat_u m an ikk i tot.at~kiruvan "I shal l begin my workat nine o'clo ck" . As far as I see , these form s m ay be explained in three ways: first,as adverb, participles q- finite future of v.b. ir u " to be" (LT tot.atikiyirupp~), wherethe future tense surf. is weakened, spirantized and voiced; or, a s an an tique preserva-tion of a participial nou n in the finite verb function, filling the Predicate slot in theclauses: na:n.., tot.ahkiruvan = L T nan to.tat~kuki.rava_n; third, there is a remotepossibility o f explaining these form s as a contamination of present tot.a~kuki.r~ +future tot.a~kuv~. Though the second explanation sounds tempting, the first seemsto be m ore plausible; the third is improbable.


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122 KAMIL ZVELEBIL" b r o t h e r , w h e n d i d y o u c o m e f r o m C o l o m b o ? " , f u r t h e r c a ~ l i c c i n a n[ 6 ^ n ~ l I ~ i n An ] " I m e t " , f o r L T c a n t i t t O , a n d c e y t a n i y a : in [ni: Indiav e : le ~ ey dA n iy /t:] " h a v e y o u d o n e t h i s w o r k ? " O n e s h o u l d n o t i c e th em a i n s tr e ss o n t h e r o o t in [ w i~ l A n I] " y o u [s g] c a m e " . I t s e em s t h a tf o r m s l i k e i r u k k i r a n " I a m " d e v e l o p ed f ro m < * i r u k k i r a n a n , i .e . * i r u k -k i . r a n ~ ; l ikewise v a : r a n " I a m c o m i n g " < * v a ' r a n a n < * v a : r a n a : n , i .e .* v a r u k i . r a n ~ . T h e a t t e s t e d f o r m s l i k e v a ~ t a n i , c e y ! a n i y a : , c a ~ t i c c i n a na r e m o s t p r o b a b l y t o b e a n a l y z e d a s * v a n t a n f , * c e y t a n f - t - - d , * c a n t i t t an ~ , i .e . t h e y a r e a s e q u e n c e o f r e l. p a rt i c ip l e s i n t h e d e t e r m i n a t i v e s lo t s,a n d t h e p e r s o n a l p r o n o u n s a s fi ll er s o f t h e h e a d - s l o t s .

T h e 2 . p . p l . s u f f . -iyal . s e em s t o b e t h e r e s u lt o f s p i r a n t i z a ti o n a n dw e a k e n i n g , a n d f i n a ll y l o ss o f t h e g r o u p - rk - : * - i r -ka l . > *- i ( r )ka [ >*, ikal . > *ival . > - iya [ ( o r p e r h a p s w i t h o u t t h e s t a g e *-iva[ ). 1~

W h a t i s t h e o r i g i n o f 3 . p . p l .u y a r t . - i n a m I a m u n a b l e t o s a y a t p r e s e n t .1 .2 .3 3. I n n o t e 1 4, a n a n a l o g y b e t w e e n J a f f n a a n d B r a h m i n T a . w a s

i n d i c a t e d ( i d en t i c al t e n d e n c y i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e 2 . p .p l .s u ff ix ) .A n o t h e r i n t e r e s t in g p o i n t i n t h i s c o n n e c t i o n is th e i d e n t i t y o f J a f f n aa n d B r a h m i n T a . 2 . p . p l . i m p e r . s u f f . - h k o : , c f . J a f f n a f o r m s v a : r u h k o : ,i r u h k o : " c o m e y o u [ p l . ] " , " s i t y o u [ p l . ] " , a n d p r o h i b i t i v e s p o :k a : t e : i ~ k o :" d o n o t g o " , ca:ppit .a:te:l iko: " d o n o t e a t " .1 . 2 . 3 4 . Ne g . c o n d i t i o n a l h a s t h e s u f f i x -a:t.!i, el. [ni: v~e:r/t:t.t.i] fo r L Tn i v a r d v i ! td l " i f y o u d o n o t c o m e " .

1 .2 .4 . "As soon as" (LT: r e l .pa r t . + -u t . an_) i s -o:t .an i n J a f f n a T a m i l( - a o f r e l . p a r t . + u - > o : ), c f . el .umpino:t .an " a s s o o n a s o n e r i s e s " .1 .3. O n e p e c u l i a ri t y s h o u l d b e m e n t i o n e d i n c o n n e c t i o n w i th s y n t a x :f o r a d a t i v e o f d ir e c t io n , t h e J a f f n a s p e a k e r s u s e d a n o u n i n t h e l o c a ti v e ,e .g . i ~ ! i y a :v i l n i :h k a l , e p p o : p o : r i y a [ " w h e n w i l l y o u g o t o I n d i a ? " .1 .4 . T h e t y p i c a l h i a tu s - f i lt e r i n J a f f n a T a . i s -y - , u s e d a l s o i n t h e p o s i t i o nw h e r e S t a n d a r d L i t e r a r y T a m i l w o u l d u s e -v -, c f. J a f fn a p u t . i k k a y i l l e ,ka:n. ay i l le f o r L T p i t . i k k a v i l l a i , k d n . a v i l l a i.

1.5. V o c a b u l a r y

I g i v e b e l o w a l is t o f l e x i c a l i t e m s w h i c h a r e t y p i c a l f o r t h e s p e e c ho f m y J a f f n a in f o r m a n t s ; e i th e r t h e y d o n o t o c c u r i n o t h e r m o d e r n1~ Cf. the Bratmain surf. - e : [ which seems to be a furth er developm ent in this direc st ion: p o : r i y a [ > p o : re :[ .


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TAMIL 123c o l l o q u i a t s , o r t h e r e i s a m o r e o r le s s s t r i k i n g s e m a n t i c d i f f e r e n c e i nt h e i r u s e b e t w e e n J a f f n a a n d t h e c o n t i n e n t a l d i a l e c ts , o r t h e y h a v e as p ec i f i c p h o n e m i c s h a p e , d i f f e r e n t f r o m t h a t o f t h e c o n t i n e n t a l f o r m s .a l l a n , a t t a : r " b r o t h e r - i n - l a w "a p p u x5 " f a t h e r , p a p a "appot . i " t h u s , i n t h a t w a y "a m m a n " u n c l e "a y t u " t h i n ' ' .6a y y a : " f a t h e r "a 'r " w h o "i ~ c a " h e r e "iru " t o s i t '1 7ut.aniya: " a t o n c e "un.t.u " i t i s , i t e x i s t s ' '* su[l .e:kku " i n s i d e - t o "e: la : tu " i t i s n o t p o s s i b l e "k a t e y k k a " t o s p e a k "k a : l a m u r e y i l e " i n t h e m o r n i n g "ka:v i ! i yav i t . ena: " i n t h e m o r n i n g "k a : s u ~9 " m o n e y "k i [ a m e " w e e k ' 's ~

k u t . i k k a " t o b a t h e "ket . iya: " q u i c k l y 'z *korn. amen. t.u " g o v e r n m e n t ' '22k o : 5 ? i " t r a i n "k o : p pi " c o f f e e "k r a : m a m " v i l l a g e "g r a : m a m " v i l l a g e "cat. t.ey " b l o u s e "c a : r i " s a r e e ''2 3!a pa :lk an to :r ~ t apa:lka.nt .o:r " p o s t -

oflCice',24t a m i l . a r " a T a m i l i a n "! a m i [ p o m p i l . [ e " T . w o m a n "t a m i l m a n u ~ i " T . w o m a n "! a r u k a " g i v e " ( w i fe t o h u s b a n d )t a v u n " town"t u v a h k a " t o b e g i n "! o : s e [ ~ o : se ] ~5 " d o s a i "

*~ In L T appa_n, app (t; a ppu a n d appucci " p a p a " i s u s e d i n S o u t h E a s t e rn c o n t i n e n ta ld i a l e c t s , t o o .a6 E .g . " th i n r i ce - f i e ld" , c f . LT aitu " b e a u t i f u l , s o f t " , Put . 29.2, 271.3 etc.,7 I n L T a n d m o s t c o n t . d i al e c ts , iru i s u s e d t o d a y o n l y a s verbum existentiae o ri n t h e m e a n i n g o f " li v e , w a i t , s ta y " . M y i n f o r m a n t s u s e d t h i s r o o t o n l y in t h e m e a n i n g" to s i t " , e .g . va:nko: irunko: " d o c o m e i n a n d t a k e a s e a t " ; anakku munna: murukanirukkira:r " i n fr o n t o f m e s it s M r . M u r u g a n " . I n O T a iru w a s u s e d i n t h e m e a n i n g" to s i t " , c f . Pur. 66 vat.akkirunt6r( " h e w h o w a s s i t t i n g ( f a c i n g ) t h e n o r t h " .18 I n J a f f n a T a . t w o r o o t s a r e u s e d a s verba exististentiae: a-ku a n d u[-, u~.~t.u; ins p o k e n c o n t . T a . uht.u i s n o w u s e d o n l y v e r y r a r e ly a s t h e v e r b o f e x i st e n c e .,9 I n c o n t . T a m i I p a n a m i s u s e d r a t h e r t h a n kacu.20 In con t . Ta . varam i s u s e d r a t h e r t h a n ki.lamai f o r " w e e k " ; t h e l e x e m e ki_lamais u r v iv e d i n t h e n a m e s o f t h e w e e k .2 , A typ ica l ly J a f fna u t t e r an ce w i th th i s i t em i s na :n ketiya: va:ra n " I a m c o m i n gq u i c k l y " .2~ I n c o n t i n e n t a l s p o k e n T a m i l t h i s i s e i t h e r sarkka:ru o r araca:ftkon.28 J n con t inen ta l s poken Ta . i t i s put.ave or ci:le / ce:le.24 tapa:lkanto:r s e e m s t o b e a " p a r t i a l L e h n f i b e r s e t z u n g o f D u t c h postkantoor( D u t c h kantoor < F r e n c h comptoir) a n d i s a s s u c h a t r a c e o f th e D u t c h c u l t u r a l in -f l u e n c e i n C e y l o n d u r i n g t h e 1 8 th c e n t u r y " ( g r a t e f u l l y a c k n o w l e d g e d a s a p e r s o n a lc o m m u n i c a t i o n f r o m F . B . J . K u i p e r ). I n c o n t i n e n ta l T a . o n l y tapa:la:pi:s o r tapa:la:fi:sui s u s e d . T h i s w o r d i s c o n s id e r e d u n c i v i l i z e d a n d a l ie n b y C e y l o n s p e a k e rs .25 In con t . Ta.~ usu al ly [do:se] .


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124 KAMIL ZVELEBILn a : l . a n t e y k k u "the day after t o -

m o r r o w T Mn i t t i r e y "sleep"n i t t i r e y a : k k a "to put to sleep"p a t . a m "cinema"p i l i y a r "husband"pi l . a t l e "much; aloud '~p u r u . s a n "husband"p u l l e "daughter"p e ~ c a : t i "wife"p e v t u "wife"p e : ~ f u "then"p o l i c c i "daughter"pot . i ye n "boy"

bl .auz "blouse"m a k a n "son"makal . "daughter"m a c c a n "brother-in-law"maccal . "sister-in-law"mael . "daughter"m a n e y v i "wife '2sm a : n "son"m a : m a : "uncle"m u ~ I i "before"r a u k k e "blouse"v a l . i k k a "to go"s i : m e y "England"s i : l e "saree"

2. TRINCOMALEE

2. For the Ceylon Tamil subdialect of TRINCOMALEEof. the main resultsas described in my "Notes on Two Dialects of Ceylon Tamil", especiallyon pp. 34-5. Here I give only a few truly d i a g n o s t i c features, which areperhaps characteristic only for the Trincomalee subdialect.2.11. The (graphic) -a i was realized with nearly absolute consistencyas [a] in the Trincomalee speech: ve: la , e t t a na , kan . n .a , en na for LT v~lai ,etta_ na i, ka.nn, a i, e_nn_ai.

2.12. The cluster -_n.r- was realized more or less always as alveolarvoiced [nd]: e n t u , i n t e y k k u for e_n.ru, in_.raikk u.2.21 2.p.sg.sufflX is always -a : in the Trincomalee speech: k e : t k i r a :"you [sg.] ask", al .uk i ra "you [sg.] weep", m u l . i k k i r a "you [sg.] stare".In interrogation before -a : it is -i, as in n i t l i ra k o l . r i y a : "do you [sg.]sleep?"

2.22. A specific 3.p.f.sg. su/Ex occurs in this subdialect, viz. - a v a ,e.g. a n u p p i n a v a "she sent", i r u ~ t a v a "she was".2.3. It seems that this subdialect has preserved more consistently than38 Cf. con t. CT na:lanikki.~7 E.g. pilaf.re ciritta:n "he laughed aloud"; but also p i la t te ma la "heavy rain".28 In cont. spoken Tamil this old literary word comes only now to be used insteador the more colloquial and frequentpee ca:Ii , po.nea:!i.


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TAM IL 125t h e o t h e r d i a l e c t s i n l i v i n g u s e t h e 2 . p . p l . p r o n . n ? r ( a n d t h e a n a l o g i cv e r b - f o r m a t i o n ) i n t h e h o n o r i f ic f u n c t i o n : n i : r p a t i l c o l la v e : n , u m " y o u( h o n o r . ) m u s t a n s w e r " ; e n a p p a : c o l l u r i : r " w h a t d o y o u ( p o l i t e ) s a y ? . " .

3 . B A T T I C A L O AM o t t o : " I a m a n a t i v e o f B a t t i c a l o aw h i c h l ie s i n t h e e a s t e rn p a r t o f C e y l o n .T h e s p o k e n l a n g u a g e o f t h a t c o u n t r yi s d i f f e r e n t f r o m t h e s p o k e n l a n g u a g eo f J a f f n a . " ( S v a m i V i p u l a n a n d a ) .

3 . 0 . I n T a m i l , B a t t i c a l o a i s c a l l e d m a l t . a k k a [ a p p u . I t i s t h e c e n t r e o fC e y l o n e s e T a m i l i a n s l i v i n g i n t h e S o u t h E a s t o f t h e i s la n d , a n d t h ed i a l e ct s p o k e n i n B a t t i c a l o a h a s o b v i o u s l y t w o s l ig h t ly d if f e re n t s u b -d i a l e c ts : o n e s p o k e n b y t h e c 6 _ n a k a r , t h e T a m i l - s p e a k i n g M u s l i m c o m -m u n i t y l iv i n g th e re , ~a a n d t h e o t h e r s p o k e n b y t h e T a m i l H i n d u s o fB a t t i c a l o a .

T h e B a t t i c a l o a f o r m o f s p e e c h i s T H E M O S T L IT E RA R Y -L IK E O F A L LS PO K E N D I A LE C T S O F T A M IL . ~ t i s t h e M O S T M A R G I N A L d i a l e c t o f t h e l a n -g u a g e , a n d a s s u c h , i t h a s p r e s e r v e d , o n t h e o n e h a n d , s e v er a l v e r ya n t i q u e f e a t u r e s , a n d i t h a s r e m a i n e d m o r e t r u e t o t h e l i te r a r y n o r mt h a n a n y o t h e r f o r m o f T a m i l ; b u t , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , i t h a s d e v e l o p e da f e w s t r i k i n g i n n o v a t i o n s . 3~ B a t t i c a l o a T a m i l h a s m a i n l y s o m e v e r ys p e ci fi c f e a t u r e s o f v o c a b u l a r y . H o w e v e r , i t m u s t b e c la s si fi ed w i t ht h e o t h e r C e y l o n e s e d i a l ec t s, s in c e i t is r e l a t e d t o t h e m b y s o m e c h a r -a c t e ri s ti c t r a it s o f it s p h o n o l o g y ( e. g. t h e c o m p l e t e m e r g e r o f I a n d 1.),o f it s m o r p h o l o g y ( o f. t h e g e n i t iv e a v a r t a " h i s " ) a s w e l l a s o f i ts l e x i c o n( e . g . s u c h i t e m s a s k e t . i y a : , k a : s u ) .

29 Batticaloa COn_akarhave a very r ich heri tage of folk-songs. Some o f them ha vebeen collected and published, e.g. by S. Vithyananthan in Mat..takka[appu nat.t .up-p a t a l k a [ (Kan dy, 1960), by Sadasiva Aiyar in Vasantan_ k avitt irat. t.u , o r b y K . P . R a t-n a m , K aa kaiy i l i_npattami .l , pp. 8 2-87. A ccordin g to the 1956 census there l ive abou t468 thousand o f T ami l speak ing c6_nakar in Ceylon.30 The in fo rmant , Mr . Man ikkam, 23 , was a Hindu vel[a.la, b o r n i n K a n n a n k u d a ,Bat t icaloa dis tr ic t . He w as an ideal inform ant , natural , easy to deal with , obl igingand intel ligent . He was cer ta inly speaking his own col loquial form o f Tamil . Ho w-ever , h is speech was in most features so near to the l i terary s tandard that even hisfr iends f rom Jaffna and Colombo were del ighted and amused, but they confirmedthe fa ct tha t he was a ctual ly speaking wh at Is spoken a s DAY-TO-DAYSPEECHb y t h eHind us of Bat t icaloa.


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1 26 KAMIL ZVELEBIL3.1 . P h o n o l o g y

3 .1 1 . V o we l s3 . 1 1 . 1 . A s i n J a f f n a T a . , / a / i n i t i a l l y a n d i n f i r s t s y l l a b l e s i s m o s t l y

r e a l i z e d a s [ / t ] t o [ a ] , i . e . , m o r e f r o n t e d a n d l o w e r t h a n t h e c o n t i n e n t a l[A] , c f . [ / tpp / t :, hn .n .h : , a . d f it !A , avA r ] . R a re ly , [A] oc cu r s i n t h e sa m ep o s i t i o n , c f . [ pA l]i]. N o [ ~e ] v a r i a n t o c c u r r e d i n t h e s p e e c h o f m y i n -f o r m a n t .

3 .1 1 .2 . I n i t i a l l y , / e / w a s u s u a l l y p r e c e d e d b y s li g h t p r e p a l a t a li z a t io n .T h u s I f i n d i n m y d a t a [ ie n nu .d e Y p e:r ] " m y n a m e " , [ Y en d .A p A l.l.i] " m ysc ho o l" , [YeVVA.1AV~t] h o w m u ch " .3 . 1 1 . 3 . / o / a n d / o : / i n f i r s t s y l l a b l e s w e r e o f t e n r e a l i z e d a s [ ~ ] a n d[~: ] , c f . [~gl lu l3ga] for LT eolluhkal. , [ p g : ~ t . h : r ] f o r L T p d y v i t . t d r .

3 .1 1 .4 . F i n a l -~ o c c u r r e d q u i t e f r e q u e n t l y a s / - a / , t h o u g h t h e c h a n g ew as b y no m ea ns r eg u la r , c f . [ ne :rALtI1A, Ye13gA, avAng:l .A] fo r n~ratti l~,e / lk ( , ava_ndl&

3 . 1 1 .5 . T h e ( g r a p h i c ) s e q u e n c e -a i w a s r e a l i z e d d i f f e r e n tl y . M e d i a l l y ,i t w a s o f t e n p r e s e r v e d a s a s e q u e n c e [ e y ], o r m o n o p h t h o n g i z e d i n t o[ a ] , o f . [ m / t 6 f i r e y k k i , t a l e y k k i , s a m e y k k i r / t :] f o r m a t u r a i k k u , t a l a i k k u ,e a m a i k k i r a l . ; b u t [o13gA.1At t/t :n , m anA vi , aVA nAppO :lA, tA1Apph:] fo r u h -ka l .a i t tdn , m an aiv i , ava_naippOla , ta la ip pd y . I n f i n a l p o s i t i o n , i t w a s s o m e -t im e s p r e se r v e d , m o r e f r e q u e n t ly c h a n g e d i n t o / - a / o r / - e / , c f. [ m e :s e y,v e : l e y ] b u t [ k a . d A , a v A le , s e : l e , k i l . A m e , t o : s e ] f o r kat.ai , av al.a i , e f lai ,k i_lamai, t6eai.

3 .1 1 .6 . F i n a l n a s a l c o n s o n a n t s a r e n e v e r lo s t a n d t h e p r e c e d i n g v o w e ln e v e r n a s a l i z e d i n B a t t i c a l o a s p e e c h , o f . [ av A n , n / t: n , s & p p i . d u v & n ,m AXAn, sun~ tArAm , m ArAm , nx rAm , p / t : l um ] .

3 . 1 1 .7 . T h e r e i s a g e n e r a l t e n d e n c y t o a f r o n t a l a n d h i g h e r a r t i c u l a t i o no f al l v o w e l s , c o m p a r e d t o t h e p r o n u n c i a t i o n o f o th e r C e y l o n e s e a n dn o n - C e y l o n e s e s p e a k e r s .3 . 1 2 . C o n s o n a n t s

3 .1 2 .1 . I n t e r v o c a l ic S t o p s . T h e m o s t s t ri k in g f e a t u r e o f m y B a t t i c a lo ai n f o r m a n t ' s s p e e c h i n t h is r e s p e c t w a s h is p r o n u n c i a t i o n o f i n t e rv o c a l i c/ k / a s a V O IC EL ESS F R IC A T IV E . O u t o f 2 4 i t e m s i n a l i st c o n t a i n i n g i n t e r -v o c a l i c - k - h e p r o n o u n c e d i n 2 3 c a s e s t h e v o i c e l e s s f r i c a t i v e [ x ] , a s i n[SUXAm , / t xam , t axA.dm : , pAXA1, m A xu .dAm , m AXA I , m u xA m , pax ~y ] , an do n l y o n c e h e u s e d t h e v o i c e d f r ic a t i v e i n [ m A T i.r ~S i:] . I n t h e s a m e i t e mh e u s e d o n c e t h e v o i c e d s t o p [ m A g i . l ~ S i ] . O n c e , i n c o n n e c t e d s p e e c h ,h e u s e d t h e f o r m [ m a h ^ n ] , a n d s e v e r a l t im e s h e u s e d t h e v a r i a n t [~ /] i n


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TAM IL 127u t t e r a n c e s l i k e [ v e : l e T I. d e y ~ A 6 m f o r L T v ~ l a i k i t . a i t t a t u , o r [ n a : np o : y I r e : n ] .

3 . 1 2 .2 . A s r e g a r d s t h e o t h e r i n t e r v o c a l i c p l o s i v e s (.t, t , p ) h i s p r o n u n -c i a t i o n , h o w e v e r , w a s I N F U L L A G R EE M E NT W I T H T HE C O N TIN E N TA LNORM .

I a m t h e r e f o r e i n c l i n e d t o a c c e p t F . B . J . K u i p e r ' s v i e w t h a t " t h em o d e r n p r o n u n c i a t i o n a s I t] , [ p ] w o u l d r a t h e r h a v e to b e e x p l a i n e d a st h e r e s u l t o f a s e c o n d a r y d e v e l o p m e n t t o v o i ce l es s p l o s iv e s " , w h i c hr e a c h e d ( s o m e s u b - d i a l e c t o r d i a l e c ts o f ) J a ff n a t o s o m e e x t e n t , a n dp e r h a p s s o m e o t h e r C e y l o n e s e d i a l e c t s t o a l e s se r e x t e n t , b u t n o t B a t t i c a -l o a ( th e m o s t m a r g i n a l T a . d i a le c t ) , a n d w h i c h d i d n o t a f f e c t / k / , s in c e/ k / , a s w e h a v e s e e n , is p r o n o u n c e d r a t h e r a s a v o ic e l e s s f r i c a t iv e w h e n -e v e r t h e r e i s a n y " u n v o i c i n g " , a n d o n l y v e r y r a r e l y a s a " p u r e " v o i c e l e s ss t o p i n a n y C e y l o n e s e T a . d i a l e c t ? 1

3 .1 2 .3 . T h e t r a n s i t i o n o f / k / t o / v / i s f r e q u e n t i n B a t t i c a l o a T a m i li n o n e i t e m , c u k a m , cf . [SUVAm/t : ] , [na :n SUVAm].

3 .1 2 .4 . S t r o n g i n i t i a l a s p i r a t i o n o f k , t , p i s c o m m o n i n B a t t i c a l o aa n d o t h e r C e y l o n e s e D i a l e c t s , c f . [ th Am I.1 Ary A|, t h A m b i y u . d e , t h o : s e ,t h A u n Il e , k h A . d f i m p h A ~ , p h / t : r k k lr / t y ] f o r L T t a r n i , l a r k a l . , t a m p i y u t . a i y a ,t O c a i , t a u n i l O , k a t . u m p a c c a i , p d r k k i r d y .

3 .1 2 .5 . T h o u g h / c / w a s p h o n e t i c a l l y r e a l i z e d i n d i f f e re n t w a y s , t h ev a r i a n t w h i c h w a s m o s t f re q u e n t l y p re f e r r e d w a s a n a l v e o l a r s p i r a n tI s ] : [ SI 1A , s e y y A , s I r l k k A ] .

3 .1 2.6 . A n e a r l y c o m p l e t e m e r g e r o f / l / w i t h / 1 / i s t y p i c a l f o r B a t t i -c a l o a i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e o t h e r C e y l o n T a . d i a l e c t s , c f. [mA|A] f o rm a l a i , [ k i l l t t m p o : y i . t . t u ] f o r k i l i t t upOyv i t . t . u e t c . I n [ m A T ~ . r ~ i : ] , [ .r ] o c -c u r r e d ( o n c e i n t h e w h o l e c o r p u s ) .~1 "N o te o n O ld T a m i l a n d J a f f n a T a m i l ' , p . 5 9 . T h e m o r e o r l es s c o n s e q u e n td i s t r i b u t i o n o f th e a l l o p h o n e s o f [k [ , / t / , ]p / accord i ng to a ce r ta in p a t te r n (cf . w 1 .12 .1 )in Ja f fna Ta . ra the r ind ica tes tha t the re the innova t ion i s roo ted more o r le ss f i rmly ,wh e r e a s in t h e m o s t m a r g in a l Ba t t i c a lo a d i a l e c t we s t i l l h a v e a s i t u a t i o n m o r e i nagreem ent wi th the OT a s ta te o f a f fa i r s , wi th the ex cep t ion o f Ix] which , on the con-t r a r y , i n d i c a t e s v ig o r o u s i n v a s io n o f t h e u n v o i c in g t e n d e n c y : h o we v e r , t h e r e s u l tis a f r icat ive , not a s top. T h e m a t t e r s t i l l r e m a in s o b s c u r e , a n d t h e g r e a t n u m b e r o ff ree va r ian ts i s ra the r ba ff ling , hu t so i t i s . An yhow , i t i s use fu l to quo te in th i s con-n e c ti o n K u i p e r ' s w o r d s (o p. c i t ., 59) abou t the vo iced p ronunc ia t ion o f in te rvoca l icp lo s iv e s wh ic h " i s a p p a r e n t l y a m e r e c o r o l l a r y o f th e l a x a r t i c u l a t i o n . An o th e r c o r o l -l a r y o f t h is a r t i c u l a t i o n i s t h e f r i c a t iv e p r o n u n c i a t i o n wh ic h m u s t b e d a t e d b a c k t oth e S a n g a m p e r io d ( i .e . , t h e f i rs t c e n tu ri e s A .D . ) " . I t h in k w e m a y f u l ly a g r e e w i thKu ip e r ' s c o n c lu s io n t h a t " i n t h e p r e s e n t s ta t e o f o u r k n o wle d g e t h e c u r r e n t v i e w th a tthe vo ice less p los ives o f (one o f ) the Ja f fna d ia lec ts rep resen t an an t ique fea tu re o ft h e p r e - S a n g a m p e r io d ( f o r t h i s i s im p l i e d in t h e t h e o r y i f o u r c o n c lu s ion s a r e c o r r e c t )wo u ld s e e m to l a c k a s o l i d f o u n d a t i o n " .


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128 KAMIL ZVELEBIL

3.12.7. Fin al l iqu ids are m ostly pres erved in B att . speech, cf . [v^rh:-vit..t~t:l, ni:ogo], ivo.liy/t:r].3.12.8. Th e clu ster -r_r- w as co nsi sten tly re alized as [ . ttd, of. [ne:ttm ]" ye s t e r da y" .

3 .12 .9 . Typ ica l for Ba t t ica loa in cont ra s t to o the r Cey lon Ta . d ia lec tsis the realiz ation o f the clus ter -_n_r- as [nd.] , e .g. in [In.dey] "t o d ay " fo rL T i_n_rai(kku). In en_ru "having sa id so-and-so " , how ever , n_r occu rsas [nd] , cf . [v^rmxlrAnendm] fo r LT varuki_r~_nel3.ru.

3.2 .10 . I t has been s t r e ssed tha t the Ba t t ica loa spoken d ia lec t i s them ost " l i te ra ry" one of al l co l loquia l form s of Tam i l . I g ive he re , a sin s ta nc e s t o supp or t t h i s s t a t eme n t , a f e w u t te r a nc e s o f na y in f o r m a n tou t o f t he hun dr e d a nd odd u t t e ra nc e s w h ic h a r e a t my d i sposal .

1. [IvA yenn~.deya mA neyvi] fo r L T iva! ennulaiya man_aivi.2. [ni:0gA.1 yh:r] fo r L T nf~ka[ ydr.3. [I6m yh:rO.deyA ve:ley] fo r L T itu ydrut.aiya v~lai.4. [Yennfi.deyApe:r sun~iArom] fo r L T e_nn_ut.aiya p~ r cu nta ram .5. [hi: k h:sA nup plnh:lfim avA n i0g m vArAm~t:.t.t~t:n] fo r L T ni kdcu

an_uppin_Mum avan_ ihk~ varamdt.t.d~3.6. [n~:n ke.dIyh: vArml'IrAnsndm sf~llm] fo r L T ndn dkk i ramdy varu -

kir~e_nru col7. [A0ClA ge :le mAfidSA1 mrA m] fo r L T anta dlai ma~ca[ niram.8. [In .dey s~t:ppi.dtuvA6m yennA yIn~kkirA6m ] fo r L T in_raikku cdppi-

luv atu e_nn_a irukki_ra tu.9. [avArTo] ko :p pi yu.dIkklra:rl, o.1] fo r L T avarka[ kdppi kut.ikki.rarkal..

10. [o0gA ku.dum bAleppA .dI vi:.t.tlls] fo rl L T uhk al, kut.um pam vft.t.il~eppati.As m a y be s e e n , t he d i ff e re nc e s be twe e n S ta nda r d L i t e r a r y Ta mi l a n d

the B a t t i c a loa da y - to - da y spe e c h a r e m os t ly on ly ve r y s li ght w i th r e ga r dto t he phon o log ic a l sy s t e m a nd the pho ne t i c r e a li z a tion o f t he sys t e m.

3.2. MorphologyI t is na tu r a l t ha t wh a t ha s j u s t be e n s t a t e d a bo u t B a t t ic a loa Ta m i lphon o logy , i s a lso va l id a s t o t he m or pho log ic a l sy s t e m o f th i s d i a le c t.B a t t i c a loa Ta mi l mor pho logy shows on ly a f e w d ive r ge n t f o r ms whe nc o m p a r e d w i th t h e m o r p h e m e s o f S t an d a r d L i t er a ry T a m i l.3.2.1. No uns and pronouns.

Only the ab la t ive and geni t ive suf f ixes show marked d ive rgence f romthe s t a nda r d mo r phe me s . The p l .su ff . -ka l . wa s a lwa ys c a r e f u l ly p r o -no un ced by m y info rm ant even in suc h i tem s as [VAyA1yA.1] "f ie lds" .


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TAMIL 129The accus, suff ix was f requently rea l ized as [a] , c f . o h k a [ a f o r L T uhka[a i ,i n a g r e e m e n t w i t h t h e p h o n a t i o n o f a i. The locat ive surf . - i le , as int a u n i l e " i n t h e t o w n " , vi:t.t.ile " in the house" , agrees wi th the CT suf fax .Peculiar is the abla t ive suff ix -it .teruutu , as in avanit. t .eruutu " f ro m h i m " ;o n e m a y p e r h a p s c o m p a r e w i t h t h i s a b l a t i v e t h e L T ava_n-it .atti l-iruntu.

Th e genit ive-possess ive is ra th er r ich in interest ing suffixes. First ,there is the suff ix - in, identica l with the standard - /_n: a k k a : y i n r a u k k e y" the b lou se o f e lde r s i s te r " . This su f f i is , how ever , r a re . Second, themost typical suff ix is -t.a / -at.a, cf. ent .a " m i n e " , avar t a ve : l e " h is w o r k " ,e~ka t . a " o u r s " , m a:m i ya t . a pu[ l . e " t h e d a u g h t e r o f t h e m o t h e r - i n -l a w ' .Mos t p r oba b ly the sa me su f f ix , on ly in l e s s c on t r a c t e d f o r ms , i s t he-u t. eya / -u t . ey / -u t . e , as in ya:rut , eya , m a:m a:vu . teya, ennut, ey pe :r , tamp iyut . eappa: . Fina l ly , the form e n t e y " mine " , s e e ms , t oo , t o be ba se d on ade ve lopme n t o f - u t . e ya .

I n t er e s ting ( a nd to b e c om pa r e d w i th the B r a hmin Ta mi l f o r m) ist h e r e d u c e d s h a p e o f ava: [ f o r L T avarkal . " t h e y " .3.2.2. V e r b s .

3.2 .21 . M y d a ta sho w the fo l low ing f in i te ve rb suff ixes which a re a lli n f r ee va r ia t ion in the spe e c h o f m y in f o r m a n t :

S g . P l .1.p. -an / -e :n -o:m2.p. -ay ( i ) / - a : y

3.p .m. -a:nf . -a:[ ~ -a: -a:rka [ / -a:~ ka

ahr . -u / -a!u3 .p .honor . -ar / -a:r

I n s t a nc e s : v a r u k i r a n " I c o m e " , p o : k i r e : n " I g o " , p o : k i n r a y i " y o u [ s g . ]g o " , p a : r k k i r a : y "you [sg.] see" , ea:ppit.uva:n "he ea ts" , a:lina: "shed a n c e d " , i r u k k u "i t is" , na t . akk i ra !u " i t wa lks" , p a : r k k i r a r " he [ honor . ]sees" , p o : k u r a : r "he [honor . ] goes" , p o : k u r o : m " w e g o " , pareyra: rka l ." t h e y s p e a k " , eollama:t.t .a:ftka " t h e y w o n ' t s a y " .

3 .2 .22 . Among the tense suf f ixes , one should not ice the pres . tensesuffix - k i n r - [ymr] in the form p o : k i n r a y i "y ou [sg .] go" . I t occur red inth e u t tera nc e [ni: yennA seyyA p6:xlnrAyi] "w ha t are y o u [sg.] g oing todo " , and the answ er was [nh:n ku .l ikkA po:xIr~:n] " I am going to ba the" .3 .2 .23 . Fo r the form s ending in - i ruvan , of. no te 13 . In m y Ba t t ica lo ada ta I hav e the fo l low ing i l lus t ra t ion : [na :n yen~6 tu ve : lsy8 Om bA6 mm an.ik kI to.dA13gIruvAn .


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130 KAMIL ZVELEBIL3.3. As far as the syntactic sandhi is concerned, we should be awareof the difference between Battiealoa ka : n . a l l a and Jaffna k a : . n a y i l l e y ,cf. with LT k d n . a v i l l a i , the conti nental colloquial Tamil form k a : . n a l l e .3.4. The main divergences between the Ceylon Batticaloa dialect andthe literary stan dard are thus limited to the sphere of vocabula ry. Inthis sphere, however, the differences are consi derabl e. I give here alist of lexical items gathered exclusively from my corpus.a t a r "p at h ''3~a t t a : n "brother-in-law"a p p a : "fathe r 'ana m p u y a m "lotos"u r a k k a "a loud"uvat.t.u "increase" (trans.)e : m a r n "midnight, night"on.n.a:tu "is not possible"k a t . u m e y a : k a "strongly, heavily"k a t e y k k a "to speak"k a : , excl. parti cle 34k a : c u "money"k i r u k a "to turn"32 cf. Pu.ram, 138.1,204.9, 150.10.

k i l . a m e "week"k u Z c u v a : y a n "small box"k u : r e y k k o : t u "house"ke t . i ya : "quickly, suddenly"k o : p p i "coffee"c e : l e "saree"t . reyn "train"t a m p i y u t . e a p p a : "hus ban d '35n a h k a n , a m "the meenah" (a bird)n i ! t i r e y "sleep"n e ! u m u [ a v a n "rope"p a r e y y a "to spe ak '36pu l. l.e "daughter"

33 Cf. Jaffna ayya: ; my informant emphatically stated that in his village they wouldnot use (collama:t.t.a:hka) the word ayya:.84 Cf. ennaka: colray "what do you say", e:~ka: ce nne ykk i po:ra:r "why doeshe [honor.] go to Madras"; further in a folk-song: unakke: uriyatuka: "it is properfor you". Some authors quote this excl. particle in connection with el- forming anitem e l a k k a "all" (cf. Andronov, op. cit., p. 37). From another folk-song I havenoted down manam urukavi l la iyo: ka: "does not the heart melt", and from someother source I find in my data elakka : i~ke: ca~ t~t vantit.tuppo : "all of you come alittle here (and) go". This particle/ca is quoted by a source as ancient as theTolkap-p i y a m in Col . s. 274, among the acaiccol (poetic expletives), and II.ampfira.nar, thecommentator, says ka: u tuka e_navarum. It is interesting that he uses here the "middle"deictic utu! ka is also quoted by Pavan_anti n his Nan__n~L3~ My informant was very emphatic on this point; according to him, a woman ofhis village would never say puru.sar for "husband"; only vi:t.t.ukka:rar "householder",or tampiyut.e appa: "the father of the young(er) boy", would be used.36 This item was used constantly by my informant, who never used the standardpgca "to speak". Cf. utterances like [ava:.l YannApAr~yra:rTo.l] "what do they say",[.t~mi1. p^reyrIya:] "do you (sg.) speak Tamil?" This is indeed a thrilling word: itonce again indicates some sort of special connection between Ceylon and Kerala.Cf. with Battic. p a r e y y a "to speak" the current Malayalamp a r a y u k a "to say, speak,tell", connected with Ka. parisu "to speak, chat", Kod. pare - "to utter", Tu. parefictmi"to prate, prattle", Ga. (S.)p a r k - "to say, speak". All these forms may be connectedwith OTa pa_rai "to speak, say", n. "word, saying, statement", which occurs in MiddleTamil too, but has ceased to be used in modern literary Tamil.


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLO N TAMIL 13 1pen. " d a u g h t e r "p e r u v a : y a n " b i g b r a c e l e t "pe: la [pS : l a ] " l i ke"p o r u p p u " h a r d s h i p , s u f f e r i n g "m a k a n " s o n "m a n e y v i " w i f e "m a r u k a : " a n o t h e r t i m e , a g a i n "mut .uka " t o a p p r o a c h "m u n u k k u " i n f r o n t o f "m u l l e y k k a : r a n " h e a d m a n o f cu l-

t i v a t o r s "

me c c a : n " b r o t h e r - i n - l a w "m e c c i " s i s t e r - i n - l a w "va:ppa: " f a t h e r " ( o r i g i n a l l y u s e d

o n l y b y M u s l i m s )va:r ikka: lan " o x "viracu " t o a p p r o a c h , b e c lo s e "vi: . ukk a: rar " h u s b a n d "ve[[am " w a t e r 'sTve[l.o:t.an " u n r i p e c o c o n u t ''3 s

4 . M IXED CEYLONESE TAM IL4 . 0 . T h e f e a t u r e s d e s c r i b e d i n t h e f o l l o w i n g p a r a g r a p h s w e r e f o u n di n t h e c o r p u s o f d a t a g a t h e r e d f r o m i n f o r m a n t s w h o s p e n t t h e ir li fe i nd i f f e r e n t p l a c e s i n C e y l o n a n d s p o k e w h a t m i g h t b e c a l l e d a m i x e dd ia le c t o f c o m m o n C e y l o n es e T a m i l . T h u s , e . g . T . G u n a r a j a , a g e d 2 1,ve[l.dl.a b y c a s te , w a s b o r n i n M a l a y a f r o m J a f f n a p a r e n t s , s p e n t h is t im es i n c e 1 9 5 0 p a r t l y i n J a f f n a a n d p a r t l y i n C o l o m b o .

4 . 1 . P h o n o l o g y

4.1.1 . Vowels .4 .1 .1 1 . M o s t o f t h e i n f o r m a n t s h a v e a f r o n t e d a n d l o w v a r ie t y o f / a /

i n s t r e s s e d s y l l a b l e s .4 .1 .1 2. I n i t i a l / e / a n d / e : / o c c u r r e d o n l y w i th s li gh t o r n o p r e p a l a ta l -

i z a t io n , i n i ti a l / o / a n d / o : / o n l y w i t h s li g h t o r n o b i l a b i a l o n s e t .4 . 1 .1 3 . T h e s e q u e n c e -ai- ( g r a p h i c ) w a s f r e q u e n t l y p r e s e r v e d a s [ - e y ] ,

c f. [p I.le y] " m i s t a k e " ; h o w e v e r , i t f r e e l y v a r i e d w i t h t h e m o n o p h t h o n g s/ a / o r / e f t3~ Ag ain a thrilling item : cL M a. ve.llam "water". O n l y in Batticaloa dialect andin Malayalam vel[am means "water" even up to this day. SLT yell.ammeans "flood,deluge, sea; abundance", and only in the earliest strata of the literary language italso sign ifies simply "water", e.g. in Puram 328.7 Similarly, Tu. bol.la s "flood, inun-dat ion", Te. velli "flow, flood, stream", velluva "flood, inund ation". Ano ther clearpr oo f of an independent connection between Malayalam and B atticaloa Tarnil.38 Prob ably "the one with water".


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1 3 2 KAMIL ZVELEBIL4 .1 .2 . C o n s o n a n t s .

4 .1 .2 1 . I n t e r v o c a l i c st o p s . N o o n e o f t h e i n f o r m a n t s k e p t c o n s i s t en t l yt o a n y s in g l e a U o p h o n e o f t h e in t e r v o c a l ic s t o p s / k , t , p / . I n t h e id i o le c t so f a l l t h e s e i n f o r m a n t s , v o i c e d a n d v o i c e le s s v a r ie t ie s w e r e i n f re e v a r i a -t i o n ; n e v e r th e l e ss , th e r e w a s a m a r k e d p r e f e r e n c e f o r th i s o r t h a t v a r i e t yi n t h e s p e e c h o f in d i v i d u a l i n f o r m a n t s .

4 . 1 . 2 1 .1 . / k / : I n t e r v o c a l i c a l l y , t h e v a r i a n t s [ x ] , [ h i , I T ] a n d [ k h ] a r ed i s c e r n i b l e i n m y d a t a . O u t o f t h e s e , I x ], a v o i c e l e s s d o r s a l s p i r a n t ,i s b y f a r t h e m o s t f r e q u e n t o n e : [ ax A m , p A x e y , t A x A .d m ]. N e x t i n f r e -q u e n c y c o m e s [ 7 ], a v o i c e d d o r s a l s p i r a n t , a s i n [ a TA m , p A T u~ li, m A T /t:-r /t: d3 A n ]. [ h i , a v o i c e d g l o t t a l s p i r a n t , w a s a s r a r e a s [ k h ] , a n a s p i r a t e dv o i c e l e s s s t o p . T h e y o c c u r r e d e a c h o n l y o n c e : [ m ah /t:r/t:z A n] a n d[ s u . d t u k h ~ : .d i n ] .

4 .1 .2 1 .2 . / t / : I n t e r v o c a l ic a l l y , o n l y t w o v a r i a n t s a r e f o u n d i n m y d a t a :[~ 5], a v o i c e d a p i c a l s p i r a n t , a n d [~ 1], f r o n t , a p i c a l , d e n t a l t o p o s t - d e n t a l ,v o i c e d s t o p , r a t h e r l e n i s , w i t h s l o w e r r e l e a s e , u n a s p i r a t e d : f o r t h e f i r s tva r i an t , c f . [ s e :y6 i , m / t : 6 i r i ] , f o r t he second [ am ey~l i , m Aglurey , t hAleyv i~ l i ,m~:~liri].

4 .1 .2 1 .3 . / p / : I n t e r v o c a li c a l ly , o n l y t w o v a r i a n t s o f t h is p h o n e m e o c c u rin m y c o r pu s : t h e vo ice d b i l ab i a l sp i r a n t [13 ], a s i n [p I~ IAI3A1Am , ko :13Am ] ,a n d a v o i c e d b i l a b i a l p l o s i v e , a s i n [ v Ib A ~ /t: rA m , plr A b A lA m ] . A l l t h ev a r ia n t s w e r e f o u n d i n f r e e v a r i a t i o n i n th e s p e e c h o f t h e i n f o r m a n t s ,a s s ta t e d a b o v e . T h u s e .g . t h e s a m e s p e a k e r , o n l y w i t h i n s h o r t in t e rv a l ,u s e d t h e f o l l o w i n g t w o a l l o p h o n e s f o r t h e s a m e i t e m : [ t A b /t:lT A l.a .d f/:r]an d L tAl3 /t :l kA.n .d /t :r ikkm ] fo r " p os t -o f f i ce " , " t o t h e po s t -o f f i ce " .

4 .1 .22 . A sp i r a t ed in i t i a l s t o ps a r e r eg u la r : [khA.du~ t/ t: si , t hAleyv ig l i,ph/L :SA] an d ev en [ akkh / l : ] f o r ka t .u tdc i , ta la iv i t i , pd . sa i , akkd , o c c u r i nm y m a t e ri a l.

4 . 1 . 2 3 . A c o m p l e t e m e r g e r o f ./ w i t h [ i s r e g u l a r : [ pi .le y ] f o r pil_ai,[yh: .lp/~:.nAm] fo r Jaf fn a .

4 .1 .24. _np and rn p w e r e a l w a y s r ea l iz e d w i t h v o i c e d s to p : [ A n b tu ,a m b m ] .

4 . 1 . 2 5 . -_r_r- w a s p r o n o u n c e d a s [ t ] : [ n e : t t m ] o r [ n e : t t t u ] f o r L T n~r_ru.

4 .2 . M o r p h o l o g y4 . 2 . 1 . N o u n s .4 . 2 .1 1 . A p a r t f r o m t h e g e n i t i v e - p o s s e s s i v e su f fi x es d e s c r i b e d a b o v e ,t h e s u f f i x - ! e y o c c u r r e d , w h i c h m a y b e c o n n e c t e d h i s to r i c a ll y w i t h t h eO T a -ut.ai, o f . e h k a t . e y a p p u " o u r f a t h e r " .


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TAM IL 1334 . 2. 12 . T h e a b l a t i v e s u f fi x is a c o m p l e x o f - i t .at t i l + -ay + - iru~tu,

o f . [ ~ tv A n I . d ^ tt ik y I r fi o d tu ] " f r o m h i m " .4 . 2 .1 . 3 . T h e s e q u e n c e - a y [-A y ] o r - e y [ - ey ] t e n d e d t o b e s u f f ix e d t os o m e o t h e r c a s e - t e rm i n a t i o n s , t o o ; o f. f o r m s li k e avana: l ey , i n s t r . " b yh i m " , avano:t .ay, s o c . " w i t h h i m " , ne : ra t t i l ay , l o c . " i n t h e t i m e " .4 .2 .2 . V e r b s .

4 . 2 . 2 1 . S e v e r a l t i m e s t h e p r o b a b l y v e r y a n t i q u e f i n i t e v e r b - f o r mc o n s i s ti n g o f th e r e l. p a r t . - k p e r s. p r o n o u n w a s u s e d b y th i s o r t h a ti n fo rm an t , a s i n [n i: Yeppo v^n~ len~ ] L T n ~ e p p 6 v a n t d y " w h e n d i d y o uc o m e ? " ; ni" i~ce i rukkraniya: " a r e y o u [ s g . ] h e r e ? " ; n a : n t i h k r a n a n " Ie a t " .

4 .2 .2 2 . O n c e t h e f o r m i n -i:r f o r 2 . p . p l . w a s u s e d , p o : k u r i : r " y o u[ p l . ] g o " .

4 .2 .23 . v a r u v i n a m a n d a n u p p i n a m f o r S L T v a r u v d r k a [ a n d a_nup-pin_drka[ a r e f o r m s t o b e s p e c i a ll y n o t e d .4 . 3 . A s f a r a s e x t e r n a l s a n d h i i s c o n c e r n e d , o n e s h o u l d n o t i c e t h e u t t e r -a n c e s ke: t . k i l l ey , ku:ppi ! i l l ey a n d k u t i k k i l l e y f o r S L T kYt .kavi l lai , kf tp-pi t .avi l lai a n d k u ! i k k a v i l l a i . C f . a l s o i n c o n t i n e n t a l c o l l o q . T a . k e : k k a l l e ,ku :pp i t a l l e a n d ku t . i kka l l e .

4.4. V o c a b u l a r ya n n i t a m " i n j u s t i c e "a p p a c c i " g r a n d p a p a "a p p a l i k k o t t a " o f t h a t m a n n e r , o f

t h a t q u a l i t y "appa: y i " g r a n d m a m a "a p p u " p a p a "a m m a : n " u n c l e " ( L T m d m d )a r u v a k k u " t o f i n i s h "a:n. am " c u r r y "a : m p a [ e " m a n ( m a l e ) "a:r ina " c o l d " ( a d j . )

a:l.ka: t. . v ir a l " f o r e f i n g e r "iFwe " h e r e "i n n a m " n o w "ippo:l. " n o w ' 39i lavu " d e a t h "u c a r a " a b o v e "u t i r a m " b l o o d "upp i ! i " i n t h a t m a n n e r "~~u r a k k a m " s l e e p "e p p a n " a l i t t l e "eyo: " a l a s ! r e a l l y ? "

~ Cf. Ma. ippal . SLT has ippo!utu, ~pa !tu, ippatu, ipp&4o Fo rm ed with the middle demonstrative u-, current in Old Tamil and in a fewcontemporary Dr. languages, but not in SLT of today.


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1 3 4e!eyavar " y o u n g e r b r o t h e r " ~ae:la " t o b e p o s s i b l e "~ 2otava:tu " i s o f n o u s e "o:m " y e s "o:ram " p u d . m u l i e b r e "kat .akka " t o g o "kan.a k k a " w e l l ; m a n y , m u c h ' '4 skan.~i:r vat.ikka " t o w e e p "k a t e y k k a " t o s p e a k , t a l k '44kat taparn " d o n k e y "kani s t ey v i ra l " l i t t l e f i n g e r "kareya:n " w h i t e a n t "k av ar ak oy y a : n " a l l i g a t o r "ka:cu " m o n e y "k a : l a m e y " i n th e m o r n i n g "ki l .ame " w e e k "kun. arn " h e a l t h "kur icc i " c h a i r '45k e t i k k a " t o p r a i s e "kel . ikka " t o t u r n "k o : k k i " c o o k ' '4 6ko:cc i " t r a i n "ko: t I i " d i s t r e s s "k o : pp i " c o f f e e "

KAMIL ZVELEBILgavan, am a: y " c a r e f u l l y "hk oppu " y o u r f a t h e r "c ar uk i " n e a r "caruvu " t o q u a r r e l , w r a n g l e '47cirupe~ " g i r l ' 4sc ur uk k e na " q u i c k l y "celia " t o go ''49t a t i m a l " c o l d ( i l l n e s s ) "l a ~ t e y " f a t h e r "l appu " m i s t a k e "l ara " t o g i v e "tarun.aka:lam " t i m e o f d i s t re s s "t a r c an i " f o r e f i n g e r "!al.ir " b u d "!a: lam " e a r t h "ta:!a " b e l o w "5~t i nna " t o e a t "l i r icc i " a g a i n "t i r i ya " a g a i n "! i :ni " f o o d ( f o r p e o p l e ) "t u k k a m " d i s t r e s s "lut .eyppam " b r o o m "l upparava:y " c l e a n ( l y ) "lupparavu pan.n.u " t o d e a n "

41 Cf. the ite m mu:ttavar "e ld e r b r o th e r " . I n L T th e o p p o s i t i o n i s a.nga_n"e ld e rb r o th e r " : t ampi "y o u n g e r b r o th e r " .42 E.g. irukke:loma: " i s i t poss ib le?"~8 E.g. ka.nakka mara~ka.l"m a n y t r e e s ".44 Cf. kateykkiratuk ka: vanta:r "h e c a m e to t a l k " .4s Cf . U rdu kursL4e F r o m D u tc h ? [ Th is is a p p a r e n t l y o n e o f t h e t ra c e s o f " c o lo n i a l " D u tc h t h a to c c u r b o th i n Ce y lo n e s e T a m i l a n d i n M a la y ; c f. M a la y koki ( f o r m e r ly u s e d b y E u r o -p e a n s f o r t h e f e m a le n a t i v e c o o k ) f r o m th e D u tc h d im in u t iv e kokkie ( in the S t ra i t skuki f r o m E n g . cookie, s e e W i lk in s o n , Ma lay-English D ictionary, pp. 606, 620). As im i l a r e a s e i s T a m i l kakkOs, kakku cu " l a t r i n e , p r i v y , W .C . " : M a la y kakus , f r o mD u t c h kakhuis ( n o w a v u lg a r a n d d i a l e c t a l w o r d ) . I t w o u ld b e i n t e re s t i n g t o k n o wi f th i s w o r d i s c o nf in ed t o C e y lo n o r a l s o u s e d o n t h e Co n t in e n t . T h e Tam il Lexicona n d P j a t i g o r s k i j - Ru d in , Tamil'sko-RusskO Slova r' g ive bo th fo rms , the TranquebarDictionary3 (1933) on ly kakkucu (which i t incor rec t ly de r ives f rom the Por tuguese ) ,whi le the f i r s t ed i t ion o f M ousse t -Du pn is (1855) has the p leonas t ic express ion kak-kasvit.u ( D u tc h huis = vft.u). Kuiper . ]47 C f. Sk t. darv-, ~arvati " to hur t , in ju re , k i l l " ; Czech ~arvdtka "wrang le , f igh t ing" .4s I n c o n t . T a m i l r a th e r c(rumi.~8 Pre fe r red to the cu r ren t con t ine n ta l p6ka.5o Cf. M a. ta.la "u n d e r , b e lo w , d o w n " . I n c o n t . T a . r a th e r M_13.


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TAMIL 135t u r a p p u "key"t u : t t a l "to dean, sweep"t e r a m a : n a "good, straight"t e : v i l ey "better"t e : ! vey "necessity"t o h k a l "end"naruv i ca : "clean"n i l t i ra "sleep"nirupa: ka "certainly"n e t t a "blood"neruppatt . i "matchbox"p a h k a "there"p a t . a m p a : k k a "to go to cinema"p a n i y a "below"p a r u p p a m a : n a "big, grown-up"p a r e y a "to speak '51p a : m p u v i r a l "middle finger"p a : s a "language"p i c a t t u "to lament"p i ~ c u "here"pi t .avey "saree"p i n n u k k u "back"p i p i n i k a : y "cucumber"p i r a l i "mischief"p i l l u "grass"p i l e "mistake"p u t i n a m "news"p u t t u v a r a "chair"p u f f k u t . i k k a "bear children"

p e l a m a : k a , p e l a m a : "strongly,aloud"p e : n t u "afterwards, then '~2

p o y i l e y "tobacco"p o m p a l e : "woman"m a n a m "mind etc. '5~m a r u m o f i "answer '54m i k u t i y u m "much, very"m i c c a m "abundantly, too much"m u k a r e y "face"m u t t a : l u "cannot, is impossible"m u : I t a v a r "elder bro the r "55m e y a m "corpse"me:t.t . imey "arrogance, pride"m e : n "son"m o e l "daughter"m o k k e y a : n a "big"l no 'n "son"mo:l . "daughter"re I t aco: rey "blood"l e t t a m "blood"v a l i v a : k a u t u t t u "to adorn"va:ra:vat i "bridge"va:ypo t t u "be silent" (vulg.)v i la h k u I "beast"v i !a~ku ~ "to understand, com-

prehend '5~vi:acam "bad smell 'ST

5. CONCLUSIONS5. I. It cannot be denied that Ceylonese TamiI as a maj or hypers ystembl Cf. an utterance from the Ceylonese Mdrkka.nt.a_n nat.akam : na_ n.., ka tai pa.rain-t ~ a ?., ,2 pyntu < peyarntu, cf. S. Thananjayarajasingham, op . cO., p. 298.2a In cont. Ta. rather ma_nacu.~4 In cont. Ta. rather patil < Urdu badl.5n Cf. el.eyavar.56 In cont. Ta. rather puriya.~7 In cont. Ta. rather na.rram , turna.r_ram.


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136 KAMIL ZVELEBILo f a n u m b e r ( p o s s i b l y t h r e e t o f o u r ) o f s u b d i a le c t s is c h a r a c t e r i z e d b ya t h i c k b u n d l e o f i m p o r t a n t d i a g n o s t i c is o g lo s s es c o n c e r n i n g t h e s p h e r e so f p h o n o l o g y , m o r p h o p h o n o l o g y , m o r p h o l o g y , v o c a b u l a r y a n d p h r a se -o l o g y . T h e C e y l o n e s e s p e a k e r s t h e m s e l v e s d e n o t e t h e s p e e c h o f c o n -t i n e n t a l T a m i l s a s v a t . a k k a t t i y a r p ~ c c u ~s " n o r t h e r n s pe e ch " . A r a n d o mc o m p a r i s o n o f le t u s s a y f iv e u t t e ra n c e s i n ( m i x e d c o m m o n ) C e y l o n e seT a m i l w i t h u t t e r a n c e s i n t h e c o n t i n e n t a l ( c o m m o n ) c o l l o q u i a l s t y l e w i ll a to n c e s h o w g r e a t d i f f er e n c e s i n a l l sp h e r e s o f g r a m m a r a n d v o c a b u l a r y .

1. Ce. Ta. [um~6m vi:t . t .Ils l lo:rfl~ kfm.Ant/t :ne:] u m a t u v i: t. ti l e l l o : r u mk u n . a m l a m e : ,,, C on t . C T [O~gA u: t. .t le : ye l lo:r5 SoyAnd/t :ne:] o h k a u : t t . l e :y e l l o : r o n s o k a e t a : n e : " I s e v e r y b o d y a ll r ig h t i n y o u r h o u s e ? "2. Ce~ T a. [/ t :r kA~SeykkirMSm kk~t: vA n~l/t :r] a : r k a t e y k k i r a t , u k k a :v a ~ t a : r , , , Co nt . C T [AvArm pe :s rA~Smkkm vAnO~t:rm] a v a r u p e : c r a t u k k uv a ~ ! a : r u " H e [ h o n o r . ] c a m e t o t a l k " .

3. C e. T a. [kho :~6i mA~Sureykki ~elluxirMSm:] k o : ( d i m a t u r e y k k ic e l l u k i r a t u ~ C on t . C T [reylvA.n.di mM Sfireykki po:q, f iiStn:] rey l va n , t .im a ! u r e y k k i p o : k u ! u " T h e tr a i n i s g o i n g t o M a d u r a i " .

4 . Ce . T a. [ni : k/ t :s nn up pln ~: le m na :n Ifids,~ VArAm/t:t.t.An]n i: k a : c a n u p -p i n a : l e m n a : n i ~ c a v a r a m a : t . t. a n ,,~ Cont . CT [ni : pAn.AmAnfippn/ t :15n~: n3gs: VArAma:.t.t~:] h i : p a n . a m a n u p p n a : l o n n a : n i f ik e : v a r a m a : t. t. e : n" E v e n i f y o u s e n d m o n e y I s h a ll n o t c o m e h e r e " .

5. C e. T a. [u.n~!A m~t:n n/t:l.Andeykktu k~t:lAmfireyfle van~ifiruvAn]u ~ t a m a : n n a : ! a n t e y k k u k a : l a m u r e y i l e v a ~ t u r u v a n - C o n t . C T [w fi: m A y ~nh:.lhn.Ikki kfi:leyle: VAn~iiripp~i:] o n m a k e n n a:la n, i k k i k a : l e y l e : v a g -! i r i p p a : n " Y o u r s o n w ill c o m e i n th e m o r n i n g o n t h e d a y a f te r t o m o r r o w " .5 .2 . I t r e m a i n s t o p o i n t o u t t h e t r u l y d i a g n o s t i c , t y p i c a l f e a t u r e s o fC e y l o n T a m i l a s a m a j o r h y p e r d i a l e c t , i . e . f e a t u r e s c o n s t i t u t i n g i s o -g l os se s s u r r o u n d i n g th e w h o l e i s la n d . W i t h o u t c o m m e n t a r y , I g i ve h e r ea l i st o f t h e s e f e a t u r e s , p r e s e n t e d a s b r i e f l y a s p o s s i b l e :

5 .21 .1 . l / t ] to [a ] in i t i a l ly and in s t re s sed sy l l ab les .2 . A l m o s t t o t a l a b s en c e o f p re p a l a t a li z a t io n o f / e / , / e :/ a n d o f

p r e la b ia l iz a ti o n o f / o / , / o : / .~s A Ceylonese Tamilian, coming for the first time to th e Indian con tinent, maybe hardly und erstood by unsophisticated speakers in T amil villages. H e w ill be askedabout his ar, and the following question may be put before him: uhkalut.aiya firmalaiydlama "Are you from Kerala?", i .e . Are you a speaker of M alayalam? On theother hand, the speech of a Tamilian from C eylon, who had spent a few years on thecontinent, will be identified on his coming back as something alien; he m ay be m etwith remarks like ca : mi pe :cuva tu va t akka t t i ya t ami l "th e gentleman speaks northernTamil".


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SOME FEATURES OF CEYLON TAMIL 137

~

9 .5 . 2 2 . 1 .2 .

3 . F r e q u e n t t h o u g h n o t q u i t e r e g u l a r p r e s e r v a t i o n o f t h e ( g r a p h ic )s e q u e n c e ai.4 . F i n a l / m / a n d / n / a r e a l w a y s p r es e rv e d , t h er e is n o n as a li za t i o no f t h e p r e c e d i n g ( i. e. f in a l ) v o w e l .

5 . E x i s t e n c e o f a v o i c e l e s s f r i c a ti v e v a r i a n t o f i n t e r v o c a l i c / k / ,v i z . [ x ] .

6 . S t r o n g a s p i r a t i o n o f i n i t ia l / k , t , p / .7 . P r e f e r e n c e o f t h e a f f r i c a t e p l o s i v e v a r i a n t o f /c / , a t l e a s t

i n i t i a l l y .M e r g e r o f / _ 1 / w i t h / 1 / .R e a l i z a t i o n o f g r a p h i c -_n.r- a s e i t h e r [ n d ] o r [ n.d ].G e n i t i v e s u f f i x - ( n ) t . e ~ - ( n ) t . a / - (n) te ~ - (n) ta .F i n i t e v e r b s u f f ix e s i n 1 . p . s g . -a n

2 . p . s g . -a y ( T r i n c . -a:)(1 . p .p l . - a m )(3 . p .p l . - i n a m )

3 . P r e s e r v a t i o n i n l iv i n g u s e o f t h e 2 . p . s u rf . - k r .5 . 2 3 .V o c a b u l a ry i te m s :

ippo:[ " n o w "k a . n a k k a " w e l l "k a l e y k k a " t o s p e a k "k a : e u " m o n e y "k i l a m e " w e e k "ket . i ya " q u i c k ly , s u d d e n l y "k o ; p p i " c o f f e e "eel la " t o g o "

t a p p u " m i s t a k e "t a r a " t o g i v e "n i t t i r ey " s l e e p "p a r e y a " t o s p e a k "p i l e " m i s t a k e "m a n a m " m i n d e t c . "m a r u m o l i " a n s w e r "

5 .3 . I t h a p p e n s q u i t e f r e q u e n t l y t h a t, w h e n s p e a k i n g a b o u t C e y l o n ( e s e )T a m i l, w h a t a u t h o r s h a v e r e a l ly in m i n d i s ( o n e d i a le c t o f ) J a f f n a T a m i l .T h i s s h o u l d o f c o u r s e b e a v o i d e d . W e h a v e d e m o n s t r a t e d , f ir st , t h a ti n J a f f n a t h e r e e x i s t s o m e s p e c if ic f e a t u r e s w h i c h c a n n o t b e f o u n d e l se -w h e r e i n C e y l o n e s e d i a l ec t s, 5~ a n d , s e c o n d , t h a t t h e r e a r e d i a l e c ts s p o k e ni n C e y l o n ( e .g . t h a t o f B a t t ic a l o a ) w h i c h h a v e a c t u a l l y o n l y a f e w fe a -t u r e s i n c o m m o n w i t h t h e J a f f n a d i a l e c t .

A c c o r d i n g t o t h e p r e s e n t s t a te o f o u r k n o w l e d g e , i t is p o s s i b l e t od i s t i n g u i s h a t l e a s t f o u r l o c a l S UB -D ~A LE CT S o f C e y l o n e s e T a m i l : ~ O R T ~( w i t h J a f f n a a s c e n t r e o f p r e s t ig e ) , N O R T ~ E AS T ( w i t h T r i n c o m a l e e a sc e n t r e ) , S O U T H E A ST ( w i t h B a t t i c a l o a a s c e n t r e ) a n d p o s s i b l y C O LO M BO ,5~ Prof. F. B. J. Ku iper has in dicated the possibility of at least two different formsof speech existing in what is generally called the "Jaffna dialect" ( o p . c i t . , 55 e t p a s s i m ) .


26/26

138 KAM IL ZVELEBILw h e r e a m i x e d v a r i e t y i s s p o k e n . A s t o t h e JA FF NA s u b - d i a le c t , t h e r ea r e i n d ic a t io n s t h a t t h is m a y i t s e lf b e a h y p e r s y s t e m o f a n u m b e r o fl o c a l a n d s o c ia l m i c r o s y s t e m s , s o m e o f t h e m p e r h a p s r a t h e r d i v e r g e n ti n s o m e f e a t u r e s ( e .g . t h e p h o n e t i c r e a l i z a t i o n o f i n t e r v o c a l i c p l o s i v e s ). ~~T h e TR IN CO MA LEE s u b - d i a l e c t s e e m s t o s h a r e m o s t f e a t u r e s w i t h J a f f n a ;h o w e v e r , t h e r e a r e w i t h o u t d o u b t s o m e p o i n t s t h a t m a y b e r e g a r d e da s s p e c i f ic a n d d i a g n o s t i c o n l y f o r t h e N o r t h E a s t . 61 T h e S OU TH EASTERNC e y l o n e s e T a m i l ( B a t t ic a l o a ) is c e r ta i n ly a h y p e r s y s t e m o f a t l e a s t tw os u b - d i a l e c t s , o n e s p o k e n b y t h e T a m i l s p e a k i n g C t _ n a k a r , t h e o t h e r b yB a t t i c a l o a H i n d u T a m i l i a n s . I n t o t o , i t i s t h e m o s t m a r g i n a l m a j o rd i a le c t o f T a m i l a n d t h is is p r o b a b l y t h e m a i n r e a s o n w h y i t is t h e m o s tl i t e ra r y - l i k e f o r m o f a ll , e s p e c ia l l y i n h a v i n g p r e s e r v e d i t s p h o n o l o g ym o r e " s t a b l e " a n d " s t e a d y " , i . e . l e s s

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