| Sri Lankan Tamil | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Sri Lanka |
| Ethnicity | Sri Lankan Tamils |
Native speakers | 2 million[citation needed] (2012 census) |
Early forms | |
| Dialects | |
| Tamil script, Vatteluttu | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | sril1244 |
The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects or Ceylon Tamil or commonly in Tamil language Eelam Tamil (Tamil: ஈழத் தமிழ், īḻat tamiḻ) are a group of Tamil dialects used in Sri Lanka by its native Tamil speakers that are distinct from the Tamil dialects spoken in Tamil Nadu. These dialects are more conservative than the dialects spoken in India, and preserve features of Old and Medieval Tamil which have been lost in their Indian counterparts.[1][2][note 1] In spite of this, both Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil dialects retain a degree of mutual intelligibility.[4]
Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are broadly categorized into three sub groups: Jaffna Tamil, Batticaloa Tamil, and Negombo Tamil dialects. But there are a number of sub dialects within these broad regional dialects as well. These dialects are also used by ethnic groups other than Tamils and Muslims such as Sinhalese people, Portuguese Burghers and the indigenous Coastal Vedda people.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
oldtamil2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Indrapala, K (2009). "Introduction". In Indrapala, K (ed.). Early historic Tamil Nadu c 300 BCE-300 CE : essays commemorating Prof. K. Kailasapathy on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death. Kumaran Book House. p. 5.
- ^ Annamalai, E.; Steever, S.B (2019). "Modern Tamil". In Steever, SB. (ed.). The Dravidian Languages (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 104.
- ^ Steever, SB. (2008). "Old Tamil". In Woodard, RD (ed.). The Ancient Languages of Asia and the Americas. Cambridge University Press. pp. 50–75.
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