LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Teaching and Learning a Classical-Modern Language
Some Thoughts Relating to Tamil

M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

Every Language is a Product of History

A currently used language is a product of history. The historical changes and developments it has undergone may or may not form part of the current course curriculum and syllabus followed in teaching that language. Teaching English for general use, for example, does not focus on the historical developments of that language, although some information on lexical choice, semantic distinctive including metaphors, etc., and sentence construction of the past may still be necessary to decode and enjoy literary pieces.

Teaching and Learning Classical Stages of Languages

Consider teaching the classical stages of languages such as Latin and Greek. Teaching and learning these classical versions stand aloof from teaching their modern forms.

Do all need to understand and master the classical stages of a language to meet their current needs? Is knowledge of classical stages absolutely necessary to understand, use and appreciate the modern forms of those languages?

The answer, in some sense, is obvious.

However, when issues other than mere language learning and teaching are involved, we need to look at the context with some creative intent and strategy.

Sanskrit Teaching and Tamil Teaching

Teaching and learning Sanskrit, a great Indian classical language, involves several historical texts, although, in recent decades, there has been a great spurt in producing modern works through this medium. Rules of grammar, lexicon and semantics depend on historically approved and sanctioned rules. There have been changes, and such changes have been incorporated in a dynamic manner in Sanskrit.

Teaching and learning Tamil, another classical language of India, requires an added dimension of adopting both historical and currently used rules in current idiom. Such rules evolve as exposure to various contexts increases. This situation is also faced by other languages, Telugu and Kannada, declared classical recently.

How do we reconcile this situation of retaining historical texts while teaching modern idiom?

Continuity as the Most Important Trait

A basic fact about Tamil is its continuity as a large spoken and written idiom. It has abundant literary materials from the past. Such materials also clearly reveal changes in rules from century to century, while retaining the basic framework, both in the written and spoken levels. Lexical additions and additions to syntax and semantics add to the complexity. But, at the same time, one is struck by the continuity in all the levels of Tamil language.

Continuity of Tamil in inscriptions, copper plates and such other historical documents is also amazing. R. Panneerselvam's dissertation on Tamil inscriptions of the medieval period at the Department of Linguistics in Kerala University, some forty years ago, brought out, in an astonishing manner, certain phonological rules that are found in use even after 1000 years.

I have noticed the use of some interesting phonological constraints imposed in literary Tamil, such as the demand that all loan words beginning with alveolar trill [r] be written with i or u as the initial letter, is adopted in spoken Tamil as well. A generation ago, rukmini/rukhmani/rukhmini was pronounced in my dialect as urukkumani/urukkumini.

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Ergativity in Pahari Language | The Robustness of Free Reading in Second and Foreign Language Education | Conversational Cloze as a Measure of Ability in English in Indian Schools | Teaching the Intangibles - The Role of the English Teacher | Failures and Disillusionment in Naipaul's Miguel Street | Issues and Problems in Ph.D. in English - Degree Quality Assurance in Pakistan | Socio-Linguistic Constraints of Code Switching in Hindi-English-Kannada Multilinguals | Nature of Perception according to Gautama | The Quintessence of Sports Psychology and Language | Some Characteristics of Tamil Jokes | Lexical Opposites in Tamil | The Fire and the Rain - Deriving Meaning for Modern Life from Myths | Realilty and Challenges for Tamil in a Multilingual Environment - Tamil in Malaysia: An Essay in Tamil | Teaching and Learning a Classical-Modern Language - Some Thoughts Relating to Tamil | HOME PAGE of December 2009 Issue | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR