TOLKAPPIYAM : Comprehensive Encyclopedia

The Tolkappiyam (தொல்காப்பியம் in Tamil) is a work on the grammar of the Tamil language. Written in the form of poems called sootirams (formulae), this ancient work attributed to Tolkaappiyar, is one of the world's oldest surviving grammar for any language. The name Tolkappiyam derived from the combination of the two words Tonmai and kappiyam. Tonmai means ancient and Kappiam means literature. We do not know the exact date of Tolkappiyam, but based on linguistic evidence, it is dated to around the 1st century BCE. There is also no firm evidence to assign the authorship of this treatise to any one author.

Tolkappiyam defines the syntax and poetic grammar to be used when writing poetry in Tamil. It also includes classification of habitats, animals, plants and human beings. The discussion on human emotions and interactions is particularly significant.

Derived literature from Tolkāppiyam

Over the centuries, many books came interpreting and clarifying Tolkāppiyam. Some of which where the ones written by "Ilampooranar", "Deivachilaiyaaar", "Natchinaarciniyar" etc. They were called as "Urai-asiriyargal"or equivalently explanatory commentators.These commentators explained Tolkāppiyam in their own view and expressed their opinions on the subjects dealt by Tolkāppiyam, in their own times. Many grammar works came in Tamil after Tolkāppiyam, based on that. However, one that is most popular and used in place of Tolkāppiyam now is "Nannūl" written by "Pavananti Munivar".

Overview

The Tolkāppiyam classifies the Tamil language into "senthamil" and "kotunthamil". The former refers to the classical Tamil used exclusively in literary works and the latter refers to the colloquial Tamil, spoken by the people. The book is based on the analysis of both spoken and written Tamil.

Scientific treatment to Natural Language Grammar

The classification of the alphabet into consonants and vowels by splitting the conso-vowels was a scientific breakthrough. Grammatising this phenomenon was also an achievement of that time. The Tolkāppiyam starts by defining the alphabet for optimal writing, grammatises the use of words and syntaxes and moves into higher modes of language analysis. The style and structure of narration of these rules is similar to that of the Backus-Naur form, which was formalised only as recently as 1963. The Tolkāppiyam formulated thirty characters and three diacritic like symbols for Tamil. The 12 vowels combine with the 18 consonants bringing the total tally of characters to 247^[1]. The alphabet has evolved since then. For a detailed treatment of the alphabet see Tamil alphabet. Though the alphabet has evolved largely, the language as such has remained mostly intact earning the sobriquet, kannith thamil, which can mean ever-young Tamil or "virgin Tamil".

Chapters

The Tolkāppiyam is organised into the following three chapters each of which is sub divided into 9 sections.

Ezhuththathikaaram

Nuul Marabu

This section enumerates the characters of the language, organises them into consonants, vowels and diacritic symbols. The vowels are sub classified into short and long vowels based on duration of pronunciation. Similarly, the consonants are sub classified into three categories based on the stress.

Mozhi Marabu

This section defines rules which specify where in a word can a letter not occur and which letter can not come after a particular letter.

It also describes elision, which is the reduction in the duration of sound of a phoneme when preceded by or followed by certain other sounds. The rules are well-defined and unambiguous. They are categorised into 5 classes based on the phoneme which undergoes elision.

PiRappiyal

Excerpt from the Tolkāppiyam showing the style of narration

Excerpt from the Tolkāppiyam on articulatory phonetics

This is a section on articulatory phonetics. It talks about pronunciation methods of the phonemes at the level of diaphragm, larynx, jaws, tongue position, teeth, lips and nose.

Also, the visual representation of the letters is explained.

PuNaRiyal

This section talks about the changes to words due to the following word i.e. it specifies rules that govern the transformations on the last phonem of a word (nilaimozhi iiRu) because of the first phonem of the following word (varumozhi muthal) when used in a sentence.