Malaysian Tamil

Malaysian Tamil (Tamil: மலேசியத் தமிழ் மொழி, romanized: Malēsiyat Tamiḻ Moḻi), also known as Malaya Tamil, is a local variant of the Tamil language spoken in Malaysia. It is one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin. There are many differences in vocabulary between Malaysian Tamil and Indian Tamil.

Malaysian Tamil
Bahasa Tamil Malaysia
மலேசியத் தமிழ் மொழி
Native to	Malaysia and Singapore
Ethnicity	Malaysian Indian (Tamil Malaysians)
Native speakers	~3.9 million in Malaysia and Singapore (2006 – 2010 census)
Language family	Dravidian Southern Southern I Tamil–Kannada Tamil–Kota Tamil–Toda Tamil–Irula Tamil–Kodava–Urali Tamil–Malayalam Tamiloid Tamil–Paliyan Tamil Malaysian Tamil
Early forms	Old Tamil Middle Tamil
Official status
Regulated by	Malaysian Tamil Language Standardisation Council
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	mala1467

Influence

An element needed to carry out commercial transactions is a common language understood by all parties involved in early trade. Historians such as J.V. Sebastian, K.T. Thirunavukkarasu, and A.W. Hamilton record that Tamil was the common language of commerce in Malaysia and Indonesia during historical times. The maritime Tamil significance in Sumatran and Malay Peninsula trading continued for centuries and borrowings into Malay from Tamil increased between the 15th and 19th centuries due to their commercial activities. In the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company was obliged to use Tamil as part of its correspondence. In Malacca and other seaports up to the 19th century, Malay terminology pertaining to book-keeping and accountancy was still largely Tamil.

Borrowings into Malay from Tamil (sometimes Sanskritized) include such everyday words as:

Tamil	Malay	English
அநியாயம் aniyāyam	aniaya	persecute, misjustice
கடை kaṭai	kedai	shop
	gadai	pawn
கப்பல் kappal	kapal	ship
கோட்டம் kōṭṭam	kota	city
சதை catai	sate	satay
சுங்கம் cuṅkam	cukai	tax
சுசி cuci	cuci	to clean/wash
சும்மா cummā	cuma	only/merely
சொர்க்கம் corkkam	syurga	heaven/paradise
சௌத்து cauttu	contoh	example
நகரம் nakaram	negara	city
பூமி pūmi	bumi	earth
மாமா māmā	mamak	Tamil Muslim
முத்து muttu	mutiara	pearl
ரகசியம் rakaciyam	rahsia	secret
ரொட்டி roṭṭi	roti	bread
வகை vakai	bagai	variety/type
வர்ணம் varṇam	warna	colours

Sources

• Andronov, M.S. (1970), Dravidian Languages, Nauka Publishing House
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• Caldwell, Robert (1974), A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages, New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corp.
• Hart, George L. (1975), The poems of ancient Tamil : their milieu and their Sanskrit counterparts, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-02672-1
• Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003), The Dravidian Languages, Cambridge Language Surveys, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-77111-0
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• Mahadevan, Iravatham (2003), Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D, Harvard Oriental Series vol. 62, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-01227-5
• Meenakshisundaran, T.P. (1965), A History of Tamil Language, Poona: Deccan College
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• Shapiro, Michael C.; Schiffman, Harold F. (1983), Language and society in South Asia, Dordrecht: Foris, ISBN 90-70176-55-6
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• Steever, Sanford (1998), "Introduction", in Steever, Sanford (ed.), The Dravidian Languages, London: Routledge, pp. 1–39, ISBN 0-415-10023-2
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• Tharu, Susie; Lalita, K., eds. (1991), Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the present – Vol. 1: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century, Feminist Press, ISBN 1-55861-027-8
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• Varadarajan, Mu. (1988), A History of Tamil Literature, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi (Translated from Tamil by E.Sa. Viswanathan)
• Zvelebil, Kamil (1992), Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature, Leiden: Brill, ISBN 90-04-09365-6