| Tanglish | |
|---|---|
| Thanglish | |
| தமிங்கிலம் | |
| Pronunciation | ˌt̪əˈmɪŋgɪləm |
| Region | Tamil Nadu,SE Asia,North America |
| Ethnicity | Tamil |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
Tanglish (Tamil:தமிங்கிலம்,pronounced[ˌt̪əˈmɪŋgɪləm]) refers to themacaroniccode-mixing orcode-switching of theTamil andEnglish languages, in the context of colloquialspoken language. In the context of colloquialwritten language,Tanglish refers to thetransliteration of Tamil text in English, with extensive usage of English vocabulary.
The name is aportmanteau of Tamil and English, and has taken various forms over time. The earliest form isTamilish (dating from 1972), thenTinglish (1974),Tamglish (1991),Tamlish (1993),Thanglish (1997), andTanglish (1999).[1]
The use of Tanglish is common inChennai, possibly due in part to the use of English in education. The influx of speakers of other languages (such asTelugu,Gujarati, andKannada) to the city has also increased the importance of English as thelingua franca.[2] InThe Hindu in 2010, a student in Chennai told of the widespread use of Tanglish by teenagers in her city. She said Tanglish was "something almost every teenager in Chennai uses", but noted that her mother said Tanglish was "murdering the [Tamil] language".[3] That same year, a Tamil teacher in a matriculation school in Chennai reported that few of her students had a large enough Tamilvocabulary to be able to speak Tamil without including some words of English.[2]
Tanglish is increasingly used in advertising aimed at consumers inTamil Nadu, particularly for promotion of international products.[4] For example,Pepsi has mixed English with Tamil in its slogan "ullam kekkuthae more".[5] In 2004,The Hindu commented on a mobile phone advertising campaign in Chennai that used slogans that combined Tamil and English, such as "Konjam Samaiyal... Konjam Serial", "Konjam Advice... Konjam Udaans", and "Konjam Kadhal... Konjam Modhal."[4] It also is common for advertising to use the Tamil language rendered in theEnglish alphabet, a trend that leads to concern that people are losing the ability to readTamil script.[4]
The Tanglish lyrics of the film song "Why This Kolaveri Di", which went viral on Internet social networking sites in November 2011, have been identified as a factor in the song's popularity.[6][7][8]
Use of Tanglish has been reported among Tamil-speaking immigrant populations inMalaysia andCanada, particularly by young people.[9][10]Singaporean rapperYung Raja is known for his extensive use of Tanglish in his lyrics.[11]
A study of code switching in everyday speech in Tamil Nadu found that English words are commonly inserted into sentences that otherwise follow Tamilsyntax.[12]
A characteristic of Tanglish or Tamil-English code-switching is the addition of Tamil affixes to English words.[12] The sound "u" is added at the end of an Englishnoun to create a Tamil noun form, as in "soundu" and the words "girl-u heart-u black-u" in the lyrics of "Why This Kolaveri Di".[12][13] Englishnouns often are combined with Tamilcase markers, as in "journeyai" (accusative case), "driverkku" (dative case, used to mean "for the driver"), and "teacheroṭa" (of the teacher,genitive case).Verbs and some nouns from the English language are converted to Tamil verb forms by adding Tamil verbalizers that indicateverb mood. For example, the Tamil verb "paṇṇu" (imperative mood "do") is added to the English verb "drive", resulting in "drivepaṇṇu", used to mean "do the driving".[12] Another pattern that has been noted by speakers or observers of Tanglish is the addition of the syllable "fy" at the end of a Tamil word (e.g.,maattify,Kalaachify).[3][14]
