Characteristics of the Tamil language in AX Semantics
Fundamentals
In Tamil, you need to know the case, number, and gender of a noun to form the respective pronouns correctly. Tamil has three genders for nouns: masculine, feminine, and neuter. The grammatical gender of Tamil nouns corresponds to their natural sex, which is only applicable to human beings. Grammatically, non—human beings are handled as neuter nouns.
There are two numbers: singular and plural. Additionally, Tamil has eight cases.
| grammatical name | values | examples |
|---|---|---|
| gender | masculine | சிறுவன் [ciṟuvaṉ] (boy) |
| feminine | சிறுமி [ciṟumi] (girl) | |
| neuter | நாய் [nāy] (dog) | |
| number | singular | பழைய வீடு [paḻaiya vīṭu] (old house) |
| plural | பழைய வீடுகள் [paḻaiya vīṭukaḷ] (old houses) | |
| case | nominative | நாய் [nāy] (the dog) |
| accusative | நான் நாயை நடக்கிறேன். [nāṉ nāyai naṭakkiṟēṉ (I walk the dog.) | |
| dative | நான் பந்தை நாய்க்குக் கொடுக்கிறேன். [nāṉ pantai nāykku koṭukkiṟēṉ] (I give the ball to the dog.) | |
| instrumental | பார்வையற்றவன் நாயால் நடக்கிறான். [Pārvaiyaṟṟavaṉ nāyāl naṭakkiṟāṉ] (The blind man walks with a dog.) | |
| genitive | நாயுடைய நிறம் [nāyuṭaiya niṟam] (the dog's color) | |
| locative | பறவை நாயில் மீது இறங்குகிறது. [paṟavai nāyil mītu iṟaṅkukiṟatu] (The bird lands on the dog.) | |
| ablative | நாயிலிருந்து கற்றுக்கொள்கிறேன். [nāyiliruntu kaṟṟukkoḷkiṟēṉ] (I learn from the dog.) | |
| vocative | இது நன்றாக இருந்தது, நாயே ! [itu naṉṟāka iruntatu_,_ nāyē] (It was good, dog.) | |
| adjectives (noun) | before noun | சிவப்பு ஆப்பிள் [civappu āppiḷ] (red apple) |
| verb tenses | present | அவன் சாப்பிடுகிறான் [avaṉ cāppiṭukiṟāṉ] (he eats) |
| past | அவன் சாப்பிட்டான் [ avaṉ cāppiṭṭāṉ] (he ate) | |
| future | அவன் சாப்பிடுவான் [avaṉ cāppiṭuvāṉ] (he will eat) |
The standard order of a noun phrase in Tamil is the following:
determiner + numeral + adjective + noun + preposition
See for example:
இந்த மூன்று பிரபலமான பாடகர்களைப் பற்றி
[inta mūṉṟu pirapalamāṉa pāṭakarkaḷaip paṟṟi]
(these three popular singers about)
DET NUM ADJ NOUN PREP
"about these three popular singers"
Lexicon
Nouns
Tamil nouns inflect for number and case. Nouns should be added to the lexicon if they do not inflect regularly.
Lexicon entries for nouns may also be necessary for inflecting determiners and pronouns correctly. They are omitted, if a lexicon entry is required, but missing.
Examples
The basic lexicon entry for வீடு [vīṭu] (house) contains:
- inflection table for number and case:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | வீடு [vīṭu] | வீடுகள் [vīṭukaḷ] |
| Accusative | வீட்டை [vīṭṭai] | வீடுகளை [vīṭukaḷai] |
| Dative | வீட்டுக்கு [vīṭṭukku] | வீடுகளுக்கு [vīṭukaḷukku] |
| Instrumental | வீட்டால் [vīṭṭāl] | வீடுகளால் [vīṭukaḷāl] |
| Genitive | வீட்டுடைய [vīṭṭuṭaiya] | வீடுகளுடைய [vīṭukaḷuṭaiya] |
| Locative | வீட்டில் [vīṭṭil] | வீடுகளில் [vīṭukaḷil] |
| Ablative | வீட்டிலிருந்து [vīṭṭiliruntu] | வீடுகளிலிருந்து [vīṭukaḷiliruntu] |
| Vocative | வீடே [vīṭē] | வீடுகளே [vīṭukaḷē] |
Adjectives
In Tamil, the default position for an adjective is "before noun".
Verbs
Tamil verbs inflect for tense, number, and person. The most common verbs are encoded in our software. If a verb inflects incorrectly, you should add it to the lexicon.
Container settings
Determiner
The AX NLG platform supports the following determiners for Tamil: indefinite, demonstrative (proximal) and possessive. Tamil has no definite articles.
Preposition/Postposition
Tamil uses postpositions rather than prepositions. Therefore, if prepositions are used in a noun or pronoun container they are automatically put at the end of the phrase. Prepositions function as postpositions despite being called prepositions in the container, since they are analogous to prepositions in English (both are adpositions).
Pronoun
The AX NLG platform supports the following pronouns for Tamil: personal, demonstrative (proximal), interrogative, and possessive.
Numerals
Four types of numerals are possible on the AX NLG platform: cardinal, cardinal as digit, ordinal, and ordinal as digit. Take நாள் დღე [nāḷ] (day) for example:
| cardinal | ordinal | |
|---|---|---|
| text | ஒன்பது நாட்கள் [oṉpatu nāṭkaḷ] (nine days) | ஒன்பதாம் நாள் [oṉpatām nāḷ] (the ninth day) |
| digit | 9 நாட்கள் [9 nāṭkaḷ] (9 days) | 9. நாள் [9. nāḷ] (the 9th day) |
For Tamil, ordinal numerals up to 20 are written out on the platform. Cardinal numerals up to 20 and multiples of 10 up to 100 (e.g. 30, 40, etc.) are also written out. The outputs of other numerals are in digit form. Take cardinal numerals for example (written out vs. digit):
இருபது கார்கள்
[irupatu kārkaḷ]
(twenty cars)
vs.
21 கார்கள்
[21 kārkaḷ]
(21 cars)
Vowel harmony
The AX platform applies vowel harmonies automatically. Vowel harmony means that many inflection suffixes have different variants, that are used depending on what kind of vowels a word contains.
Tamil has a distinction between short and long vowels. Therefore, vowel harmony means that if the first syllable of a word contains a short vowel (e.g., இ[i], எ[e], or அ[ä] ), the subsequent syllables change vowels to be more similar to nearby short vowels.
கடை + இ + இல் = கடையில் [kaṭai + i + il = kaṭaiyil]
(in the shop[locative])
மலை + உ + உடைய = மலையுடைய [malai + u + uṭaiya = malaiyuṭaiya]
(of the mountain[genitive])
This assimilation applies to long vowels as well.
Language variants
The AX NLG platform offers 2 variants of the Tamil language:
- India
- Sri Lanka
The main differences between these dialects are their pronunciation and grammar in spoken communication.