Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
UNIVERSITY OF KERALA, KARIYAVATTOM, TRIVANDRUM
INDIA
ijdl -Vo.I. IV-/vo. 1 82 �- . ·-· 'A1fdrewskt1t.ty Inrernational Journal of Dravidian Linguistics
:Jiudd�ton, Iw,dway, -D. 197L · -'J:he S.entences ;-,, Written ·E_ngli.fb-:
. , ... • ..
..
A Syntactic study based on an
analysis of _scJen(ific texts, .Cam:
�ii��e ·ujiiv�rsio/ ·fiesi.
Nair, P. Somasekharan 1969. .. The Cochin.Diale�t of Malayalam.
-- (Ph. D. dissertation),· 'Department
. 6f ·. · Linguistics, . University · of
Kerala (Unpublished).
PRONOUNS OF ADPRJ:SS IN TAMIL
. .- . •j -· -. . . . . -· .. AND SJNHALESE • A SocioUnguistic Study·
Panikkar, G. K. (1967). 1973. · Description of the Erniifl Dialect
of _Mf!,layalwn, DLA� Trivandrtµt;t., �- S. Kanmatillake
.. . . •. . .
Postal, P�ul. ¥• 1966 · . 0,:, s� -:called 'Pronouns_' fn E'?glis,_� . S. Susee��ar"jah
_
pp. 177-206. Monograph series· University of Sri i,,_anka-
.
on . Lail�ge· and Linguistics
No. i 9, (Ed.)" Dhineson, F. P.
S. J, ' Georgetown University, ' : · Tamils and Sinhalese are the two major s�cioling�i�tic groups ·
Institute of Language and Lingu
in the Sri Lanka society. They are two different ethnic ·groups
istics. apeaking·· languages - belonging to· different·. families and following
R oy, C. J. 1969 ·--i,�ya Diaiect, (Ph.D. dissertation), religions -that are· today dynamically different. · -A majority of -the
Department of Ljnguistics, . JJm·
' . -- r • .
society is free from c_aste-hierarchy. Many of the customs respected social status of 'the person addressed. The social status of a person
by the Tamils and Muslims stand in complete contradiction. Socially is conditioned by several factors such as caste, age, education;
Muslims appear to be the most segregated group in Sri Lanka position or rank, sex, wealth, family background, dress, personality,
society. In Sri Lanka the most segregated Tamil dialect is also the · etc. Certain factors dominate every other factor in certain social
Muslim Tamil. There are many restrictions even today that hinder situations, and certain factors become irrelevant in some situations.
any prof�und relationship between Tamils and Muslims on the one Caste-factor usually becomes irrelevant in case of low-castes if the
hand and Sinhalese and Muslims on the other. The impact of concerne!l addressee is well-educated and holds a position. Similarly
Islam on the sociai .life of the Tanii'l speaking Muslim community ·age-factor is nullified if the addressee belongs to a low-caste and
is indeed very great. Their language reflects the social order of their is uneducated or is very shabily dressed and clumsy. In other words,
life which differs from other Tamil_ speaking communities. age is respected in the modern Tamil society, provide:! both the
addressed and the addressee belong to higher castes. It is thus
Christians in our society do uphold caste differences rigidly but difficult to single out a sole factor as governing the social ranks
only at some social level. As. such these differences are also reflected of individuals that prompts the choices of pronouns. Usually several
in their language. In other word� unlike the influence of Islam on factors combine together are at play.
Tamil speaking Muslims, among Christians the basic structure of the
social organimtion of Tamils and Sinhalese· is not remarkably changed In our modern times nii and niir are singular pronouns and
· as such never used to indicate plural either in writing or . speech.
�ue to Christianity.
niimka/ is a plural pronoun with a segmentable plural marker namely
It will be interesting to investigate the several social differences -ka/, but it is also used in the singular to indicate reverence or
�hat are reflected in the language spoken by the different communities respect. In situations where one wants to show respect to the
referred to herein. One such difference taken for sttJdy here is the addressed ,he invariably chooses niimka/. For instance a stud�nt
choice of a pronoun of address. In Tamil and Sinhalese a person always uses niimka/ to a teacher. In offices an inferior always uses
can be addressed with more than a single pron. oun an·d therefore niimka/ to a superior. In situations as these the speaker is fully
there is always a choice for the addressee. The potential choice is aware of the social position and prestige enjoyed by the addressed.
predominantly governed by !!Ocial factors. The social differences in But in situations where one is not sure of the exact social - position
eac'h community mentioned herein and the differences in the choices or status of the addressed and when certain other factors such as
or'pronoun in respective languages or dialects can be well correlated. age and dres� warrant the use . of niimka/, the speaker uses it but
Briefly speaking, choice of pronouns of address is closely associated not with the full intention of showing respect to the addressed.
with. two basic dimensions of social relationship between individuals,. The · use of niimka/ in this context is more to get over the difficulty
namely the relationship of 'superior inferior' and 'equal'. in choosing the most appropriate pronoun. Let us call such respect
A detailed :analysis of the social contexts and the choices of as �nintentional. Let us here. take a classic situation to illustrate
pronouns in Tamil and Sinhalese. will help us _ to bring out the the behaviour and spee:h of an individual in such a context. if
similarities and · dissimil�ities in the structure of pronouns of A, who· is about 20 years old and who belongs to a higher caste
address and their so�al and linguistic usages in these languages meets B, perhaps � stranger, who is about 45 years and who is
depending on their correlates with the differences among the varying_ well dressed, will use the pronoun niimka/. But the moment A
social groups. An attempt such as this is made herein. This comes to know in the course of their conversation that B belongs
paper is written in tw� parts. The irst part relates the pronouns to-the barber community and does the prefossion of a barber some
of address in Tamil language and society; the second part concerns where, he would rather hesitate to or reluctantly use or may not
the situation in _Sinhalese language and society; and the third part use the pronoun niimka/ to him further. He may even suddenly
presen� a contrastive analy1ds of both systems. choose another pronoun of address whereby he would reduce -the
degree of respect shown. If B instead of doing the profession of
A majority of the Tamils of the Jaffna peninsula usually have a barber- holds a position, then A would either continue to use
a choice in speaking and writing Tamil between three .pronouns of · niimka/, sometimes with certain amount of reluctance or mental
address : they use either nii> niir or niimka/ · depending on the ·conflict or ·even may avoid the use of any pronoun depending on
ijtll Vol. TV.· No: 1 86 Karunatillake & Suseendirarajah ijdl Vol. IV No. I 87 Karunatil/ake & Suseendirarajah
...
ijdl Vol. IV No. 1 88 Kanmatillake &: Suseendirarajah ijdl Vol.· IV No. 1 · 89 Karunatillake & Suseendirarajah
, epic namely Cilappatikaaram, generally assigned to the 2nd century uneducated rural Vee/aa/a uses it to a Brahmin priest. In an urban
A. D. (Meenakshisundaran, 1965 : 42) we are able to note the society where the out-look is rather cosmopolitan, naam and taanika/
different usages of certain pronouns of address as revealing the arc not used iri ordinary conversations among various social groups.
different social attitudes towards people belonging to different social But one may hear taamka/ being used in platform speeches to refer
�lasses. (The characters in Cilappatikaaram use different pronouns to a person of high · standing say as for instance a great scholar, a
of address according to varying social relationships.) In Tamil, of all religious dignitary, a great social worker or a statesman. In Indian'
the plural pronouns of address it was probably niir that gained first as spoken Taniil "!aam is used by· all frequently as a first person
singular honorific sense. ·
inclusive plural form but never as in Jaffna. It is int,resting to note
Today it is possible to descn'bc the social hierarchy in our here that naam denotes second person singular honorific in one of
. society on tije basis of the use of pronouns of · address. The Jaffna Saint Tirunaavukkaracas' hymns (Singara.velan, 1971 : 349-54) .
'. . .
Tamil society may be roughly divided into three groups: one group 'J:o start with na.am w_as a first person (inclusive?) plural form.
deserving the _use of nii alone; ·another group the use of niir and the The choice of this form by · certain groups to address the higher
third group niimka/-:-from the point of a high-caste, ec;iucated and aged probably reveals a social relation-a �ease of . surrendering them
person. In this division some overlappings are likely. All the Tamil selves to their masters- or lords, may be inferred. With the progress
.speakers in Jaffna use· nii at one time _or another. There· are also of education and the social reforins the usage of naam is now
Tamils who never use or sparingly use niir · or niimka/. A group o f fast disappearing:
people called Harijans, especially the older generation among them, . .
· use only· nfi. ·whenever they speak· among themselves they use only · There is also a tendency . in certain groups · of · the Tamil
· nli irrespective of age, wealth and other factors. As there is no society in Jaffna to· avoid the use of-. all pronouns· of address while
sense of social superiority or inferiority among· themselves no ·one speaking to their superiors, especially caste-wise. These groups uie
e�pects another among themselves to use niir or niimk.a/. Thus the only nii aµiong themselves.- Probably these groups -feel .that avoiding
social significance of the pronouns of address which is dominant in pronouns itself is a mark of high respect for the addres.sed. Instead pf
other. social groups is nil for· the Harijans. But the Harijan caste pronouns, certain kinship terms or other terms of address like ._ayyaiz
members are aware of the existc1;1ce of the "pronouns niir and niimka/. 'sir'; 'master', ammaa 'madam' are used depending on· the status of
When they address members of the higher castes they usually use the. addressed. In such cases the concord in the finite verb will be
the singular pronoun nii plus various other address °forms such as usually in the neuter gender. For example, tampi emkay_pookutu
taQlifcay or nainaar·.(for male) and u/aycci or naacciyaar (for female) literally 'younger brother-where -going', ayyaakku naan taaren 'to . sir
: to indicate their respect to the_ addressed. -1- give', jnstead of a second person pronoun and it� appropriate
verb correlate : nii emkay pooraay, niir emkay pooriir, niimka/ emkay
In a.village situatiot). the gro�p ·that .u�es niimka/ reoip�ocally pooriimka/" I pooriya/ 'where are you going ?'.
is indeed very small. The group· that receives nii is the largest and
the group that recci�es niir 1s the intermediary. This situation differs There are two. paralltl but different social connotations for the
in an urba� area for its out-look and the social setting are entirely use of verbs inflectt?d to neuter with bum.an nouns as subject. :1n
. different. 'fhe. use of niimka/ is very dominant in the urban society. some social groups usually with lower _rank, the use of finite verb in
Next comes niir. Very few, people receive nii in an urban society- neuter with.:human -·subject eoncerried, while addressing the higher
usually only s�rvants and ;Menial wor�ers. · rank -is considered; perhaps by both, as indicating· respect. But on
the other- hand, its use• among the members of the higher status group
. A part. from these three pronouns of address, naam a first or to a person whos«? social status cannot be identified is comidered
person inclusive plural pronoun and taamka/ a . third person reflexive as indicating only medial respect:
plural pronoun are also used by members of certain social groups .. . . .
to address people who enjoy a higher social rank usually on the scale T:he Tarajl_ speQ,king ._Muslim COJlllllunity. uses only two. pro
of high· low caste in the rural society. naam indicates very high respect nouns : nii and niimka/. Seldom. they use nifr. This .parallels the
for the addressed. For instan�e a member of the Pariah caste (funeral situation in .the... mainland ,(Indian) diale�t of Tamil. Relatively
drummer) "!!Ses naam "to a Veeµza/a (agriculturist). : Sometimes_ an speaking, Muslims·have a restricted usage of nii. It is very· seldom
ifdl Vol. IV No. I 90 Karunatillake & Suseendiraraj4h ijdJ" ·Vol. IV No. ·1 91 Karunatillake & Suseendirarajah
that a Muslim uses nii to a_ person who is very much older than. The fundamental cleavage of the Sinhalese Buddhist society
the addressee. Perhaps age is an important f�tor in . deciding the singnalled by the. specific selection of the addresse�-pronoun is that
_use of nii or niimka/ in familiar situations. But in the Tamil society, between the c1ergy and the laity. A layman confronts a Buddhist
a Hindu or a Christian, as said earlier, uses nii to an elderly person monk primarily in the. following situations: (1) donor vs.. priest,
also if his caste and social status are low. But a Mu!llim will not (2) iistener �s. p�eacher and (3) �scip�e vs. preceptor. Of these: the
_
usually use nii even to a beggar if he. is very much older than he. first two situations are assymetncal m that the monk 1_nvanably
It is also noteworthy that among the Muslim adults the mutual •1.JSC functions as the pri�st or the preacher, there being no possibility for
of niimkai is very dominant both in rural and urban society. the exchange of roles; whereas the last can be reciprocal, the monk
This is probably because of their r�ligion wherein the concepts or functioning either as the preceptor or the disciple, or the layman, as
equality and brotherhood- are emphasized. Christianity too does not the case may b,!'. The last two situations, ·however, come under
accomodate caste - differences. But the Christian society is still open formal talk and is therefore not discussed her�in..
to the influence of H�ndu society and not segregated as the Muslim Customarily, a layman uses the pronoun obavahanse (which is
· spciety.
oba 'you'·+ vahanse 'respectful') qr tamunnaanse both meaning 'you
Hindu Tamils and Muslims u se nii in prayers. to their god$, respectfal', when addressing a monk. Of these two forms, tamunnaanse
Christian Tamils make an exception by using niir to their god. No is one degree low in · the scale of respect, obavahanse according the
one uses niimka/. · highest degree of conceivable respe�t.
The use of nii is acceptable to all in poetry. It is perh@.ps When monks talk ainqng tp.emselves, the following factors
used in poetry as a colourless social pronoun and perhaps this is . a broadly govern the selection of the addressee pronoun:
trait of its old us3:ge. . (1) whether higher-ordainej or novice (i.e. whether upasampanna
or saamal}era),
The v erb--correlates· of the pronouns of address in .Jaffna Tamil
ate illustrated below with the verb form cey 'do'.11 (2) if higher-ordained, whether elder; equal or junior.
pronol.!Jls imperative future present past Cutting across this is the teacher-pupil succession (guru-goo/a samba
ndhataa). A novice, no matter what his age is or how many years he has
nii . cey cey-v-aay · .cey....y-ir-aay cey-t-aay
spent ordained, by. the monastic rules · applicable .to the order of
niir cey-y-um cey-v-iir _cey-y-ir-iir cey-t-iir monks, he is not qualified to ordain another as a pupil. A novice
_niimka/ cey-y-umkoo/ cey-v-iya// cey-y--ir-iya/1 cey-t-iya// occupies the lowest rank in the scale of monastic respect� and between
cey-y-umka/ cey-v-iimka/ cey-y-ir-iimka/ cey-t-iimka/ two novices one who is senior in ordination qualifies himself for more
naam . cey-y-a cey-y-um cey-y-utu cey-t-U{u respect than one that is junior in ordination. If both monks are higher
ordained and equal and if both qualify themselves to be elders\ .they
Needless t9 say, it is �xtremely hard to- formulate· any simple would usually address each other as staviraye (literally meaning 'elder'J.
i;et _of rules governing the behaviour- of the addressee-pronouni; in The form aayusmatun is used by a senior addressing a j. unior or when
Sinhalese. Numerous factors-social and psychological-contribute two juniors address each other. A junior or novice will always address
to .the selection as well· as tile replacement of a given pronominal a senior by. tlie term haamdururuvanee (literally meaning 'monk'), and �
form in a specifiable talking-context, An- attempt is made. in this ..)in all these situations the implied pronoun is obavahanse. A novice
section to outline very briefly, the structure of the addressee pronc;nms or·a pupil is always-addressed as unnaanse. · ·
as well as their secio�s�J)lantic correlates.. As there is a considerable
regional variation in the usage of these prqnouns, only their realizati�n The addressee-pronominal system used by the laity when
in• a single focal-area (viz. Colombo and its northern suburbs) has speaking among them.selves is broadly classifiable into related structural
been taken up for discussion. This is further restricted to the informal sets as,
colloquial of Sinhalese Buddhists. . 3. To qualify as an elder, a high-ordained monk is expected to have spent
minimally ten retreats and it is only then that· he· is considered qualijied by
2. -y- can be elij>lained by a familiar morpbophonomic; rule_ in Tjlm_il; • monastic-law to ordain l;l person as his pupil.
ijdl Vol. IV No. 1 92 Karunatillake & Suseendirara}'1Ji 93 Karunatillake & Suseendirarajah
j dl Vol. IV No_. I
1. {eyaa, tamuse; u,i,ba., tt.10} not appear·in a plural form even in plural contexts. However, in certain
2. {ban, bola.} stray situations one might hear the form bal/a (ban+ la) as the formal
Of these set 11 is defective in that, its memb ers oceur plural of· ban.
exclusively as vocative .forms without inflecting· for any oth er case In certain situations, the otherwise impolite pronominal form
forin. Contrastively members of set 1 enter into the full paradigm., u nJb a. J ban and_too I bola. �re used to ex.press deep affection. This is,
. �he s�lection of a speci�c addressee-pronoun in a given speaking h owe ver, restricted to talk between very close-fpends, lovers, .husband
s1tuatl�n depends on several factors, such as age-group, sex, $Ocial and wife, parents and �hildren, and siblings.
status, external appearance and personality etc. of the addressee: or Basically the imperative verb-concord with the aforesaid pronouns
course, it _is �u_ite c ustom_ary to aelete the addressee-pronoun. in is take-n up here.· There are four imperative marke�s nr)a m -na.va
_
connected discourse, as well as in situations where the addressee is mpan-= ( piya.(\)_¢). Of tbese -n{ia.-agress with thepronouns oba.vahanse/
� omplet � ly strange to the speaker. l:lowever in all such contexts� the tamunnaanse and oyaa. -n{ia has two i:µajor regional-variation -nne
imperative-verb concord would tell us what the implied pronominal (South) and -nt:, (up country). Of all the three alternants -nn:, is
reference is. ,. · · ·
considered to be the .more standard type and the most polite form. This
For . people belonging to the. age-group; say, below: 50 is confirmed by the fact that both -mja and -nta users switch on to the
-eyaa is the most polite pronommal form· of address. . It is neutra.i -nna. form in formal situations. -nava agrees with tamuse, pan with
as to sex in that_ it can be used by male / female and by female to uflfba. and - piya (\) ¢ with too. '.fhis is illustrated below with the
�ale/ female. Gen�ra_Uy_ for people, · say, above 50, - eyaa verb - b�e ka.ra. - 'do'.
1s a pronoun of f�minine · aadress only, and is as su�h seldom used oy oba.vahanse
males ·when talking among themselves. With them tamuse is the
polite from of address when talking to males, whereas· with those
tamunnaanse } ka.rantj.a. 'you (monk- respectful) do'
oyaa ka.rantj.a. 'you do'
for whom eyaa. is -the polite form, tamuse conveys a slight impolite
connotation. tamuse, however, is not normally used in addressing tamuse ka.ra.na.va 'you do'
females. Those with whoin tailfuse is the polite form, ·use umba. as a· uilfba. ka.ra.pan 'you d9'
neutral addressee-pronoun with refernce to both males and females too ka.ra.piya.I 'you do'
b ut those for whom oyaa is the polite from considet uilfba. as �� ka.ra.
im�olite fo�m �� add�ess. However; they might use uilfba. in addressing The plurals of these imperative forms except -piya. (\) ¢ is
_
their children and mmor employees, and the form·· is non-reciprocal. formed by adding ·-/a. Th us -ntj.a.la, - na.vala, :...palla (pan + la}.
In rural areas, h�wever, uilfba. is used recip_rocally between parents -piya. (\) ¢ add -v fielding the forms -piyav and -v.
and chil�en, siblings, and husband and wife. too· is the most impolite
prono�n�l-fonn of address. In very backward areas;' however, Note that the clergy ·vs. laity distinction b rought out in the
parents might use 100 form in addressing· children and it is non specific selection of the addressee p1onoun is- neutrJllized at the level
·reciprocal: Gener�ly speaking · too is the form one frequently hears of imperative verb -concord.
in ·moods of a�ger :and quarrelling. · · · . .
. When one is not sure of the ex.act degree ·of respect to be
-ban and , bola.· · ar� the vocative con:elates of �,i,ba and too
· accorded to the addressee, one might avoid the usage of the afore- '
respectively, These r:arely occur in ab solute-sentence-initial position. said imperative verbal forms as they are positive-evaluative categories,
AU th�. pronoun forms given abo".e except tQo, _ bola. and ban form and instead resort to any of the following verbal categories which
their plural �y aqding ., la. ·1l�� �yaala, tamusela; J!mba., etc., too and are extendable_ to imply that one is 'non-committed':
bola. have topi'and belav respectively in the plural".. bafi us �ally d�e�· I
(c) · past conditional plus honday construction, which otherwise ··From the above study, the following points of contrast between
means· good· if one were to do (the action implied by the
�e Tamil and Sinhalese address-pronominal systems come to 'light.
conditional form); and
· The funda�ental distinction· of the Sinhalese Buddhist �ociety
(d) · the present-interrogative form (i.e. -nQva + dQ ?). 'brought to relief by the behaviour of the addressee-pronouns is
In all these usages no overt pronominal form is used, since that between the clergy a·nd the laity which fact is · totally irrelevant for
its usage would invariably locate the person in . a positive rank in the Tamil society as reflected in the behaviour of the corr�sponding
the scale of politeness/respect. To illustrate, Tamil pronouns. The Sinhalese lay-society is classifiable into · three
groups : oyaa-group, tamuse-group and the umba-group depending
mee vae(/.a karamu -on the selection of the addressee-pronouns. Similarly the Tamil
this work (let .us do) - do this work (you). society presents a three -way stratification : niimka/ -group, niir-group
,, ,, karanna oona and the nii-group, based on the selection of the addresse:-pronominal
.. .. (do must). - ,, ,, ,,
. keruvet honday
counterpart in Tamil. The naam-group has b�come v ry marginal
in modern Tamil society. However the factors on which this type of
.. .. (if one were to do good) - ,, ,, ,,
karanavada ?
(will you do?) -+; ,, ,, ,,
classification is based in the two societies are completely different. The
governing factor in the Tamil society being social; primarily caste · and
social-rank based, and as sucli the ·choice of the appropriate pronoun
"In such contexts, some ·people niay· optionally use tamun as.a ·being· already made for the speaker; whereas· the selection of an
non-comm ittal addre·ssee-pronominal form. Thus, addressee-pronoun in Sinhalese depends more on the attitude of. the
tamun mee .vaed karamu - 'you do this work' etc. :speak�,;- towards the addresse·: and· seems to be more a psychological fact
· than a socially pre-conditioned fact. Although there is so to say a semi
. . 'Connected with th� r,ankin� pf ad_dressee-pronominal .f�rms are
functional caste system underlying the Sinhalese society it is seldom
the words expressive of consent in answer to yes / no questions. .realized at the level of speech; and, . therefore, unlike in the Tamil
There are three such forms, ehey, ·ehemay and ov. Of. these · ehey is
J!Ociety, caste and . social-rank distinction never function as a
used by the laity when •-talking with monks, and by monks when
determiner of the addressee pronoun-selection in Sinhalese. What
'talking with superiors.' ehemay is t�e form used by the laity when
is cru�ial for .�e Sinhalese society is the ranking of a person along
speaking with higher officials and dignitaries, and dignitaries, and by
a politeness (respect) scale, whereas in Tamil it is a: socio..:ecoilb�c
_stude�ts to teae:he�s etc. The form that. is otherwise used by the
scale. In Tamil, the ranking of a person 'is .rather rigid as revealed
' laity �s ov. However in current speech ov seems.to be getting extended by the specified linguistic exponents, whereas in Sinhalese it is more
also into contexts where f!h'emay is used It is· worth · noting tliat the
·flexible. ·.-1n:'the Sinhalese society age can be considered ·as one of
7
REF-E�ENCE S
Abstract : This paper discusses the validity of the the
Meenakshisundaran, T. P., 1965. A. History of Tamil Literature, pbenomenon of caste as the sole variable characterizing dialects in
Annamali _U�versity .. India and rejects that hypothesis.
· Roger Brown and Albert Gilman, 1972. The Pronouns of Power The contention of this paper is that caste -difference in
and Solidarity, (Ed.) Joshua A. Fishman, dialects may be a marginally determinant variable only at the rural
Readings in the Sociology of Language, The sub-caste level. In urbaµ situation· or situations w�ere ot)ier
Hague. socially competitive high castes share Brahminicalfeatures including
Singaravelan, C;, 1971.
· Saint Appar's Contribution to Tamil marked language features and there is a mutual inflow of com�uni-·
· :Grammar, Proceedings of the llnd Inter cation, 'caste dialect; not only becomes a meaningless nomenclature,
·
national Conference Seminar of Tamil Studies, but it tries to preserve a social institution which is otht?rwise in an
Vot 1., Madras. osmosis.
Suseendirarajah.; S., 1970. Reflections of Certain �ocial Differences in Every group acquires symbols as markers of their independent
Jajfna T,amil, Anthropological' Linguistics, identity. Language is one such • marker-. When a person opens his
Vol. 12, Indil;l�a _University.. mouth he identifies himself with some ·. and separa:tes 'himself from
Tolkaappiyam, 1953. (Ed.) The South Indi� Saiva Siddhanta Works the others. · Thus language is a powerful marker trait· of group
Publishing Society, Madras. identity. · However, it would be a tenuous· assumption that this
VayyapuriJ)illai, S;. 1956. Corka/in Caritam, Madras. group can always be identified with a caste. In fact, the'· talk about
caste dialects may even have negatively reinforced caste· identities and
·feelings.
Scholars who have investigated language variation in India have
talc.en caste dialect for granted as a. priori assumption. Thus
McCormack (1960) labelled-his three strata of .Dharwar Kannada as
,Brahmin, non-Bra�in and ilarijan. In his paper 'A Causal Analysis
of. Caste ·Dialects' iq 'Studies in Indian Linguistics' (1968) he claims
thai "Indian speech communities are . conscious. of caste dialects."
Bright aqd Ramanujan (1964) have similarly assei:ted that· 'clear - cut
social dialects are found to be associated with the ca$te system of
:Hindu Society'. Ramanujan, · in his discµssion of the structure of
. v�riation (1970) o}?serves that,· "Caste dialects,. like regional dialects,