Chennai, Tamil Nadu state: “The Gateway to South India”
Bharatanatyam classical dancers
Name used by its speakers (Endonym): Tamil / தமிழ்
Native speakers (estimated): 79 million
Total speakers, including second-language (estimated): 86 million
Where it’s spoken: Tamil is a widely spoken South Asian language, originating in southern India and Sri Lanka but with speakers also scattered across a wide global diaspora. In India, Tamil has the fifth largest number of native speakers (after Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and Telugu). While only Hindi and English are official nationwide, Tamil is an official and majority language in both Tamil Nadu state and the union territory of Puducherry, and is constitutionally recognized as one of 22 “scheduled” languages entitled to support from the Indian government. Ethnic Tamils make up about 5.7% of the Indian population; outside Tamil Nadu there are also significant minority populations in other states in southern India including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, and Maharashtra.
Bilingual road sign, Chennai, India
Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka, alongside Sinhala, and is spoken by 4.2 million people (15% of the population). The Sri Lankan government recognizes two categories: Eelam (or Sri Lankan) Tamils, who have longer roots on the island, and Indian Tamils who migrated from the mainland in the 19th century. Though long considered distinct groups, their sense of common unity has grown in recent decades.
Temple, Madurai, Tamil Nadu State, India
The Tamil language has been spread worldwide by emigrants from India and Sri Lanka since the late 18th century, especially to other formerly British outposts including Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, and the Caribbean Islands. Singapore, where 5% of the population are Tamil speakers, is the only other country in which it has official language status (beside English, Mandarin Chinese, and Malay); however in neighboring Malaysia (with 4.8 million Tamil speakers, or 7% of the population) it is still used as one of the four languages of public education. In South Africa, despite not being among the 12 official languages, Tamil and other South Asian languages have recognized minority status—though younger generations of Indian South Africans tend to speak English. Tamil-speaking or ethnic Tamil minorities are also found in Mauritius (a nation) and Réunion (a French island), both east of Madagascar, as well as in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad, and Fiji.
Singapore coin displaying Tamil along with English and Malay
Starting in the latter 20th century, increasing numbers of Tamils (including many skilled professionals) migrated to Europe and North America. Canada is home to the largest concentration of Sri Lankan Tamils outside of Asia, and the Canadian Parliament designated January “Tamil Heritage Month” in 2010. The Tamil population in the US (including those with both Indian and Sri Lankan origins) exceeds 350,000 with its largest concentrations in New Jersey, New York, California, and Washington, DC.
2020 election poster featuring Kamala Harris, whose mother was born in Chennai (formerly Madras), Tamil Nadu
Language family: Dravidian, Southern branch. The Dravidian family contains 70 or more members, of which Tamil has the second highest number of speakers, after Telugu. Despite all having their origins in the southern Indian subcontinent, they are entirely unrelated to the Indo-European family (including Hindi) which dominates the northern part.
Related languages: Besides Tamil, the other two major South Dravidian languages are Malayalam (37 million speakers) and Kannada (with 44 million). Compared to Tamil both of these languages have borrowed more words over the centuries from Sanskrit, an Indo-European language. Another 40 or so South Dravidian languages claim far fewer speakers, some with less than a thousand remaining.