Lexical Theoretical Development in Applied Tamil Grammar Texts

Abstract

After 19th century Tamil literature has gone through many dimensions. Advent of print media, focus on language education and the establishment of new educational institutions are the reason for the development of many language based grammatical texts. The newly added grammatical elements are recorded in the grammar texts. Applied Tamil grammar texts explains the syllable, series and words based on grammar books. However, the new modern language theory records the changes that have appeared in the language system and highlights the language and grammar in the theory of linguistics. Tamil grammar books explains and defines grammar based on a Tamil text Nannul. Types of words are explained in the linguistic point of view by adapting the etymology mentioned in the Nannul. It also explains the new adjectives and adverbs and records the newly developed grammatical elements which are used in modern language. Word classification is divided into three levels. They are, classification based on alphabetic, classification based on case of words and classification based on grammatical usage. Contemporary Tamil tradition examines some of the techniques adopted by Tamil grammarians to define the word. Present Tamil grammarians distinguishes nouns and verbs on the basis of verb or on the basis of object. People also began approaching Tamil Grammar based on English grammar because of the abundance usage of English language. Tamil grammar text ‘Nalla Nool Eluthavaenduma’ explains grammar in a very simple way and it is considered to be the best grammar manual. Tamil grammar text explores the structure of Tamil language. Lexical grammar is explained in terms of linguistics. The four types of words such as noun, verb, interjection and adjective examine the changes that occurred in the language. Thus, the article gives a clear idea about lexical theoretical development in applied Tamil grammar texts.