Madras Tamil

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Madras Tamil or Madras bashai (Tamil: மெட்ராஸ் பாஷை), is a type of mixed language spoken in the city of Chennai, India (previously known as Madras). It is a loose polyglot blend of Tamil and English, with loanwords from Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi-Urdu. The word bashai derives from the Sanskrit bhasha (language). The term therefore is Tamil for "Madras language".

Madras bashai has its strong influences from English, Urdu and Telugu, with weaker influences from Hindi and Kannada. After this dialect became somewhat common in Madras, it became a source of satire for early Kollywood movies from the 1950s, in the form of puns and double entendres. Subsequent generations in Chennai identified with it and absorbed English constructs into the dialect, making it what it is today.

[edit] Classification

Madras bashai can be thought of as either of the following:

• A mixed language, using extreme amounts of code-switching between Tamil and English.
• Madrasi Tamil heavily infused with English influences and loanwords from other Indian languages.

Some consider "Tanglish" to be distinct from "Madras bashai", in that "Tanglish" is considered to be English with Tamil influences and loanwords, while "Madras bashai" is considered the opposite. Madras bashai is however not a type of Engrish, since it is not the result of trying to speak English correctly and then failing.

See also: English language

[edit] Grammar

Madras bashai favours Tamil syntactic structures, with heavy use of English words.

The following examples illustrates the heavy use of English words, even for basic concepts:

Code-switching also plays a very important role in Madras bashai. For instance, a person aggrieved with the English in this article may plaintively wail:

Inta mātiri full-ā English speak-paṇṇa people like me eppaṭi understand paṇṇartu? ([1])

How are people like me to understand this sort of full English speech?

Or a person may sadly shake one's head at the poor grasp of real Tamil among college students in the city, and say:

Future generation ellām full-ā English-tān pēcuvānka.

Future generations will all only speak completely in English.

It is important to note that if this were expressed fully in Tamil:

Vaṛa talaimuṛai ellām mulukka ānkilamtān pēcuvānka,

even in a colloquial form (as evidenced by the verb, pēcuvānka, as opposed to pēcuvārkaḷ), the word choice itself would make the sentence sound lofty and formal; words such as talaimuṛai are associated with literature, not everyday speech.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Verb conjugation

Tamil verbs are conjugated differently from Madurai Tamil. An underlying motive is to shorten the conjugated form of the verb by one or more syllables by deleting intermediate vowels, and to replace "slow" consonants by consonants that can be pronounced more quickly. Since Tamil is an agglutinative language, a word can still be discerned and understood even after a surprising number of vowels have been removed. The specific context of the word also helps to disambiguate it in practice. The examples shown here are therefore not as drastic as they might appear.

[edit] Alternative pronunciation

Some Tamil words are pronounced differently from Madurai Tamil (considered the standard dialect). This practice is very similar to other dialects of Tamil. The pronunciation differences are usually accounted for by morphed and/or deleted vowels.

[edit] Questions with binary answers

Questions with yes/no answers are framed by saying the statement whose truth is to be verified (using the participle if necessary) and then saying "aa" at the end with a rising inflexion like a question. The meaning of the "aa" is roughly analogous to "Is it?". If the statement already ends in an "aa" or other interfering vowel sound, then the questioning "aa" can be made "vaa" in the interest of euphonics. Some speakers tend to carry the "-aa" even into full English conversations from force of habit. e.g.: "U finished it aa?" and also sometimes shortened to "Finished-aa?"

However, phrases like "Lata-aa?" and "Ready-aa?" are usually used by the younger generation, and phrases of "Madras Bashai" in the above column is never used in polite form, and it is usually used as "street Tamil" or between people in lower classes.

[edit] Verbalization and nominalization

Many Tamil verbs are informally 'translated' to English by taking the verb root and suffixing "ify" or "ification". Verbifying and nounification are used in a jocular sense, only with people one knows well, and only if they speak Tamil. Using these forms in formal situations or with strangers is considered very juvenile, analogous to using emoticons in a high school essay. Some observers classify this practice as Tanglish rather than Madras bashai.

[edit] Vocabulary

Madras bashai combines words, suffixes and grammar rules of several languages to make new words. The most common sources are English, Telugu, Urdu, and Kannada. In addition, several words and phrases from conventional Tamil are used with different meanings.

• Figura paathu frienda cut panradhu. This phrase for instance uses the English words figure and friend as they are, except that they are declined like regular Tamil words. The phrase itself refers to a person who chooses his girlfriend as a higher priority than his friend (platonic friend).

• Enna Machi, Nalla Keeriya. Machi in Tamil literally means Brother-in-law, but it is very commonly used to address male friends in Madras Tamil.

Madras bashai is also frequently used to exhibiting road rage and starting street fights.

• Naina! Vootle solltiya? Saavugraaki! By calling the other person "naina" and asking him whether he has taken leave of his loved ones, the speaker indicates that his interlocutor is driving in a very unsafe manner. The speaker uses "saavugraaki" to emphasise the point, thus asserting his superior driving skills in the situation.

[edit] Cultural references

Madras bashai is used in a particular genre of music in Kollywood movies, called the gaana paattu. The relation between gaana paattu and Madras bashai is analogous to that between hip hop music and hip hop slang. The typical gaana paattu is characterised by rougher lyrics and a pulsing rhythm, usually without a discernible melody. Many instances have a strong theme of poverty in their lyrics, and are eminently suited as accompanying music for the traditional dappaankuthu dance, which is usually performed in economically backward urban areas in Chennai. Gaana paattu is also popular among city college students who use it to gain street cred among their peers, irrespective of their economic status.

[edit] See also

• List of Sri Lankan Tamil slang and swear words

[edit] External links

• Comparison of Madras bashai with pure Tamil
• Difference between Tanglish and Madras Bashai