WACE Tamil Background Language ATAR flashcards

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Diglossia in Tamil

Tamil has a formal written and spoken variety and a colloquial spoken variety. Formal forms appear in essays, news and speeches; colloquial forms appear in everyday conversation and dialogue.

Polite disagreement formula

நான் வேறு விதமாக நினைக்கிறேன் means I think differently. It disagrees without offence and is preferred in discussion over a blunt இல்லை, which can sound abrupt to an examiner.

Register error with -டா/-டி

These suffixes show intimacy and are used with people of the same age or younger. Attaching them to speech addressed to elders, teachers or officials is a register error penalised in oral assessment.

Colloquial verb reduction

Everyday speech shortens verbs: போகிறேன் becomes போறேன், வருகிறேன் becomes வர்றேன், இருக்கிறது becomes இருக்கு. Recognising these forms is essential for listening and for informal dialogue.

Cause and effect connectors

ஏனென்றால் introduces a reason, அதனால் introduces a result, ஆனால் marks contrast, and இருந்தாலும் concedes. Tracking them lets a listener predict the direction of an argument.

Negative answer cues

இல்லை means no or not present, வேண்டாம் means not wanted, முடியாது means cannot, and -வில்லை marks a past negative. A positive verb stem may still produce a negative answer.

Inference question wording

Phrases such as இதிலிருந்து தெரிவது என்ன? or ஆசிரியர் கருத்து என்ன? ask for a conclusion drawn from the passage, not a sentence copied from it.

Sandhi at word boundaries

புணர்ச்சி describes sound changes when words join, as in வீடு plus இல்லை becoming வீடில்லை. Splitting such compounds correctly is needed to identify the words being read.

Newspaper lead paragraph

A Tamil news report usually answers who, what, when, where, why and how in its opening paragraph. Detail questions are answered from later paragraphs, so the lead gives only the gist.

Formal letter openings

மதிப்பிற்குரிய addresses a respected recipient in a formal letter. அன்புள்ள or அன்பார்ந்த opens a personal letter. Choosing the wrong opening signals a misread of the text type.

Essay three-part structure

A கட்டுரை has முன்னுரை introducing the topic, body paragraphs each developing one கருத்து with support, and முடிவுரை concluding. Missing any part weakens organisation marks.

Reported speech with என்று

Statements become quoted clauses closed by என்று: அவர் வருவார் என்று சொன்னார். Questions use -ஆ என்று, as in வருகிறாயா என்று கேட்டார்.

Impersonal -ப்படு forms

The suffix -ப்படு creates passive or impersonal verbs such as எழுதப்படுகிறது and அறிவிக்கப்படுகிறது. These suit notices, reports and formal announcements where the agent is unspecified.

Tamil case suffixes

Nouns take case endings: -ஐ accusative, -ஆல் instrumental, -க்கு dative, -இல் locative, -இலிருந்து ablative, -உடன் sociative. The ending, not word order, shows the noun's role.

Gender and number agreement

Verb endings agree with the subject: வந்தான் he came, வந்தாள் she came, வந்தார் respectful or plural, வந்தது it came, வந்தார்கள் they came. Wrong agreement is a common grammar error.

Subject-Object-Verb order

Tamil places the verb last. Modifiers precede the noun, so relative clauses take participle form: நேற்று வந்த மாணவன் means the student who came yesterday.

Pulli in Tamil script

The dot called pulli placed above a consonant removes its inherent vowel. க் is a bare consonant, while க carries the vowel அ. Pulli is essential for correct spelling.

Pongal festival

பொங்கல் is a mid-January harvest festival lasting several days, celebrated by boiling new rice in milk. It is a standard cultural reference in Tamil comprehension and writing tasks.

திருக்குறள் structure

திருவள்ளுவர்'s திருக்குறள் contains 1330 couplets arranged in three sections: அறத்துப்பால் on virtue, பொருட்பால் on wealth and statecraft, and காமத்துப்பால் on love.

Clarification request phrase

கொஞ்சம் விளக்கமாகச் சொல்ல முடியுமா? asks the other speaker to explain in more detail. Using it shows interactive skill rather than silence when a question is unclear.

Attitude vocabulary in listening

Words such as ஆச்சரியம் surprise, வருத்தம் regret, கோபம் anger and சந்தோஷம் happiness, together with intonation, reveal a speaker's feelings when a question asks about attitude.

Text purpose categories

Reading questions may ask whether a text is தகவல் informative, வற்புறுத்தல் persuasive, பொழுதுபோக்கு entertaining or எச்சரிக்கை warning. Purpose is judged from structure and vocabulary, not title alone.

Cohesive devices in writing

மேலும் adds a point, எனவே draws a conclusion, இதற்கு மாறாக contrasts, உதாரணமாக introduces an example, and இறுதியாக signals the close. Varying them improves cohesion marks.

Honorific pronoun அவர்கள்

அவர்கள் and the respectful அவர் refer to an honoured person and take plural-style verb agreement. Using அவன் for a respected adult is a social as well as grammatical error.

Turn-taking markers

அதனால், அப்படியானால் and இதோடு சேர்த்து signal a new point or a link to the previous speaker. They are credited as discourse management in interactive oral tasks.

Numbers and time in listening

Clock times use மணி, dates use தேதி and மாதம், and money uses ரூபாய். These details are common distractors, so they should be recorded exactly as heard rather than converted later.

Pronoun reference tracking

Forms such as அவர், அவன், அவள், அவர்கள் and அது point back to earlier nouns. Mis-assigning a pronoun in a long passage is a frequent cause of wrong comprehension answers.

Personal letter closing

A personal கடிதம் closes with அன்புடன் followed by the writer's name, while a formal letter closes with இப்படிக்கு and தங்கள் உண்மையுள்ள. The closing must match the letter's register.

Negative verb forms

Tamil negatives are separate forms rather than a particle: வரவில்லை did not come, வரமாட்டான் he will not come. They cannot be built by adding இல்லை to a positive verb.

Tamil script composition

Tamil has 12 vowels called உயிர் and 18 consonants called மெய். Combining them produces உயிர்மெய் letters, giving the script its alphasyllabic structure rather than a pure alphabet.

Tamil New Year date

புத்தாண்டு, the Tamil New Year, falls on 14 April and is celebrated in Tamil Nadu and by Tamil communities abroad. The date is a frequently tested cultural fact.

Avoiding English loans formally

Colloquial Tamil freely uses பஸ் and டிக்கெட், but formal written and oral tasks prefer பேருந்து for bus and சீட்டு for ticket. Register-appropriate vocabulary is separately rewarded.