India is a country known for its diversity in its culture and tradition, and its people speak and write a variety of languages to communicate with each other, where Tamil and Hindi is determined as the most known Indian language. Their language in common belongs to different linguistic families of the country.
Key Takeaways
- Tamil is spoken predominantly in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, while Hindi is the primary language of the northern Indian states.
- Tamil is a Dravidian language, while Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language.
- Hindi uses the Devanagari script for writing, while Tamil uses a Tamil script.
Tamil vs Hindi
Tamil is a Dravidian language with a rich literary tradition and a unique script. Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern and central India and is the official language of India. It is written in the Devanagari script and is known for its simple grammar and phonetics.
Tamil is derived from the Dravidian language family written in Tamil scripts. It is one of the four Dravidian languages, along with Telegu, Malayalam, and Kannada.
It is the oldest of all Dravidian languages. This language has existed for more than 2000 years, making it the world’s oldest and longest-surviving classical language.
Hindi is considered one of the official languages of India and is taught in many areas of the country. Generally, Hindi spoke by the people of the central and northern regions of the country as the first language.
It is allocated under the Indo-European linguistic family and further classified into the central family, shambolic, and Indo-Aryans.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Tamil | Hindi |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken by Tamils in southern India, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere. | Hindi is an Indic language of northern India that is derived from Sanskrit and written in the Devanagari script. |
| Country | The Tamil language is spoken widely in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, South Africa, India, and Mauritius. | Hindi is widely spoken and written by the people of India and Fiji. |
| Origin | Tamil originated from Proto-Dravidian in 450 BCE. | Hindi originated from the Indo-Aryan linguistic Family in the 17th century CE. |
| Scripts | Tamil is written in ancient Tamil Scripts. | Hindi is written in ancient Devanagari Scripts. |
| Derivation | Tamil is derived from the Dravidian language family. | Hindi has derived from the early Vedic Sanskrit language. |
What is Tamil?
Tamil is the world’s oldest classical language, written in its distinctive script, and is derived from the Dravidian language family. It is the official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and it has significant members of speakers in India, Malaysia, Mauritius, and South Africa.
In India, Tamil is spoken by the people of Tamil Nadu and an Indian union Territory, Pondichery. It is also considered the official language of Pondichery and Tamil Nadu.
It is also considered the first language to be given the status of a classical language. In addition, Tamil also refers to the culture and tradition of people who speak the Tamil language.
For the first time, Tamil writing evolved from the Brahmi scripts in the 16th century CE when printing was introduced. It also incorporated its alphabet from grantha letters.
According to Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, Tamil is derived from the proto-Dravidian language family. Around the third millennium BC, it was believed that the proto-Dravidian language was spoken in the region of the lower Godavari basin in peninsular India.
The earliest epigraphic attestation of Tamil is believed to have been written in the 2nd century BC. Scholars of lexical and grammatical change categorized the attested history of Tamil into three periods-
- The Old Tamil( 450 BCE to 700 CE)
- The Middle Tamil( 700 CE to 1600)
- The Modern Tamil( 1600 to present)
What is Hindi?
Hindi is an Indic language of India. It was derived from Sanskrit and written in the Devanagari Script. According to a recent analysis, more than 250 million people speak this language all around the world, making it the fourth most widely spoken language.
Hindi is one of the official languages of India and is widely spoken by the people of the central and northern parts of India. It is classified under the Indo-European linguistic families, further classified into Western Hindi, standard Hindi, Hindustani, central family, khamboli, Indi-Aryans, etc.
It was traditionally written in the ancient Devanagari scripts. The history of the said language is categorized into four different periods of history.
- The middle Indo-Aryans to Hindi emerged in the 7th century CE in the early Vedic Sanskrit.
- Secondly, The Dialects came around the 12th and 13th centuries CE. This period witnessed the traces of the Hindi language, such as the rendition of Prithviraj Raso in the Braj Bhasha Braj and many others.
- Thirdly, The Hindustani, in the 18th century, after the arrival of the Islamic administration, old Hindi acquired many new words from Arabic and Persian languages.
- Lastly, in Independent India, in 1954, the government of India standardized the grammar as in the basic grammar of modern Hindi and declared Hindi as the official language of India.
Main Differences Between Tamil and Hindi
- Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken by Tamils in southern India, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere. Hindi is an Indic language of northern India derived from Sanskrit and written in the Devanagari script.
- Tamil is spoken widely in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, South Africa, India, and Mauritius. At the same time, Hindi is widely spoken and written by the people of India and Fiji.
- Tamil originated from Proto-Dravidian in 450 BCE. On the other hand, Hindi originated from the Indo-Aryan linguistic Family in the 17th century CE.
- Tamil is written in ancient Tamil Scripts. As against, Hindi is written in ancient Devanagari Scripts.
- Tamil is derived from the Dravidian language family, and Hindi is derived from the early Vedic Sanskrit language.
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/5681569/
- https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/cogl/18/2/article-p195.xml
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
