Tamil language is a Dravidian language that is spoken predominantly by the people of Tamil Nadu in India.Tamil Language is the official language of two states: Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Tamil Language is one of 22 scheduled languages of India and the first Indian language to be declared as a classical language by the government of India in 2004. This language is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world.Tamil language belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian languages. This language descends from Proto Dravidian. Tamil has the most ancient non-Sanskritised Indian literature among all Indian languages. Scholars have categorized the history of the language into three periods, Old Tamil (300 BCE - 700 CE), Middle Tamil (700-1600) and Modern Tamil (1600-present).
The Tamil dialects are:
1) Madras Tamil
2) Madurai Tamil
3) Coimbatore or Kongu Tamil
4) Tirunelveli or Nellai Tamil
5) Kanyakumari Tamil
6) Thanjavur, Tiruchirappalli Tamil
7) Jaffna or Yazhpanam Tamil
8) Trincomalee or Tiriconamalai Tamil
9) Batticaloa or mattakkalappu Tamil
