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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 (See also: Madras bashai vocabulary). 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.In fact some people even go the to extent of calling it "Tanglish" 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.

Madras bashai is learned from one's peers rather than from one's parents. It forms a strong foundation for the lingo used by college students in Chennai. It is still considered infra dig by many people in the city. For instance, most formal communication is in real Tamil or in English, with government proceedings using the pure form of Tamil (centamil). However, even though the official language used is chentamil (chaste Tamil), most people in chennai speak a mix of centamil and madras bashai, depending on the forum where they are speaking...

Contents

Classification

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

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




Grammar

Madras bashai favours the Tamil syntax with heavy use of English words to represent concepts.


The following examples illustrates the difference between the syntax of Madras bashai, English and Tamil:


English
Tamil
Madras bashai


Go fast! (Verb Adverb)
Vegamaa po! (Adverb Verb)
Speeda po! (Adverb Verb)
(also "Feeda po!")


Go straight! (Verb Adverb)
Nera po! (Adverb Verb)
Straightaa po! (Adverb Verb)
(also "Steittaa po!")



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

"Intha maathiri full English speak panna people like me eppadi understand panarthu?" ([link])


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 ellam full-aa English dhaan pEsuvAnga." 


The key point about the second example is that if it were translated to Tamil completely, it would sound distinctly non-colloquial.



Verb conjugation

Tamil verbs are conjugated differently from Madurai Tamil (considered the standard dialect). 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.




Standard Tamil
Madras bashai
Meaning


Irukkiraay
Kiray
"You are".


IrukkiRathuu
Keedhu
"it is there".


Izhuthukkondu
Isthukinu
"Dragged with" (participle of Izhukkaradhu (to drag)


appuram
appAlla
"Then" 


Kizhiththuviduven
Keesiduven
"I will tear".


Ingae Utkarungal
Ippala Kunthu Naina
"Please Sit Here".


Kindal panrae
Kalaikkirae
"You are kidding me".



Readers can understand immediately that this was done to save time, so that in the same period of time a Madras Tamilar can convey 1.5 times that of a Madurai Tamilar and 5000 times that of a Coimbatore Tamilar (depending on the length of the drawl, like  'yaeeeeeeenunga?') One anomaly to this shortening rule is, some words get suffixed with the syllable 'ka'. So, summa = summaka, dhoora  = dhooraka.



i want= Enak Venum



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.




Standard Tamil
Madras bashai
Meaning


Enna Rajasekaran?
Inaa Rajasekaraa?
"What Rajasekaran?"


Gudisai
Gudse, Gudchae
"Hut"


Veedu
Voodu, Oodu
"House"


Pazham
Payam
"Fruit"


Sappidu
Thunnu
"Eat"


Ematrukiraya
Dabaikeeriya
"Cheating", "Dodging", "Evading"


Nagarigamaga
reegenta
"Decent", "Decency"




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?"





English
Madras bashai


Are you ready?
Ready-aa?


Am I late?
Late-aa?


Is it OK?
OK-vaa?




Verbifying and Nounification

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.



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.


When it comes to borrowing words from other languages 'Madrassukku nigar Madrasse'. English words can be used in any context without feeling alien. 'wrongu', 'rightu', 'yechuse me', 'adjist','abase', 'abscond', 'beetiful', 'super', 'fruitu', 'pil im', 'figureu' and so on. Hindi has its contributions like 'bejaar'. Telugu: 'naina', 'baava', 'eppudu', 'cheppu' etc.



which contains quite an exhaustive list of words in use.



Usage


A large part of Madras bashai is dedicated to exhibiting road rage and starting street fights.













However, not all of Madras Bashai is used predominantly for cursing. The Madras Bashai uses the English language in a very interesting manner.






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.



Good examples

Many Tamil movies have one or more instances of a Gaana Paattu. Most of them are composed by the music director Deva and his brothers.








References











 





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