Jaffna Tamil · Eelam Tamil
The Tamil of northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Often described as more conservative than Indian Tamil, retaining several features lost in the Chennai variety.
Standard Tamil
Also known as: Chennai Tamil
The Chennai-area variety of Tamil that forms the basis of the modern spoken standard. Tamil itself has one of the longest continuous literary traditions in the world.
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Frequently asked questions
What language is Standard Tamil?
Standard Tamil is a dialect of the Tamil language.
Where is Standard Tamil spoken?
Standard Tamil is primarily spoken in India.
Which region is Standard Tamil associated with?
Standard Tamil is part of the South Asia region on DialectAtlas.
Is Standard Tamil known by other names?
Yes — Standard Tamil is also referred to as Chennai Tamil.
What are the other dialects of Tamil?
Tamil also includes Sri Lankan Tamil, Madurai Tamil. Each variety has its own vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural context.
Other Tamil dialects
See on the atlas →The Tamil of Madurai and the broader southern Tamil Nadu region. Carries a distinctive lexicon and intonation widely featured in Tamil cinema.
Nearby dialects
See on the atlas →381 km away
The Tamil of northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Often described as more conservative than Indian Tamil, retaining several features lost in the Chennai variety.
384 km away
The Telugu of the coastal Andhra region around Vijayawada. Forms the basis of the literary standard and of much of Telugu cinema.
421 km away
The Tamil of Madurai and the broader southern Tamil Nadu region. Carries a distinctive lexicon and intonation widely featured in Tamil cinema.
516 km away
The Telugu of Telangana, centred on Hyderabad. Distinguished from Coastal Telugu in lexicon and shaped by long contact with Dakhini Urdu.
685 km away
An Indo-Aryan language and the majority language of Sri Lanka, descended from settlers from northern India in the 1st millennium BCE. Geographically far removed from its closest Indo-Aryan relatives.
906 km away
The Marathi of the Vidarbha region in eastern Maharashtra. Distinct from Standard Marathi in pronouns, verb endings, and Hindi-contact vocabulary.