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Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s27: 7.24 Person

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s27

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7.24 Person

c27.s27.1

Three persons are distinguished in Tamil:

c27.s27.2

First person (*taṉmai*): 'I' and 'we'

c27.s27.3

Second person (*muṉṉilai*): 'thou' and 'you'

c27.s27.4

Third person (*paṭarkkai*): 'he/she/it' and 'they'; and all nouns.

c27.s27.5

Gender is not distinguished in the first and second persons. In the first person plural, a distinction is made between the 'inclusive' form which includes the listener and the 'exclusive' form which excludes the listener. The following word (the only one in the first person in the Corpus) is a case of first person plural (exclusive):

c27.s27.6

| *em* | 'our' oblique form of *yām* 'we' (exclusive) | 19.1 |

c27.s27.7

There are no examples of personal pronouns in the second or third persons in the Corpus.

7.24.1 Person-Number-Gender (PNG) suffixes

c27.s27.t1.1

A remarkable grammatical feature of Tamil is the integration of the notions of person, number and gender in the pronominal suffixes (which are referred to as PNG suffixes in this study). The following PNG suffixes are added to nouns and pronouns in the Corpus.

7.24.2 Masculine singular

c27.s27.t2.1

*-aṉ* (in free form)

c27.s27.t2.2

*upa(c)ca-aṉ* 'preceptor' 11.3
*paṇa-aṉ* 'servant' 1.6

c27.s27.t2.3

*-aṉ* (in bound form)

c27.s27.t2.4

*amaṇaṉ* 'Jaina monk' 24.1
*upa(c)caṉ* 'preceptor' 9.1
*eḷamakaṉ* 'member of a martial clan' 56.5
*ta(c)caṉ* 'carpenter' 73.8
*patantaṉ* 'the venerable one' 60.3
*pākaṉ* 'elephant driver or charioteer' 13.1.a
*poṉ-kolvaṉ* 'goldsmith' 36.2
*makaṉ* 'son' 20.2
*vaṇikaṉ* 'trader' 43.1.b

c27.s27.t2.5

Note: Most masculine personal names also end with *-aṉ*. See Index to Personal Names (Appendix II).

c27.s27.t2.6

*-ōṉ* (in free form)

c27.s27.t2.7

*ceṟ-ataṉ-ōṉ* 'a personal name' (lit., 'he, Cērataṉ') 12.4

c27.s27.t2.8

*-ōṉ* (in bound form)

c27.s27.t2.9

*(il)lavōṉ* 'a personal name' (lit., 'householder') 10.3

7.24.3 Feminine singular

c27.s27.t3.1

*-aḷ* *makaḷ* 'daughter' 66.3

c27.s27.t3.2

*-i* *aṇṇi* 'honorific (fem.)' 83.4.c

c27.s27.t3.3

*koṟṟi* 'a personal name (fem.)' 66.4.b
*pa(m)mitti* 'Jaina nun' 41.3

7.24.4 Honorific singular

c27.s27.t4.1

| **-ar** | *ācāriyar* | 'preceptor' | 115.4 |
| | *ācirikaru* | 'preceptor' | 116.5 |
| | *tāyiyaru* | 'mother' | 83.3 |
| | *māṇākkar* | 'disciple' | 115.5 |
| **-ār** | *kiḻār* | 'landowner or eminent person' | 84.2 |

7.24.5 Epicene plural

c27.s27.t5.1

| **-ar** | *avviru-a-ar-um* | 'those two persons also' | 45.3 |
| | *iruvar* | 'two persons' | 48.5 |
| | *iḷayar* | 'members of a martial clan' | 49.6 |
| **-ōr** | *nikama(t)tōr* | 'members of a merchant guild' | 6.2 |