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Tolkappiyam: The Science of Language

Earliest extant · c. 300 BCE Tamilakam
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The oldest surviving Tamil grammar treats phonetics, morphology and semantics as a rigorous system — an early scientific model of language itself.

The Tolkappiyam organises Tamil into Eluttu (phonology), Sol (morphology/syntax) and Porul (semantics & poetics). Its phonetic classification of sounds by place and manner of articulation anticipates modern linguistic phonetics, making it a landmark in the global history of language science.

Source: Tolkappiyam

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