A question on Tamil dialects

[Vasu Renganathan]

vai (East Tanjore forms)  /vaint-/ & /vait-/

imperative form:  vayyi
present form:     vaiRaan (vaikiRaan)
past form:        vanjaan and vaisaan

(vanjaan is used mostly in harijan and padayaacci dialects. vaisaan is used
in other dialects.)

The spoken forms vanjaan and vaisaan are derived from two different
underlying forms such as /vaintaan/ and /vaitaan/.

The derivations vanjaan and vaisaan are obtained as a result of
palatalization of nt and t respectively by the preceding palatal vowel i

In general, lower caste dialects accept palatalized forms while the upper
caste dialects use non-palatalized forms wherever possible.

eecu (eesin- corresponding past form) is also another form used in Tanjore
district especially in lower caste dialects.

tiTTu is a high variety form used more commonly in formal contexts than in
casual speech.

Vasu.


At 01:06 PM 2/2/98 EST, Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan wrote:
>I am interested in the colloquial forms of the Tamil word "vai" meaning "to
>scold". In Madurai dialect, when one wants to say he scolded one would say
>"vaJjAn2". (The other word used is "tiTTin2An2".) I have heard a person with
>East Tanjore ancestry using the form "vassAn2". The interesting thing is I
>distinctly hear two "s" es as opposed to "vasAn2" with a single "s". Have
>anybody else heard this form from in East Tanjore or any other dialect?
>
>Regards
>
>S. Palaniappan
>
>