TAML

The grammar of modern Tamil, in its manifestation both in colloquial and formal styles, and a good amount of vocabulary needed for referring to the immediate environment and using in day today transactions will be acquired. The four language skills acquired will be at different levels of proficiency with listening and speaking at the top followed by reading of formal texts and ending with basic writing skills in the formal style. The gradual progression in listening will be from teacher-student to speaker-speaker; in speaking it will be from articulation of sounds and intonation to expressing personal needs and interests, performing practical tasks, narrating experience and expressing emotions; in reading it will be from alphabet and spelling in the two styles to sign boards, controlled texts, factual news stories, interpretive reports and jokes; in writing from conversion of colloquial style into conventional style to personal letters, paraphrasing and translation of sentences. The tools used are classroom conversations, conversational tapes, videos, graded print materials, select materials from the print media including tales, which are complemented by exercises and quizzes.

This will be a lecture cum workshop. It will trace the history of the prosody used in Tamil literary works from the beginning to the modern from the points of its grammar, development and the demands on it from the emergence of new genres, literary themes and audience. The workshop part will consist of doing prosodic analysis of selected literary works.