மொழியியல் பார்வையில் இறந்தகால உருபுகள்: பழந்தமிழ்ச் சொல்லமைப்பில் ஓர் ஆய்வு

Linguistic View on Past Tense Markers: A Study on Old Tamil Word Structure

Abstract

Old Tamil literature differs completely from Modern Tamil in both word structure and sentence structure. Tense markers or infixes play a crucial role in denoting the tense of verbs. Although Tolkappiyar defined the tenses as three, he did not analyze and specify the exact tense markers for them. It was Nannular, who came later, who categorized the four markers—-t- (-த்-), -ṭ- (-ட்-), -ṟ- (-ற்-), and -in- (-இன்-)—as past tense infixes.

Beyond these boundaries, various allomorphs and morphophonemic variations were in practice in Old Tamil. This paper comprehensively examines past tense markers using evidence from Sangam literature, grounded in the theories of Descriptive Linguistics, Historical Comparative Grammar, and Morphophonemics.

In particular, it categorizes phonologically conditioned allomorphs, final consonant doubling (gemination), and other past tense markers not mentioned by traditional grammarians (-tt-, -nt-, -i-, -n-, -y-, -k-) from a morphological perspective, providing a detailed explanation of their historical background and universal linguistic parallels.