Morphology and Syntax of the Tamil Language

TL;DR

This paper offers a comprehensive overview of Tamil's morphology and syntax, emphasizing its complexity and utility for linguistic analysis and computational resource development, including a rule-based morphological analyzer and grammar.

Contribution

It provides a detailed description of Tamil's linguistic features and introduces a rule-based morphological analyzer and computational grammar for the language.

Findings

Development of a rule-based morphological analyzer and generator for Tamil

Creation of a computational grammar for Tamil

Analysis conducted without reliance on specific grammatical formalism

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the morphology and syntax of the Tamil language, focusing on its contemporary usage. The paper also highlights the complexity and richness of Tamil in terms of its morphological and syntactic features, which will be useful for linguists analysing the language and conducting comparative studies. In addition, the paper will be useful for those developing computational resources for the Tamil language. It is proven as a rule-based morphological analyser cum generator and a computational grammar for Tamil have already been developed based on this paper. To enhance accessibility for a broader audience, the analysis is conducted without relying on any specific grammatical formalism.