Chennai Tamil
The Chennai-area variety of Tamil that forms the basis of the modern spoken standard. Tamil itself has one of the longest continuous literary traditions in the world.
Madurai Tamil
The Tamil of Madurai and the broader southern Tamil Nadu region. Carries a distinctive lexicon and intonation widely featured in Tamil cinema.
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Frequently asked questions
What language is Madurai Tamil?
Madurai Tamil is a dialect of the Tamil language.
Where is Madurai Tamil spoken?
Madurai Tamil is primarily spoken in India.
Which region is Madurai Tamil associated with?
Madurai Tamil is part of the South Asia region on DialectAtlas.
What are the other dialects of Tamil?
Tamil also includes Standard Tamil, Sri Lankan Tamil. Each variety has its own vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural context.
Other Tamil dialects
See on the atlas →Jaffna Tamil · Eelam Tamil
The Tamil of northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Often described as more conservative than Indian Tamil, retaining several features lost in the Chennai variety.
Nearby dialects
See on the atlas →210 km away
The Tamil of northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Often described as more conservative than Indian Tamil, retaining several features lost in the Chennai variety.
384 km away
An Indo-Aryan language and the majority language of Sri Lanka, descended from settlers from northern India in the 1st millennium BCE. Geographically far removed from its closest Indo-Aryan relatives.
421 km away
The Chennai-area variety of Tamil that forms the basis of the modern spoken standard. Tamil itself has one of the longest continuous literary traditions in the world.
781 km away
The Telugu of the coastal Andhra region around Vijayawada. Forms the basis of the literary standard and of much of Telugu cinema.
817 km away
An Indo-Aryan language and the official language of the Maldives. Closest living relative of Sinhala, with which it shares a 12th-century separation date.
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The Telugu of Telangana, centred on Hyderabad. Distinguished from Coastal Telugu in lexicon and shaped by long contact with Dakhini Urdu.