Madras bashai (Tamil: மெட்ராஸ் பாஷை), is a type of mixed language spoken in the city of Chennai, India (previously known as Madras). It is a loose polyglot blend of Tamil and English, with loanwords from Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi-Urdu (See also: Madras bashai vocabulary). The word bashai derives from the Sanskrit bhasha (language). The term therefore is Tamil for "Madras language". Image File history File links Created by me. ... The Brahmic family is a family of abugidas used in South Asia, Tibet and Southeast Asia. ... Tamil (தமிழ் ) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. ... A mixed language is a language that arises when two languages are in contact and there is a high degree of bilingualism among speakers. ... Chennai (Tamil: சென்னை, formerly known as Madras , is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is Indias fourth largest metropolitan city. ... Polyglot has several meanings: Look up Polyglot on Wiktionary, the free dictionary The property of speaking multiple languages A polyglot is a person that can speak many languages A polyglot is a book that contains the same text in more than one language, usually a bible such as the first... Tamil (தமிழ் ) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A loanword is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ... Telugu (తెలుగు) belongs to the Dravidian language family but with ample influence from the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family and is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം) is the major language of the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Hindi (हिन्दी hind), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in North, Central, and West India, is the official language of the Indian Union. ... The phrase Zaban-e Urdu-e Mualla written in Urdu Urdu () is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Aryan family that developed under Persian, Turkish, and Arabic influence in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire (1200-1800). ... Examples The following examples give an idea of how different languages are combined to give a new word or phrase in Madras bashai. ... Sanskrit ( संस्कृतम् ; pronunciation: ) is an Indo-European classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ...

Madras bashai has its strong influences from English, Urdu and Telugu, with weaker influences from Hindi and Kannada.In fact some people even go the to extent of calling it "Tanglish" After this dialect became somewhat common in Madras, it became a source of satire for early Kollywood movies from the 1950s, in the form of puns and double entendres. Subsequent generations in Chennai identified with it and absorbed English constructs into the dialect, making it what it is today. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The phrase Zaban-e Urdu-e Mualla written in Urdu Urdu () is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Aryan family that developed under Persian, Turkish, and Arabic influence in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire (1200-1800). ... Telugu (తెలుగు) belongs to the Dravidian language family but with ample influence from the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family and is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. ... Hindi (हिन्दी hind), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in North, Central, and West India, is the official language of the Indian Union. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... Kollywood is a name often applied to Tamil Cinema, based in Chennai (formerly Madras) in the state of Tamil Nadu in south India. ... The 1950s were a decade that spanned the years 1951 through 1960. ... It has been suggested that dajare be merged into this article or section. ... A double entendre is a figure of speech similar to the pun, in which a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. ... Chennai (Tamil: சென்னை, formerly known as Madras , is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is Indias fourth largest metropolitan city. ...

Madras bashai is learned from one's peers rather than from one's parents. It forms a strong foundation for the lingo used by college students in Chennai. It is still considered infra dig by many people in the city. For instance, most formal communication is in real Tamil or in English, with government proceedings using the pure form of Tamil (centamil). Speech community is a concept in sociolinguistics that describes a more or less discrete group of people who use language in a unique and mutually accepted way among themselves. ... The term college (Latin collegium) is most often used today to denote an educational institution. ... Students attending a lecture at the Helsinki University of Technology The word student is etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb stŭdērĕ, meaning to direct ones zeal at; hence a student is one who directs zeal at a subject. ... Chennai (Tamil: சென்னை, formerly known as Madras , is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is Indias fourth largest metropolitan city. ... Tamil (தமிழ் ) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. ...

Classification

Madras bashai can be thought of as either of the following:

• A mixed language, using extreme amounts of code-switching between Tamil and English.
• Madrasi Tamil heavily infused with English influences and loanwords from other Indian languages.

Some consider "Tanglish" to be distinct from "Madras bashai", in that "Tanglish" is considered to be English with Tamil influences and loanwords, while "Madras bashai" is considered the opposite. Madras bashai is however not a type of Engrish, since it is not the result of trying to speak English correctly and then failing. A mixed language is a language that arises when two languages are in contact and there is a high degree of bilingualism among speakers. ... Code-switching is a term in linguistics referring to alternation between one or more languages, dialects, or language registers in the course of discourse between people who have more than one language in common. ... Tamil (தமிழ் ) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A loanword is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ... // The languages of India Hindi, in Devanagari script, is the primary official language used by the Central Government of the Union of India. ... Engrish on a sweatshirt in Japan An Excellent Room at Fukuoka Station, a staff-only area Engrish refers to the poor-quality English that is often found in Asian countries. ...

See also: English language

The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Grammar

Madras bashai favours the Tamil syntax with heavy use of English words to represent concepts.

The following examples illustrates the difference between the syntax of Madras bashai, English and Tamil:

Code-switching plays a very important role in Madras bashai. For instance, a person aggrieved with the English in this article may plaintively wail:
"Intha maathiri full English speak panna people like me eppadi understand panarthu?" ([1]) The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Tamil (தமிழ் ) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. ... Code-switching is a term in linguistics referring to alternation between one or more languages, dialects, or language registers in the course of discourse between people who have more than one language in common. ...

Or a person may sadly shake one's head at the poor grasp of real Tamil among college students in the city, and say:
"Future generation ellam full-aa English dhaan pEsuvAnga."

The key point about the second example is that if it were translated to Tamil completely, it would sound distinctly non-colloquial.

Verb conjugation

Tamil verbs are conjugated differently from Madurai Tamil (considered the standard dialect). An underlying motive is to shorten the conjugated form of the verb by one or more syllables by deleting intermediate vowels, and to replace "slow" consonants by consonants that can be pronounced more quickly. Since Tamil is an agglutinative language, a word can still be discerned and understood even after a surprising number of vowels have been removed. The specific context of the word also helps to disambiguate it in practice. The examples shown here are therefore not as drastic as they might appear. Tamil (தமிழ் ) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. ... A verb is a part of speech that usually denotes action (bring, read), occurrence (decompose, glitter), or a state of being (exist, stand). Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its tense, aspect, mood and voice. ... In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection (regular alteration according to rules of grammar). ... Madurai Tamil is the dialect which is spoken in the city of Madurai, as well as over a vast geographical area of South Tamil Nadu, the area once ruled by the Pandiya It differs substantially from Tirunelveli and Nagarkoil Tamil. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... A syllable (Ancient Greek: ) is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... A consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ... An agglutinative language is a language in which the words are formed by joining morphemes together. ... ConTEXT is a freeware text editor aimed for software developers. ... Shortcut: WP:D or WP:DAB Disambiguation in Wikipedia and Wikimedia is the process of resolving the conflict that occurs when articles about two or more different topics have the same natural title. ...

Readers can understand immediately that this was done to save time, so that in the same period of time a Madras Tamilar can convey 1.5 times that of a Madurai Tamilar and 5000 times that of a Coimbatore Tamilar (depending on the length of the drawl...like 'yaeeeeeeenunga?') One anomaly to this shortening rule is, some words get suffixed with the syllable 'ka'. So, In linguistics, a participle is a verbal adjective. ... Madras refers to: the Indian city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras, the former Indian state, now known as Tamil Nadu (Plural of Madra): Ancient people of Iranian affinites, who lived in northwest Panjab in the Uttarapatha division of ancient India. ... Tamil may refer to: Tamil language, one of the Dravidian languages primarily spoken in the South ASIA Tamil script, primarily used to write the Tamil language Tamil people The phrase Tamil country is used sometimes to refer to the regions with a significant population of Tamil-speaking people. ... Madurai (மதுரை in Tamil) is situated on the banks of Vaigai River in Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state. ... Tamil may refer to: Tamil language, one of the Dravidian languages primarily spoken in the South ASIA Tamil script, primarily used to write the Tamil language Tamil people The phrase Tamil country is used sometimes to refer to the regions with a significant population of Tamil-speaking people. ... Coimbatore (Tamil: கோயம்புத்தூர்) also referred to as Kovai is one of the major industrial cities in South India is the Second largest city in Tamil Nadu. ... Tamil may refer to: Tamil language, one of the Dravidian languages primarily spoken in the South ASIA Tamil script, primarily used to write the Tamil language Tamil people The phrase Tamil country is used sometimes to refer to the regions with a significant population of Tamil-speaking people. ...

summa = summaka, dhoora = dhooraka.

Alternative pronunciation

Some Tamil words are pronounced differently from Madurai Tamil (considered the standard dialect). This practice is very similar to other dialects of Tamil. The pronunciation differences are usually accounted for by morphed and/or deleted vowels. Tamil (தமிழ் ) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. ... Pronunciation refers to: the way a word or a language is usually spoken; the manner in which someone utters a word. ... Madurai Tamil is the dialect which is spoken in the city of Madurai, as well as over a vast geographical area of South Tamil Nadu, the area once ruled by the Pandiya It differs substantially from Tirunelveli and Nagarkoil Tamil. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... Tamil (தமிழ் ) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

Questions with binary answers

Questions with yes/no answers are framed by saying the statement whose truth is to be verified (using the participle if necessary) and then saying "aa" at the end with a rising inflexion like a question. The meaning of the "aa" is roughly analogous to "Is it?". If the statement already ends in an "aa" or other interfering vowel sound, then the questioning "aa" can be made "vaa" in the interest of euphonics. Some speakers tend to carry the "-aa" even into full English conversations from force of habit. e.g.: "U finished it aa?" In linguistics, a participle is a verbal adjective. ...

The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Verbifying and Nounification

Many Tamil verbs are informally 'translated' to English by taking the verb root and suffixing "ify" or "ification". Verbifying and nounification are used in a jocular sense, only with people one knows well, and only if they speak Tamil. Using these forms in formal situations or with strangers is considered very juvenile, analogous to using emoticons in a high school essay. Some observers classify this practice as Tanglish rather than Madras bashai. An emoticon, also called a smiley, is a sequence of printable characters such as :) or :-) that is intended to represent a human facial expression and convey an emotion. ...

Vocabulary

Madras bashai combines words, suffixes and grammar rules of several languages to make new words. The most common sources are English, Telugu, Urdu,and Kannada. Telugu (తెలుగు) belongs to the Dravidian language family but with ample influence from the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family and is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. ... The phrase Zaban-e Urdu-e Mualla written in Urdu Urdu () is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Aryan family that developed under Persian, Turkish, and Arabic influence in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire (1200-1800). ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ...

When it comes to borrowing words from other languages 'Madrassukku nigar Madrasse'. English words can be used in any context without feeling alien. 'wrongu', 'rightu', 'yechuse me', 'adjist','abase', 'abscond', 'beetiful', 'super', 'fruitu', 'pil im', 'figureu' and so on. Hindi has its contributions like 'bejaar'. Telugu: 'naina', 'baava', 'eppudu', 'cheppu' etc.

which contains quite an exhaustive list of words in use. Examples The following examples give an idea of how different languages are combined to give a new word or phrase in Madras bashai. ...

Usage

A large part of Madras bashai is dedicated to exhibiting road rage and starting street fights. Road rage or road violence is the common name for deliberately dangerous and/or violent behaviour under the influence of heightened anger by a motor vehicle operator that affects the safety of one or more other operators or bystanders. ... Street fighting is a term used to denote spontaneous, hand-to-hand fighting in public places. ...

• Naina! Vootle solltiya? Saavugraaki! By calling the other person "naina" and asking him whether he has taken leave of his loved ones, the speaker indicates that his interlocutor is driving in a very unsafe manner. The speaker uses "saavugraaki" to emphasise the point, thus asserting his superior driving skills in the situation.

• Yaru theaterla yaru padam ootra...keenjidum screenu....bemani! It is used to indicate that other person is trying to show off at a place he does not belong to.

• Bazarla oozara illana nizara kalatidu vaanga Have to be careful in public place or you will lose your underpants.

• Sevulu avul aiyidum Used to indicate that a slap will reduce one's cheeks to powder.

• Illatha kadaiyila tea aathathe Acting smart to impress a figure (implies a woman with good figure). (Literally, "Don't make tea in a store that's not there.")

• Bulb adichaan Goofed up and caught red-handed.

• Nee Saavarthukku En Vandidhan Kadichidha??? Didn't you find any other vehicle other than mine to die. Often told by lorry, bus and car drivers to the person who crosses their path.

• Un moonchile en peechang kaiye vaikka I'll put my left hand on your face. A threat, as a person's left hand is regarded as unclean. (This is due to the historic lack of toilet paper in rural areas.)

• Poda Madhes A very bad word used to insult a person. It does not have any specific meaning but is a common word for all the bad words used in Madras Bashai.

• aiyya monjiya paru kasmalam You bloody rubbish face. A common word used to insult someone (especially used by females against males).

Cultural references

Madras bashai is used in a particular genre of music in Kollywood movies, called the gaana paattu. The relation between gaana paattu and Madras bashai is analogous to that between hip hop music and hip hop slang. The typical gaana paattu is characterised by rougher lyrics and a pulsing rhythm, usually without a discernible melody. Many instances have a strong theme of poverty in their lyrics, and are eminently suited as accompanying music for the traditional dappaankuthu dance, which is usually performed in economically backward urban areas in Chennai. Gaana paattu is also popular among city college students who use it to gain street cred among their peers, irrespective of their economic status. A genre is a division of a particular form of art according to criteria particular to that form. ... Kollywood is a name often applied to Tamil Cinema, based in Chennai (formerly Madras) in the state of Tamil Nadu in south India. ... Hip hop music (also referred to as rap or rap music) is a style of popular music. ... Hip-hop music uses a varied accumulation of slang terms that have changed as hip-hop itself has evolved and changed. ... Lyrics are the words in songs. ... // Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds or other events over time. ... Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... World map showing percentage of people living under national poverty lines. ... Dappaankuthu (டப்பாங்கூத்து in Tamil) is a type of dance performed on the streets of Chennai, India. ... For other uses, see Dance (disambiguation). ... Chennai (Tamil: சென்னை, formerly known as Madras , is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is Indias fourth largest metropolitan city. ... Credibility is the believability of a statement, action, or source, and the ability of the observer to believe that statement. ...

Good examples

Many Tamil movies have one or more instances of a Gaana Paattu. Most of them are composed by the music director Deva and his brothers. Kollywood is a name often applied to Tamil Cinema, based in Chennai (formerly Madras) in the state of Tamil Nadu in south India. ... The title of music director is used by many orchestras to designate the primary conductor of the orchestra. ... Deva A music director (music composer) in Tamil film industry aka Kollywood. ...

• vaa vaathiyaare (வா வாத்யாரே) from bommalaatam (பொம்மலாட்டம்) (1968)
• Laalaaku dol dappi ma (லாலாக்கு டோல் டப்பி மா ) from Sooriyan (சூரியன்) (1993)
• Pettai Rap (பேட்டை ராப்) from Kadhalan (காதலன்) (1994)
• Annanagaru Andalu Ayanavaram Gopalu (அண்ணாநகரு ஆண்டாளு அயினாவரம் கோபாலு) from Kaalam Ellam Kaadhal Vazhga (காலம் எல்லாம் காதல் வாழ்க) (1997)
• Alwarpetta Aaaluda (ஆல்வார்பெட்டை ஆளுடா) from VasoolRaja MBBS ( வசூல் ராஜா MBBS) (2004)
• Kandasaaami Maadasaami (கந்தசாமி மாடசாமி) from Pammal K Sambantham ( பம்மல் K சம்பந்தம்) (2004)
• Velarikka Pinjhu Vellarikka from Kadhal Kottai (1997)
• O Pyaari Paani Poori Bumbai Kaari Neethaan Enthaen from Poovae Unakkaga
• Kasumele from Kadhala Kadhala
• Thirupathi Ezhumalai Venkatesa from Ninaivirukuum Varai
• Kaathadikkuthu Kaathadikkuthu from Ninaivirukuum Varai
• Kundrathula koil katti
• Free a voodu Free a voodu mamau from Aaru
• vaza meenukkum vezaku meenkkum kalyanam from chitirampesuthadi
• Machi manaru,yen mansukula bejaru from Yen Uyir Thozhan