Dialects in Tamil : From early to modern times, as reflected in writing and speech

Aim

The aim of the Conference is to examine the place of dialects in history and contemporary Tamil culture in a comparative perspective, with respect to other south Indian languages and the European experience. Bringing in different methodologies from philology, linguistics, literature and cultural history, the Conference aims to bring together perspectives that will enable us to explore and develop tools, to comprehend and situate diversity in the production and circulation of language. Some of the areas that the Conference seeks to cover are:

• a) the state of dialect studies in south India
• b) dialects in historical sources
• c) dialects in living practices, techniques
• d) dialects in literary production, folklore and media
• e) dialects as vehicle for construction of identities, regional and social
• f) dialects, standardization and language policy

The duration of the conference will be for two and a half days and the conference will be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Conference Hall, French Institute of Pondicherry. The dates of the Conference will be 23rd to 25th August 2006.

A detailed note on the conference

Venue

Jawaharlal Nehru conference Hall
French Institute of Pondicherry
11 Saint Louis street
Pondicherry 605001

Program schedule

Consult detailed schedule

Organizers

Department of Indology, French Institute of Pondicherry
Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore

Contact

Kannan M., French Institute of Pondicherry
Elangaiyan R., Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore

Participants

Inaugural Session

• Dr. Jean-Pierre Muller,Director, IFP
• Dr. K. Ramasamy, Professor cum Deputy Director Head, Centre of Excellence for Classical Tamil, CIIL
• Dr. Udaya Narayana Singh, Director, CIIL

Plenary Session

• Dr. Francois Gros, EPHE, Paris
• Dr. Iravatham Mahadevan, Chennai
• Dr. Kothanda Raman, Tolkappiar Aiyvu Maiyam, Pondicherry
• Dr. Subbarayalu, Tamil University, Tanjore

Presentation of Papers

On Tamil

• Mr.Senthil Babu, IFP, Pondicherry
• Dr. Bhakthavatsala Bharathi, PILC, Pondicherry
• Mr. R. Elangaiyan, CIIL, Mysore
• Prof. V. Gnanasundaram, CIIL, Mysore
• Mr.Pulavar Gopal Iyer, EFEO, Pondicherry
• Prof. Sam Mohan Lal, CIIL, Mysore
• Dr. Madhukesvaran, Chennai
• Dr. S. Manoharan, Anthropological Survey of India, Mysore
• Dr. N. Raja Sekharan Nair, Annamalai University, Chidambaram
• Prof. R. Perialwar, Tamil University, Tanjore
• Dr. K. Ramasamy, CIIL, Mysore
• Dr. S. V. S. Shanmugam, Annamalai University, Chidambaram
• Prof. G. Srinivasa Varma, Annamalai University, Chidambaram and CIIL, Mysore
• Dr. P. R. Subramaniyan, Mozhi Trust, Chennai
• Prof. R. M. Sundaram, Tamil University, Tanjore*
• Mr.Pulavar Venkatesan, Pondicherry

On Telugu

• Dr. Daniel Negers, EFEO, Pondicherry
• Dr. R. Thirumala Rao, AP Govt. Oriental Manuscripts Library, Hyderabad
• Dr. Uma Maheswara Rao, Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad*

On Malayalam

• Dr. Gopinathan Nair, ISDL, Trivandrum
• Dr. Raghava Varier, University of Calicut, Calicut

On Kannada and Tulu

• Dr. K G Shastri. University of Dharwad, Dharwad*
• Dr. U P Upadhyaya, MGM College, Udupi*

Tamil Writers (working on Dialect Dictionaries)

• Mr. Sudhakar Ghatak, Neyveli
• Mr. Kanmani Gunasekaran, Vridhachalam
• Mr. Imaiyam, Vridhachalam
• Ms. Pama, Madurai
• Mr. Perumal Murugan, Namakkal
• Mr. Tamilselvan, Pattamadai

Invited Participants

• Ms. Jennifer Clare, University of California at Berkeley
• Ms. V. Geetha, TARA Publishers, Chennai
• Mr. Dilip Kumar, Writer/Publisher, Chennai
• Ms. Gita Pai, University of California at Berkeley

* Yet to be confirmed