Tamil /tml/ (, tami, [ttm] ?

) is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken

by the Tamil people of India and Sri Lanka, and also by the Tamil diaspora. Tamil is
an official language of two countries, Singapore and Sri Lanka.[8][9] It has official
status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry.
It is also used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English,
Malay and Mandarin.[10][11] In India, outside of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Tamil
is also spoken in the states of Kerala, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands
as a secondary language, and by minorities in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is
one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. It was the first Indian language to be
declared as a classical language, which the Government of India did in 2004.[12]

The language is also spoken by Tamil minorities among the diaspora in Malaysia, the
United Arab Emirates,[13] the United States, United Kingdom, Mauritius, Canada,
[14] South Africa,[15] Fiji,[16] Germany,[17] the Philippines, the Netherlands,
Indonesia[18] and France, as well as smaller emigrant communities elsewhere.

Tamil is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world.[19][20] TamilBrahmi inscriptions from 500 BC have been found on Adichanallur[21] and 2,200year-old Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions have been found on Samanamalai.[22] It has
been described as "the only language of contemporary India which is recognizably
continuous with a classical past."[23] The variety and quality of classical Tamil
literature has led to it being described as "one of the great classical traditions and
literatures of the world".[24]

A recorded Tamil literature has been documented for over 2000 years.[25] The
earliest period of Tamil literature, Sangam literature, is dated from ca. 300 BC AD
300.[26][27] It has the oldest extant literature among other Dravidian languages.
[19] The earliest epigraphic records found on rock edicts and hero stones date from
around the 3rd century BC.[28][29] More than 55% of the epigraphical inscriptions
(about 55,000) found by the Archaeological Survey of India are in the Tamil
language.[30] Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been
discovered in Sri Lanka, and on trade goods in Thailand and Egypt.[31][32] The two
earliest manuscripts from India,[33][34] acknowledged and registered by UNESCO
Memory of the World register in 1997 and 2005, were written in Tamil.[35]