LESSON - 4

A0 2114 பதம் - பொது அறிமுகம்

WORD - A GENERAL INTRODUCTION

This lesson deals with what is called பதம் in Tamil grammar. In other words, how one or more letters constitute a word in Tamil is the subject of this lesson. Words are also classified according to their structure or composition as prevailing in Tamil language.

The term பதம் is defined in the first unit as a single or multiple letter word which gives some meaning. For example, ‘ஆ’ is a பதம் meaning ‘பசு’, ‘ஈ’ is also a ‘பதம்’ when it means the insect ‘fly’ or the action ‘give’. Likewise, ‘தலை’ is a two-letter word meaning ‘head’ and ‘தலைவி’ is a three-letter word to mean ‘heroine’.

In the second unit, you will learn what தொல்காப்பியம் says about single, double or multiple letter words as பதம், He gives illustrations for each of them.

நன்னூலார் lists Tamil letters which function as one letter word or பதம். The third unit deals with this illustrating profusely.

Both these grammarians are compared in the fourth unit with regard to the definition and illustrations of பதம்.

The fifth unit explains how Tamil is a unique language in making its letters words. When letters become words they should not be a mixture of fragrant colour powders but be a garland of fragrant colour flowers.

In the sixth unit பதம் is divided into two classes of பகுபதம் and பகாப்பதம். பகாபதம் is a word of two to seven letters, but பகுபதம் is of two to nine letters. These two classes of பதம் are taken up in the next lesson 5.

The entire lesson is summarized in the seventh unit. When you complete this lesson you will be able to understand the term பதம் on the lines of தொல்காப்பியம் and நன்னூல்.