கிளையும் ஆயமும் தொடர்புறும் பால்கள்

Gender Related to Kilai and Aayam

Abstract

The aim of this research article is to understand the gender related to the meanings of aayam and kilai; the two nouns found in ancient Tamil literature. It is needed to bring out the specific difference between them as there is a unique factor in the semantics of those two terms i.e. denoting abstract nouns along with living and nonliving things. Their usages in the eight anthologies and ten idylls serve as primary data for this comparative study. The views of commentators, researchers, dictionaries, nikandu, and field work serve as secondary data. Blood relationship, eligibility to share the riches, responsibility to share the food and the feature of separability without damaging the entity are the fundamental norms to attribute the term kilai as a noun which may fall under anyone of the five genders in Tamil. Aayam does not have the above mentioned criteria and denotes either palarpaal or palavinpaal only.