Sri Lankan Tamil dialects

[1][2][note 1] In spite of this, both Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil dialects retain a degree of mutual intelligibility.

[1] The Jaffna Tamil dialect also retains many words which were used in Sangam literature such as Tirukkuṛaḷ and Kuṟuntokai.

These drummers had historically played an important role as ritual players of drums at funerals and folk temples and as heralds and traditional weavers.

They also maintained the family records of their feudal lords and even practiced medicine and astrology in folk traditions [12] Batticaloa Tamil dialect is shared between Tamils, Moors, Veddhas and Portuguese Burghers in the eastern province.

[7][13] The Negombo Tamil dialect, used in the Negombo area by bilingual fishers who otherwise identify themselves as Sinhalese, has undergone considerable morphosyntactic convergence with spoken or colloquial Sinhala as a consequence of contact with it.