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Abstract
With the increasing linguistic diversity rapidly expanding in the United States of America’s (U.S.A.) educational and health care systems, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are increasingly being asked to provide services to individuals who come from multilingual/multicultural backgrounds (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, n.d.). Among these, there are the Tamil-speaking community, representing a classical Dravidian language that has more than 80 million native speakers worldwide (Proof, 2019) and sizeable diasporas in the U.S.A.
This interdisciplinary Tamil guide provides SLPs with the foundational knowledge and information about Tamil phonetics and morphosyntax, while also emphasizing the need for a culturally responsive tool for assessment. This guide delves deeper on Tamil's distinctive and varied linguistic characteristics and explains expectations and cultural norms of communication behavior that may be misinterpreted as clinical implications. A primary emphasis is centered on practical applications such as distinguishing language differences from disorders, establishing dialect-sensitive interventions, and cultivating culturally sensitive interactions with families.
The guide also mentions a proposal for the development of a Tamil-English Speech Sound Evaluation Tool for Early Childhood. The overall goal of this guide is to increase clinical competency and advance equity in the provision of services to clients who speak Tamil throughout the United States.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Sreeram Mohan Kasthuri, Roshni
(2026)
"Introduction to Tamil Language for Speech-Language Pathologists in the U.S.A. ~A Phonetic, Linguistic, And Cultural Guide With Clinical Applications~,"
Curiosity: Vol. 3:
Iss.
1, Article 7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59620/2993-3323.1021
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/curiosity/vol3/iss1/7