This summer I’ve been learning Tamil. Not only is it the primary language spoken in Tamil Nadu, a state in Southern India, it’s my mother tongue — a language everybody else in my family speaks.

For many children of immigrants, learning their ancestral language is more than just picking up words—it’s a journey to self-discovery. Tamil, one of the world’s oldest living languages, offers a deep ...

A 12-volume etymological dictionary project is exploring the deep linguistic connections between Tamil and Indo-European ...