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Chennai is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and it also the forth largest metropolitan city in India. Due to its cosmopolitan culture, there is more than one language which is used by the people to communicate with each other. The people of Chennai are very comfortable in speaking English and it is also the most prevalent official language in Chennai. The person of Chennai love to use their own mother tongue which is Tamil and it vividly reflects their intense love for their mother tongue. Madras Tamil or Madras bashai is a kind of mixed language predominantly spoken in the city of Chennai which was previously known as Madras. Madras Tamil or Madras bashai is a sort of loose linguistic amalgamation of Tamil and English, with loanwords from Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi-Urdu. The word bashai derives from the Sanskrit bhasha (language). Madras bashai has its strong influences from English, Urdu and Telugu, with weaker influences from Hindi and Kannada. Subsequent generations in Chennai identified with it and absorbed English constructs into the dialect, making it what it is today. Many Tamil verbs are informally 'translated' to English by taking the verb root and suffixing "ify" or "ification". Madras bashai combines words, suffixes and grammar rules of several languages to make new words however the most common sources are English, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Telugu, Urdu, and Kannada.Madras bashai is used in a particular genre of music in Kollywood movies, called the gaana paattu. The relation between gaana paattu and Madras bashai is analogous to that between hip hop music and hip hop slang. However, in contemporary Chennai people from all parts of the country are assembling to settle down and as a consequence of it a wide variety of languages are being spoken these days in Chennai.
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