By all means ask questions as you like, its good place to interact more casual/relaxed (coffee shop afterall) here...away from the constant overbearing noise/drama in other parts of forum
Its actually somewhat similar to arab situation (when you have immediate neighbouring arab countries...say KSA and yemen...or say algeria and tunisia etc).
Their language is Tamil, but a somewhat different (overall) dialect compared to us mainlanders. They have sub-dialects within their island (in rough geographic patterns as northern, eastern, western (colombo) and central/southern...arguably for them the northern dialect is the "prestige" dialect given the presence of the main historical tamil cultural hub on the island i.e Jaffna).
We similarly have sub dialects too (again largely sub-regionally oriented). The most extreme different sub dialect in one to the most extreme different one in the other would still (especially in these days) be able to understand 70% or more I would think (and can find bridges to get to 100% with little effort). More regular dialect you understand 100% from get go....of course you would likely immediately know the speaker's origins.
Culturally everything is broadly the same, as there is lot of variety within TN state (on mainland) to begin with. Similarly we understand malayalis quite easily (esp with some training/interaction) and vice versa....though we cannot really speak each other language without learning it. The split between our two languages is overall pretty recent compared to the other southern languages (Kannada and Telugu).
Ceylon Tamils overall tend to be more conservative on lot of matters (and more liberal/socially mobile in others)....in many ways their language keeps lot of the very old Tamil we no longer use in mainland. Similar in many respects to Quebec French vs Mainland French today.
Lot of this has interplay with written Tamil being quite different language to spoken Tamil too. (I believe Arabic is somewhat the same situation)...and how much of the "written language" is also used for "official" and "colloquial" spoken (this varies and gives one major input to the basic variety in dialects).
Yes a number were, it shaped lot of politics in mainland TN as well....even exerting pressure federally at times (Indira Gandhi for example had a local political ally in TN that she could not abandon, and this shaped India's federal support regrettably to the Tamil Tigers in late 70s and early 80s
initially till that splintered and blew back on everyone collective faces later which is long story of itself).
The sentimental reason had its play (but also lot of detractors who felt it was none of our business) in greater population as well. But it started losing critical support among the (previously sympathetic+interested) TN mainlanders during the 90s, esp after the assassination of rajiv gandhi and continued blatant terrorist actions by the tamil tigers.
"Moors" are very interesting people for sure. They are part of the larger aegis of Muslim Tamils who have co-existed with larger Tamil culture for many centuries now.
For example on our side of the palk strait....one of the most famous religious songs (enjoyed by all Tamil people of all faiths) is by the Muslim singer Nagore Hanifa (The song lyrics roughly are about extending your hand to Allah, and he will give). The Nagore dargah (on east coast Tamil Nadu) rightfully holds a very esteemed place in Tamil overall culture.
Similarly when I listen to the Sri Lankan Moor devotional songs (from what I have come across so far), I am also very easily able to understand the message...they follow similar themes and musical aesthetics. They really are a broader community in Tamil culture as a whole.
@Joe Shearer @Gibbs and
@Chhatrapati might have some stuff to add/correct here.
@Naofumi @BL33D might find some interest in this post too.
Goans are "konkani" mostly. There are some Tamils there, but not very many...mostly recent immigrants to the area. There are some kannadigas and marathis too (being bordering states of Goa).
The konkani are people like
@jbgt90 ...very nice, easy going folks overall.
One of my best friends from middle school t
imes was a Konkani....catholic boy...with portuguese name and everything.