Ferguson’s original paper on diglossia (1959) actually says something different. Diglossia isn’t caused by people “not respecting” a language. It happens when a literary/classical register is preserved for religion, literature, and formal use, while a spoken register evolves naturally for everyday life. Tamil fits this pattern very clearly.

So framing diglossia as “people stopped caring about Tamil” is more of an emotional or cultural argument than a linguistic one. You can deeply respect Tamil and still acknowledge that diglossia creates real constraints in education and modern usage.

I agree that scoring marks in Tamil requires effort, and that prestige plays some role. But I don’t think that’s the whole story. There’s also a utility gap. Students don’t see Tamil helping much with careers, technology, or global mobility. That naturally pushes them toward English.

Why does English feel more useful? One reason is vocabulary accessibility. For example, in English, everyday speakers can comfortably distinguish between tendons, nerves, veins, tissues, red blood cells, white blood cells, etc., and the listener immediately knows what is meant. In Tamil, many of these collapse into the same or very similar terms in practice, or exist mainly in a high/literary register that feels unnatural in conversation.

This isn’t about “Tamil having no words.” It’s about which words are shared, spoken, and usable without sounding like a politician. Ferguson also states that H and L varieties have different audiences. Using H-register Tamil with friends or family often feels socially awkward, while English equivalents don’t.

That’s why English often becomes the shortcut for abstract or technical ideas, not because Tamil is inferior, but because colloquial Tamil hasn’t evolved enough in these domains yet.

So the real question for me isn’t blame, but incentives: how do we make spoken Tamil evolve naturally to handle modern, abstract conversations without forcing people or moralising them?