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data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Phonology of the Tamil language</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Tamil_language" title="Tamil language">Tamil language</a></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable plainlinks selfreference noprint">For assistance with IPA transcriptions of Tamil for Wikipedia articles, see <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/Tamil" title="Help:IPA/Tamil">Help:IPA/Tamil</a>.</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output 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decoding="async" width="40" height="19" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg/60px-Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg/80px-Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="58" data-file-height="28" /></span></span></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist"><b>This article contains <a href="/wiki/Brahmic_scripts" title="Brahmic scripts">Indic text</a>.</b> Without proper <a href="/wiki/Help:Multilingual_support_(Indic)" title="Help:Multilingual support (Indic)">rendering support</a>, you may see <a href="/wiki/Mojibake" title="Mojibake">question marks or boxes</a>, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.</div></div> </div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1235681985"><div class="side-box metadata side-box-right noprint selfref"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">This article contains <b><a href="/wiki/Phonetic_transcription" title="Phonetic transcription">phonetic transcriptions</a> in the <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">International Phonetic Alphabet</a> (IPA)</b>. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA" title="Help:IPA">Help:IPA</a>. For the distinction between <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ ]</span>, <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ /</span> and ⟨<span title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" class="IPA" lang="und-Latn-fonipa"> </span>⟩, see <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet#Brackets_and_transcription_delimiters" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters</a>.</div></div> </div> <p> <b>Tamil phonology</b> is characterised by the presence of <a href="/wiki/Subapical_consonant" title="Subapical consonant">"true-subapical"</a> <a href="/wiki/Retroflex_consonant" title="Retroflex consonant">retroflex consonants</a> and multiple <a href="/wiki/Rhotic_consonant" title="Rhotic consonant">rhotic consonants</a>. Its script does not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced consonants; phonetically, voice is assigned depending on a consonant's position in a word, voiced intervocalically and after nasals except when geminated.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Tamil phonology permits few consonant clusters, which can never be word initial. </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1235681985"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1096940132">.mw-parser-output .listen .side-box-text{line-height:1.1em}.mw-parser-output .listen-plain{border:none;background:transparent}.mw-parser-output .listen-embedded{width:100%;margin:0;border-width:1px 0 0 0;background:transparent}.mw-parser-output .listen-header{padding:2px}.mw-parser-output .listen-embedded .listen-header{padding:2px 0}.mw-parser-output .listen-file-header{padding:4px 0}.mw-parser-output .listen .description{padding-top:2px}.mw-parser-output .listen .mw-tmh-player{max-width:100%}@media(max-width:719px){.mw-parser-output .listen{clear:both}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .listen:not(.listen-noimage){width:320px}.mw-parser-output .listen-left{overflow:visible;float:left}.mw-parser-output .listen-center{float:none;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}}</style><div class="side-box side-box-right listen noprint"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><figure class="mw-halign-center" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg/50px-Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg/75px-Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg/100px-Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="160" data-file-height="160" /></span><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist"><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:Tamil_tongue_twister.ogg" title="File:Tamil tongue twister.ogg">A Tamil tongue twister</a></div> <div><span typeof="mw:File"><span><audio id="mwe_player_0" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="6" data-mwtitle="Tamil_tongue_twister.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Tamil_tongue_twister.ogg" type="audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"" data-width="0" data-height="0" /><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e9/Tamil_tongue_twister.ogg/Tamil_tongue_twister.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0" /></audio></span></span></div> <div class="description">The sentence literally means, "A poor old man slipped on a banana peel and fell sprawling." ("ஏழை கிழவன் வாழைப்பழத் தோல் மேல், சருசருக்கி வழுவழுக்கி கீழே விழுந்தான்.")</div></div></div></div> <div class="side-box-abovebelow"><hr /><i class="selfreference">Problems playing this file? See <a href="/wiki/Help:Media" title="Help:Media">media help</a>.</i></div> </div> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Vowels">Vowels</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Vowels"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Tamil_monophthongs_chart.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Tamil_monophthongs_chart.svg/250px-Tamil_monophthongs_chart.svg.png" decoding="async" width="250" height="193" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Tamil_monophthongs_chart.svg/375px-Tamil_monophthongs_chart.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Tamil_monophthongs_chart.svg/500px-Tamil_monophthongs_chart.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="914" data-file-height="704" /></a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Monophthong" title="Monophthong">Monophthongs</a> of Tamil, from Keane<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeane2004-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></figcaption></figure> <p>The vowels are called <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">உயிரெழுத்து</span></span></b> <i><span title="International Alphabet of Sanskrit transliteration"><i lang="sa-Latn">uyireḻuttu</i></span></i> ('life letter'). The vowels are classified into short and long (five of each type) and two <a href="/wiki/Diphthong" title="Diphthong">diphthongs</a>. </p><p>The long (<i>netil</i>) vowels are about twice as long as the short (<i>kuṟil</i>) vowels. The <a href="/wiki/Diphthong" title="Diphthong">diphthongs</a> are usually pronounced about 1.5 times as long as the short vowels, though most grammatical texts place them with the long vowels. </p> <table class="wikitable"> <caption><a href="/wiki/Monophthong" title="Monophthong">Monophthongs</a><sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeane2004-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </caption> <tbody><tr> <th rowspan="2"> </th> <th colspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Front_vowel" title="Front vowel">Front</a> </th> <th colspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Central_vowel" title="Central vowel">Central</a> </th> <th colspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Back_vowel" title="Back vowel">Back</a> </th></tr> <tr> <th><small>short</small> </th> <th><small>long</small> </th> <th><small>short</small> </th> <th><small>long</small> </th> <th><small>short</small> </th> <th><small>long</small> </th></tr> <tr style="text-align: center;"> <th><a href="/wiki/Close_vowel" title="Close vowel">Close</a> </th> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">i</a></span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">இ</span></span></b> </td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">iː</a></span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஈ</span></span></b> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">u</a></span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">உ</span></span></b> </td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close back rounded vowel">uː</a></span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஊ</span></span></b> </td></tr> <tr style="text-align: center;"> <th><a href="/wiki/Mid_vowel" title="Mid vowel">Mid</a> </th> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a></span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">எ</span></span></b> </td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">eː</a></span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஏ</span></span></b> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">o</a></span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஒ</span></span></b> </td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel" title="Close-mid back rounded vowel">oː</a></span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஓ</span></span></b> </td></tr> <tr style="text-align: center;"> <th><a href="/wiki/Open_vowel" title="Open vowel">Open</a> </th> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Open_central_unrounded_vowel" title="Open central unrounded vowel">ä</a></span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">அ</span></span></b> </td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Open_central_unrounded_vowel" title="Open central unrounded vowel">äː</a></span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஆ</span></span></b> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Tamil has two <a href="/wiki/Diphthong" title="Diphthong">diphthongs</a>: <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/aɪ̯/</span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஐ</span></span></b> and <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/aʊ̯/</span> <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஔ</span></span></b>, the latter of which is restricted to a few lexical items. Some like Krishnamurti consider the diphthongs as clusters of /a/ + /j, ʋ/ as they pattern with other VC.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200348_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200348-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The way some words are written also varies e.g. avvai as <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">அவ்வை</span></span> (<i>avvai</i>), <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஔவை</span></span> (<i>auvai</i>) or <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">அவ்வய்</span></span> (<i>avvay</i>) (first one most common). Word final <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/u/</span> is pronounced as <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ɯ~ɨ]</span>, it is called a <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">குற்றியலுகரம்</span></span> (<i>kuṟṟiyalukaram</i>) "short u" (as it has only half a sound unit, compared to 1, 1.5 or 2 of other vowels) in tolkāppiyam and it is unrounded even in literary Tamil; in spoken Tamil it can occur medially as well in some words after the first syllable. Word final [u] occurs in some names, chiefly male nicknames like rājēndraṉ as rāju.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19995-6_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19995-6-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Colloquially, an initial <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/i(:)/</span> or <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/e(:)/</span> may have a <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ʲ]</span> onglide; likewise, an initial <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/o(:)/</span> or <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/u(:)/</span> may have a <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ʷ]</span> onglide, e.g. <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ʲeɾi]</span> and <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ʷoɾɯ]</span>.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeane2004-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This does not occur in Sri Lankan dialects.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (October 2022)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>Indian Colloquial Tamil also has nasalized vowels formed from word final vowel + nasal cluster (except for /Vɳ/ where an <a href="/wiki/Epenthesis" title="Epenthesis">epenthetic</a> u is added after it). Long vowel + nasal just nasalizes the vowel, short vowel + nasal may also change the quality, for example, /an/ gets fronted to [ɛ̃] <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">அவன்</span></span> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/aʋan/</span> becomes [aʋɛ̃] ([aʋæ̃] for some speakers), /am/ gets rounded to [õ] <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">மரம்</span></span> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/maɾam/</span> becomes <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[maɾõ]</span>, <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">நீங்களும்</span></span> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/niːŋkaɭum/</span> becomes <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[n̪iːŋɡaɭũ]</span>, <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">வந்தான்</span></span> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ʋan̪t̪a:n/</span> becomes <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ʋan̪d̪ã:]</span>, the remaining vowels only get nasalized.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeane2004-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19994_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19994-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In spoken Tamil sometimes an epenthetic vowel u is added to words ending in consonants, e.g. nil > nillu, āḷ > āḷu, nāḷ > nāḷu (nā in some dialects), vayal > vayalu etc. If another word is joined at the end, it is deleted.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19995_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19995-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Colloquially, the high short vowels <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/i/</span>, <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/u/</span> are lowered to <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[e]</span> and <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[o]</span> when next to a short consonant and <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/a,<span class="wrap"> </span>aɪ/</span>. For example, <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">இடம்</span></span> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/iʈam/</span> becomes <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[eɖam]</span>; and <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">உடம்பு</span></span> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/uʈampu/</span> becomes <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[oɖambɯ]</span>. This is an instance of raising <a href="/wiki/Umlaut_(linguistics)" title="Umlaut (linguistics)">umlaut</a>. It doesn't happen in pronouns and some other words e.g. <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">இவன்</span></span> ivaṉ and <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">எவன்</span></span> evaṉ are different words. <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/aɪ/</span> also monophthongises to an <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/e/</span> but it causes the lowering of <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/i,<span class="wrap"> </span>u/</span> before it, e.g. ilai > ele.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19994_5-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19994-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Almost all words end with vowels in spoken Tamil.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19994_5-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19994-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>For some speakers in spoken Tamil the front vowels /i(:), e(:)/ get rounded to their corresponding rounded back vowels when they are after a labial consonant /m, p, ʋ/ and before a retroflex consonant, some words with it are quite acceptable like பெண் /peɳ/ > பொண்/பொண்ணு [poɳ~poɳ:ɯ] but others like வீடு /ʋi:ʈu/ > வூடு [ʋu:ɖɯ] are less accepted and may even be considered vulgar.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman199919_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman199919-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Another change in spoken Tamil is vowel harmony, where vowels change their height to be more similar to nearby vowels: e.g. literary Tamil /koʈu/ > spoken Tamil [kuɖɯ].<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman199920_8-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman199920-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Consonants">Consonants</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Consonants"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Consonants" class="mw-redirect" title="Consonants">consonants</a> are known as <b><span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">மெய்யெழுத்து</span></span></b> <i><span title="International Alphabet of Sanskrit transliteration"><i lang="sa-Latn">meyyeḻuttu</i></span></i> ('body letters'). The <a href="/wiki/Consonant" title="Consonant">consonants</a> are classified into three categories with six in each category: <i>valliṉam</i> ('hard'), <i>melliṉam</i> ('soft' or <a href="/wiki/Nasal_stop" class="mw-redirect" title="Nasal stop">nasal</a>), and <i>iṭayiṉam</i> ('medium'). Tamil has very restricted consonant clusters (for example, there are no word-initial clusters). There are well defined rules for voicing stops in the written form of Tamil, <i>Centamiḻ</i> (the period of Tamil history before <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> words were borrowed). Stops are voiceless when at the start of a word, in a consonant cluster with another stop and when <a href="/wiki/Gemination" title="Gemination">geminated</a>. They are voiced otherwise. </p><p>Tamil is characterized by its use of more than one type of <a href="/wiki/Coronal_consonant" title="Coronal consonant">coronal consonants</a>: like many of the other languages of India, it contains a series of <a href="/wiki/Retroflex_consonant" title="Retroflex consonant">retroflex consonants</a>. Notably, the Tamil retroflex series includes the <a href="/wiki/Retroflex_approximant" class="mw-redirect" title="Retroflex approximant">retroflex approximant</a> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ɻ/</span> (<span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ழ</span></span>) (example Tami<b>ḻ</b>; often transcribed 'zh'). Among the other Dravidian languages, the retroflex approximant also occurs in <a href="/wiki/Malayalam_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Malayalam language">Malayalam</a>, <a href="/wiki/Badaga_language" title="Badaga language">Badaga</a>, <a href="/wiki/Telugu_language" title="Telugu language">old Telugu</a> and <a href="/wiki/Kannada_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Kannada language">old Kannada</a>. In most dialects of colloquial Tamil, this consonant is seen as shifting to the <a href="/wiki/Retroflex_lateral_approximant" class="mw-redirect" title="Retroflex lateral approximant">retroflex lateral approximant</a> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ɭ/</span> in the south and <a href="/wiki/Palatal_approximant" class="mw-redirect" title="Palatal approximant">palatal approximant</a> /j/ in the north. </p><p>The proto-Dravidian alveolar stop *ṯ developed into an alveolar trill /r/ in the <a href="/wiki/Southern_Dravidian_languages" class="mw-redirect" title="Southern Dravidian languages">Southern</a> and <a href="/wiki/South_Central_Dravidian_languages" class="mw-redirect" title="South Central Dravidian languages">South Central Dravidian languages</a> while *ṯṯ and *ṉṯ remained (modern ṟṟ, ṉṟ).<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003146_9-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003146-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>[n] and [n̪] are in complementary distribution and are predictable, i.e. they are allophonic. Namely, [n̪] occurs word initially and before /t̪/, while [n] occurs everywhere else.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeane2004-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>/ɲ/ is rare word initially and is mostly only found before /t͡ɕ/ word medially; it occurs in geminated form rarely as in <i>aññāṉam</i> or <i>maññai</i>, in singular form in one rare word <i>pūñai</i> and in compounds like <i>aṟiñaṉ</i>. Only around 5 words have doubled intervocalic [ŋ], all are different forms of the word <i>aṅṅaṉam</i> "that manner", apart from that [ŋ] only occurs before /k/.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeane2004-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003_10-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>A chart of the Tamil consonant <a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phonemes</a> in the <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">International Phonetic Alphabet</a> follows: </p> <table class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"> <caption>Standard Tamil consonants<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeane2004-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </caption> <tbody><tr> <th></th> <th><a href="/wiki/Labial_consonant" title="Labial consonant">Labial</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Dental_consonant" title="Dental consonant">Dental</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Alveolar_consonant" title="Alveolar consonant">Alveolar</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Retroflex" class="mw-redirect" title="Retroflex">Retroflex</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Alveolo-palatal_consonant" title="Alveolo-palatal consonant">(Alveolo-) palatal</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Velar_consonant" title="Velar consonant">Velar</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Glottal_consonant" title="Glottal consonant">Glottal</a> </th></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Nasal_stop" class="mw-redirect" title="Nasal stop">Nasal</a> </th> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_nasal" title="Voiced bilabial nasal">m</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ம்</span></span></td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_dental_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced dental nasal">n̪</a></span>) <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ந்</span></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar nasal">n</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ன்</span></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_retroflex_nasal" title="Voiced retroflex nasal">ɳ</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ண்</span></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_nasal" title="Voiced palatal nasal">ɲ</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஞ்</span></span></td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_nasal" title="Voiced velar nasal">ŋ</a></span>) <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ங்</span></span></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Plosive" title="Plosive">Plosive</a>/<br /><a href="/wiki/Affricate" title="Affricate">Affricate</a> </th> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_bilabial_plosive" title="Voiceless bilabial plosive">p</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ப்</span></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_dental_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless dental plosive">t̪</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">த்</span></span></td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless alveolar plosive">tːr</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ற்ற</span></span>)</td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_retroflex_plosive" title="Voiceless retroflex plosive">ʈ</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ட்</span></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_affricate" title="Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate">t͡ɕ</a></span> ~ <span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_affricate" title="Voiceless postalveolar affricate">t͡ʃ</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ச்</span></span><sup>5</sup></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">க்</span></span></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Fricative" title="Fricative">Fricative</a> </th> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_labiodental_fricative" title="Voiceless labiodental fricative">f</a></span>)<sup>1</sup></td> <td></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a></span><sup>5</sup> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஸ்</span></span> (<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a></span>)<sup>1</sup></td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_retroflex_fricative" title="Voiceless retroflex fricative">ʂ</a></span>)<sup>1</sup> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஷ்</span></span></td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative">ɕ</a></span>)<sup>1</sup> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஶ்</span></span></td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_fricative" title="Voiceless velar fricative">x</a></span>)<sup>2</sup></td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_glottal_fricative" title="Voiceless glottal fricative">h</a></span>)<sup>2</sup> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஹ்</span></span> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Tap_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Tap consonant">Tap</a> </th> <td></td> <td></td> <td><a href="/wiki/%C9%BE" class="mw-redirect" title="ɾ">ɾ</a> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ர்</span></span> </td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Trill_consonant" title="Trill consonant">Trill</a> </th> <td></td> <td></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_trill" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar trill">r</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ற்</span></span></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Approximant" title="Approximant">Approximant</a> </th> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_labiodental_approximant" title="Voiced labiodental approximant">ʋ</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">வ்</span></span></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_retroflex_approximant" title="Voiced retroflex approximant">ɻ</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ழ்</span></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ய்</span></span></td> <td></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Lateral_consonant" title="Lateral consonant">Lateral approximant</a> </th> <td></td> <td></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_lateral_approximant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar lateral approximant">l</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ல்</span></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_retroflex_lateral_approximant" title="Voiced retroflex lateral approximant">ɭ</a></span> <span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ள்</span></span></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"> <caption>Common Spoken Tamil consonants<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeane2004-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </caption> <tbody><tr> <th></th> <th><a href="/wiki/Labial_consonant" title="Labial consonant">Labial</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Dental_consonant" title="Dental consonant">Dental</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Alveolar_consonant" title="Alveolar consonant">Alveolar</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Retroflex" class="mw-redirect" title="Retroflex">Retroflex</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Alveolo-palatal_consonant" title="Alveolo-palatal consonant">(Alveolo-) palatal</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Velar_consonant" title="Velar consonant">Velar</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Glottal_consonant" title="Glottal consonant">Glottal</a> </th></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Nasal_stop" class="mw-redirect" title="Nasal stop">Nasal</a> </th> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_nasal" title="Voiced bilabial nasal">m</a></span></td> <td></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar nasal">n</a></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_retroflex_nasal" title="Voiced retroflex nasal">ɳ</a></span></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Plosive" title="Plosive">Plosive</a>/<br /><a href="/wiki/Affricate" title="Affricate">Affricate</a> </th> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_bilabial_plosive" title="Voiceless bilabial plosive">p</a></span>⠀<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_plosive" title="Voiced bilabial plosive">b</a></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_dental_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless dental plosive">t̪</a></span>⠀<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_dental_plosive" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced dental plosive">d̪</a></span></td> <td></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_retroflex_plosive" title="Voiceless retroflex plosive">ʈ</a></span>⠀<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_retroflex_plosive" title="Voiced retroflex plosive">ɖ</a></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_affricate" title="Voiceless postalveolar affricate">t͡ʃ</a></span>⠀<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_affricate" title="Voiced postalveolar affricate">d͡ʒ</a></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive" title="Voiceless velar plosive">k</a></span>⠀<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive" title="Voiced velar plosive">ɡ</a></span></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Fricative" title="Fricative">Fricative</a> </th> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_labiodental_fricative" title="Voiceless labiodental fricative">f</a></span>)</td> <td></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolar fricative">s</a></span>⠀(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative" title="Voiced alveolar fricative">z</a></span>)</td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_retroflex_fricative" title="Voiceless retroflex fricative">ʂ</a></span>)</td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_fricative" title="Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative">ɕ</a></span>)</td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_fricative" title="Voiceless velar fricative">x</a></span>)</td> <td>(<span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_glottal_fricative" title="Voiceless glottal fricative">h</a></span>) </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_consonant" title="Rhotic consonant">Rhotic</a> </th> <td></td> <td></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_trill" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar trill">r</a></span></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Approximant" title="Approximant">Approximant</a> </th> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_labiodental_approximant" title="Voiced labiodental approximant">ʋ</a></span></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant" title="Voiced palatal approximant">j</a></span></td> <td></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Lateral_consonant" title="Lateral consonant">Lateral approximant</a> </th> <td></td> <td></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_lateral_approximant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced alveolar lateral approximant">l</a></span></td> <td><span class="IPA" lang="und-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiced_retroflex_lateral_approximant" title="Voiced retroflex lateral approximant">ɭ</a></span></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table> <ol><li><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/f/</span>, <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/z/</span>, <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ʂ/</span> and <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ɕ/</span> are only found in loanwords and may be considered marginal phonemes, though they are traditionally not seen as fully phonemic.</li> <li>Intervocalic <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/k/</span> is pronounced as [ɣ~h] by Indian Tamils and [x] in Sri Lanka.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003149_11-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003149-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>For most speakers in spoken Tamil the distinction between the tap and trill is lost except in the southern <a href="/wiki/Kanyakumari" title="Kanyakumari">Kanyakumari</a> dialect.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19997_12-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19997-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>In most spoken dialects, /rr/ [tːr] merges with /t̪t̪/ while some others keep them as [tːr] . /nr/ merges with /ɳɳ/ if the preceding vowel is short or /ɳ/ if it is long like in literary Tamil. In speech, /parri, onru, muːnru/ are realized as [pat̪t̪i, ʷoɳɳɯ, muːɳɯ].<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999,_14_13-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999,_14-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>/t͡ʃ/ in spoken Tamil varies significantly. Some speakers pronounce it as [s] intervocalically and as an affricate initially, while others have [s] both initially and intervocalically. A final group of speakers has [t͡ʃ] before certain vowels and [s] before others, e.g. சின்ன [t͡ʃin:a] "small" but சாவி [sa:ʋi] "key".<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999-10_14-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999-10-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> However, there are words where the pronunciation is fixed—for example, <i>ceṉṉai</i> and <i>sēlam</i> cannot be pronounced as [senːaɪ̯] and [t͡ʃeːlam]. /t͡ʃː ɲt͡ʃ/ are always [tːʃ n̠ʲd̠ʒ].<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2024)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></li> <li>In spoken Tamil /j/ might cause palatalization to the adjacent consonants and then get assimilated or deleted, e.g. literary Tamil <i>aintu</i>, spoken Tamil <i>añju</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman199916_15-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman199916-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>In spoken Tamil intervocalic /k, ʋ/ may be deleted sometimes as in /poːkiraːj/ as [poːrɛ] and sometime /ɻ/ with compensatory lengthening of the vowel as in /poɻut̪u/ as [poːd̪ɯ].<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19998,_10_16-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19998,_10-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Word finally glides, mainly /j/ are generally deleted unless if the word is monosyllabic where its doubled e.g. <i>cey > seyyi, rūpāy > rūbā.</i> Word final l and ḷ in polysyllabic words are deleted especially in pronouns but reappear when a suffix is added e.g. <i>nīṅkaḷ > nīṅga,</i> similar to French <a href="/wiki/Liaison_(French)" title="Liaison (French)">liaison</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999,_6_17-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999,_6-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>l and ḷ gets assimilated to ṟ, ṭ before plosives and ṉ, ṇ before nasals in literary Tamil, e.g. <i>vil, kēḷ, nal, veḷ > viṟka, kēṭka, naṉmai, veṇmai,</i> before c, ṇ too becomes ṭ, eg. <i>kāṇ-ci > kāṭci;</i> in spoken Tamil it is deleted and the next consonant is doubled. Before coronal stops, the stops assimilate to the lateral's POA and the lateral is deleted like in the past tense forms of verbs ending with l and ḷ, e.g. <i>kol-ntu, koḷ-ntu, vil-ttu > koṉṟu, koṇṭu, viṟṟu</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200394_18-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200394-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>As in Proto Dravidian, literary Tamil words can't begin with an alveolar or retroflex consonant but in spoken Tamil some words begin with r and l because of deletion of the initial vowel, e.g. literary Tamil <i>iraṇṭu, ulāttu</i>, spoken Tamil <i>raṇḍu~reṇḍu, lāttu</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200394_18-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200394-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In loanwords, a short i, u or a is added before them, e.g. Skt. <i>loka</i>, Tamil <i>ulakam</i>.</li> <li>In loanwords, the voiced and aspirated plosives are all loaned as the plain plosive. Of the fricatives, h is loaned as k, the sibilants as c, ts as cc and kṣ as ṭc; sometimes s and ṣ are loaned as t and ṭ as in <i>mātam, varuṭam, ilaṭcam</i> (Skt. <i>māsa, varṣa, lakṣa</i>) and kṣ as k(k) or c(c) as in <i>kēttiram~cēttiram, piccai</i> from Sanskrit <i>kṣetra, bhikṣā.</i></li> <li>Words can only end with /m, n, ɳ, l, ɭ, ɾ, ɻ, ʋ, j/ in literary Tamil.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200353_19-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200353-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>Natively the only allowed clusters are C:, PP, NP, RP, RP:, RNP (where P = plosive, N = nasal, R = liquid, : = gemination, C = any consonant) most common are C: and NP; any heterorganic cluster indicates a morpheme boundary. Others clusters occurring in loanwords are split by vowels or simplified, e.g. <i>varṣa > varuṭam</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>In <a href="/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Tamil" class="mw-redirect" title="Sri Lankan Tamil">Sri Lankan Tamil</a>, word initial voiceless plosives may be aspirated dialectally, intervocalic /k/ may be [x~ɣ~h] and /t̪/ maybe [d̪~ð] or rarely [θ~t̪]; word final nasals are always preserved; <c> tends to be [t͡ʃ~ʃ~s] or rarely [t͡s] initially depending on the dialect and speaker, a rare [z] was noted for a speaker intervocalically, eg <i>kaṭutāci</i> [kɐɖuðaːzi]; <ṟṟ, nṟ> may be [tt~t̪t̪, nd~ɳɖ].<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEZvelebil1965_21-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEZvelebil1965-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kongu_Tamil" title="Kongu Tamil">Kongu Tamil</a> has word final /ŋ/ as word final /ŋkV/ becomes /ŋ/, e.g. literary Tamil <i>vāṅka</i>, Kongu Tamil <i>vāṅ</i>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2022)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></li></ol> <p>The voiceless consonants are voiced in different positions. </p> <table class="wikitable"> <caption>Tamil stop allophones </caption> <tbody><tr> <th>Place</th> <th>Initial</th> <th>Geminate</th> <th>Medial</th> <th>Post-nasal </th></tr> <tr> <th>Velar </th> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">k</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">kː</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">g~x~ɣ</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ɡ</span> </td></tr> <tr> <th>Palatal </th> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tʃ,<span class="wrap"> </span>s</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tːɕ</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">s</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">dʑ~dʒ</span> </td></tr> <tr> <th>Retroflex </th> <td>—</td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ʈː</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ɖ~ɽ</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ɖ</span> </td></tr> <tr> <th>Alveolar </th> <td>—</td> <td>tːr</td> <td>r</td> <td>(d)r </td></tr> <tr> <th>Dental </th> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">t̪</span> </td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">t̪ː</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">d̪~ð</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">d̪</span> </td></tr> <tr> <th>Labial </th> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">p</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">pː</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">b~β</span></td> <td><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">b</span> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>In modern Tamil, however, voiced plosives occur initially in loanwords. Geminate stops get simplified to singleton unvoiced stops after long vowels, suggesting the primary cue is now voicing (cf. kūṭṭam-kūṭam becoming kūṭam-kūḍam in modern speakers). Altogether, we see a shift in progress towards phonemic voicing, more advanced in some dialects than others.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeane2004-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Historically [j] was a possible allophone of medial -c- now the terms with [j] have solidified, compare Kannada which only had [s] as the medial allophone, Tamil <i>ñāyiṟu,</i> Kannada <i>nēsaru</i>. In some cases both remained as in <i>ucir, uyir</i>. There are also cases where the opposite happened due to hypercorrection, eg. Tamil <i>kayiṟu</i>, Madurai Tamil <i>kacaru, kacuru, kaciru</i> even though the word didnt originally have a <i>-c-</i>. There are also cases where it became t <i>mutalai/mutaḷai/mucali</i>, Kannada <i>mosaḷe</i> and disappeared after lengthening the previous vowel <i>nilā,</i> Kodava <i>nelaci</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003149_11-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003149-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Āytam"><span id=".C4.80ytam"></span>Āytam</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Āytam"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Old_Tamil" title="Old Tamil">Old Tamil</a> had a phoneme called the <i><a href="/wiki/Visarga" title="Visarga">āytam</a></i>, which was written as ‘<span title="Tamil-language text"><span lang="ta">ஃ</span></span>'. Tamil grammarians of the time classified it as a dependent phoneme (or restricted phoneme<sup id="cite_ref-krishnamurti_22-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-krishnamurti-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>) (<i><span title="International Alphabet of Sanskrit transliteration"><i lang="sa-Latn">cārpeḻuttu</i></span></i>). The rules of pronunciation given in the <i><a href="/wiki/Tolk%C4%81ppiyam" title="Tolkāppiyam">Tolkāppiyam</a></i>, a text on the grammar of old Tamil, says that the <i>āytam</i> in old Tamil patterned with semivowels and it occurred after a short vowel and before a stop; it either lengthened the previous vowel, geminated the stop or was lost if the following segment is phonetically voiced in the environment.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003154-155_23-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003154-155-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It is said to be the descendant of Proto Dravidian laryngeal *H. The <i>āytam</i> in modern Tamil is used to transcribe foreign phones like ஃப் (ஃp) for [f], ஃஜ (ஃj) for [z], ஃஸ (ஃs) for [z, ʒ] and ஃக (ஃk) for [x], similar to a <a href="/wiki/Nuqta" title="Nuqta">nuqta</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Overview">Overview</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Overview"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Unlike most <a href="/wiki/Indic_scripts" class="mw-redirect" title="Indic scripts">Indic scripts</a>, Tamil does not have distinct letters for <a href="/wiki/Aspiration_(phonetics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Aspiration (phonetics)">aspirated</a> consonants and they are found as allophones of the normal stops. The Tamil script also lacks distinct letters for <a href="/wiki/Voice_(phonetics)" title="Voice (phonetics)">voiced</a> and unvoiced <a href="/wiki/Stop_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Stop consonant">stops</a> as their pronunciations depend on their location in a word. For example, the voiceless stop <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[p]</span> occurs at the beginning of words while the voiced stop <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[b]</span> cannot. In the middle of words, voiceless stops commonly occur as a <a href="/wiki/Geminated_pair" class="mw-redirect" title="Geminated pair">geminated pair</a> like -pp-, while voiced stops do not. Only voiced stops can appear medially and after a corresponding nasal. Thus both the voiced and voiceless stops can be represented by the same script in Tamil without ambiguity, the script denoting only the place and broad manner of articulation (stop, <a href="/wiki/Nasal_stop" class="mw-redirect" title="Nasal stop">nasal</a>, etc.). The Tolkāppiyam cites detailed rules as to when a letter is to be pronounced with voice and when it is to be pronounced unvoiced. The only exceptions to these rules are the letters <b>ச</b> and <b>ற</b> as they are pronounced medially as <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[s]</span> and <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[r]</span> respectively. </p><p>Some <a href="/wiki/Loan_word" class="mw-redirect" title="Loan word">loan words</a> are pronounced in Tamil as they were in the source language, even if this means that consonants which should be unvoiced according to the Tolkāppiyam are voiced. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Elision">Elision</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Elision"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Elision" title="Elision">Elision</a> is the reduction in the duration of sound of a <a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phoneme</a> when preceded by or followed by certain other sounds. There are well-defined rules for elision in Tamil. They are categorised into different classes based on the phoneme which undergoes elision. </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <td>1.</td> <td>Kuṟṟiyal ukaram (short nature <i>u</i>) </td><td> the vowel <i>u</i></td></tr> <tr><td>2.</td> <td>Kuṟṟiyal ikaram (short nature <i>i</i>) </td><td> the vowel <i>i</i></td></tr> <tr><td>3.</td> <td>Aikāra k-kuṟukkam (<i>ai</i> shortening) </td><td> the <a href="/wiki/Diphthong" title="Diphthong">diphthong</a> <i>ai</i></td></tr> <tr><td>4.</td> <td>Aukāra k-kuṟukkam (<i>au</i> shortening) </td><td> the diphthong <i>au</i></td></tr> <tr><td>5.</td> <td>Āyta k-kuṟukkam (<i>ḵ</i> shortening) </td><td> the special character <i>aḵ</i> (<i>āytam</i>)</td></tr> <tr><td>6.</td> <td>Makāra k-kuṟukkam (<i>m</i> shortening) </td><td> the phoneme <i>m</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <p>1. <i>Kuṟṟiyal ukaram</i> refers to the vowel <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/u/</span> turning into the close back unrounded vowel <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ɯ]</span> at the end of words (e.g.: ‘ஆறு’ (meaning ‘six’) will be pronounced <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[aːrɯ]</span>). </p><p>2. <i>Kuṟṟiyal ikaram</i> refers to the shortening of the vowel <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/i/</span> before the consonant <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/j/</span>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Changes_from_Proto_Dravidian_to_Standard_Tamil">Changes from Proto Dravidian to Standard Tamil</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Changes from Proto Dravidian to Standard Tamil"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Consonants_2">Consonants</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Consonants"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ol><li>Deletion of y initially e.g. PD. *yĀṯu, Ta. āṟu "river", it was preserved in a few words in old Tamil, there are even less in Modern Tamil.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003142_24-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003142-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>Deletion of c initially through c > s > h > ∅ e.g. PD. *cōṭam > Ta. ōṭam "boat", loaned into <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> as hoḍa.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003122_25-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003122-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It is an ongoing process in some <a href="/wiki/Gondi_language" title="Gondi language">Gondi</a> dialects.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003122_25-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003122-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>Palatalization of k to c before non back vowels and if the following consonant isn't retroflex e.g. PD. *kewi, Ta. cevi "ear" but Ta. kēḷ "listen". Sometimes with alveolar consonants too PD. kila, kil-, kīṯ-, Ta. cila, kilukku, kīṟu.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003128_26-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003128-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Exception: Tamil <i>ceṭi</i>, Toda <i>kïḍf</i>, Kannada <i>giḍa, giḍu</i>.</li> <li>Loss of the laryngeal H e.g. PD. ∗puH, Ta. pū "flower", it survived into old Tamil in a few words as a restricted phoneme called <i>Āytam</i>. According to Tolkāppiyam in old Tamil it patterned with semivowels and it occurred after a short vowel and before a stop; it either lengthened the previous vowel, geminated the stop or was lost if the following segment is phonetically voiced in the environment.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003154-155_23-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003154-155-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>The singular ṯ became a trill ṟ, doubled ṯṯ became ṟṟ [t:r] and ṉṯ became ṉṟ [ndr], e.g. PD. *cāṯu, Ta. āṟu "six". However in Sri Lankan Tamil dialects ṯṯ and ṉṯ are preserved in their original forms. For example, SLTa. paṟṟi "about" is pronounced [pat:i] and SLTa. eṉṟa "mine" is pronounced [enda] (postnasal voicing of ṯ in ṉṯ).</li> <li>Many of the ñ- became n- e.g. PSD. *ñān Ta. nāṉ "I (1SG pronoun)".<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003139_27-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003139-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>m and v alternates in some words e.g. māṉam ~ vāṉam. The word "dravidian" from Sanskrit <i>drāviḍa</i> is said to be from the word <i>tamiḻ</i> with the m becoming v.<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>Some k alternates with v e.g. makaṉ ~ mavaṉ.</li></ol> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Vowels_2">Vowels</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Vowels"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ol><li>Neutralization of ā̆ and ē̆ after y, it also happens to a lesser extent with ñ- and c-.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200399_29-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200399-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>In proto South-Dravidian, short i, u were lowered to e, o when it was followed by a short consonant and a short a, e.g. PD. *iṯaycci PSD. *eṯaycci; this change was reverted in Proto-Tamil where e, o were raised to i, u, e.g. PSD. *eṯaycci, Ta. iṟaicci; in colloquial Tamil this was again reverted where i, u gets lowered, LT. iṟaicci, ST. erecci (< eraicci).<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003101,_173_30-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003101,_173-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>Some V₁wV₂, V₁kV₂ and V₁yV₂ alternate with V̄₁ e.g. *tokal > tukal ~ tо̄l, *mical/*miyal > mēl, *peyar > peyar ~ pēr.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200396_31-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200396-31"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>31<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ol> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Sample_text">Sample text</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Sample text"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The following text is Article 1 of the <a href="/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights" title="Universal Declaration of Human Rights">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="English">English</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: English"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Tamil">Tamil</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Tamil"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>மனிதப் பிறிவியினர் சகலரும் சுதந்திரமாகவே பிறக்கின்றனர்; அவர்கள் மதிப்பிலும், உரிமைகளிலும் சமமானவர்கள், அவர்கள் நியாயத்தையும் மனச்சாட்சியையும் இயற்பண்பாகப் பெற்றவர்கள். அவர்கள் ஒருவருடனொருவர் சகோதர உணர்வுப் பாங்கில் நடந்துகொள்ளல் வேண்டும். </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Romanisation_(ISO_15919)"><span id="Romanisation_.28ISO_15919.29"></span>Romanisation (ISO 15919)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Romanisation (ISO 15919)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>maṉitap piṟiviyiṉar cakalarum cutantiramākavē piṟakkiṉṟaṉar; avarkaḷ matippilum, urimaikaḷilum camamāṉavarkaḷ, avarkaḷ niyāyattaiyum maṉaccāṭciyaiyum iyaṟpaṇpākap peṟṟavarkaḷ. Avarkaḷ oruvaruṭaṉoruvar cakōtara uṇarvup pāṅkil naṭantukoḷḷal vēṇṭum. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="IPA">IPA</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: IPA"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>/manit̪ap‿piriʋijinaɾ sakalaɾum sut̪ant̪iɾamaːkaʋeː pirakkinranaɾ ǀ aʋaɾkaɭ mat̪ippilum uɾimai̯kaɭilum samamaːnaʋaɾkaɭ aʋaɾkaɭ nijaːjat̪t̪ai̯jum manat͡ʃt͡ʃaːʈt͡ʃijum ijarpaɳpaːkap‿perraʋaɾkaɭ ǁ aʋaɾkaɭ oɾuʋaɾuʈanoɾuʋaɾ sakoːt̪aɾa uɳaɾʋup‿paːŋkil naʈant̪ukoɭɭal ʋeːɳʈum/ </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/IPA_vowel_chart_with_audio" title="IPA vowel chart with audio">IPA vowel chart with audio</a> <span typeof="mw:File"><span title="Audio content icon"><img alt="Audio content icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Sound-icon.svg/16px-Sound-icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="12" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Sound-icon.svg/24px-Sound-icon.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Sound-icon.svg/32px-Sound-icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="96" /></span></span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/IPA_pulmonic_consonant_chart_with_audio" class="mw-redirect" title="IPA pulmonic consonant chart with audio">IPA pulmonic consonant chart with audio</a> <span typeof="mw:File"><span title="Audio content icon"><img alt="Audio content icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Sound-icon.svg/16px-Sound-icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="12" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Sound-icon.svg/24px-Sound-icon.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Sound-icon.svg/32px-Sound-icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="96" /></span></span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/File:The_International_Phonetic_Alphabet_(revised_to_2015).pdf" title="File:The International Phonetic Alphabet (revised to 2015).pdf">IPA chart (vowels and consonants) - 2015. (pdf file)</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFSchiffmanArokianathan1986" class="citation cs2">Schiffman, Harold F.; Arokianathan, S. (1986), "Diglossic variation in Tamil film and fiction", in <a href="/wiki/Bhadriraju_Krishnamurti" title="Bhadriraju Krishnamurti">Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju</a>; <a href="/wiki/Colin_Masica" title="Colin Masica">Masica, Colin P.</a> (eds.), <i>South Asian languages: structure, convergence, and diglossia</i>, New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, pp. 371–382, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/81-208-0033-8" title="Special:BookSources/81-208-0033-8"><bdi>81-208-0033-8</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Diglossic+variation+in+Tamil+film+and+fiction&rft.btitle=South+Asian+languages%3A+structure%2C+convergence%2C+and+diglossia&rft.place=New+Delhi&rft.pages=371-382&rft.pub=Motilal+Banarsidass&rft.date=1986&rft.isbn=81-208-0033-8&rft.aulast=Schiffman&rft.aufirst=Harold+F.&rft.au=Arokianathan%2C+S.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+phonology" class="Z3988"></span> at p. 371</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeane2004-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-4"><sup><i><b>e</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-5"><sup><i><b>f</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-6"><sup><i><b>g</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-7"><sup><i><b>h</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKeane2004_2-8"><sup><i><b>i</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKeane2004">Keane (2004)</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200348-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200348_3-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 48.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19995-6-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19995-6_4-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 5-6.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19994-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19994_5-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19994_5-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19994_5-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 4.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19995-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19995_6-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 5.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman199919-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman199919_7-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 19.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman199920-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman199920_8-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 20.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003146-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003146_9-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 146.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003_10-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003149-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003149_11-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003149_11-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 149.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19997-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19997_12-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 7.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999,_14-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999,_14_13-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 9, 14.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999-10-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999-10_14-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 9-10.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman199916-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman199916_15-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 16.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19998,_10-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19998,_10_16-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 8, 10.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999,_6-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchiffman19999,_6_17-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSchiffman1999">Schiffman (1999)</a>, p. 9, 6.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200394-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200394_18-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200394_18-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 94.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200353-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200353_19-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 53.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Zvelebil - Dravidian Linguistics - An Introduction (1990) pg. 12</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEZvelebil1965-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEZvelebil1965_21-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFZvelebil1965">Zvelebil (1965)</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-krishnamurti-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-krishnamurti_22-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti 2003</a>, p. 154</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003154-155-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003154-155_23-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003154-155_23-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 154-155.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003142-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003142_24-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 142.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003122-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003122_25-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003122_25-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 122.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003128-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003128_26-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 128.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003139-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003139_27-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 139.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-28">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Zvelebil - Dravidian Linguistics - An Introduction (1990)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200399-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200399_29-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 99.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003101,_173-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti2003101,_173_30-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 101, 173.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200396-31"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKrishnamurti200396_31-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKrishnamurti2003">Krishnamurti (2003)</a>, p. 96.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Bibliography">Bibliography</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Bibliography"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239549316">.mw-parser-output .refbegin{margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul{margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{margin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul li{list-style:none}@media(max-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{padding-left:1.6em;text-indent:-1.6em}}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .refbegin{font-size:90%}}</style><div class="refbegin" style=""> <ul><li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKeane2004" class="citation cs2">Keane, Elinor (2004), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/tamil/5BE3F9D1C8291CDA6B3610F0E1079C02">"Tamil"</a>, <i>Journal of the International Phonetic Association</i>, <b>34</b> (1), Oxford University Phonetics Laboratory: 111–116, <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100304001549">10.1017/S0025100304001549</a></span></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+the+International+Phonetic+Association&rft.atitle=Tamil&rft.volume=34&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=111-116&rft.date=2004&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1017%2FS0025100304001549&rft.aulast=Keane&rft.aufirst=Elinor&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cambridge.org%2Fcore%2Fjournals%2Fjournal-of-the-international-phonetic-association%2Farticle%2Ftamil%2F5BE3F9D1C8291CDA6B3610F0E1079C02&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+phonology" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKrishnamurti2003" class="citation book cs1">Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=54fV7Lwu3fMC"><i>The Dravidian Languages</i></a>. Cambridge Language Surveys (1 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-77111-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-77111-5"><bdi>978-0-521-77111-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Dravidian+Languages&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.series=Cambridge+Language+Surveys&rft.edition=1&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=978-0-521-77111-5&rft.aulast=Krishnamurti&rft.aufirst=Bhadriraju&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D54fV7Lwu3fMC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+phonology" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSchiffman1999" class="citation book cs1">Schiffman, Harold F. (1999). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Oqe-QsaZnnQC"><i>A Reference Grammar of Spoken Tamil</i></a>. Cambridge Language Surveys (1 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0521027526" title="Special:BookSources/978-0521027526"><bdi>978-0521027526</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Reference+Grammar+of+Spoken+Tamil&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.series=Cambridge+Language+Surveys&rft.edition=1&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1999&rft.isbn=978-0521027526&rft.aulast=Schiffman&rft.aufirst=Harold+F.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DOqe-QsaZnnQC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+phonology" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFZvelebil1965" class="citation book cs1">Zvelebil, Kamil (1965). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24650188"><i>Some features of Ceylon Tamil</i></a>. Indo-Iranian Journal. Vol. 9. JSTOR. pp. 113–138. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24650188">24650188</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Some+features+of+Ceylon+Tamil&rft.series=Indo-Iranian+Journal&rft.pages=113-138&rft.pub=JSTOR&rft.date=1965&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F24650188%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.aulast=Zvelebil&rft.aufirst=Kamil&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F24650188&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+phonology" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRajam1992" class="citation thesis cs1">Rajam, V. S. (1992). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=2Qwf3pAxJpUC&pg=PA40"><i>A Reference Grammar of Classical Tamil Poetry</i></a> (Thesis). Oxford University Phonetics Laboratory.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adissertation&rft.title=A+Reference+Grammar+of+Classical+Tamil+Poetry&rft.inst=Oxford+University+Phonetics+Laboratory&rft.date=1992&rft.aulast=Rajam&rft.aufirst=V.+S.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D2Qwf3pAxJpUC%26pg%3DPA40&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ATamil+phonology" class="Z3988"></span></li></ul> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.virtualvinodh.com/tamil-ipa">Tamil to IPA converter</a></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style 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style="width:1%">History</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Old_Tamil" title="Old Tamil">Old Tamil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Middle_Tamil" title="Middle Tamil">Middle Tamil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modern_Tamil" class="mw-redirect" title="Modern Tamil">Modern Tamil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Manipravalam" title="Manipravalam">Manipravalam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proto-Dravidian_language" title="Proto-Dravidian language">Proto-Dravidian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proto-South_Dravidian_language" title="Proto-South Dravidian language">Proto-South Dravidian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_Sangams" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil Sangams">Tamil Sangams</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/First_Sangam" class="mw-redirect" title="First Sangam">First Sangam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Second_Sangam" class="mw-redirect" title="Second Sangam">Second Sangam</a></li> <li><a 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<ul><li><a href="/wiki/Malaysian_Tamil" title="Malaysian Tamil">Malaysian Tamil</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;">Sociolects</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Brahmin_Tamil" title="Brahmin Tamil">Brahmin Tamil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arwi" title="Arwi">Arwi</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Global organizations</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/World_Tamil_Conference" title="World Tamil Conference">World Tamil Conference</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/World_Classical_Tamil_Conference_2010" title="World Classical Tamil Conference 2010">World Classical Tamil Conference 2010</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Literature</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;">Classics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Sangam_literature" title="Sangam literature">Sangam literature</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_books_of_Law" title="Tamil books of Law">Tamil books of Law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/The_Five_Great_Epics_of_Tamil_Literature" class="mw-redirect" title="The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature">Five Great Epics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ponniyin_Selvan" title="Ponniyin Selvan">Ponniyin Selvan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_Sangam_poets" title="List of Sangam poets">List of Sangam poets</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Commentaries_in_Tamil_literary_tradition" title="Commentaries in Tamil literary tradition">Commentaries in Tamil literary tradition</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;">Devotional<br />literature</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Umaru_Pulavar#Literary_works" title="Umaru Pulavar">Cīrappurānam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ramavataram" title="Ramavataram">Kampa Irāmāyaṉam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Naalayira_Divya_Prabhandham" class="mw-redirect" title="Naalayira Divya Prabhandham">Nālāyira Tivviya Pirapantam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thembavani" title="Thembavani">Tēmpāvaṉi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tirumurai" title="Tirumurai">Tirumurai</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tirumuruk%C4%81%E1%B9%9F%E1%B9%9Fuppa%E1%B9%ADai" title="Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai">Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thiruppugal" class="mw-redirect" title="Thiruppugal">Thiruppugal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thiruvilaiyadal_Puranam" title="Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam">Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vinayagar_Agaval" title="Vinayagar Agaval">Vinayagar Agaval</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_Tamil_literature_works_about_Ganesha" title="List of Tamil literature works about Ganesha">Tamil Ganaptya texts</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;">Poetry</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Kural_(poetic_form)" title="Kural (poetic form)">Kural</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Venpa" title="Venpa">Venpa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Iraichchi" class="mw-redirect" title="Iraichchi">Iraichchi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Akam_(poetry)" title="Akam (poetry)">Akam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Puram_(poetry)" class="mw-redirect" title="Puram (poetry)">Puram</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thinai" class="mw-redirect" title="Thinai">Thinai</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ullurai" title="Ullurai">Ullurai</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ula_(poetry)" title="Ula (poetry)">Ulā</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;">Grammars and<br />dictionaries</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Agattiyam" title="Agattiyam">Agattiyam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nann%C5%ABl" class="mw-redirect" title="Nannūl">Nannūl</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Purapporul_Venbamaalai" title="Purapporul Venbamaalai">Purapporul Venbamaalai</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tolk%C4%81ppiyam" title="Tolkāppiyam">Tolkāppiyam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_literature#Vijayanagar_and_Nayak_period" title="Tamil literature">Caturakarāti</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_Lexicon_dictionary" title="Tamil Lexicon dictionary">Tamil Lexicon dictionary</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;">History</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Yalpana_Vaipava_Malai" title="Yalpana Vaipava Malai">Yāḻpāna Vaipava Mālai</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;">Mathematics and<br />natural science</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Asthana_Kolahalam" title="Asthana Kolahalam">Asthana Kolahalam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ka%E1%B9%87akkatik%C4%81ram" title="Kaṇakkatikāram">Kaṇakkatikāram</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ka%E1%B9%87ita_T%C4%ABpikai" title="Kaṇita Tīpikai">Kaṇita Tīpikai</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Yerambam" title="Yerambam">Yerambam</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Tamil and<br /> other languages</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Tamil_origin" class="mw-redirect" title="List of English words of Tamil origin">English</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_Sinhala_words_of_Tamil_origin" title="List of Sinhala words of Tamil origin">Sinhala</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Indo-Aryan_loanwords_in_Tamil" title="Indo-Aryan loanwords in Tamil">Indo-Aryan languages</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dravidian_languages" title="Dravidian languages">Dravidian languages</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_loanwords_in_Malay" title="List of loanwords in Malay">Malay</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dravido-Korean_languages" title="Dravido-Korean languages">Korean</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Scripts</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Megalithic_graffiti_symbols" title="Megalithic graffiti symbols">Megalithic graffiti symbols</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil-Brahmi" title="Tamil-Brahmi">Tamil-Brahmi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kolezhuthu" class="mw-redirect" title="Kolezhuthu">Koleḻuttu</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vatteluttu_alphabet" class="mw-redirect" title="Vatteluttu alphabet">Vatteluttu</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pallava_grantha" class="mw-redirect" title="Pallava grantha">Pallava grantha</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_script" title="Tamil script">Modern script</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_Braille" title="Tamil Braille">Tamil Braille</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arwi" title="Arwi">Arwi</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Lexis and<br /> grammar</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_grammar" title="Tamil grammar">Tamil grammar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_honorifics" title="Tamil honorifics">Tamil honorifics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_numerals" title="Tamil numerals">Tamil numerals</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Phonology</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Tamil phonology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_onomatopoeia" title="Tamil onomatopoeia">Tamil onomatopoeia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_prosody" title="Tamil prosody">Tamil prosody</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Transliteration</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/ISO_15919" title="ISO 15919">ISO</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mozhi_(transliteration)" title="Mozhi (transliteration)">Moḻi</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Events</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Standardisation_of_Tamil_script" title="Standardisation of Tamil script">Standardisation of Tamil script</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tanittamil_Iyakkam" title="Tanittamil Iyakkam">Tanittamil Iyakkam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Simplified_Tamil_script" title="Simplified Tamil script">Simplified Tamil script</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Printing_in_Tamil_language" title="Printing in Tamil language">Printing in Tamil language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_Heritage_Foundation" title="Tamil Heritage Foundation">Ancient manuscript digitalisation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Central_Institute_of_Classical_Tamil" title="Central Institute of Classical Tamil">Formation of CICT</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Project_Madurai" title="Project Madurai">Project Madurai</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235"></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Phonologies_of_the_world&#039;s_languages" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible mw-collapsed navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Language_phonologies" title="Template:Language phonologies"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Language_phonologies" title="Template talk:Language phonologies"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Language_phonologies" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Language phonologies"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Phonologies_of_the_world&#039;s_languages" class="wraplinks" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Phonology" title="Phonology">Phonologies</a> of the <a href="/wiki/Lists_of_languages" title="Lists of languages">world's languages</a></div></th></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div> <ul><li><b>Phonologies</b></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Template:Language_orthographies" title="Template:Language orthographies">Orthographies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Template:Language_grammars" title="Template:Language grammars">Grammars</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Template:Language_adjectives" title="Template:Language adjectives">Adjectives</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Template:Language_determiners" title="Template:Language determiners">Determiners</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Template:Language_nouns" title="Template:Language nouns">Nouns</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Template:Language_prepositions" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:Language prepositions">Prepositions</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Template:Language_pronouns" title="Template:Language pronouns">Pronouns</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Template:Language_verbs" title="Template:Language verbs">Verbs</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">A–E</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Abkhaz_phonology" title="Abkhaz phonology">Abkhaz</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Acehnese_phonology" title="Acehnese phonology">Acehnese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Adyghe_phonology" title="Adyghe phonology">Adyghe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Afrikaans_phonology" title="Afrikaans phonology">Afrikaans</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/American_Sign_Language_phonology" title="American Sign Language phonology">American Sign Language</a></li> <li>Arabic <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Arabic_phonology" title="Arabic phonology">Modern Standard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Egyptian_Arabic_phonology" title="Egyptian Arabic phonology">Egyptian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hejazi_Arabic_phonology" title="Hejazi Arabic phonology">Hejazi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Levantine_Arabic_phonology" title="Levantine Arabic phonology">Levantine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Moroccan_Arabic#Phonology" title="Moroccan Arabic">Moroccan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tunisian_Arabic_phonology" title="Tunisian Arabic phonology">Tunisian</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Avestan_phonology" title="Avestan phonology">Avestan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Belarusian_phonology" title="Belarusian phonology">Belarusian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bengali_phonology" title="Bengali phonology">Bengali</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bulgarian_phonology" title="Bulgarian phonology">Bulgarian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Burmese_phonology" title="Burmese phonology">Burmese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Catalan_phonology" title="Catalan phonology">Catalan</a></li> <li>Chinese <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology" title="Standard Chinese phonology">Mandarin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cantonese_phonology" title="Cantonese phonology">Cantonese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hokkien_phonology" title="Hokkien phonology">Hokkien</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Northern_Wu_phonology" title="Northern Wu phonology">Northern Wu</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Old_Chinese_phonology" title="Old Chinese phonology">Old</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Historical_Chinese_phonology" title="Historical Chinese phonology">Historical</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chukchi_phonology" title="Chukchi phonology">Chukchi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cornish_phonology" title="Cornish phonology">Cornish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Czech_phonology" title="Czech phonology">Czech</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Danish_phonology" title="Danish phonology">Danish</a></li> <li>Dutch <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Dutch_phonology" title="Dutch phonology">Standard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Orsmaal-Gussenhoven_dialect_phonology" title="Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect phonology">Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/English_phonology" title="English phonology">English</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Australian_English_phonology" title="Australian English phonology">Australian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/General_American_English" title="General American English">General American</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/New_Zealand_English_phonology" title="New Zealand English phonology">New Zealand</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Received_Pronunciation" title="Received Pronunciation">Received Pronunciation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/North_American_English_regional_phonology" title="North American English regional phonology">Regional North American</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/White_South_African_English_phonology" title="White South African English phonology">White South African</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Standard_Canadian_English" title="Standard Canadian English">Standard Canadian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Old_English_phonology" title="Old English phonology">Old</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Middle_English_phonology" title="Middle English phonology">Middle</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Esperanto_phonology" title="Esperanto phonology">Esperanto</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Estonian_phonology" title="Estonian phonology">Estonian</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">F–L</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Faroese_phonology" title="Faroese phonology">Faroese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Finnish_phonology" title="Finnish phonology">Finnish</a></li> <li>French <ul><li><a href="/wiki/French_phonology" title="French phonology">Parisian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quebec_French_phonology" title="Quebec French phonology">Quebec</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Galician_phonology" title="Galician phonology">Galician</a></li> <li>German <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Standard_German_phonology" title="Standard German phonology">Standard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bernese_German_phonology" title="Bernese German phonology">Bernese</a></li></ul></li> <li>Greek <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Modern_Greek_phonology" title="Modern Greek phonology">Standard Modern</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek_phonology" title="Ancient Greek phonology">Ancient</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Koine_Greek_phonology" title="Koine Greek phonology">Koine</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Greenlandic_phonology" title="Greenlandic phonology">Greenlandic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gujarati_phonology" title="Gujarati phonology">Gujarati</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hawaiian_phonology" title="Hawaiian phonology">Hawaiian</a></li> <li>Hebrew <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Modern_Hebrew_phonology" title="Modern Hebrew phonology">Modern</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Biblical_Hebrew#Phonology" title="Biblical Hebrew">Biblical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tiberian_Hebrew#Phonology" title="Tiberian Hebrew">Tiberian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Samaritan_Hebrew#Phonology" title="Samaritan Hebrew">Samaritan</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hindustani_phonology" title="Hindustani phonology">Hindustani</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hungarian_phonology" title="Hungarian phonology">Hungarian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Icelandic_phonology" title="Icelandic phonology">Icelandic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ingrian_phonology" title="Ingrian phonology">Ingrian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inuit_phonology" title="Inuit phonology">Inuit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Irish_phonology" title="Irish phonology">Irish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Italian_phonology" title="Italian phonology">Italian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Japanese_phonology" title="Japanese phonology">Japanese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kiowa_phonology" title="Kiowa phonology">Kiowa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Konkani_phonology" title="Konkani phonology">Konkani</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Korean_phonology" title="Korean phonology">Korean</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kurdish_phonology" title="Kurdish phonology">Kurdish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kyrgyz_phonology" title="Kyrgyz phonology">Kyrgyz</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Latgalian_phonology" title="Latgalian phonology">Latgalian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Latin_phonology_and_orthography" title="Latin phonology and orthography">Latin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Latvian_phonology" title="Latvian phonology">Latvian</a></li> <li>Limburgish <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Maastrichtian_dialect_phonology" title="Maastrichtian dialect phonology">Maastrichtian</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lithuanian_phonology" title="Lithuanian phonology">Lithuanian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Luxembourgish_phonology" title="Luxembourgish phonology">Luxembourgish</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">M–S</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Macedonian_phonology" title="Macedonian phonology">Macedonian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Malay_phonology" title="Malay phonology">Malay</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Maldivian_phonology" title="Maldivian phonology">Maldivian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/M%C4%81ori_phonology" title="Māori phonology">Māori</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marathi_phonology" title="Marathi phonology">Marathi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Massachusett_phonology" title="Massachusett phonology">Massachusett</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Medumba_phonology" title="Medumba phonology">Medumba</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Navajo_phonology" title="Navajo phonology">Navajo</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nepali_phonology" title="Nepali phonology">Nepali</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Norwegian_phonology" title="Norwegian phonology">Norwegian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Occitan_phonology" title="Occitan phonology">Occitan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ojibwe_phonology" title="Ojibwe phonology">Ojibwe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Old_Saxon_phonology" title="Old Saxon phonology">Old Saxon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Oromo_phonology" title="Oromo phonology">Oromo</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ottawa_phonology" title="Ottawa phonology">Ottawa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pashto_phonology" title="Pashto phonology">Pashto</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Persian_phonology" title="Persian phonology">Persian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Polish_phonology" title="Polish phonology">Polish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Portuguese_phonology" title="Portuguese phonology">Portuguese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_phonology" title="Proto-Indo-European phonology">Proto-Indo-European</a></li> <li>Ripuarian <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Colognian_phonology" title="Colognian phonology">Colognian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kerkrade_dialect_phonology" title="Kerkrade dialect phonology">Kerkrade dialect</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Romanian_phonology" title="Romanian phonology">Romanian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Russian_phonology" title="Russian phonology">Russian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sardinian_phonology" title="Sardinian phonology">Sardinian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_Scots" title="Phonological history of Scots">Scots</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic_phonology_and_orthography" title="Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography">Scottish Gaelic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Serbo-Croatian_phonology" title="Serbo-Croatian phonology">Serbo-Croatian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Slovak_phonology" title="Slovak phonology">Slovak</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Slovene_phonology" title="Slovene phonology">Slovene</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Somali_phonology" title="Somali phonology">Somali</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sotho_phonology" title="Sotho phonology">Sotho</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spanish_phonology" title="Spanish phonology">Spanish</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Spanish_dialects_and_varieties" title="Spanish dialects and varieties">Dialects and varieties</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Swedish_phonology" title="Swedish phonology">Swedish</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">T–Z</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Tagalog_phonology" title="Tagalog phonology">Tagalog</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Tamil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Taos_phonology" title="Taos phonology">Taos</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Turkish_phonology" title="Turkish phonology">Turkish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ubykh_phonology" title="Ubykh phonology">Ubykh</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ukrainian_phonology" title="Ukrainian phonology">Ukrainian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Uyghur_phonology" title="Uyghur phonology">Uyghur</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vietnamese_phonology" title="Vietnamese phonology">Vietnamese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Welsh_phonology" title="Welsh phonology">Welsh</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/West_Frisian_phonology" title="West Frisian phonology">West Frisian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Yiddish_phonology" title="Yiddish phonology">Yiddish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Zuni_phonology" title="Zuni phonology">Zuni</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&oldid=1257707615">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tamil_phonology&oldid=1257707615</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Tamil_language" title="Category:Tamil language">Tamil language</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Phonologies_by_language" title="Category:Phonologies by language">Phonologies by 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