Tamil is very old and faced several changes over time; both in writing and speaking system. It does not mean that it is corrupted by influence of other languages. Rather, the changes are natural and have historical reasons. Tamil suffers the condition of diglossia like Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Kannada etc. Diglossia is a situation in which two languages or two forms of a language are used under different conditions in a community. In case of Tamil, it has two forms: classical Tamil (Senthamizh) and spoken Tamil (Kodundhamizh). The classical form of Tamil is used in news reporting, radios, writing poems and novels, speaking in debates, formal meetings and conferences, writing letters (includes friendly letters)etc. Spoken Tamil, as name implies, is used colloquially. Every Tamil people (disregarding their educational status) are aware of both classical and spoken form of Tamil.
The problem with Tamil script is that it is incapable of supporting spoken Tamil. Like French, spoken Tamil has several nasal sounds and word contractions which is absent in classical Tamil. Trying to write spoken Tamil with its own script will often result in spelling mistakes. Here, I am going to introduce my own transliteration system along with the introduction of sounds of Tamil spoken in Tamil Nadu; however, Sri Lankan Tamil will also be discussed on later posts.
Vowel Sounds
a as in hut
á as in hot
ã as in cat.
i as in sit
í as in seat
u as in put
ú as in boot
e as in bed
é as in French é. Pure vowel sound not a diphthong as in English- day.
ai as in eye. But, pronounce it very fast so as to sound as a single vowel.
o as in Orangutan.
ó as in oats. If you are English, carefully avoid the diphthong.
au as in cow. But, pronounce it very fast so as to sound as a single vowel.
Nasal Vowel Sounds
Nasal vowel sounds in spoken Tamil are similar to French nasals. It occurs only in the final syllable of the words and as indicated by my transliteration, the vowels are followed by m or n.
-ám as in French avant. Or, as in Hindi haan.
-án as in French avant. Or, as in Hindi haan.
-am as in French bon.
-óm as in Hindi ladkiyom.
-an as in French vin.
-én as in French vin. But, try to pronounce it faster.
-um as in Hindi hun.
Consonants
k as in king.
g as in gun.
th as in thin
dh as in they.
l no direct English equivalent. But, try to pronounce l a little harder.
ng as in monkey.
ch as in chat.
s as in salt.
p as in pen.
b as in bed.
ñ as in Spanish ñ. Or, as in English onion.
m as in medal.
t as in tax.
tr as in Troy. Actually, it is a double consonant of rr. (See below)
d as in doll.
y as in yellow.
rr as in Italian r. This r should be rolled with the tongue.
n as in nut.
nj as in injury.
r as in rat.
j as in jack. This sound occurs only in spoken Tamil.
sh as in shoe. This sound occurs only in spoken Tamil.
h as in horse. This sound occurs only in spoken Tamil.
ksh as in make sure. This sound occurs only in spoken Tamil.
f as in fun. This sound occurs only in spoken Tamil.
z as in zoo. This sound occurs only in spoken Tamil.
zh no English equivalent. Phonetically, it is a retroflex r but Tamils
often transliterate the sound as zh. So, I too adopted the symbol.
Double Consonant Sounds
Like Italian, double consonants create an effect by making a micro pause between the two single sounds. For example, the sound tt in the word kattam (box) is pronounced same as Italian. Possible double consonant sounds are given below.
kk two k sounds.
tth two th sounds.
ll two l sounds
tch two ch sounds.
pp two p sounds.
mm two m sounds.
tt two t sounds.
Use the above lists as a guide while learning. Initially, it may be so hard to follow but you will find it easier, once you were familiar with it. Go ahead!
