Help:IPA/Tamil

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Short description: Wikipedia key to pronunciation

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Tamil pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-ta}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Tamil has phonological process by which voiceless plosives are altered to their respective voiced sounds because of their position in a word (word initial versus word medial) or presence of preceding vowel sounds.

See Tamil phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Tamil.

Key

The vowels table is arranged according to Tamil script's order. The consonants table is arranged mostly according to Tamil script's order (consonants-voiceless, voiced, with their corresponding nasal) and at the end 'r' and 'l' sounds are grouped differently for contrasting. The ayudha eluttu, 'ஃ' usually grouped with vowels, is attached to the consonants table here for easily showing its use.

Consonants
IPA[1] Tamil script[1] ISO 15919[1] Examples English approximation
k [2][3] k கால், க்கள், ற் skate
ɡ [2][4] k ங்கே, பாகு gate
h[5] [6] k - heat
ŋ ங்கே, ங்ஙனம் song
t͡ʃ [2][3] c சின்ன, பேச்சு, ட்சி catch
d͡ʑ[7] [2][4] c ஞ்சி hedge
s[8] [9] c பாம் like "s" in sum
ɲ ñ ஞானம், ஞ்ஞானம், ஞ்சி. piñata, canyon
ʈ [2][3] ட்டு like "t" in stable, but with the tongue curled back
ɖ [2][4] ண்டி, டி similar to "d" in dot, but with the tongue curled back
ɽ - like "r" in Spanish (Paraguay) perder, with the tongue curled back
ɳ ண்டி, ண்ணம் similar to "n" in not, but with the tongue curled back
[2][3] t னி, த்து, யுக்தி like touch, but with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth
[2][4] t ந்து similar to do, but with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth
ð [10] t நல்து other
n யம், ந்து , ன்றி, ந்நன்றி similar to "n" in net, but with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth
p [2][3] p த்து, ப்பன், விற்னை spy
b [2][4] p ம்பி, த்து, ன்பு band
m m லை, ம்மாள், ம்பி, வண்ணம் much
r [11] றி, ற்றினார், ன்றி (when not doubled, not after its nasal) trilled r
n ன்றி, சின்ன, வந்தான் not
ɾ̪ r ரி, ரி, (இவி), வந்தார் like "r" in three (Scottish English) or Spanish caro, but with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth
l லி,ல்லி, (இங்கை), வந்தால் similar to "l" in let, but with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth
ɭ ளி, ள்ளி, வந்தாள் similar to "l" in let, but with the tongue curled back
ɻ ழி like "r" in rotten, but with the tongue curled back
j y யானை, ய்ய yak
ʋ v ழி, வ்வழி between w and v; Dutch wang
x கு, றிணை guttural "ch", as in Scottish loch or German Bach


Vowels
IPA Tamil script ISO 15919 Example (meaning) English approximation
a அ, க a கல் (stone) nut
ஆ, கா ā கால் (leg) bra
i இ, கி i கிரி (mountain) dill
ஈ, கீ ī கீரி (mongoose) feet
u உ, கு u குடம் (pot) look
ɯ உ, கு u அழகு (beauty) good
ஊ, கூ ū கூடம் (hall) loot
e எ, கெ e கெடு (time limit) yell
ஏ, கே ē கேடு (destruction) Yale
aɪ̯ ஐ, கை ai கைது (arrest) kite
o ஒ, கொ o கொடு (give) erode
ஓ, கோ ō கோடு (a line drawn) old
aʊ̯ ஔ, கௌ au கௌதாரி (a type of bird) somewhat like house
 ̃ -ம, -ன - - nasal vowel
([ãː], [õː], etc.)


Suprasegmentals
IPA English equivalent
ˈ◌ stress
(placed before stressed syllable)
◌ː doubled consonant
(placed after doubled consonant)


IPA[1] Grantha consonants in Tamil[12][1] ISO 15919[1] Examples English approximation
d͡ʑ,[7] d͡ʒ[7] [13] j ஜானகி hedge
h[5] h ரி heat
s[8] s ந்தியா sum
ʂ ஷா assure (strong s; no h sound) with tongue curled back
க்ஷ kṣ காமாக்ஷி (conjunct of 'k' & 'ṣ')
ɕ, ʃ ś ஶிவா sheep; shoe (light s with h sound)
IPA[1] Ligature in Tamil ISO 15919[1] Examples English approximation
[ɕɾ̪iː], [ʃɾ̪iː] (ஸ்ரீ) śrī ஸ்ரீ (conjunct of 'ś' & 'r' with vowel ī )

See also

  • IPA chart (vowels and consonants) - 2015. (pdf file)

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 In the compound letter series beginning with க, compound க is consonant க் with vowel அ; 'ka' is 'k' with 'a'. Thus the compound letter 'க' has the inherent vowel 'அ', giving 'க' without added vowel sign using diacritics. (The consonant sign called 'pulli' "்", the dot on top of the letter 'க' is removed). But the IPA, ISO 15919 shown here have the consonant 'k' only & do not include the vowel 'a'.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 The Tamil script does not have distinct letters for voiced and unvoiced stop, although both are present in the spoken language as allophones—i.e., they are in complementary distribution[S 1] and the places they can occur do not intersect.
    • For the consonants க, ச, ட, த, ப (in the order of velar, palatal, retroflex, dental, labial) ; the voiceless are /k, t͡ʃ, ʈ, t̪, p/; they become voiced as /g, d͡ʑ, ɖ, d̪, b/ respectively.[S 1]
    • The voiceless [k] occurs at the beginning of words, as the first letter of a word (/k/ in கல் /kal/ stone); the voiced [g] cannot.[S 1] ( கனி /kani/, சின்ன /t͡ʃinna/, தனி /t̪ani/, பனி /pani/) .
    • In the middle of words, the voiceless commonly occur as a geminated pair like /-kk-/ or /kː/ (அக்காள், /akːaːɭ/, elder sister); while the voiced usually do not.[S 1] (பாக்கு /paːkːu/, ஆச்சி /aːt͡ʃːi/, காட்டு /kaːʈːu/, கத்து /kat̪ːu/, அப்பா /apːaː/).
    • Only the voiced occur after a vowel.[S 1] (The stops க, ட, த, ப; become voiced as /g, ɖ, d̪, b/ respectively after a vowel as in பாகு /paːgu/, காடு /kaːɖu/, காது /kaːd̪u/, ஆபத்து /aːbat̪ːu/.)
    • Only the voiced occur after its corresponding nasal.[S 1] (The consonants க, ச, ட, த, ப; become voiced as /g, d͡ʑ, ɖ, d̪, b/ respectively after their corresponding nasals. ங, ஞ, ண, ந, ம; spoken as /ŋ, ɲ, ɳ, n̪, m/ respectively in பங்கு /paŋgu/, கஞ்சி /kaɲd͡ʑi/, கண்டு /kaɳɖu/, பந்து /pan̪d̪u/, காம்பு /kaːmbu/ ).
    • The retroflex ட ( /ʈ, ɖ/) does not occur in the word-initial position.[S 1]
    • The rule is identical for all stop consonants and these rules are largely followed even today in pronouncing Centamil. But the pronunciation of the letter ச differs: that is, ⟨c⟩ is spoken as /s/ in 'sum' in the intervocalic position[S 1] (/s/ in பாசம் /paːsam/ meaning caring) and not preceded by stop consonant[S 1] (e.g. /t͡ʃ/ in கட்சி /kaʈˈt͡ʃi/ political party; geminate /t͡ʃ:/ in கச்சி /kaˈt͡ʃ:i/ name of a city ) or permitted soft consonant[S 1] ( /d͡ʑ/ in கஞ்சி, /kaɲˈd͡ʑi/ meaning gruel). The rule(s) that may not be followed widely- the pronunciation of the letter ச, ⟨c⟩ as /t͡ʃ/ at the beginning of a word, instead in colloquial Tamil called "Koduntamil", in some words ச may be spoken as /s/ in 'sum' in the word initial position ( / t͡ʃ/ in சின்ன /t͡ʃinna/ compare to /s/ in /sinna/ ).
    Thus both the voiced and voiceless stop consonants can be represented by the same script in Tamil without ambiguity, the script denoting only the place and broad manner of articulation (stop, nasal, etc.). The Tholkāppiyam, Nannool gave detailed rules as to when a letter is to be pronounced with voice and when it is to be pronounced unvoiced. But for loanwords[S 1] from Indo-Aryan like Sanskrit, Hindi; Perso-Arabic and English loan words, when they are pronounced in Tamil according to their original languages, the consonants which should be unvoiced according to the Tholkāppiyam's and Nannool's rules; may become voiced.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Voiceless consonants,[S 1] as a first letter of a word or when preceded by stop consonants. Voiceless stops occur as geminate or doubled consonant. For the consonants க, ச, ட, த, ப; the voiceless are /k, t͡ʃ, ʈ, t̪, p/. (The voiced are /g, d͡ʑ, ɖ, d̪, b/ respectively). The retroflex ட ( /ʈ, ɖ/) does not occur in the word-initial position.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Voiced consonants[S 1] only when preceded by a nasal consonant or when not preceded by a stop consonant. Voiced occur after a vowel and do not occur as geminate or double consonant. Never word-initial. The consonants க, ச, ட, த, ப become voiced as /g, d͡ʑ, ɖ, d̪, b/; whereas the voiceless are /k, t͡ʃ, ʈ, t̪, p/ respectively. The retroflex ட ( /ʈ, ɖ/) does not occur in the word-initial position.
  5. 5.0 5.1 The Grantha consonant 'ஹ' used in Tamil, exclusively represents the phonetic [h].
  6. The letter க is spoken like /h/ in heat, only as an intervocalic in colloquial speech; not when it appears as the first letter of a word.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 The Grantha consonant 'ஜ' used in Tamil, exclusively represents the phonetic /d͡ʑ/ and /d͡ʒ/ .
  8. 8.0 8.1 The Grantha consonant 'ஸ' used in Tamil, exclusively represents the phonetic [s].
  9. The letter ச is spoken[S 1] like /s/ in sum, when it occurs intervocalically (/s/ in பாசம் /paːsam/ meaning caring) and not preceded by stop consonant (e.g. /t͡ʃ/ in கட்சி /kaʈˈt͡ʃi/ political party; geminate /t͡ʃ:/ in கச்சி /kaˈt͡ʃ:i/ name of a city ) or permitted soft consonant ( /d͡ʑ/ in கஞ்சி, /kaɲˈd͡ʑi/ meaning gruel).
  10. The letter த is spoken like "th" in other using [ð] only when preceded by a nasal consonant or not preceded by a stop consonant
  11. The pronunciation of 'ற' ⟨ṟ⟩ after corresponding nasal consonant; as geminate or doubled consonant is explained below:
    • Example: In the word ஒன்று /oɳɖɾu/ 'ற' after corresponding nasal 'ன'; 'ன்ற' is spoken as /ɳɖɾ/ [S 1] and not /nr/.
    • Example: In the word பற்றி /pəʈʈɾi/ 'ற' doubled or geminate is spoken as /ʈʈɾ/ and not /rr/.
  12. The Tamil speech has incorporated many phonemes which were not part of the Tolkāppiyam, Nannool classification. The letters used to write some of these sounds are the Grantha consonants from Grantha script.
  13. This letter ஜ does not belong to Tamil script, but is widely accepted as an ad-hoc from Grantha script (See Usage of Grantha consonants in Tamil script). (This sound may be replaced by ச, as in /s/ in pure Tamil, which is not an accurate phonetic representation).

Citations

Bibliography

External links