Tamil script

Infobox Writing system
name = Tamil
type = Abugida
time = c. 700–present
languages = Tamil
Sanskrit
fam1=Proto-Canaanite alphabet
fam2=Phoenician alphabet
fam3=Aramaic alphabet
fam4=Brāhmī
fam5=Grantha
sisters=Malayalam
Sinhala
children=Saurashtra
unicode = [http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0B80.pdf U+0B80–U+0BFF]
iso15924 = Taml

The Tamil script (தமிழ் அரிச்சுவடி "ISOtranslit|tamiẓ ariccuvaḍi" "Tamil alphabet", or வட்டெழுத்து "ISOtranslit|vaṭṭeẓuttu" "rounded writing") is a Vatteluttu script that is used to write the Tamil language. With the use of special diacritics to represent aspirated and voiced consonants not represented in the basic script, it is also used to write Saurashtra and, by Tamils, to write Sanskrit.

Overview

Characteristics

The Tamil script has twelve vowels (உயிரெழுத்து "ISOtranslit|uyirezhuthu" "soul-letters"), eighteen consonants (மெய்யெழுத்து "ISOtranslit|meyyeẓuttu" "body-letters") and one character, the "āytam" ISOtranslit|ஃ (ஆய்தம்), which is classified in Tamil grammar as being neither a consonant nor a vowel (அலியெழுத்து "ISOtranslit|aliyeẓuttu" "the hermaphrodite letter"). Though often part of the vowel set (உயிரெழுத்துக்கள் "ISOtranslit|uyirezhuthukkaḷ" "vowel class"), the script, however, is syllabic and not alphabetic [ [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/romadict.pl?table=tamil-lex&page=148&display=utf8 University of Madras Tamil Lexicon, page 148: «அலியெழுத்து [ ISOtranslit|aliyeẕuttu ] n ISOtranslit|ali-y-eḻuttu . < அலி¹ +. 1. The letter ISOtranslit|ஃ , as being regarded neither a vowel nor a consonant; ஆய்தம். (வெண்பாப். முதன்மொ. 6, உரை.) 2. Consonants; ISOtranslit|மெய்யெ ழுத்து. (பிங்.).»] ] . The complete script, therefore, consists of the thirty-one letters in their independent form, and an additional 216 combinant letters representing a total 247 combinations (உயிர்மெய்யெழுத்து "ISOtranslit|uyirmeyyeẓuttu") of a consonant and a vowel, a mute consonant or a vowel alone. These combinant letters are formed by adding a vowel marker to the consonant. Some vowels require the basic shape of the consonant to be altered in a way that is specific to that vowel. Others are written by adding a vowel-specific suffix to the consonant, yet others a prefix, and finally some vowels require adding both a prefix and a suffix to the consonant. In every case the vowel marker is different from the standalone character for the vowel.

The Tamil script is written from left to right.

History

Tamil script is thought to have evolved from the Brahmi script, itself generally believed to derive from the Aramaic script of the Middle East. A small minority of scholars believe that Brahmi may have derived directly from the Indus script. Inscriptions from the second century AD use a later form of the Tamil Brahmi script, which is substantially similar to the writing system described in the "Tolkappiyam", an ancient Tamil grammar. Most notably, they use the unicode|"puḷḷi" to suppress the inherent vowel. The Tamil letters thereafter evolved towards a more rounded form, and by the fifth or sixth century AD had reached a form called the "early unicode|vaṭṭeḻuttu", the immediate ancestor of the unicode|"vaṭṭeḻuttu" ("rounded writing") script in use today. The rounded shape of the letters is partly the result of the fact that in ancient times, writing involved using a sharp-pointed stylus to carve the letters on palm leaves unicode|("olaiccuvaṭi"), a process which made it easier to produce curves than straight lines. Some scholars state that the script was originally called unicode|"veṭṭeḻuthu" meaning "script that was cut (on stone)", standing for ease of carving in stones.

In addition to producing rounder letters, the use of palm leaves as the primary medium for writing led to other changes in the Tamil script. The scribe had to be careful not to piercing the leaves with the stylus while writing, because a leaf with a hole was likelier to tear and decay faster. The result of this was that the use of the unicode|"puḷḷi" to distinguish pure consonants became rare, with pure consonants usually being written as if the inherent vowel were present. Similarly, the vowel marker for the unicode|"kuṟṟiyal ukaram", a half-rounded "u" which occurs at the end of some words and in the medial position in certain compound words, also fell out of use and was replaced by the marker for the simple "u." The unicode|"puḷḷi" did not fully reappear until the introduction of printing, but the marker unicode|"kuṟṟiyal ukaram" never came back into use, although the sound itself still exists and plays an important role in Tamil prosody.The forms of some of the letters were simplified in the nineteenth century to make the script easier to typeset. In the twentieth century, the script was simplified even further in a series of reforms, which regularised the vowel markers used with consonants by eliminating special markers and most irregular forms.

Relationship with other Indic scripts

The Tamil script differs from other Brahmi-derived scripts in a number of ways. Unlike every other Indic script, it uses the same character to represent both an unvoiced stop and its voiced equivalent. Thus the character க் "k", for example, represents both IPA| [k] , and IPA| [g] . This is because Tamil grammar treats only unvoiced stops as being "true" consonants, treating voiced and aspirated sounds are euphonic variants of unvoiced sounds. Traditional Tamil grammars contain detailed rules, observed in formal speech, for when a stop is to be pronounced with and without voice. These rules are not followed in colloquial or dialectal speech, where voiced and unvoiced versions of a stop are, in effect, allophones, being used in specific phonetic contexts, without serving to distinguish words.Also unlike other Indic scripts, the Tamil script hardly uses special consonantal ligatures to represent conjunct consonants, which are far less frequent in Tamil than in other Indian languages. Conjunct consonants, where they occur are written by writing the character for the first consonant, adding the unicode|"puḷḷi" to suppress its inherent vowel, and then writing the character for the second consonant. There are a few exceptions, namely க்ஷ "unicode|kṣa" and ஸ்ரீ "unicode|srī".

Tamil letters

Basic consonants

Consonants are called the 'body' ("mei") letters. The consonants are classified into three categories: "vallinam" (hard consants), "mellinam" (soft consonants, including all nasals), and "idayinam" (medium consonants).

There are some lexical rules for formation of words. "Tolkāppiyam" describes such rules. Some examples: a word cannot end in certain consonants, and cannot begin with some consonants including 'r' 'l' and 'll'; there are two consonants for the dental 'n' - which one should be used depends on whether the 'n' occurs at the start of the word and on the letters around it.

The order of the alphabet (strictly abugida) in Tamil closely matches that of the linguistically unrelated Indo-Aryan languages, reflecting the common origin of their scripts from Brahmi.

Vowels

Vowels are also called the 'life' ("uyir") or 'soul' letters. Together with the consonants (which are called 'body' letters), they form compound, syllabic (abugida) letters that are called 'living' letters ("uyirmei", i.e. letters that have both 'body' and 'soul').

Tamil vowels are divided into short and long (five of each type) and two diphthongs.

Isolated form

The special letter unicode|ஃ (pronounced 'akh') is rarely used by itself. It normally serves a purely grammatical function as the independent vowel form of the dot on consonants that suppresses the inherent 'a' sound in plain consonants. However, in modern times it has come to be used to represent foreign sounds - for example ஃ + ப is used to represent the English sound 'F', not found in Tamil.

The long ("nedil") vowels are about twice as long as the short ("kuRil") vowels. The diphthongs are usually pronounced about one and a half times as long as the short vowels, though some grammatical texts place them with the long ("nedil") vowels.

As can be seen in the compound form, the vowel sign can be added to the right, left or both sides of the consonants. It can also form a ligature. These rules are evolving and older use has more ligatures than modern use. What you actually see on this page depends on your font selection; for example, Code2000 will show more ligatures than Latha.

There are proponents of script reform who want to eliminate all ligatures and let all vowel signs appear on the right side.

Unicode encodes the character in logical order (always the consonant first), whereas legacy 8-bit encodings (such as TSCII) prefer the written order. This makes it necessary to reorder when converting from one encoding to another; it is not sufficient simply to map one set of codepoints to the other.

Compound table of Tamil letters

The following table lists vowel ("uyir" or life) letters across the top and consonant ("mei" or body) letters along the side, the combination of which gives all Tamil compound (uyirmei) letters.

Tamil in Unicode

The Unicode range for Tamil is U+0B80&ndash;U+0BFF. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points. Most of the non-assigned codepoints are designated reserved because they are in the same relative position as characters assigned in other South Asian script blocks that correspond to phonemes that don't exist in the Tamil script.

Like other South Asian scripts in Unicode, the Tamil encoding was originaly derived from the ISCII standard. Both ISCII and Unicode encode Tamil as an abugida. Each codepoint representing a similar phoneme is encoded in the same relative position in each South Asian script block in Unicode. Although Unicode represents Tamil as an abugida, all the pure consonants and syllables in Tamil can be represented by combining multiple Unicode codepoints, as can be seen in the Unicode Tamil Syllabary below.

In Unicode 5.1, named sequences were added for all Tamil pure consonants and syllables.

Unicode Tamil Syllabary

Vowels → Consonants ↓	அ 0B85	ஆ 0B86	இ 0B87	ஈ 0B88	உ 0B89	ஊ 0B8A	எ 0B8E	ஏ 0B8F	ஐ 0B90	ஒ 0B92	ஓ 0B93	ஔ 0B94
க் 0B95 0BCD	க 0B95	கா 0B95 0BBE	கி 0B95 0BBF	கீ 0B95 0BC0	கு 0B95 0BC1	கூ 0B95 0BC2	கெ 0B95 0BC6	கே 0B95 0BC7	கை 0B95 0BC8	கொ 0B95 0BCA	கோ 0B95 0BCB	கௌ 0B95 0BCC
ங் 0B99 0BCD	ங 0B99	ஙா 0B99 0BBE	ஙி 0B99 0BBF	ஙீ 0B99 0BC0	ஙு 0B99 0BC1	ஙூ 0B99 0BC2	ஙெ 0B99 0BC6	ஙே 0B99 0BC7	ஙை 0B99 0BC8	ஙொ 0B99 0BCA	ஙோ 0B99 0BCB	ஙௌ 0B99 0BCC
ச் 0B9A 0BCD	ச 0B9A	சா 0B9A 0BBE	சி 0B9A 0BBF	சீ 0B9A 0BC0	சு 0B9A 0BC1	சூ 0B9A 0BC2	செ 0B9A 0BC6	சே 0B9A 0BC7	சை 0B9A 0BC8	சொ 0B9A 0BCA	சோ 0B9A 0BCB	சௌ 0B9A 0BCC
ஞ் 0B9E 0BCD	ஞ 0B9E	ஞா 0B9E 0BBE	ஞி 0B9E 0BBF	ஞீ 0B9E 0BC0	ஞு 0B9E 0BC1	ஞூ 0B9E 0BC2	ஞெ 0B9E 0BC6	ஞே 0B9E 0BC7	ஞை 0B9E 0BC8	ஞொ 0B9E 0BCA	ஞோ 0B9E 0BCB	ஞௌ 0B9E 0BCC
ட் 0B9F 0BCD	ட 0B9F	டா 0B9F 0BBE	டி 0B9F 0BBF	டீ 0B9F 0BC0	டு 0B9F 0BC1	டூ 0B9F 0BC2	டெ 0B9F 0BC6	டே 0B9F 0BC7	டை 0B9F 0BC8	டொ 0B9F 0BCA	டோ 0B9F 0BCB	டௌ 0B9F 0BCC
ண் 0BA3 0BCD	ண 0BA3	ணா 0BA3 0BBE	ணி 0BA3 0BBF	ணீ 0BA3 0BC0	ணு 0BA3 0BC1	ணூ 0BA3 0BC2	ணெ 0BA3 0BC6	ணே 0BA3 0BC7	ணை 0BA3 0BC8	ணொ 0BA3 0BCA	ணோ 0BA3 0BCB	ணௌ 0BA3 0BCC
த் 0BA4 0BCD	த 0BA4	தா 0BA4 0BBE	தி 0BA4 0BBF	தீ 0BA4 0BC0	து 0BA4 0BC1	தூ 0BA4 0BC2	தெ 0BA4 0BC6	தே 0BA4 0BC7	தை 0BA4 0BC8	தொ 0BA4 0BCA	தோ 0BA4 0BCB	தௌ 0BA4 0BCC
ந் 0BA8 0BCD	ந 0BA8	நா 0BA8 0BBE	நி 0BA8 0BBF	நீ 0BA8 0BC0	நு 0BA8 0BC1	நூ 0BA8 0BC2	நெ 0BA8 0BC6	நே 0BA8 0BC7	நை 0BA8 0BC8	நொ 0BA8 0BCA	நோ 0BA8 0BCB	நௌ 0BA8 0BCC
ப் 0BAA 0BCD	ப 0BAA	பா 0BAA 0BBE	பி 0BAA 0BBF	பீ 0BAA 0BC0	பு 0BAA 0BC1	பூ 0BAA 0BC2	பெ 0BAA 0BC6	பே 0BAA 0BC7	பை 0BAA 0BC8	பொ 0BAA 0BCA	போ 0BAA 0BCB	பௌ 0BAA 0BCC
ம் 0BAE 0BCD	ம 0BAE	மா 0BAE 0BBE	மி 0BAE 0BBF	மீ 0BAE 0BC0	மு 0BAE 0BC1	மூ 0BAE 0BC2	மெ 0BAE 0BC6	மே 0BAE 0BC7	மை 0BAE 0BC8	மொ 0BAE 0BCA	மோ 0BAE 0BCB	மௌ 0BAE 0BCC
ய் 0BAF 0BCD	ய 0BAF	யா 0BAF 0BBE	யி 0BAF 0BBF	யீ 0BAF 0BC0	யு 0BAF 0BC1	யூ 0BAF 0BC2	யெ 0BAF 0BC6	யே 0BAF 0BC7	யை 0BAF 0BC8	யொ 0BAF 0BCA	யோ 0BAF 0BCB	யௌ 0BAF 0BCC
ர் 0BB0 0BCD	ர 0BB0	ரா 0BB0 0BBE	ரி 0BB0 0BBF	ரீ 0BB0 0BC0	ரு 0BB0 0BC1	ரூ 0BB0 0BC2	ரெ 0BB0 0BC6	ரே 0BB0 0BC7	ரை 0BB0 0BC8	ரொ 0BB0 0BCA	ரோ 0BB0 0BCB	ரௌ 0BB0 0BCC
ல் 0BB2 0BCD	ல 0BB2	லா 0BB2 0BBE	லி 0BB2 0BBF	லீ 0BB2 0BC0	லு 0BB2 0BC1	லூ 0BB2 0BC2	லெ 0BB2 0BC6	லே 0BB2 0BC7	லை 0BB2 0BC8	லொ 0BB2 0BCA	லோ 0BB2 0BCB	லௌ 0BB2 0BCC
வ் 0BB5 0BCD	வ 0BB5	வா 0BB5 0BBE	வி 0BB5 0BBF	வீ 0BB5 0BC0	வு 0BB5 0BC1	வூ 0BB5 0BC2	வெ 0BB5 0BC6	வே 0BB5 0BC7	வை 0BB5 0BC8	வொ 0BB5 0BCA	வோ 0BB5 0BCB	வௌ 0BB5 0BCC
ழ் 0BB4 0BCD	ழ 0BB4	ழா 0BB4 0BBE	ழி 0BB4 0BBF	ழீ 0BB4 0BC0	ழு 0BB4 0BC1	ழூ 0BB4 0BC2	ழெ 0BB4 0BC6	ழே 0BB4 0BC7	ழை 0BB4 0BC8	ழொ 0BB4 0BCA	ழோ 0BB4 0BCB	ழௌ 0BB4 0BCC
ள் 0BB3 0BCD	ள 0BB3	ளா 0BB3 0BBE	ளி 0BB3 0BBF	ளீ 0BB3 0BC0	ளு 0BB3 0BC1	ளூ 0BB3 0BC2	ளெ 0BB3 0BC6	ளே 0BB3 0BC7	ளை 0BB3 0BC8	ளொ 0BB3 0BCA	ளோ 0BB3 0BCB	ளௌ 0BB3 0BCC
ற் 0BB1 0BCD	ற 0BB1	றா 0BB1 0BBE	றி 0BB1 0BBF	றீ 0BB1 0BC0	று 0BB1 0BC1	றூ 0BB1 0BC2	றெ 0BB1 0BC6	றே 0BB1 0BC7	றை 0BB1 0BC8	றொ 0BB1 0BCA	றோ 0BB1 0BCB	றௌ 0BB1 0BCC
ன் 0BA9 0BCD	ன 0BA9	னா 0BA9 0BBE	னி 0BA9 0BBF	னீ 0BA9 0BC0	னு 0BA9 0BC1	னூ 0BA9 0BC2	னெ 0BA9 0BC6	னே 0BA9 0BC7	னை 0BA9 0BC8	னொ 0BA9 0BCA	னோ 0BA9 0BCB	னௌ 0BA9 0BCC

ee also

*Brahmic family
* [http://ta.wikibooks.org/wiki/%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%8E%E0%AE%B4%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D தமிழ் எழுத்துகள் (Tamil letters)]

Notes

References

* Steever, Sanford B. (1996) "Tamil Writing" in William R. Bright and Peter B. Daniels (eds.) "The World's Writing Systems". New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507993-0

External links

* [http://www.unc.edu/~echeran/paadanool/pdf/introduction.pdf Tamil Alphabet & Basics] (PDF)
* [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/book/chapter1/node5.html#SECTION00120000000000000000 Phonetics of spoken Tamil]
* [http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/0b85/index.htm Unicode Character]
* [http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0B80.pdf Unicode Chart] - For Tamil (PDF)
* [http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/nlsweb/default.asp?submitted=449 NLS Information] - NLS information page for Windows XP
* [http://www.iit.edu/~laksvij/language/tamil.html Transliterator] - A means to transliterate romanized text to Unicode Tamil.
* [http://unicode.org/faq/indic.html Unicode Consortium Indic Scripts FAQ]
* [http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode5.0.0/ch09.pdf Unicode Standard for South Asian scripts]
* [http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode5.1.0/#Tamil_Named_Character_Sequences Tamil Named Character Sequences in Unicode 5.1]