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Help:IPA/Tamil

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 Template:IPA 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.

Consonants
IPA Example English approximation
Tamil script ISO 15919
b தம்பி, த்து, அன்பு p band
ɕ ஶிவா ś sheep
d பந்து t do
ɖ[1] வண்டி, டி drab
ð[2] நல்லது t other
இஞ்சி, ஜானகி c hedge
ɡ அங்கே, பாகு k gate
h[3] கா, ரி k heat
j யானை, ய்ய y yak
k கால், க்கள், கற் k skate
l லி, ல்லி, ங்கை, வந்தால் l let
ɭ ளி, ள்ளி, வந்தாள் somewhat like carl (American English)
m லை, ம்மாள், ம்பி, வண்ணம் m much
n[4] ன்றி, சின்ன, வந்தான் ten
[4] யம், ந்து, ன்றி, ந்நன்றி n tenth
ɲ ஞானம், ஞ்ஞானம், ஞ்சி ñ canyon
ɳ ண்டி, ண்ணம் corn (American English)
ŋ ங்கே, ங்ஙனம் song
r[5] றி, ற்றினார், பன்றி trilled r
ɾ ரி, ரி, வி, வந்தார் r atom (American English)
ɽ[1] தமிழ்நாடு porter (American English)
ɻ தமிழ்,

ழி

right
s[6] பாம், ந்தியா c sum
ʂ ஷா shrimp
t னி, த்து, யுக்தி t stop
ʈ ட்டு strength
சின்ன, பேச்சு, கட்சி c catch
ʋ ழி, வ்வழி v between w and v
x[7] சிங்கிஸ் ஃகான் ḵk Scottish loch or German Bach
f[7] ஃப்ரான்ஸ் ḵp fan
z[7] ஃஜாருதீன் ḵj zoo
Vowels
IPA Example English approximation
Tamil script ISO 15919
a கல் ('stone') a nut
கால் ('leg') ā bra
கைது ('arrest') ai bite
கௌதாரி (a type of bird) au house
e கெடு ('time limit') e bet
கேடு ('destruction') ē bait
i கிரி ('mountain') i sit
கீரி ('mongoose') ī seet
o கொடு ('give') o erode
கோடு ('a line drawn') ō old
u குடம் ('pot') u look
கூடம் ('hall') ū loot
ɯ[8] அழகு ('beauty') u good
 ̃ வரான், வரோம் (spoken Tamil only) - nasal vowel
([ãː], [õː], etc.)
Suprasegmentals
IPA Notes
ˈ◌ stress
(placed before stressed syllable)
◌ː doubled consonant
(placed after doubled consonant)

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b [ɖ] and [ɽ] occur as word-medial and intervocalic allophones of /ʈ/.
  2. ^ ⟨த⟩ represents [ð] in intervocalic position.
  3. ^ ⟨க⟩ represents [h] in intervocalic position, but not when it appears as the first letter of a word.
  4. ^ a b Dental [n̪] and alveolar [n] are allophones in Tamil. Both sound like /n/ to English speakers.
  5. ^ ⟨ற⟩ represents [dr] and [tːr] after corresponding nasal consonant and when geminated, respectively, in which the [t] and the [d] represent the voiceless and voiced postalveolar stops.
  6. ^ ⟨ச⟩ represents [s] in intervocalic position.
  7. ^ a b c Only in loanwords.
  8. ^ word final /u/ is pronounced as [ɯ]

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Keane, Elinor (2004), "Tamil", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 111–116, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001549

See also

[edit]
[edit]
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Help:IPA/Tamil
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