From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Tamil pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. See Tamil phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Tamil.
Consonants |
IPA |
Tamil |
English approximation |
b |
ப[1] |
band |
d̪ |
த[1] |
similar to "d" in dent, but with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth |
ɖ |
ட[1] |
similar to "d" in dot, but with the tongue retracted |
d͡ʑ |
ஜ[2] |
hedge |
ð |
த[3] |
other |
ɡ |
க[1] |
gate |
h |
க[4] |
heat |
j |
ய |
yak |
k |
க |
skate |
l̪ |
ல |
similar to "l" in let, but with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth |
ɭ |
ள |
similar to "l" in let, but with the tongue retracted |
m |
ம |
much |
n̪ |
ந |
similar to "n" in net, but with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth |
n |
ன |
not |
ɳ |
ண |
similar to "n" in not, but with the tongue retracted |
ɲ |
ஞ |
piñata, canyon |
ŋ |
ங |
song |
p |
ப[5] |
spy |
r |
ற |
(when not doubled) trilled r |
ɾ̪ |
ர |
like American English better or Spanish caro, but with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth |
ɽ |
ட |
like American English better or Spanish caro, but with the tongue retracted |
ɻ |
ழ |
like "r" in rotten, but with the tongue retracted |
s |
ச[6] |
like "s" in sum |
t̪ |
த[7] |
like "t" in stable, but with the tongue touching the back of the front teeth |
ʈ |
ட |
like "t" in stable, but with the tongue retracted |
tʃ |
ச |
catch |
ʋ |
வ |
between w and v; Dutch wang |
x |
ஃ |
guttural "ch", as in Scottish loch or German Bach |
|
Vowels |
IPA |
Tamil |
English approximation |
aː |
ஆ |
bra |
a |
அ |
nut |
eː |
ஏ |
Yale |
e |
எ |
yell |
aɪ̯ |
ஐ |
kite |
aʊ̯ |
ஔ |
somewhat like house |
iː |
ஈ |
feet |
i |
இ |
dill |
oː |
ஓ |
old |
o |
ஒ |
law |
uː |
ஊ |
loot |
u |
உ |
look |
ɯ |
உ |
good |
̃ |
-ம, -ன |
nasal vowel
([ãː], [õː], etc.) |
|
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Only when preceded by a nasal consonant or when not preceded by a stop consonant. Never word-initial.
- ↑ This letter does not belong to Tamil script, but is widely accepted as an ad-hoc from Grantha script ( See Usage of other lingual consonants in Tamil script). This sound may be replaced by ச (as in s) in pure Tamil, which is not an accurate phonetic representation.
- ↑ Only when preceded by a nasal consonant or not preceded by a stop consonant
- ↑ (only as an intervocalic in colloquial speech;not when it appears as the first letter of a word,
- ↑ As a first letter of a word or preceded by stop consonants
- ↑ As intervocalic and not preceded by stop consonant or permitted soft consonant
- ↑ As a first letter of a word or when preceded by stop consonants
Bibliography
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links