(t) is produced by the tip of the tongue curved towards the back and making contact at the roof of the mouth.  When the contact is released the air escapes through the mouth. It occurs initially in the borrowed words.  This occurs in a word as the first member of a consonant cluster, as the second member of a consonant cluster and in at identical consonant cluster.

The has two sound values. One is voiceless and another is voiced. The one that described above is voiceless.  The voiced one is produced in the same manner except for the vibration in the vocal cords.  This voiced sound (d) is used between two vowels.

(p) in its production the lips are closed and the soft palate is raised to close the nasal passage.  When the lips are opened the air suddenly comes out with explosion.  There is no vibration in the vocal cords.  This sound is described a voiceless bilabial stop.  This occurs in the word initial and medial positions. It occurs medially as the first member of a consonant cluster, as the second member of a consonant cluster and in an identical consonant cluster.

The usual hand movement in writing Tamil letters is from the left to the right and from the top to the bottom.  Note the strokes of the letter (ta) and (pa) as given below.  Copy them three times each.  Your letter should be similar to the one on the extreme right side.

Lips are closed when (m) is produced.  The soft palate is lowered and the air stream comes freely through the nasal cavity.  The vocal cords are vibrated in its production. This is a voiced bilabial nasal.
This occurs in the word initial, meddle, and final positions.

Compare the letters for  (pa) and  (ma).  Note the similarity and the difference between them.  Copy them three times each.  Your letter should be similar to the one given at the extreme right.

(y) in its production the lips are spread.  The front of the tongue is raised towards the hard plate.  The soft palate is raised.  The air stream passes through the stricture and the vocal cords are made to vibrate.  This is a voiced palatel frictionless continuant. This occurs in all positions.

Compare the letter for (pa) with that for (ya) and note the difference. Copy them three times each.  Your letter should be similar to the one given at extreme right.

The letters with a dot above like  etc., are pure consonants in Tamil.  The letter without a dot represents the corresponding consonant + the vowel.

Example:

Read the following words:

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The sound  is a peculiar sound in Tamil.  This is represented by (l).  In its production the tongue is curled back and the tip of the tongue is placed very near the roof of the mouth but not touching it.  The air stream passes through the sides of the tongue as well as in between the tip of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.  The vocal cords are vibrated.  The soft palate is raised.  This is a voiced retroflex palatal lateral.  This occurs in the word medial and final positions.  Medially it occurs as a single consonant between two vowels as in the word , as the first member of a consonant

cluster, and as the first member of a three consonant cluster.

Compare the letter for  (ma) with that for  (la).  Copy each of the letters four times.  Note the similarity and difference between them.  Your letter should be similar to the one given at extreme right.

Read the following words:

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(ii) In its production the lips are spread and the front of the tongue is raised as high as possible towards the hard palate without making any constriction.  The tip of the tongue touches the lower part of the teeth.  The vocal cords are vibrated during its production. The soft palate is raised.  This is a high front un-rounded long vowel.  This occurs in all positions in a word.

(r) The air escapes between the tip of the tongue and palate in its  production.  The soft palate is raised and the vocal cords are vibrated. This sound is described as the voiced alveolar flap. This occurs in all the positions in a word.

Compare the letters  (ii) and  (ra). is formed by putting two dots on both sides of the third stroke and  (ra) is formed by adding a slightly angular short stroke as below.  While writing , it is written as  but in print it will be .  But both are correct.

Compare the letters and copy three times.

We have seen earlier about  and its production.  As we have seen earlier this letter occurs in the word initial and medial positions.  There are two sound values for this letter, namely voiced and voiceless. The one seen earlier described as voiceless (hard).  The other one is voiced (soft).  The movements of the speech organs are exactly the same as voiceless except for vibration of the vocal cords.  It occurs initially in some of the borrowed words and medially after nasal as in  (pambaram).  This may be described as a voiced bilabial stop sound.

Read the Following words:

(c) In its production the blade of the tongue touches the back portion of the alveolar ridge and the soft palate is raised.  The blade of the tongue moves away from its position slowly.  There is no vibration in the vocal cords.  This is described as the voiceless palatal affricate.  It occurs medially in modern Tamil as identical consonant cluster.

(k) The air stream is blocked by the back of the tongue while it is in firm contact with the soft palate in its production.  The soft palate is in raised position so that no air escapes through the nasal cavity.  The air comes out of the mouth with explosion when the back of the tongue is released suddenly.  There is no vibration of the vocal cords during this production.  This is voiceless velar stop. This occurs in the word initial and medial positions.

(t) It is produced when the tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth.  Here the soft palate is also raised so that the air con not escape through the nasal cavity.  When the tip of the tongue is released from the upper teeth the air suddenly escapes through the mouth.  There is no vibration in the vocal cords. This is a voiceless dental stop.  It occurs initially and medially.

Write the letters for (ca), (ka) and (ta):

In Tamil, each of the letter  with or without secondary symbols for other vowels, have different pronunciation values depending upon the position in which they occur, or on the basis of letters with which they co-occur in a word.

There are secondary symbols for each vowel. The vowels as such can used in the word initial position.  In other places in a word corresponding secondary symbols are used.  The secondary symbols may be added to the consonant either over the letter or before the primary letter or after the primary letter or both, before and after etc. The secondary symbols are introduced wherever the vowels are introduced.  There are number of examples of vowel, consonant combinations are given for easy understanding of this concept.

The vowel sound,  (a) in its production the lips are kept in neutral positions. The tongue is kept as it is in the normal position and the vocal cords are vibrated. The soft palate is raised. This is called low, central, un-rounded short vowel.
In a word this sound occurs in all positions.

The vowel sound, ‚ (aa) in its production is the same as that of  (a) except for the length. This is described as a low, central, un-rounded, long vowel. This sound occurs in all positions in a word.

The vowel sound, (i) in its production the lips are spread and the front of the tongue is raised as high as possible towards the hard palate without making any sort of constriction. The tip of the tongue touches the lower part of the teeth. The vocal cords are vibrated during its production. The soft palate is raised. This sound is described as a high, front, un-rounded, short vowel. This sound occurs in all positions in a word.

The sounds (a), (aa) and (i) are represented by the letters , ‚ ,  respectively. As stated earlier for the presence of any vowel sound in a word, the vowel is used as it is in the word initial position and elsewhere the corresponding secondary symbols are used with consonants.

Look at the letters carefully and copy three times each.

Read the following words.

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When the tip of the tongue is raised against the upper teeth (n) is produced. The soft palate is lowered and the air escapes freely through the nasal cavity. There is vibration in the vocal cords. It is to be recollected here that the sound value of (ṭ) seen in Frame 1. The movements of the speech organs are the same as that of (d), the voiced one except that the air stream passes through the nasal cavity in the case of  (n). This is described as voiced dental nasal. It occurs medially as in the words, etc. and Elsewhere it is pronounced as alveolar as in the English words name, invitation etc. and in Tamil words like , etc.

Observe how the letter for the sound (na) is written and copy three times.

The letter may also be written, deleting the extended curve line at the end.

Observe how the secondary symbols for the vowels , and are added to .

The letters , , , cannot occur in the middle or end of a word. However, can occur medially before , , etc.
This can be seen in the words, ‘that’, ‘this’ etc.

Read the words and write them three times each.

(na): In its production the air stream is blocked by the back of the tongue while it is in firm contact with the soft palate as in the production of (g). The soft palate is lowered and the air passes through the nasal passage. The vocal cords are vibrated. This is described as a voiced velar nasal. It occurs only in the medial position with its corresponding voiced velar stop, (k).

Observe how letter for (ṅa) is written and write it four times. Your letter should be like the one given at extreme right.

______ ______ ______ ______

Compare the letter for (na) with the letter for (ṅa). Write them four times each:

Secondary symbols for vowels , and are added to the nasal consonant .

It is already pointed out that the letter usually occurs only in its pure consonantal form, namely  , immediately followed by letters of  series, such as , , , etc. That is,  series letters after are pronounced as soft sounds (voiced sounds) like, ga, gaa, gi etc.

Read the words aloud and write them three times each.

Read the following words.

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In Tamil there are separate scripts for short (e) and long (ee). The letter given above is short one and pronounced as in the word, egg.

(e), the short vowel in its production the lips are slightly spread. The front of the tongue is slightly raised towards the hard palate but not as high as in the case of (i) seen in the Frame 4. In this case the vocal cords are vibrated during its production. The soft palate is raised. This sound is mid, front, un-rounded, short vowel. This will not occur in the word final position.

Write five times the letter.

Read the following words.

Secondary symbol for the vowel is which is always placed before the primary letter.

Copy the secondary symbol five times.

Look at the vowel, consonant combinations.

Read and write them.

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(ee) In its production similar to (e) except for the length of duration. This sound is known as the mid, un-rounded, long vowel. That is (e) is a short vowel and that (ee) is the long counterpart of (e) just as (aa) is the long counterpart of  (a).
It occurs in all the positions in a word.

Look at the letter and copy them on the line.

Read the following words.

The secondary symbol for  is also written before we write the primary consonant. The secondary symbol for is .

Write the secondary symbol on the lines.

Look at the combinations carefully.

Write them two times each:

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(ñ): In its production the front of the tongue touches the hard palate and the soft palate is lowered. The air escapes freely through the nasal passage as in the production of other nasal sounds. The vocal cords are vibrated. It occurs in the word initial and medial positions. When it occurs before , like as in the word , the is always pronounced as ja, jaa, ji, jii,je, jee etc.
Hence, it is to be noted that the letter   occurs only in its pure consonant form namely in the middle of a word. Wherever occurs it is immediately followed by , with or without secondary symbols for other vowels. In all these cases,
has the sound value of j.

Compare the letters and with the letter for (ñ) and write them three times each. Your letter should be similar to the one given at the extreme right.

Read the following words.

Observe how the secondary symbols for the vowels , ,  ,  , ,  and are added with .

Remember again that the letter , with or without secondary symbols for other vowels, written immediately after ,  is always pronounced as j.

Read the following words and copy.

(v) In its production the lower lip is very close to the upper front teeth. The soft palate is raised. The air stream passes through the stricture without audible friction. The vocal cords are vibrated. This maybe described as a voiced labio-dental frictionless continuant. It occurs word initial and medial positions. It occurs medially as a single consonant between the vowels, as the second member of a consonant cluster and in an identical consonant cluster.

(l) This sound in its production, the tip of the tongue has contact with alveolar ridge in such a way that there is complete blockade of air in the middle of the mouth. The soft palate is raised so that the air cannot get through since they are not in contact with the sides of the palate. The vocal cords are vibrated during its production. This sound is described as a voiced alveolar lateral. It occurs in the word initial, medial, and final positions. In medial position it occurs as a single consonant in the intervocalic position, as the first member of a consonant cluster and in an identical consonant cluster.

Compare the letter with the letters (va) and (la). Write them three times each.

Observe how the secondary symbols of the vowels , , , , and go with the consonants and .

Read the following words.

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(r) This is produced by the rapid vibrations by the tip of the tongue against the middle of the alveolar ridge. The soft palate is raised to close the nasal passage. The vocal cords are vibrated. This may be described as a voiced alveolar trill. This will not occur in the word initial position. This occurs in the word medial position as a single consonant between two vowels as in the word, and as the first member of a consonant cluster.

It is to be recollected that we have seen before in Frame 3. It is very essential to know the difference between (r) and (r) in the pronunciation and writing. The difference should be maintained, because in similar context these two sounds bring change in meaning. The occurs in a word in all positions. It occurs medially as a single consonant between two vowels, as in  , as the first member of a consonant cluster, as the second member of a consonant cluster and as the first member of a three consonant cluster.

Write three times the letter.

The vowels , , , , , are added to this consonant. Note how they are written with their respective secondary symbols. For the vowel, the secondary symbol for was different not the same as the one in use in the mordern Tamil (the old secondary symbol is no longer in use).

It is to be noted that (r) cannot occur in double but (r) can.

the pure consonant, occurs with a consonant+vowel letters (, , , ), as a clusters like , , , … Of course, this trill simply occurs as as seen in the words , ,  etc.

The cluster, as found in the word and in similar position in the other words. While reading the first letter in such a cluster it is always pronounced like (ṭ) and the following as it is, that is trill. Here is pronounced as (ṭr) as in the English word, ‘attraction’. This is an important one to be noted by the learners of Tamil with respect to reading/speaking and writing.

Read the following words.

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(ai): The two elements namely, a and i and their combination form ai. In ai, a is a front vowel and i is a front closed vowel. This in its production resembles y as in the English word my. This sound occurs in a word initial, medial, and final positions. This vowel represented by the letter and used as it is in the word initial position and elsewhere the secondary symbol is used with other consonants. This may be considered as a long vowel.

Copy the letter three times.

Read the following words.

The secondary symbol for is . Note that the secondary symbol is first written and then the primary consonant is written.

The secondary symbol for was not the same as the one in use in the modern Tamil for few consonants.

Read the following words.

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: In its production the dip of the tongue is slightly curved and made to contact the middle of the palate, that is hard palate.  This air stream is completely blocked in the middle of the mouth.  The soft palate is in raised position so that no air escapes through the nasal cavity.  The air is allowed to pass by the sides of the tongue since they are not in contact with sides of the palate.  The vocal cords are vibrated in this case.  This sound is described as retroflex lateral.
This occurs medially and finally.  Medially it occurs as a single consonant in the intervocalic position, as the first member of consonant cluster and in an identical consonant cluster.
Familiarity with that is introduced in Frame 9 is to be compared here.  This is pronounced by touching alveolar region with the tip of the tongue.  But is pronounced by taking back the tip of the tongue to hard palate. This occurs word initial position whereas is not.

Copy the letter five times. (see Appendix I for hand movements).

Observe how the secondary symbols for the vowels.

(See Chart II & Appendix II)

*In old Tamil secondary symbol for was

different from that of the present one for the

consonant, (see Chart III).

Read the following words.

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In its production the tip of the tongue is made to contact the alveolar ridge.  The soft palate is lowered and the air stream is pushed through the nasal cavity.  The vocal cords are vibrated. The articulatory movements are exactly the same as those for the alveolar voiced stop .  The only difference is in the case of the above sound represented by the letter (n), the air is emitted through the nasal cavity.  This is a voiced alveolar nasal. It occurs medially and finally.

The letters  and  are different in pronounciation  (Frame 5).  The letters  etc., are always pronounced alveolar as in the English  words, name, invitation etc.   etc. can never occur in the beginning of a word. Only and its series can occur in the word initial position.  This is an important contrast between  and .

Copy the letter for three times. (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

Read the words.

There is one more nasal with three loops shape.  In its production the tip of the tongue is curled and made to contact the roof of the mouth.  The soft palate is lowered as in the production of other nasal and the air stream escapes freely through the nasal cavity.  The vocal cords are vibration.  This similar in production with except that the air stream is emitted through the nasal cavity.  This may be described as a voiced retroflex nasal.

This never occurs in the word initial position.  Medially it occurs as a single consonant between vowels, as the first member of a consonant cluster, as the second member of a consonant cluster and in an identical consonant cluster.

Compare the letter for (na) with the letter for and write them three times each.  Your letters should be similar to the ones at the extreme right(see Appendix I for hand-movements).

Observe how the secondary symbols for the vowels.

*The secondary symbol for the vowel, used in old Tamil is different from the modern Tamil for the consonants, and (see Chart III).

Also note the different secondary symbol for the vowel,used for these two consonants(see Chart III).

Read the following words.

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(o): In its production the lips are rounded with considerable protrusion.  The back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate.  This is described as a mid, back, rounded, short vowel.  It occurs initially and medially only.

In Tamil there are separate scripts for short (o) and long (oo).  The letter given above is short one and pronounced as in in the English word pollution.

Copy the letter three times (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

Read the following words.

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The case of the long vowel, (oo) , the movements of the speech organs are about the same as those for its corresponding short vowel (o)  except for the length of duration.  This sound is described as the mid back, rounded long vowel.  It occurs in all the positions in a word.

The sound, (au) is combination of  a and u.  a is an open central vowel and  u is rounded back vowel.
This sound is represented by the letter .  This sound occurs in the word initial, medial, and final positions.  This is considered as a long vowel. Like other vowels,  is used as it is in the word initial position and elsewhere the presents of this vowel is represented by the secondary symbol.

Copy the letter three times (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

Read the following words.

Compare the letter  with the letter for (au). (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

Write the letters three times each.  Your letters should be similar to the one given at the extreme right.

Read the words.

Secondary symbol for  is (see Appendix I & II for hand-movements, also look at Chart III for old and modern Tamil use of secondary symbol) .  Thus the secondary symbol for the vowel   consists of two parts and the consonant letter is placed in middle.  The secondary symbol for the vowel  (Frame 7) and the secondary symbol for the vowel  ‚ (Frame 4) together serve as secondary symbol for the vowel  .  The primary consonant letter is in between.  Look at the vowel consonant combinations below.

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The sound (u) is produced with close lip rounding.  The back of the tongue is raised as high as possible towards the soft palate but not to the extent of causing any constriction.  The sides of the tongue are in contact with the teeth and the tip of the tongue is somewhat retracted from the lower part of the teeth.  The vocal cords vibrated.  The soft palate is raised. This is a high, back, rounded, short vowel.  It occurs in words initially and medially. The letter  represents the sound.
In spoken Tamil this sound is pronounced with spread lips in the middle and final positions other than in the initial syllable. This is high back un-rounded short vowel.  Look at the vowel and write three times (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

Read the following words.

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(uu): This is a long counter part of the short vowel  (u).  In its production the manner of articulation and point of articulation are same as that of short except for the length of duration.  It is a high, back, rounded, long vowel.  It occurs initially, medially, and finally.  This long vowel is represented by .
The letter,  is combination of two letters that are familiar to you (Frames 16 and 12). It is written in the following manner.
(i) First is written.
(ii) Then  is written over and that looks like:

Write five times the letter (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

Read the following words.

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As the time passed socio-cultural changes affected languages. Tamil is not exceptional to this.  The language development occurred along with the changes from time to time.  The industrialization and science and technology development influenced the language use and language under went lot of changes.  Due to this, borrowing into Tamil was inevitable at all levels namely phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic levels.  Though Sanskrit influence through borrowings was found in Tamil from early times, in the modern times the above said reasons attributed to this borrowing and made the language users to adopt borrowings. Words used in the religious spheres and personal and place names necessitated the Tamils to adopt the sounds as such and used special characters for them known as Grantha characters.  Six such letters are used in modern Tamil widely for the sounds s, j, sh, h, ksh, and sri. They are mainly used for writing proper names, place names and scientific terms to retain original pronunciation. They take vowel symbols(secondary symbols) in the same way as pure Tamil consonants of similar form except the vowels, and . Only one secondary symbol is used for each. The secondary symbols for  and vowels for the Grantha letters (s, j, sh, h, ksh) are and respectively (see Exercise-item 8 in F-18, Chart-1, and see Appendix I & II for hand movements, and a Table at the end if this Frame). The last one, sri is treated as a word. This is used as a respect form before male names like Mister (Mr.) in English. Also sri is found as part of names.   ksh is combination of k and sh.

(s) in its production the blade of the tongue is positioned very closely to the alveolar ridge.  The air squeezes out with friction through a narrow passage between the alveolar ridge and the tip of the tongue.  The vocal cords do not vibrate.  The soft palate is raised.  This sound may be described as a voiceless alveolar fricative.  It occurs initially and medially.  Medially it occurs as a single consonant (pure consonant with a dot- ) between two vowels and as the second member of a consonant cluster.

Observe the hand movements and copy three times (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

(j).  The movements of the speech organs are the same as those for (c) except for the vibration in the vocal cords during its production.  This is described as a voiced palatal.
This sound occurs in the word initial positions, medially as a pure consonant between vowels, as the second member of a consonant cluster and an identical consonant cluster.

Observe the hand movements and copy three times (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

(sh).  This sound is produced when the tip of the tongue is curved slightly towards the hard palate.  But this curving does make a complete closure.  The air stream passes through the narrow passage between the hard palate and the tip of the tongue.  The vocal cords do not vibrate.  The soft palate is raised.  This sound is voiceless retroflex fricative.  It occurs medially as a pure consonant between vowels and as the first member of a consonant cluster.

Observe the hand movements and copy three times (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

(h).  In its production the mouth is kept as in the production of vowels.  The air stream passes through the wide open glottis with week friction.  The soft palate is raised.  This is a glottal fricative. This occurs word initial and medial positions.

Observe the hand movements and copy three times (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

(ksh) is combination of    (k) and   (sh).  The production processes of these sounds are discussed in Frame 3 and 18.
Observe the hand movements and copy three times (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

Observe the hand movements and copy three times (see Appendix I for hand-movements).

Read the following words.

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