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1 The Letters

1.1 Consonant
We will learn eight consonants of Tamil and see how the words are formed.These letters have sounds as indicated.
Listen and Practice repeating the sounds – as long as you need.

ப	ம	ட	ய	ர	ல	வ	ன
p	m	ṭ	y	r	l	v	n

1.2 Pronunciation
As indicated in the table all the sounds except /ṭ/ are familiar to English language speakers. The letter <ட> is called a retroflex consonant quite different from the English <t>. This is a retroflex sound found in all Indian languages. It is pronounced when the tip of the tongue touches the roof of the palate. Keep your tongue ready to pronounce /t/, try to pronounce it as you pull the tip of your tongue back.

1.3 The Pure Consonant
You may have noticed that the consonants are pronounced with the sound /a/ as it is difficult to pronounce the consonants alone. A dot above the letters makes it a ‘real’ consonant. Listen to the pronunciation of these letters..

<ல>/la/

<ல்>/l/

<ன>/na/

<ன்>/n/

Note that a dot above the letter makes it a ‘real’ consonant. Generally the letters <ப, ம>are written and pronounced with a vowel for the sake of convenience only. Beware that if the last letter has no dot you ought to pronounce it with vowel /a/. Otherwise the meaning might change.
See for example [பல்] ‘tooth,[பல] 'many'.

2 Reading Practice

2.1 The Pronunciation
Letters put together form a word and the phonetic value of all the letters (including the matra) yields the pronunciation of that word as you see in the following example.


மரம்	வனம்	மலர்

2.2 Pronunciation of Words
The pronunciation of the letter <ட>is /ṭ/.
The letter <ட>does not occur generally in the beginning of a word except in words from other languages such as ‘tonne’, ‘tyre’ etc. It is pronounced as /ḍ/ in the middle of a word; if it is duplicated (i.e. a geminate) it is /ṭṭ/.
Listen to the pronunciation of the words.

டன்	டயர்	படம்	மடல்	வட்டம்	பட்டம்
tonne	tyre	picture	petal	circle	kite

The Tamil letter<ப> is pronounced as /p/ in the beginning of a word, /b/ after <ம்> in the middle of a word, if it is duplicated it is /pp/.
Between vowels it sounds like /b/. The technical word for the sound is voiced bilabial spirant and the phonetic notation is/ß/.

Listen to the pronunciation of the words.

பல்	படம்	பம்பரம்	ரம்பம்	பலப்பம்	தபம்
teeth	picture	top (toy)	saw (tool)	chalkpiece	penance

2.3 Reading words
Listen to the pronunciation of the following words and repeat. You can repeat practicing the words till you are able to read the word. Choose a word and read it. For reinforcement you can listen to the pronunciation again.

பல்	டன்	ரம்	மரம்	மலர்	வரம்	படம்	டவல்
tooth	tonne	rum	tree	flower	boon	picture	towel


பட்டம்	வயல்	ரம்பம்	வனம்	தவம்	டயர்	மனம்	பயன்
kite	field	saw	forest	penance	tyre	mind	purpose


வட்ட	பல	மர	பலன்	மல்லன்	மலம்	மடம்	வலம்
circular	many	wooden	purpose	wrestler	filth	monastery	right (direction)

3 Perception Test

3.1 Recognition

3.1.1 Letter Recognition

Press the button, listen to the sound pronounced and press the letter of that sound. You can here that sound repeatedly.Once you finish you can start the list all over.






			Restart

3.1.2 Sound Recognition - First Letter

Listen to a word, recognize the first sound of the word and punch it.You can see the word just for two seconds. However you can listen to it many times.

வேஷம்
			Restart	Exit

3.1.3 Sound Recognition - Last Letter

Now listen to the last letter of the word, recognize the sound and punch it.

வாசல்
			Restart	Exit

3.2 Matching

Listen to the pairs of words. If both words pronounced are similar press ‘same’; if not press ‘different’.


		Restart	Exit

4 Further Reading

4.1 Spelling and Pronunciation

4.1.1 Foreign Words

We mentioned that the sounds /b/ and /D/ do not occur at the beginning of a word in Tamil or in the middle of a word if geminate. Tamil however has assimilated hundreds of 'foreign words' retaining their original pronunciation in these contexts, though it has not adopted letters for these. The foreign pronunciation is learnt only by association.
Listen to the pronunciation of the following words.

பில்	பலம்	பாட்டில்	பாரதம்	பயம்	பேக்கரி
bill	Skt.balam strength	bottle	Bharat	Skt. bhayam fear	bakery


டப்பா	டம்பம்	டாக்டர்	டோலக்கு	டமாரம்	துட்டு
box (Hindi)	haughtiness	doctor	Dholak (Hindi)	drum	Money (Kannada)

4.1.2 Meaning in morphology

Please note names or words denoting male members take <ன்> at the end such as [மயன்] (Sanskrit maya) and words denoting inanimate objects take <ம்> such as [மனம், வனம் ] . In this way you can recognize the words and get to know their meaning such as

மலம்	வரம்	பவனம்	வரன்	மல்லன்	பல்லவன்
filth	boon	mansion	bridegroom	wrestler	Pallava

5 Writing Practice

5.1 Letter Formation

See how the letters are written.You will learn to write them in your PDF. Go to 5.2

5.2 Copying

5.2.1 Copy the letters.

Print the page and copy the letters. If you need to do the Writing Practice again exit the program and print another PDF.

pdf

5.2.2 Copying words

Print the page and copy the words you hear.Try to get the pronunciation as you write. You can listen to the word many times. When ready to write you can see the word many times by pressing the Show Hint button.
You should get a mental image of the whole word and write it from memory. Do not copy letter by letter.

		வயல்
	Start	Next	Exit

5.3 Word formation

Listen to the pronunciation of the word, press the appropriate letters to form that word. You can listen to or see the word many times.

Restart

Exit

5.4 Dictation

Listen to the words and write in the page. You can listen to or see the word many times.
After writing your word press Show Hint once more for reinforcement.


		Next	Exit

6 FOLLOW UP

6.1 Follow UP

Go through the lesson and fill in the missing letter in the following words.

பட்…..ம் ல…..ம் மன….. பம்….ர….. மல…..

ட…..ர் ர…..பம் மய….. ப…..லவன் …..ரம்