[Paul Bunyan]

Ms. Pavithra

// 1. Can a word in tamil begin with consonants like "ga", "ja" etc ?
eg: "Ganga".... sure it has to be written as "Kanka" but the ka in the second order will be read out as "ga" so it will be "Kanga"...//

DIFFERENT PHONETIC-STANDARDS?

While ALL the other INDIAN-LANGUAGES are Sanskrit-based... so to say the OFF-SHOOTS of Sanskrit...

Tamil is the only Language ... which is EQUALLY CLASSIC to Sanskrit...

Where the Phonetics... are based radically different.

The Phonetic and Pronunciations in... Sanskrit... are LETTER-BASED
.
..but in Tamil... they are .... SYLLABLE-BASED... similar to English.

So to say.... in case of SANSKRIT... each letter carries ONLY ONE PRONUNCIATION and the same basis is carried over to the further steps of Syllables and Word-Structure too. So the specific Sanskrit letters used for the word GANGA cannot be pronounced in any other manner or Pronunciation other than what each letter has been based, which basis is quite contrary to the Phonetic-Grammar of Tamil and English.

In case of TAMIL and ENGLISH each letter does not have any one Standard-pronunciation at the Root of the letter itself unlike Sanskrit The phonetics is created by means of the location of the letters in each word, but based on a Standard-stipulation.

So a word in Tamil-Script...

... with Ka + ing + ka = Pronounced"Kanga" only ...

.... Ka + ik + Ka = Kakka only

.... Ka + Ka = is pronounced as "KAHA" only.

By this we find that the One and the same letter "Ka" gets THREE DIFFERENT Pronunciations as.... Ka,... Ga... and Ha... depending on its placement.

There is NO choice to make the Pronunciation different... to carry any other pronunciation deviating from the Unique Grammar of Tamil

So according to Tamil-Grammar ... the first Consonat Letter of any word... has to be pronounced as Ka, Cha, Ta, Tha, Pa.... only.

So long we write Tamil words we have no problem.

...but only on TRANSLITERATION for a word of another Language to Tamil Script.

Similar difficulty exists in the cases of one and all the Languages...

... INTERNATIONALLY... WITHOUT... EXCEPTION.

For example No other Language except Malayalam...

... can spell the Tamil-word THAMIZH, NEDUNCHEZHIYAN. and the like.

The Tamil words Thol-Kaappiyam meaning the ANCIENT-CLASSIC is...

... written in Hindi...as "Thoal-Kaappiyam" ....

.... meaning in Tamil as... a TREATISE ON LEATHER... !!!

..... Vettu... becomes.... VAETTU... in Hindi

In case of English too.... the same difficulty.... VICE-VERSA..

PRONUNCIATION OF OTHER LANGUAGE WORDS IN TAMIL?

//...what is the rule that can help me pronounce the word as "ganga"//

Just by practise. For example...

How do you differentiate the pronunciations of the below-mentioned one word comprising of English letters on Transliteration carrying Two different meanings

To mean as the Name of India, we write as... BHARATH.... and...

To mean the Name of Rama's Brother also we write as BHARATH
comprising of the same letters.

But do we PRONOUNCE THE SAME?

We read it as.... Bhaarath .... and.... Bharath... while we speak

While we pronounce as ... BHAARATH.... and as... BHARATH...

...we don't differentiate in the Standard-Transliteration as BHARATH.

Same case applies to the word RAMA too.

RAMA = Hero of Ramayanha; and also for the Goddess Lakshmi

Sanskrit words are abundantly mixed in Tamil too, especially in our Spoken-Tamil.... similar to the cases of Muslims with Arabic and Christians with Hebrew, they being Languages of their Gospels.

But the literate Tamilians do not say as KUNHAM for GUNHAM and

GANGA as... KANKA / KANGA.... Why?

.... although strictly-speaking, it is against the Tamil-Grammar.

However... all such words of Arabic, Hebrew and Sanskrit we pronounce correctly only by practice.... as we HEAR.

2. how do we write words with "mahaprana" like "gha" , "dha"?

Several other Languages Terminologies have taken different shapes in Tamil .... as THADH-BHAVAM .... (Changed word and Pronunciation.)

... some others as THATH-SAMAM.... (Unchanged Pronunciation)

This problem arises for EVERY LANGUAGE ... without exception.

So we have to PRONOUNCE the.... other Language words ...

.... Following the Original-term ... as we HEAR ONLY ....

This aspect I have dealt in detail under the Thread herebelow ...

..... UNIQUE LANGUAGE TAMIL... HOW?