Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 2 of 2 1 2
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
The Tamil letter ழ் (transliterated as zh sometimes, but in the ethnonym Tamil, by l) is a retroflex approximant /ɻ/. Tamil phonology is quite different from Sanskrit (or Hindi) phonology. There are no aspirated stops, and each stop has roughly two allophones, one voiceless and the other voiced, depending on context. That having been said, Tamil does distinguish between dental-alveolar and retroflex stops த் /t̪/ (th in transliteration) and ட் /ʈ/ (t in transliteration). (It is the former letter/phoneme in the word Tamil.)

[Corrected mistake.]

Last edited by zmjezhd; 07/23/09 01:37 PM.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #186011 07/23/09 10:14 PM
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390
L
enthusiast
Offline
enthusiast
L
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390
thank you for the explanation zmjezhd. i have several southie friends fluent in hindi but none from the north who know any southie languages.

Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
thank you for the explanation

You're welcome. I've spent a little over 5 weeks in Tamil Nadu in the past decade, surrounded by the friends and family of a good friend (and I see a lot of them here, too). While almost everybody, but the oldest, speak English, a lot of the daily speech around me was in Tamil, and while I've looked through dictionaries and reference grammars, I do not really speak or read it, but I do know what it sounds like. And, I must say, I am truly amazed at how young kids learn English in India. I found myself at various times speaking to and playing word games with kids as young as four, all the way up to 18 or 20. In fact, one of the youngest was suspicious of me that I did not seem to speak Tamil (besides telling taxi drivers ille "no"). She'd never met anybody who could not speak Tamil. LOL, or MDR as the French say.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #186022 07/24/09 08:17 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Mettre de ris? Moi de ris?

Jackie #186024 07/24/09 08:58 PM
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Mojave Desert Racing

Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Mort de rire (link), i.e., LOL.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #186027 07/24/09 09:49 PM
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390
L
enthusiast
Offline
enthusiast
L
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390
Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
Mort de rire (link), i.e., LOL.


some people us LLOL but I guess the equivalent is not really an option with MDR, at least not more than once.

Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
LLOL

I've recently taken to my personal acronym, ILLOLFS (I literally laughed out loud, figuratively speaking).


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
Page 2 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,372
Members9,182
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 767 guests, and 1 robot.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
wofahulicodoc 10,561
tsuwm 10,542
LukeJavan8 9,919
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5