Brahmin Tamil/Lesson1

The Braahmik Alphabet
Short Vowels : a, i, u, e, o

Long Vowels : aa, ii /ie, uu, ee, oo

Diphthongs : ai / ei, au

Velar Consonants : k, g

Palatal Consonants : chee, jee

Retroflex Consonants : tada, dada

Dental Consonants : th, dh

Labial Consonants : p, b

Velar Nasal : ng

Palatal Nasal : nj

Retroflex Nasal : hn

Dental or Alveolar Nasal : n

Bilabial Nasal : m Fricatives and continuants : y, r, l, v, zh, hl, sz, sh, s, h, rr, z

Many of these can occur as geminates : kk, gg, nng, nnj, hnn, mm, nn, cch, jj, tt, dd, tth, ddh, pp, bb, ll, hll, trr

There are also aspirated stop consonants : kh, gh, chh, jh, t'h, d'h, thh, dhh, ph, bh

Idhu 'this, this is'. The link verb 'to be' is not used in the present tense. There is no article, definite or indefinite. 'This table' as a full sentence means 'this is a table'.

The final -u in words is pronounced as an unrounded back vowel, something between i and u.

Nouns are followed by postpositions like kite 'near', le 'in' or kiizhe 'below'. There are also compound postpostions made up of a postposition plus noun plus postposition like k adi le 'below'. The verb iruku means 'is' or 'there is'.

Nouns are in an oblique form before a preposition. Most nouns have no special oblique form. Many have. Pusthahath is the oblique form of pusthaham. Sometimes between the oblique form and the postposition a dummy particle like u or n is placed. Chevar has an oblique form chevath. English words in English spelling are freely used in Braahmik.