Tamil Script - A Living Legacy
[source]
Very good article about the intricacy of the Tamizh script. Note that I wrote it as "Tamizh" and not "Tamil". Personally, the last letter is the one that makes Tamizh a special language for me. If you're wondering how to pronounce it, check this site and click on the letter "ழ்" to listen to it. I guess, since the pronounciation is a bit difficult, everybody started writing it as "Tamil" and it stayed liked that.
Some snips from the article mentioned above...
Tamil is a very intriguing language. The intricacies of this language, as well as its script, are often a topic of debate among language experts.
Tamil is a very prominent member of the Dravidian family of languages. It is an offshoot of the Grantha script, which is grouped under the Southern Indian group of scripts.
A script called 'vettezhuthu' was developed somewhere between the 6th and 10th century to make the carvings of literary works on stones easier. Vettezhuthu is a term, which means 'letters which are cut'. The script is also referred to as 'Vattezhuthu', which translates to mean 'curved letters'.
The Tamizh scripts found in the stone carvings are completely different to what we use for the language in present age.
Tamil is one of the very few Indian languages, which does not have its origin related to Sanskrit.
The Tamil script bases its foundation on 12 vowels and 18 consonants. It also supports a special character called Aayutha Ezutthu...
My mother tongue is not Tamizh, it is Telugu, but I've grown up speaking Tamizh and I love Tamizh!
நன்றி...வணக்கம்
later...
posted by Prathi @ 3/28/2006 05:48:00 PM
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