Indian Antiquary Vol 58

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 148

138
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1929
in a reduplicated form. This fact opens up an interesting line of enquiry. Is this doubling of inter-vocal surds-a prominent feature of Tamil-phonology-based upon the need for the preservation of the purity of the surd-value? And if so, does this need indicate the existence of a certain amount of accentual influence on the surd, which, initially at any rate, marked off the comparative semantic importance of the syllable containing the surd? An examination of the various instances of doubling of inter-vocal surds in Tamil and a comparison of these instances with corresponding cases in Telugu, Canarese, Tulu and other Dravidian languages, sheds light on this matter.
Tamil.
Doubling of inter-vocal surds occurs in: (1) Datival ending-ku
e.g., govindanukku, etc. (2) Declensional endings of roots terminating Cf. pâțuku pâțulo, in surds e.g., koppál, viṭṭukku.
etc.
Cf. Preterite adilini, cêstini; Present base coyutsuwhere tsk.
(4) Formative affixes as in padukkei, (bedding) Cf. paduka, telupu, nalattam, kidappu, etc.
etc.
(3) -tt-, pp-, kk- in reterite, future and present endings respectively added to certain roots: paditt-, palipp-, padikk-.
(5) Combinations of words indicative of a transitional meaning: kattuppuli (forest tiger); iruppappetti (iron box); murukka kkai (a kind of fruit).
Telugu. Canarese. (Surds appear singly.) (Surds appear singly.) Cf. Rámáku, Bâliki, Cf. old Can. maroku. vâniki, etc.
(6) Derivative nouns directly from verbal themes eluttu (letter) (< eludu); âṭṭam (play) (dd), pokkam,
(7) Transitives converted from intransitives: viltu (to fell) <vilu: perukku (to increase) <perugu.
Cf. inupapeṭṭi (iron box).
Cf. âța < âḍu pâța < pâdu.
Cf. Telugu transitives like perutsu where ts<k
Cf. pâtada, etc.
Cf. Pret. aritanu (he knew); participial endingtum in geyutum etc. Cf. arapu
(knowledge), iruta (darkness).
Cf. âța < ádu, nóta < nódu (look).
Cf. old Canarese bi
tu (to fell), mod. Can. has d instead of t.
Significantly enough, the Tamilian feels that the purity of the surd-value in inter-vocal positions could be preserved well only in a reduplicated state. In cases where the inter-vocal single surd has to be uttered with the pure value, as for instance in the pronunciation of foreign names like Patel, etc., the value actually brought out is that of a very thin and frail surd (falling under class IV or V of Jespersen's classification). Thus the enunciation of a pure surd intervocally in Tamil differs from that in Tulu, Telugu or Kannada: the time involved between the forming of the stoppage and the explosion is considerably less, and the muscular tension lower. This probably explains the doubling of the surds in Tamil, in stress-influenced inter-vocal positions, whereby the full value of the surd is preserved. The doubling in such cases does not necessarily mean that its value is longer than that of the normal single surd; it only means, that it is the longer sound of the frail Tamil surd referred to above.
Doubling of surds intervocally occurs in two main types of words. The first type is constituted of an ancient stock of dimoristic words like muttu, taṭṭu, kaṭṭu etc., which are common to all the southern dialects. The second type with which I am here concerned and of which instances are given here, is found in tense-affixes, formative syllables, declensional endings, etc.
5 I am aware that what Caldwell described as the hardening of sonants in this and other forms of transitival formation (but what I would call in the light of the present essay the preservation of the pure surd-value) has been seriously questioned, and that the assimilative influence of an affix -- has been postulated. It is true that in some cases, as in the combinations of 1, n or r+t, and in a few past tense formations, the influence of t is incontestable. But there is no doubt that this explanation does not cover the numerous types shown above. (See my article on Alveolar i, d in Dravidian in the first number of the Bulletin of the Rama Varma Research Institute, 1929.)