Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 155

August, 1933]
INITIAL FRICATIVES AND AFFRICATES OF DRAVIDIAN
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the contact and release of the tongue-blade on the region of the mouth-roof whose position is denoted by 'g' in Jespersen's alphabetic notation. Immediately after the release of the stoppage, a fricatives or 2 follows, so that the sounds are homorganic with two constituents, viz., the plosive and the fricative.
In the peculiar Telugu affricates ts and dz, the plosive and the fricative elements are der tal.
Telugu c and j appear to be slightly more forward sounds (i.e., between the positions 'f' and 'g' of Jespersen's notation), than the Malayalam or Tamil variety. In fact these Telugu sounds retain their values only when the front vowels i or e follow them immediately. If the immediately following vowel is dorsal the plosive element c or j changes into t ord, and the fricative é or ź changes to 8 or 2. This is why Telugu words always possess in initial positions the affricates to or dz when they are followed immediately by dorsal vowels.
[C] Occurrence of these sounds in initial positions in different dialects.
Tamil.-The same symbol denotes s and c in Tamil ; while used singly it has the value of g+ and when geminated it is evaluated as cc [ Eccl]. cor cc usually never occurs in initial positions in Tamil. The value of é is general for this Tamil initial fricative, whether followed by a frort vowel or a dorsal vowel.
In the colloquial of certain districts and certain communities, however, this fricative becomes a dental 8, when it is immediately followed by a dorsal vowel, e.g., sappadu (meal), sollu (to speak), suttu (surrounding).
It may be noted that in these colloquials the dental 8. is almost never heard when followed immediately by the front vowel -i or -e.
Sanskrit initial 8. is transcribed by the Tamil symbol for for c except by Sanskritknowing schdars, who use a foreign granthåksara symbol (w) for this purpose. Sanskritknowing persons or those who come in contact with them give the correct value to initial 8. of Sanskrit words, even when it is transcribed with the symbol for & in Tamil; but among others sometimes the symbol has been confused with its native Tamil value, so much so that & Sanskrit word like sakala, transcribed as #56 in Tamil is given the value sagala. Tad bhava words like singam (from Sanskrit simha lion'), are always pronounced with initial sexcept by pedants and purists. Cf. also the Tamil tadbhava adaptations éantôdam (from Skt. santosa), sulutti (from Skt. euşupti), etc.
Kannada.-Native words appear to have initially both c-5 and 8-. The value of é for initial sounds does not usually appear in native words. The symbols for these sounds are all separate, the alphabet of Kannada (unlike that of Tamil) being modelled on the Sanskrit system.
célu, tel (scorpion) .. .. .. cf. pan-Dr. tel. cadar., kedar (to be dispersed) .. cf. Tam. Sidar., Tuļu kedar-, jadat. ciccu (fire)
.. cf. Tam, kittu, kann, kiccu, Tel. ciccu. cikka (small) .. .. .. cf. Tam. dir., Malcirukkan (boy). cio-, cốp- (to peel) .. .. cf. Tam. 6% -. ciric- (to titter) .. .. .. of. Tel. kêr., Mal. cirikk-. cembu (bronze vessel) .. .. cf. Tam. sembu. sdy- (to die) .
.. cf. Tam, sd-, Br. kah.. (sweet)
.. cf. Tam. 16, tên. sír, cîr., kir. (to become angry, to hiss)
.. .. cf. Tam. biru, Br, kireng (abuse). 4 In certain districts (e.g., Tinnevelly) c. appears to be the value given to initial of Tamil. 5 Initial j. in Kannada native words occurs in jén (honey)
--cf. Tam, tanjir, gir- (to scratch) -
kfr. jari- (to slide) -
dari