Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c22.s3.t2: 3.3.2 Orthography
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c22.s3.t2
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3.3.2 Orthography
c22.s3.t2.1
(i) *Adaptation to Tamil phonetic pattern*
c22.s3.t2.2
The proportion of non-Tamil sounds is relatively much less than what one would expect from the Indo-Aryan element present in the Tamil-Brāhmī cave inscriptions as most of the loanwords are adapted to the Tamil phonetic pattern.³
c22.s3.t2.3
³ See section 6.21 for details.
c22.s3.t2.4
(ii) *Use of single consonants for geminates*
c22.s3.t2.5
The employment of single consonants in the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions to represent the doubled consonants in the language is due to the influence of Prakrit inscriptional orthography. This orthographic feature is seen not only in loanwords but also in native Tamil words. However, unlike in Prakrit inscriptions, the use of single for doubled consonants was optional in the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions even from the earliest times both in loanwords and native words.⁴
c22.s3.t2.6
⁴ See section 6.17 for details.