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Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s5.t4: 7.4.4 Vowel clusters

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s5.t4

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7.4.4 Vowel clusters

c27.s5.t4.1

Vowel clusters occur in Old Tamil as further elongation (*aḷapeṭai*) of a long vowel by adding the corresponding short vowel in some grammatical forms or to meet prosodic requirements (*Tol. Eḻu.* 6). There is only one instance of an *aḷapeṭai* in the Corpus in the interjection *ittā-a* 'behold!' (1.4).

c27.s5.t4.2

However, there is a relative abundance of vowel clusters in the Corpus as mere juxtaposition of vowels. This phenomenon is due to the marked preference, especially in the earlier inscriptions, for the separation of word-segments and grammatical suffixes commencing with vowels (see section 6.18.2).

c27.s5.t4.3

There are 13 types of clusters with two vowels each in the Corpus as illustrated below:

c27.s5.t4.4

| **a-a** | *cēnta-a* | 'of Cēntaṉ' | 28.1.b |
| **a-u** | *muḻa-ukai* | 'cave' | 17.3.b |
| **ā-a** | *ittā-a* | 'behold!' | 1.4 |
| **ā-i** | *(ā)-iṉa* | 'who is' | 41.2 |
| **i-i** | *ti(ṭ)ṭi-il-* | 'a place name' | 33.1 |
| **i-ū** | *kā(p)pi-ūr* | 'a place name' (only in sandhi) | 74.1 |
| **i-ō** | *ko(ṭ)ṭi-ōr* | 'they who carved' | 6.3 |
| **u-a** | *ku-aṉ* | 'a personal name' | 2.2.c |

c27.s5.t4.5

| u-i | *karu-iya* | 'which was carved' | 17.2 |
| u-ū | *karu-ūr* | 'a place name' (only in sandhi) | 69.1 |
| e-i | *e-iyl* | 'a place name' (-*iy-* error for -*yi*-) | 18.1 |
| ē-i | *cē-iya* | 'which was made' | 2.10 |
| ai-ū | *vintai-ūr* | 'a place name' (only in sandhi) | 57.1 |

c27.s5.t4.6

The only instance of a cluster of three vowels seems to be due to scribal error:

c27.s5.t4.7

| iru-a-ar(for iru-ar) | 'two persons' | 45.3.b |

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