Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s6.t2: 7.5.2 Comparison with Tolkāppiyam
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s6.t2
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7.5.2 Comparison with Tolkāppiyam
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7.5.2.1 *Initial consonants
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Only the following 9 consonants can occur initially (*Tol. Eḻu.* 61-65):
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**k c ñ t n p m y v**
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All the above consonants except *ñ-* occur initially in the Corpus. Additionally, *ṇ-* and *ṉ-* also occur initially in the exceptional circumstances noted in the examples.
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7.5.2.2 *Final consonants
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Only the following 11 consonants can occur finally (*Tol. Eḻu.* 78):
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**ñ ṇ n m y r l v ḻ ḷ ṉ**
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Among them, 4 consonants, viz., *-ñ -n -v* and *-ṇ* can occur finally subject to some restrictions (*Tol. Eḻu.* 79-82).
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All except *-ñ* occur finally in the Corpus. However, *-ṇ -n* and *-v* occur finally only in the exceptional circumstances noted in the examples.
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7.5.2.3 *Consonant clusters
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Consonant clusters can occur only medially except *-nm* once in the final position as in *pōṉm* (*Tol. Eḻu.* 51).
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All consonant clusters in the Corpus occur only medially except *-yl* once finally in a case of scribal error; *-nm-* occurs once medially in a loanword. (See examples.)
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7.5.2.4 *Geminates
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All consonants except *r* and *ḻ* can occur as geminates (*Tol. Eḻu.* 30).
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In addition to the two exceptions, the geminates *-ṅṅ-* and *-ññ-* are also not found in the Corpus. Further, the geminates *-nn- -pp- -mm- -yy-* and *-vv-* occur only in the exceptional circumstances noted in the examples.
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7.5.2.5 *Use of single for double consonants in the inscriptions
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As the orthography of the inscriptions permits the use of single consonants in writing to represent the long (doubled) consonants in the language, the number of geminates recorded in the Corpus is correspondingly less. (The basic consonant of the geminates not occurring in the original inscriptions is shown within brackets. e.g., *u(p)pu* for *upu* 'salt'.) See section 6.17 for discussion.
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7.5.2.6 *Homorganic nasals plus stops
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All the six possible clusters of homorganic nasals with stops can occur (*Tol. Eḻu.* 25):
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*-ṅk- -ñc- -ṇṭ- -nt- -mp- -ṉṟ*
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All of them occur in the Corpus. However, *-ṅk-* occurs in the Corpus only in sandhi as noted in the example.
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| | *-a* | *-ā* | *-i* | *-ī* | *-u* | *-ū* | *-e* | *-ē* | *-ai* | *-o* | *-ō* |
| *k-* | *ka* | *kā* | *ki* | *kī* | *ku* | *kū* | – | *kē* | *kai* | *ko* | *kō* |
| *ṅ-* | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| *c-* | *ca* | *cā* | *ci* | *cī* | *cu* | – | *ce* | *cē* | *cai* | – | – |
| *ñ-* | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| *ṭ-* | *ṭa* | *ṭā* | *ṭi* | – | *ṭu* | *ṭū* | – | – | *ṭai* | – | – |
| *ṇ-* | *ṇa* | *ṇā* | *ṇi* | – | – | – | – | – | *ṇai* | – | – |
| *t-* | *ta* | *tā* | *ti* | – | *tu* | – | *te* | *tē* | *tai* | *to* | *tō* |
| *n-* | *na* | *nā* | *ni* | *nī* | *nu* | *nū* | *ne* | – | – | – | *nō* |
| *p-* | *pa* | *pā* | *pi* | – | *pu* | *pū* | *pe* | *pē* | – | *po* | *pō* |
| *m-* | *ma* | *mā* | *mi* | – | *mu* | *mū* | – | *mē* | – | – | *mō* |
| *y-* | *ya* | *yā* | *yi* | – | *yu* | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| *r-* | *ra* | *rā* | *ri* | – | *ru* | *rū* | – | – | *rai* | – | – |
| *l-* | *la* | *lā* | *li* | – | – | – | – | – | *lai* | – | – |
| *v-* | *va* | *vā* | *vi* | – | *vu* | – | *ve* | *vē* | *vai* | – | *vō* |
| *ḻ-* | *ḻa* | *ḻā* | *ḻi* | – | *ḻu* | – | – | – | *ḻai* | – | – |
| *ḷ-* | *ḷa* | *ḷā* | *ḷi* | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| *ṟ-* | *ṟa* | – | *ṟi* | – | *ṟu* | *ṟū* | – | – | *ṟai* | – | – |
| *ṉ-* | *ṉa* | *ṉā* | *ṉi* | – | – | *ṉū* | – | – | *ṉai* | – | – |
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Table 7.2. Distribution of consonant-vowels in the Early Tamil inscriptions in the Corpus.
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7.5.2.7 *Other consonantal clusters
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64 other clusters of two consonants each (other than geminates and homorganic nasal-stop clusters) can also occur (*Tol. Eḻu.* 23, 24, 26-29).
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Only 14 of these clusters are attested in the Corpus as noted in Table 7.1 and the examples thereunder. However, excepting **-yk-**, **-yt-**, **-lk-**, **-lv-** and **-ṉk-**, the rest occur in the Corpus only in the exceptional circumstances noted in the examples.
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Further, 2 clusters viz., **-yl** and **-lm-** not mentioned in *Tol.* occur in the Corpus. However, these clusters occur only in the exceptional circumstances noted in the examples.
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7.5.2.8 *Clusters of three consonants
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24 clusters of three consonants each can occur (*Tol. Eḻu.* 48).
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None of these is attested in the Corpus. However, **-ycc-** can be reconstructed in ***āycayaṉ*** (***āycca*** + ***ayyaṉ***) 'part of a personal name'.
Linked texts (1)
- Tolkāppiyam — Tolkāppiyar, Tamil