Help:IPA/Tamil

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Tamil on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Tamil in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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This page contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Tamil pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Tamil has phonological process by which voiceless plosives are altered to their respective voiced sounds because of their position in a word (word initial versus word medial) or presence of preceding vowel sounds.

See Tamil phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Tamil.

Consonants
IPA	Example		English approximation
IPA	Tamil script	ISO 15919	English approximation
b	தம்பி, ஆபத்து, அன்பு	p	band
ɕ	ஶிவா	ś	sheep
d	பந்து	t	do
ɖ^[1]	வண்டி, படி	ṭ	drab
ð^[2]	நல்லது	t	other
dʑ	இஞ்சி, ஜானகி	c	hedge
ɡ	அங்கே, பாகு	k	gate
h^[3]	மகா, ஹரி	k	heat
j	யானை, உய்ய	y	yak
k	கால், மக்கள், கற்க	k	skate
l	வலி, வல்லி, இலங்கை, வந்தால்	l	let
ɭ	வளி, வள்ளி, வந்தாள்	ḷ	somewhat like carl (American English)
m	மலை, அம்மாள், தம்பி, வண்ணம்	m	much
n^[4]	பன்றி, சின்ன, வந்தான்	ṉ	ten
n̪^[4]	நயம், பந்து, நன்றி, எந்நன்றி	n	tenth
ɲ	ஞானம், அஞ்ஞானம், இஞ்சி	ñ	canyon
ɳ	வண்டி, வண்ணம்	ṇ	corn (American English)
ŋ	அங்கே, அங்ஙனம்	ṅ	song
r^[5]	கறி, பற்றினார், பன்றி	ṟ	trilled r
ɾ	கரி, பரி, இரவி, வந்தார்	r	atom (American English)
ɽ^[1]	தமிழ்நாடு	ṭ	porter (American English)
ɻ^[6]	தமிழ், வழி	ḻ	right
s^[7]	பாசம், ஸந்தியா	c	sum
ʂ	உஷா	ṣ	shrimp
t	தனி, பத்து, யுக்தி	t	stop
ʈ	பட்டு	ṭ	strength
tɕ	சின்ன, பேச்சு, கட்சி	c	catch
ʋ	வழி, அவ்வழி	v	between w and v
x^[8]	சிங்கிஸ் ஃகான்	ḵk	Scottish loch or German Bach
f^[8]	ஃப்ரான்ஸ்	ḵp	fan
z^[8]	அஃஜாருதீன்	ḵj	zoo

Vowels
IPA	Example		English approximation
IPA	Tamil script	ISO 15919	English approximation
a	கல் ('stone')	a	cat
aː	கால் ('leg')	ā	bra
aɪ	கைது ('arrest')	ai	bite
aʊ	கௌதாரி (a type of bird)	au	house
e	கெடு ('time limit')	e	bet
eː	கேடு ('destruction')	ē	bait
i	கிரி ('mountain')	i	sit
iː	கீரி ('mongoose')	ī	seet
o	கொடு ('give')	o	story (short)
oː	கோடு ('a line drawn')	ō	story (long)
u	குடம் ('pot')	u	foot
uː	கூடம் ('hall')	ū	cool
ɯ^[9]	அழகு ('beauty')	u	foot, but with the lips unrounded
̃	வரான், வரோம் (spoken Tamil only)	-	nasal vowel ([ãː], [õː], etc.)

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Notes
ˈ◌	stress (placed before stressed syllable)
◌ː	doubled consonant (placed after doubled consonant)

Notes

^ ^a ^b [ɖ] and [ɽ] occur as word-medial and intervocalic allophones of /ʈ/.
^ ⟨த⟩ represents [ð] in intervocalic position.
^ ⟨க⟩ represents [h] in intervocalic position, but not when it appears as the first letter of a word.
^ ^a ^b Dental [n̪] and alveolar [n] are allophones in Tamil. Both sound like /n/ to English speakers.
^ ⟨ற⟩ represents [dr] and [tːr] after corresponding nasal consonant and when geminated, respectively, in which the [t] and the [d] represent the voiceless and voiced postalveolar stops.
^ In spoken Tamil, ⟨ழ⟩ is undergoing merger with ⟨ள⟩ [ɭ], even in the educated speech.
^ ⟨ச⟩ represents [s] in intervocalic position.
^ ^a ^b ^c Only in loanwords.
^ word final /u/ is pronounced as [ɯ]

Bibliography

Keane, Elinor (2004), "Tamil", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 111–116, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001549

External links

Tamil to IPA converter : Free online tool to convert Tamil text to IPA phonetic transcription.

[ʈ-1] [ɖ] and [ɽ] occur as word-medial and intervocalic allophones of /ʈ/.

[2] ⟨த⟩ represents [ð] in intervocalic position.

[3] ⟨க⟩ represents [h] in intervocalic position, but not when it appears as the first letter of a word.

[dental-4] Dental [n̪] and alveolar [n] are allophones in Tamil. Both sound like /n/ to English speakers.

[5] ⟨ற⟩ represents [dr] and [tːr] after corresponding nasal consonant and when geminated, respectively, in which the [t] and the [d] represent the voiceless and voiced postalveolar stops.

[6] In spoken Tamil, ⟨ழ⟩ is undergoing merger with ⟨ள⟩ [ɭ], even in the educated speech.

[7] ⟨ச⟩ represents [s] in intervocalic position.

[aaa-8] Only in loanwords.

[9] word final /u/ is pronounced as [ɯ]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

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Notes

Bibliography

See also

External links