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Asked by Vikram Last Modified
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Tamil manages to function effectively with just 18 consonants due to its unique phonetic system and linguistic structure. Here’s how:
Allophonic Variations – Tamil letters represent multiple sounds based on their position in a word. For example, the consonant ப (pa) can be pronounced as /p/ (hard), /b/ (soft), or /ʋ/ (like 'v') depending on context.
Absence of Aspirated and Voiced Consonants – Unlike Sanskrit or Hindi, Tamil lacks aspirated (like ph, bh) and voiced consonants (g, d, b in their strong forms). Instead, soft sounds naturally emerge in speech through phonetic shifts.
Grantha Letters for Borrowed Words – Tamil historically borrowed certain sounds (like ja, sha, ha) from Sanskrit and uses Grantha script letters for them, though they are not native to classical Tamil.
Use of Ligatures and Contextual Pronunciation – Tamil doesn't need separate letters for voiced or aspirated sounds because context dictates pronunciation shifts.
Strong Vowel-Consonant Interaction – Tamil relies heavily on vowel-consonant fusion, with every consonant inherently linked to a vowel sound (e.g., க = ka). Standalone consonants are rare and usually indicated with a pulli (dot).
These factors make Tamil highly adaptable despite having fewer consonants than many other languages.
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