Re: A case for Tamil-X (k sh)

From: Doug Ewell (dewell@adelphia.net)
Date: Mon Jan 13 2003 - 01:00:49 EST

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    Sinnathurai Srivas <avarangal at hotmail dot com> wrote:

    > Sorry it was typo: It should be ng in English (not en) and ng in
    > penguin.

    In my Southern California dialect, the letters "ng" spell exactly the
    same sounds in both "English" and "penguin": the velar nasal "ng"
    followed by the velar plosive "g". In IPA:

        English = /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/
        penguin = /ˈpeŋɡwɪn/

    In any case, if you want to justify separate orthography for separate
    sounds in Tamil, you should probably stay away from analogies to the
    English language, since English is well-known for its irregular spelling
    system. The point you were trying to make with "English" and "penguin"
    (and I with "hogwash" and "hogshead") is that the same spelling can be
    used in English for two different pronunciations. This actually
    detracts from your argument (which I do not dispute) that Tamil should
    have separate renderings for the sounds "x" and "ksh," unless you are
    trying to point out that English and Tamil are different in this regard
    (which is true but irrelevant).

    -Doug Ewell
     Fullerton, California



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