Brahmin Tamil/Lesson1

The Braahmik Alphabet Short Vowels : a, i, u, e, o Long Vowels : aa, ii /ie, uu, ee, oo Diphthongs : ai / ei, au Velar Consonants : k, g Palatal Consonants : chee, jee Retroflex Consonants : tada, dada Dental Consonants : th, dh Labial Consonants : p, b Velar Nasal : ng Palatal Nasal : nj Retroflex Nasal : hn Dental or Alveolar Nasal : n Bilabial Nasal : m Fricatives and continuants : y, r, l, v, zh, hl, sz, sh, s, h, rr, z Many of these can occur as geminates : kk, gg, nng, nnj, hnn, mm, nn, cch, jj, tt, dd, tth, ddh, pp, bb, ll, hll, trr There are also aspirated stop consonants : kh, gh, chh, jh, t'h, d'h, thh, dhh, ph, bh Idhu 'this, this is'. The link verb 'to be' is not used in the present tense. There is no article, definite or indefinite. 'This table' as a full sentence means 'this is a table'. The final -u in words is pronounced as an unrounded back vowel, something between i and u. Nouns are followed by postpositions like kite 'near', le 'in' or kiizhe 'below'. There are also compound postpostions made up of a postposition plus noun plus postposition like k adi le 'below'. The verb iruku means 'is' or 'there is'. Nouns are in an oblique form before a preposition. Most nouns have no special oblique form. Many have. Pusthahath is the oblique form of pusthaham. Sometimes between the oblique form and the postposition a dummy particle like u or n is placed. Chevar has an oblique form chevath. English words in English spelling are freely used in Braahmik. Vocabulary + Braahmik-English Vocabulary Braahmik English Idhu 'this, this is' meejei, meeszei 'table' naakaali, naarkaali, kasaalei (paalu) 'chair' jannal, janal (paalu) 'window' kadhavu 'door' chevar, szevar 'wall' kite 'near' Ul-lae 'in' um 'also' dhaan 'only' kee lae 'under, below' kupai kudai 'waste basket' iruku (pres. t. of iru 'to be') 'is, there is' meele 'above, on' Puthakam, pusthakham 'book' pusthahath (obl. form of pusthaham) u (a dummy infix before a postposition) n (a dummy infix before a postposition) ku pakath le 'near' pakam 'side' Eluthukhol, pena 'pen'