Ask the Delphic Oracle: Tamil writing system proposal

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Friday, May 17, 2013

Tamil writing system proposal - more comments and examples

I am writing this post nearly a year after the first post and so in this post, I would like to summarize the proposal for the Tamil writing system and, furthermore, add a symbol for the 'R' sound (as in kRshNa) to Tamil and capture two more sounds from modern Hindi. The 'R' character would be represented as a horizontal bar on top of the Tamil 'r' according to this proposal. Here is the proposal thus far:

1. Soft and aspirated sounds: To get (ka), (kha), (ga), (gha) in Tamil, just use one of the following:

a. In Tamil script: k, .: k, k\_, .: k \_

(here, the ".:" denotes the 'therefore' symbol and the '\_' denotes the horizontal bar).

b. ASCII: To represent this in ASCII, one could use the convention above where a period followed by a colon is used to denote the 'therefore' symbol and the backslash followed by an underscore is used to denote the horizontal bar as used in Sanskrit.

Note that a different way to represent this in ASCII is, of course, Harvard-Kyoto.

2. Conjuncts/consonant clusters: We allow all consonant clusters. We simply use the dot character to allow for consonant clusters of arbitrary length (e.g. lakshmya would be written as 'la' + 'k' with a dot on top + 'sh' with a dot on top + 'm' with a dot on top + 'ya'.

3. 'R': We represented the 'R' character by a Tamil 'r' character with a horizontal bar on top. Optionally, this may also be represented by the 'backslash-underscore' combination following the 'r' character in Tamil.

4. Chandra/Crescent symbol for a: We represent the 'a' sound (as in 'hat') using the arc symbol used in Modern Hindi. The arc symbol would go either on top of the preceding consonant OR if there was no preceding consonant, it would go on top of the character for 'a'. (this is the same as in Hindi). This can also be represented using a backslash followed by a parenthesis. e.g. 'hat' could be written as 'ha' with a horizontal bar on top + '\(' + 'T'.

5. Chandra/Crescent symbol for 'o': We represent the 'o' sound (as in 'got') using the arc symbol used in Modern Hindi. The arc symbol would go either on top of the preceding consonant OR if there was no preceding consonant, it would go on top of the character for 'A'. (this is the same as in Hindi). This can also be represented using a backslash followed by a parenthesis. e.g. 'got' could be written as 'kA' with a horizontal bar on top + '\(' + 'T'.

6. Consonant-vowel conjuncts: We allow for consonants with a dot to precede vowels to create consonant-vowel conjuncts. (e.g. 'Union' could be written as 'y' with a dot on top + 'U' + 'n' with a dot on top + 'i' + 'ya' + 'n' with a dot on top). This is an optional feature that reduces the learning curve. Now, in order to able to write conjuncts in Tamil, you only need to know how to write the corresponding character and how to write the vowel.

7. Avagraha/long vowels: We borrow the avagraha symbol, again from Devanagari, for prolonging vowel sounds. It is particularly useful for representing the 'schwa'. (e.g. University would be written as 'y' with a dot on top + 'n' with a dot on top + i' + 'va' + avagraha symbol + 'r' with a dot on top + 'si' + 'T' with a dot on top + 'i'.

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Below are some example words represented using the new diacritical marks.

Examples

1. rAma = 'r' + the 'aa' symbol (the symbol that takes you from ra to raa) + 'm'

2. lakshmaNa = 'l' (without the dot on top) + 'k' with the dot on top + 'z' (the first 'sh' character) with the dot on top + 'm' (without the dot on top) + 'N'
3. bharata = '.:' + 'p' with a horizontal bar on top + 'r' (without the dot on top) + 't' (without a dot on top)
4. shatrughNa = 'z' (the first 'sh' character) + 't' with a dot on top + 'ru' + .: + 'k' with a horizontal bar as well as a dot on top + 'N'
5. Tattoine = 'T' + the arc symbol on top of the 'T' + 'T' with a dot on top + 'Too' + 'i' (small i) + 'n' with a dot on top.
6. Skywalker = 's' with a dot on top + 'k' plus the prefix for the 'ai' (Harvard-Kyoto) sound + 'v' + the 'aa' symbol (the symbol that takes from ra to raa) with a crescent on top + 'k' with a dot on top + 'k' + 'r' with a dot on top.

Dude, where's my column?

Ah! The column. You see, the column doesn't run at the Times of India Group's indiatimes.com site any more. All columnists were taken off the Indiatimes.com site.This blog keeps the 'Ask the Delphic Oracle' thing going. If you want to view past columns, search for "All Articles and Posts for the Times of India Group". You will see a list of links in a widget underneath that heading. (e.g. Link to the column "The world's largest prime"). All the columns for the Times of India Group may be found underneath the "All Articles and Posts for the Times of India Group" heading. So, there you go.

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Anand Manikutty got his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, something for which he still gets ribbed. He has pursued graduate work at the University of Wisconsin, the Harvard Business School and Stanford University. He is a technology entrepreneur and inventor holding over 15 patents in computer science and technology. He has over 15 research papers in computer science and engineering. He has also contributed to a textbook on strategic management. He splits time between Monterey and the crazy, exciting San Francisco Bay Area. He is working on this column in collaboration with Prof. Krishnan Shankar. Krishnan Shankar (Ravi to friends) is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oklahoma. His professional trajectory started in Mumbai at Ruparel through Reed College in Portland, Oregon and the University of Maryland, College Park where he obtained his Ph.D under Karsten Grove in differential geometry. His latest creation is by far his best and most demanding: his daughter, Sophie Mallika, who renews his sense of the miraculous on a daily basis. Prof. Sankaran Manikutty was a Professor (with tenure) at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. His profession trajectory started in the Indian Railways where he worked for more than two decades. He obtained his Ph.D. in Strategy (an area that used to also be called Business Policy) at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. He joined as faculty at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and rose to the position of Professor. He is now retired from service. ~

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