002 OF PRONUNCIATION

9. Nothing more under this head is intended than to give a general idea of the sound of the Malayalim letters; as in writing, it is quite impossible in most cases, to do more than this; many of the sounds can only be learned by paying strict attention to their pronunciation as uttered by an efficient teacher.






10. There is another letter, of the same form as the dental ന, derived from the Tamil ன, which, though not introduced by the native teachers into their list of letters, nor even noticed by them, is of very extensive use in the language: and as the pronunciation of it is quite different to that of the dental ന, great care must be taken to distinguish it from that character.
When the dental ന is pronounced the tongue, as before observed, must be placed between the teeth: whereas, when this letter ന is pronounced, the tongue must be raised so that the tip of it touch the upper part of the front teeth in the upper jaw; care being taken not to raise the tongue too high, or the sound will be confounded with that of the letter ണ: thus ആന Elephant, ആണ as Oath. It will be easy to distinguish the dental from the other ന by remembering the following short rule. The dental ന never occurs as a medial or final: the other ന is never used as an initial; thus നിൎബന്ധം Constraint. 11. With respect to the sound of the letters, in general, it is to be observed that in some cases they vary a little from the pronounciation given above; thus: 1st. The short vowel അ, contained in the consonants(1 The short vowel അ is inherent in every consonant except the finals: it being an invariable rule that every open consonant not followed by another vowel must be pronounced as if അ were written after it: thus ബ, Ba.) when followed by the letters ർ, ൽ, ൾ, and ൻ,(2 These are called finals, for the nature and use of which, see para: 17) is pronounced something like e in label: but, in general, such is the case only when such letters close a word, or when such words are prefixed to others to form a compound word: thus,
പലർ many, pronounced as {\setmainfont{FreeSerifpălĕr, not pălăr.
മലർ roasted paddy, pronounced {\setmainfont{FreeSerifmălĕr not mălăr.
മലർപൊടി flour of the above, pronounced {\setmainfont{FreeSerifmălĕrpody.
മണൽ sand,— {\setmainfont{FreeSerifmănĕl not mănăl.
മണൽകുന്ന sand hill,—{\setmainfont{FreeSerifmănĕlkunna.
തിങ്കൾ moon,—tinkel not tinkal.
തിങ്കളാഴ്ച monday,—{\setmainfont{FreeSeriftinkelāricha.
കുശവൻ potter,—{\setmainfont{FreeSerifkus’ăwĕn.
2nd. In very numerous instances when the first, or middle syllable of a word closes with one of the nasal letters, or with ൽ ; and, in every case, when syllables, in any situation, are closed with o; the short vowel അ, belonging to the preceeding consonant, is pronoun-
ced like u in hull; thus,
നൽകുന്നു to grant, pronounced nulkunnu.
ധനം wealth, ,, danum.
ദൈവം God, ,, deywum.
അഹംകാരം pride, ,, ahunkārum.
3rd. ക, when beginning a word, is to be pronounced as directed in the table; when it occurs as a medial, very soft, something like gh; when doubled, very strong like kk. Great attention should be paid to this rule, as in many cases, the difference between Neuter, Active, and Causal Verbs, cannot be distinguished if this character be not correctly pronounced; thus ആകുന്നു with the single ക, signifies to be: with the double ക്ക it means to make.
4th. ത, in the beginning of words, is to be pronounced as in the table: in the middle of words something like th: when doubled, like all double letters, very forcibly. When ത is prefixed to the consonant മ, it is pronounced like it; thus ആത്മാവ Altmawă, not Atmawă.
5th. റ, when doubled, takes the sound of tt, as ആറ {\setmainfont{FreeSerifāră,River, ആറ്റിന്റെ {\setmainfont{FreeSerifāttīnday.
6th. അം Besides the pronunciation given to this character in the table, it is to be observed that when nasal letters occur in the middle of a word, this character, or rather the o, is often substituted for them. In such cases it must be pronounced like the letter which it represents. 3 By reference to the arrangement of the letters, of the Alphabet; it will be seen that each of the first five classes has its own peculiar nasal letter. It is also to be observed that when a syllable in a word closes with a nasal letter and is followed by a consonant, the nasal letter ought to be changed to the nasal of the order to which the following consonant belongs: but the authority of custom, both in teaching and writing Malayalim, requires that, in most cases, the ം should be substituted for such nasal letters; although, as observed above, the sound of the nasal represented is retained: thus, ഭംഗി is pronounced Bunggy not Bumgy, because the sound of the nasal letter belonging to the order of gutturals is ng.
For the further illustration of this subject I shall add the following examples of words written indifferently with the nasals of their own order, or with ം; thus,

ഭയംകരം, പഞ്ചായം, പണ്ടായം, ചെന്താമര, അമ്പലം,

7th. Consonants often combine, so as to form a syllable of them-
selves; in such cases all the consonants, except the one placed last in
combination, drop their inherent vowel sounds, but retain and unite the
consonantal sounds of the several letters of which the syllable is composed; and are to be pronounced according to the order in which the letters stand : that is, the sound of that letter placed first in the order of the
combination is to be uttered first; thus,
ക prefixed to ത is written and pronounced ക്ത Kta.
ഷ and ട: thus, ഷ്ട. Shta.
ർ, സ and സ; ൎസ്സ Rssa.