premalatha balan Wrote:
>
> no, i think vowel gives the soul to any consonent,
> it makes the consonent to become a proper letter
> for a proper word... k as such is nothing, but it
> becomes, ka or ki when a or i is added to it. k is
> not a proper letter (it takes half a second to say
> any consonent and is not a full letter by itself),
> but ka or ki are proper letters.

This makes absolute sense now. You can't have a consonant starting a word because that would be a body without a soul. It'd be nothing, correct? Therefore, the body must have a soul in order for the word to be real. Am I close?
>
> yes, it is the combination of the body and the
> soul.

This makes me want to learn tamil, lol.

> and, the consonents (and corresponding uyirmei)
> are grouped into three categories depending on
> their hardness(as you mentioned hardness of it, i
> remembered this bit),
>
> vallinam - hard group group
> idaiyinam - mediam-soft group
> mellinam - soft group
>
> ka, cha, da, tha, pa, ra - vallinam
> ya, ra, la, va, la, la - (three las and two ras -
> idaiyinam
> gna (pronounced through nose lol.), nga, na, ma,
> na, (there are two nas) - mellinam

Are those the main sounds attributed to each or are there more that are just not listed?

> also, Tamil words and names always have a meaning,
> and it has to have a meaning. I think there is a
> name to such languages..

There probably is a name for these kind of languages. Sad to say the complexity blew my mind when trying to comprehend/learn Navajo because nearly every seperate sound in a word had its own meaning. Ya'a'te'eh is hello in Navajo in the short version but from what I understand each one of those sections (ya, a, te, eh) apparently has their own meanings. So ya'a'te'eh is far more complex than just "hello". I wish I knew what the fuller version meant, lol. Even the wrong tone can change the meaning of what one says in Navajo (Probably why my husband winces when I try to say things in it lol). There probably is a name for these kind of languages. I just don't know it either.

Stephanie


>
> for example doormat... it has a meaning. but the
> word chair has no meaning. names of towns all have
> meanings....
>
> Cheers
> Prema




In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.--Ralph Waldo Emerson