Tamil character notes

Brief script overview

The script type is abugida, ie. consonants carry an inherent vowel ʌ, usually written a.

Text runs left-to-right.

There are less consonants than in other Indic scripts. Tamil has no aspirated consonants, and symbols are allocated on a phonemic basis, rather than phonetic. The latter means that க, for example, may be pronounced as the allophones k ɡ x ɣ or h, according to where it appears relative to other sounds in a word, but its pronunciation doesn't change the word.

Tamil is diglossic: the classic form is preferred for writing and public speaking, and is mostly standard across the Tamil-speaking regions; the colloquial, spoken form differs widely from the written.

Extended letters

Because the core set of Tamil consonants is quite a lot smaller than that of most indic scripts, Tamil adds additional 'grantha' letters to cover sounds in Sanskrit and English.

For compatability with modern communication it also presses U+0B83 TAMIL SIGN VISARGA (called āytam ஆய்தம்) into service to produce fricative sounds from stops. ஃப gives f, eg. ஃபீசு fiːsɯ (fees). ஃஜ gives z, eg. ஃஜிரொக்ஸ் ziroks (Xerox).

The The Unicode Standard v5.2, p289, also describes a method of extension that uses superscript letters to represent transcriptions of languages such as Sanskrit and Saurashtra, eg. ப² = pha, ப³ = ba, and ப⁴ = bha.

Consonant pronunciation

Plosives are unvoiced if they occur word-initially or doubled. Elsewhere they are voiced, with a few becoming fricatives intervocalically. Nasals and approximants are always voiced.

The consonants are classified into three categories: vallinam (hard consonants), mellinam (soft consonants, including all nasals), and idayinam (medium consonants), which are important for the rules of pronunciation.

There are rules for the pronunciation of consonants, in particluar plosives, for the written form of Tamil, that make for complementary distribution. These rules break down to varying degrees when dealing with Sanskrit loan words and the colloquial spoken form of Tamil (particularly in northern areas). For more read Tamil phonology and [Krishnamurthi] pp23-28.

Consonant clusters

Consonant clusters are normally represented with a dot over the character(s) not followed by a vowel, called puḷḷi (the Tamil virama), rather than using conjunct glyphs, like most other Indic scripts. There are more conjunct forms in older versions of the Tamil script. The modern script has two common exceptions: க்ஷ kʃa and க்ஷ ʃri.

Vowels

There are independent and combining forms of all vowels, except the inherent vowel, which has no combining form.

Independent vowel forms used to be used at the beginning of metrical groups, but now they are used at the beginning of a word, eg. இந்த inta (this), but also internally to represent 'overlong' vowel sounds, eg. பெரீஇஇய periːiiya (reeeeally big).

Some vowel signs precede the consonant or consonant cluster, and others are represented by glyphs on both sides of it.

Some vowel signs produce significantly different ligated shapes as they combine with the base consonant.

Alternative vowel forms. The three two-part vowel signs can be written in two different ways. The single code point per vowel sign, is the preferred form and the form in common use for Tamil.

க 0B95 + ொ 0BCA ≡ க 0B95 + ெ0BC6 + ா 0BBE
க 0B95 + ோ 0BCB ≡ க 0B95 + ே0BC7 + ா 0BBE
க 0B95 + ௌ 0BCC ≡ க 0B95 + ெ0BC6 + ௗ 0BD7

Whichever approach you use, the vowel signs must come after the consonant or consonant cluster that they surround. In the case of multi-character vowel signs, the order is also important and should be as shown above.

Ligatures

Although modern Tamil uses fewer conjunct ligatures than most other indic scripts, there are still many ligatures needed for a Tamil font, mostly for combinations of base consonant and vowel sign.

See The Unicode Standard v5.2, pp 291-294, for a list and description of Tamil ligatures. You can also look up some of the slightly less common ligatures in the 'shape' view of the Tamil picker.

Numbers

There are a set of Tamil numbers, but modern Tamil text typically uses Western digits.

The Tamil system inserts characters to indicate tens, hundreds, and thousands. For a description of the algorithm, see CSS3 Lists and Unicode Technical Note #21.

Named character sequences

Tamil speakers tend to think of grapheme clusters containing consonant plus vowel as a single entity. In some cases, people want to process Tamil using these grapheme clusters as a single unit.

To assist with this Unicode provides named character sequences that apply standardised names to whole syllables. These can then be mapped to the private use area for applications wanting to work with Tamil in this way. See The Unicode Standard v5.2, pp 294-296. For normal Tamil data interchange, however, the standard codepoints should be used.

Punctuation

Western punctuation appears to be used generally.

The Unicode Standard v5.2, p 294 mentions that the danda and double danda are sometimes used, along with other unified punctuation in the Devanagari block

Core consonants

U+0B95 TAMIL LETTER KA

Tamil vallinam consonant

k typically word-initial and in a doubled consonant.

ɡ x ɣ h in other places.

ISO 15919 transcription k

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B99 TAMIL LETTER NGA

Tamil mellinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription ṅ

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B9A TAMIL LETTER CA

Tamil vallinam consonant

ʧ typically when word-initial and in a doubled consonant.

ʤ ʃ s ʒ in other places.

ISO 15919 transcription c

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B9E TAMIL LETTER NYA

Tamil mellinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription ñ

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B9F TAMIL LETTER TTA

Tamil vallinam consonant

ʈ typically when word-initial and in a doubled consonant.

ɖ ɽ in other places.

ISO 15919 transcription ṭ

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BA3 TAMIL LETTER NNA

Tamil mellinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription ṇ

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BA4 TAMIL LETTER TA

Tamil vallinam consonant

t̪ typically when word-initial and in a doubled consonant.

d̪ ð in other places.

ISO 15919 transcription t

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BA8 TAMIL LETTER NA

Tamil mellinam consonant

n̪

ISO 15919 transcription n

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BA9 TAMIL LETTER NNNA

Tamil mellinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription ṉ

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BAA TAMIL LETTER PA

Tamil vallinam consonant

p typically when word-initial and in a doubled consonant.

b β in other places.

f when preceded by U+0B83 TAMIL SIGN VISARGA, eg. ஃபீசு fiːsɯ (fees).

ISO 15919 transcription p

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BAE TAMIL LETTER MA

Tamil mellinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription m

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BAF TAMIL LETTER YA

Tamil idaiyinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription y

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BB0 TAMIL LETTER RA

Tamil idaiyinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription r

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BB1 TAMIL LETTER RRA

Tamil idaiyinam consonant

r t d

ISO 15919 transcription ṟ

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BB2 TAMIL LETTER LA

Tamil idaiyinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription l

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BB3 TAMIL LETTER LLA

Tamil idaiyinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription ḷ

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BB4 TAMIL LETTER LLLA

Tamil idaiyinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription ḻ

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BB5 TAMIL LETTER VA

Tamil idaiyinam consonant

ISO 15919 transcription v

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

Grantha consonants

U+0B9C TAMIL LETTER JA

Tamil grantha consonant

z when preceded by U+0B83 TAMIL SIGN VISARGA, eg. ஃஜிரொக்ஸ் ziroks (Xerox).

ISO 15919 transcription j

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BB6 TAMIL LETTER SHA

Tamil grantha consonant

ɕ ʃ

This character is not commonly used, except in the śrī ligature ஶ்ரீ. (Other ligatures with MA, YA, RA, and VA are found in archaic forms of Tamil only.)

ISO 15919 transcription ś

Notes. Refs: [1] Proposal to add Tamil grantha character SHA; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BB7 TAMIL LETTER SSA

Tamil grantha consonant

ISO 15919 transcription ṣ

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BB8 TAMIL LETTER SA

Tamil grantha consonant

ISO 15919 transcription s

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BB9 TAMIL LETTER HA

Tamil grantha consonant

ISO 15919 transcription h

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

Independent vowels

U+0B85 TAMIL LETTER A

Tamil independent vowel

ISO 15919 transcription a

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B86 TAMIL LETTER AA

Tamil independent vowel

ɑː

ISO 15919 transcription ā

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B87 TAMIL LETTER I

Tamil independent vowel

ISO 15919 transcription i

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B88 TAMIL LETTER II

Tamil independent vowel

iː

ISO 15919 transcription ī

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B89 TAMIL LETTER U

Tamil independent vowel

u ɯ

ISO 15919 transcription u

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B8A TAMIL LETTER UU

Tamil independent vowel

uː

ISO 15919 transcription ū

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B8E TAMIL LETTER E

Tamil independent vowel

ISO 15919 transcription e

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B8F TAMIL LETTER EE

Tamil independent vowel

eː

ISO 15919 transcription ē

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B90 TAMIL LETTER AI

Tamil independent vowel

ʌj

ISO 15919 transcription ai

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B92 TAMIL LETTER O

Tamil independent vowel

ISO 15919 transcription o

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B93 TAMIL LETTER OO

Tamil independent vowel

oː

ISO 15919 transcription ō

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0B94 TAMIL LETTER AU

Notes from the Unicode standard:
≡ 0B92 0BD7

Tamil independent vowel

ʌʋ

ISO 15919 transcription au

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

Vowel signs

U+0BBE TAMIL VOWEL SIGN AA

Tamil vowel sign

ɑː

ISO 15919 transcription ā

This character can also be used in another way, but it is not recommended. It allows for U+0BCA TAMIL VOWEL SIGN O ொ and U+0BCB TAMIL VOWEL SIGN OO ோ to each be represented by two characters, U+0BC6 TAMIL VOWEL SIGN E ெ or U+0BC7 TAMIL VOWEL SIGN EE ே, respectively, and this character. When used this way, both combining characters must appear after the base consonant(s), and this character must come second.³

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script; [3] The Unicode Standard v5.2 pp290-291

U+0BBF TAMIL VOWEL SIGN I

Tamil vowel sign

ISO 15919 transcription i

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BC0 TAMIL VOWEL SIGN II

Tamil vowel sign

iː

ISO 15919 transcription ī

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BC1 TAMIL VOWEL SIGN U

Tamil vowel sign

u ɯ

ISO 15919 transcription u

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BC2 TAMIL VOWEL SIGN UU

Tamil vowel sign

uː

ISO 15919 transcription ū

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BC6 TAMIL VOWEL SIGN E

Notes from the Unicode standard:
• stands to the left of the consonant

Tamil vowel sign

ISO 15919 transcription e

This character can also be used, followed by U+0BBE TAMIL VOWEL SIGN AA ா to represent U+0BCA TAMIL VOWEL SIGN O ொ, or followed by U+0BD7 TAMIL AU LENGTH MARK ௗ to represent U+0BCC TAMIL VOWEL SIGN AU ௌ, but neither approach is recommended. You should just use the single character. When used this way, both combining characters must appear after the base consonant(s), and this character must come first.³

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script; [3] The Unicode Standard v5.2 pp290-291

U+0BC7 TAMIL VOWEL SIGN EE

Notes from the Unicode standard:
• stands to the left of the consonant

Tamil vowel sign

eː

ISO 15919 transcription ē

This character can also be used, followed by U+0BBE TAMIL VOWEL SIGN AA ா to represent U+0BCB TAMIL VOWEL SIGN OO ோ, but this is not recommended. You should just use the single character. When used this way, both combining characters must appear after the base consonant(s), and this character must come first.³

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script; [3] The Unicode Standard v5.2 pp290-291

U+0BC8 TAMIL VOWEL SIGN AI

Notes from the Unicode standard:
• stands to the left of the consonant

Tamil vowel sign

ʌj

In traditional Tamil orthography the shape of this character changes to in conjunction with the following characters: ண ன ல ள. However, this shape is not used in modern Tamil writing.

ISO 15919 transcription ai

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script; [3] The Unicode Standard v5.2 pp293-294

U+0BCA TAMIL VOWEL SIGN O

Notes from the Unicode standard:
≡ 0BC6 0BBE

Tamil vowel sign

ISO 15919 transcription o

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BCB TAMIL VOWEL SIGN OO

Notes from the Unicode standard:
≡ 0BC7 0BBE

Tamil vowel sign

oː

ISO 15919 transcription ō

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BCC TAMIL VOWEL SIGN AU

Notes from the Unicode standard:
≡ 0BC6 0BD7

Tamil vowel sign

ʌʋ

ISO 15919 transcription au

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p426; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

symbols

U+0B83 TAMIL SIGN VISARGA

Notes from the Unicode standard:
= aytham

Tamil symbol, āytam ஆய்தம்

Returned to use in the modern script to form non-native fricatives from plosives.

f in conjunction with a following U+0BAA TAMIL LETTER PA, eg. ஃபீசு fiːsɯ (fees)

z in conjunction with a following U+0B9C TAMIL LETTER JA, eg. ஃஜிரொக்ஸ் ziroks (Xerox).

ISO 15919 transcription a

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] p428; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script

U+0BCD TAMIL SIGN VIRAMA

Tamil mark, puḷḷi

Used as a virama to indicate a lack of vowel sound after a consonant, and doubled consonants. Unlike most Indian scripts, which tend to use ligatures for consonant clusters, modern Tamil normally shows a visible puḷḷi over characters without following vowel sounds, eg. பத்து லட்சம் pattu laṭcam (ten lakhs).

Two exceptions include க்ஷ kʃa and sometimes ஶ்ரீ ʃrī, although even those are often written with a visible pulli these days. Note that these ligatures are still written in Unicode using an invisible pulli character between the consonants.

The Unicode Standard specifies that you can force the pulli to appear over the initial letters in a conjunct that would otherwise be a ligature by using U+200C ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER immediately after the pulli.

Notes. Refs: [1] The World's Writing Systems [Daniels] pp426-429; [2] Wikipedia: Tamil Script; [3] The Unicode Standard v5.2 p290

U+0BD0 TAMIL OM

Tamil symbol, ōm̐

ōm

OM is a religious concept found in all three major religions born in India viz. Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. Tamil OM sign is widely used in Hindu religious texts, temple publications, and as neon lamps of sign boards in shops etc.

This sign helps with transliteration between Tamil and other indic scripts such as Devanagari, Gurmukhi and Gujarati, which also have an om character.

Notes. Refs: [1] Proposal to add TAMIL OM

U+0BD7 TAMIL AU LENGTH MARK

Tamil mark

Use of this character is not recommended. It allows for U+0BCC TAMIL VOWEL SIGN AU to be represented by two characters, U+0BC6 TAMIL VOWEL SIGN E and this character. When used this way, both combining characters must appear after the base consonant(s), and this character must come second.

Notes. Refs: [1] The Unicode Standard v5.2 pp290-291