| |
|
The vowels are divided into short and long (five of each type) and two diphthongs. The consonants are classified into three categories with 6 in each category: vallinam - hard or voiceless, mellinam - nasals, and itayinam - voiced. Unlike Devanagari, Tamil does not have aspirated consonants.
The script is sometimes called Vattezhuthu, literally "round writing". It is of the abugida type.
There are some lexical rules for formation of words. Some examples: a word cannot end in a consonant, and cannot begin with the consonant 'r'; there are two consonants for the dental 'n', one of which is used when the 'n' occurs in the beginning of the word and the other is used when the 'n' is not at the beginning.
| Consonant | Sound |
|---|---|
| க | ka |
| ங | nga |
| ச | ca |
| ஞ | nja |
| ட | tta |
| ண | nna |
| த | ta |
| ந | na |
| ப | pa |
| ம | ma |
| ய | ya |
| ர | ra |
| ல | la |
| வ | va |
| ழ | zha |
| ள | lla |
| ற | rra |
| ன | nnna |
Borrowed consonants
| Consonant | Sound |
|---|---|
| ஜ | ja |
| ஷ | ssa |
| ஸ | sa |
| ஹ | ha |