Vowels
The vowels are called uyir ezhuthu (uyir - life, ezhuthu - letter). The vowels are classified into short and long (five of each type) and two diphthongs.
The long (nedil) vowels are about twice as long as the short (kuRil) vowels. The diphthongs are usually pronounced about one and a half times as long as the short vowels, though most grammatical texts place them with the long vowels.
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iː | ɪ | uː | ʊ | ||
| Mid | eː | ɛ | oː | ɔ | ||
| Open | aː | ə | ||||
Tamil has two diphthongs /aj/ and /aw/, the latter of which is restricted to a few lexical items.
Read more about this topic: Tamil Phonology
Famous quotes containing the word vowels:
“As no one can tell what was the Roman pronunciation, each nation makes the Latin conform, for the most part, to the rules of its own language; so that with us of the vowels only A has a peculiar sound.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Playing “bop” is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.”
—Duke Ellington (1899–1974)
“These equal syllables alone require,
Though oft the ear the open vowels tire;”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)