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Stop consonants
In LT, as in Proto-Dravidian, it seems clear that there was a series of six stop consonants:
- <LI> Velar: ¡ k
<LI> Palatal: « c or s
<LI> Retroflex: ¥ t
<LI> Alveolar: ± t
<LI> Dental: ¢ t
<LI> Labial: ¤ p
</UL>
In initial position (except for ¥ and ±) and when geminated, the above stops were phonetically voiceless (and unaspirated). When they occurred after a nasal, all were voiced, and somewhat more lax. Intervocalically, they were laxed, and with the exception of ¡ and «, voiced.
In ST, some things have changed. Alveolar ± when geminated, i.e. ±± tt has now merged with ¢¢ tt: ½±ÅÕ patti is [patti], etc. Its other, more r-like phonetic realizations have merged phonetically with ¯ r, except in southern dialects. Initial « which used to be unambiguously c, i.e. [], now varies widely; some speakers have [s] in initial position only, with geminate [cc] the only affricated pronunciation. Other speakers have [c]In all cases, the symbol [c] is an affricated stop similar to English `ch' in `cheese'. before certain vowels and [s] before others, e.g. ¶Õ¨Æ cinna [cInn '025 ] `small' but ¶ÔÂÕ caavi [sa '161 vi] `key'. Some speakers have only [c] except intervocalically; for many speakers, other sounds are also merged with « c, i.e. they have no contrasts such as øÓ s or ÷Ó j.
Many speakers also have variation in their pronunciation of intervocalic ¤ b---sometimes we get [b], sometimes we get [w] or [v]. This seems to depend on the degree of indigenousness of certain borrowed words, as with [ru '161 wa '161 ] `rupee' above.
Harold_F.Schiffman