April — sept. 1859.] On the Power of the Letter p. 3 



sonants with which we have to do, so as to represent their power 

 simultaneously with their class, as follows : — 





Gutturals 



Palatals 



Cerebrals 



Dentals 



Labials 







& 





i— 





u 



P 



Corresponding ) 



S3 



(«5 



etssr 



J5 



LQ 



ear 



We arrive in this way at the same conclusion as the Tamil Gram- 

 marian, namely, that the letter p and its corresponding nasal aw- 

 are additional letters peculiar to the Tamil language ; forasmuch 

 as the ordinary classification of the powers of letters is exhausted 

 before we reach these particular letters, and we have yet to dis- 

 cover a name to express their power. 



There is a series of verses in the early part of the Nannool of 

 very great value to all who would acquire a correct pronuncia- 

 tion of the Tamil language, in which the author indicates what he 

 expressively terms the ' birth-place' of the different letters. 

 Amongst them he describes the proper mode of pronouncing the 

 letters p and em- : — " p and <ot will come forth if the tip of the tongue 

 is brought into close contact with the roof of the mouth." If this 

 be the ' birth-place' of our p we must once for all give up the 

 thought of its having the power of an ' r' : since there can be no 

 hugging of the roof of the mouth by the tongue in the production 

 of a trilled sound, the bare idea of which requires the tongue to 

 be free in the mouth to vibrate the trill. 



There are several reasons for supposing that the true power of 

 this letter is that of a ' t,' of some modified pronunciation distinct 

 from both the dental « t' (^) and the cerebral 4 t' : — 



1 . Each of the surd consonants undergoes certain modifica- 

 tions of its radical pronunciation according to the position which 

 it occupies, and the company in which it is found, in the word of 

 which it forms a part. The forms of pronunciation may be dis- 

 tinguished into hard or radical, soft, and aspirated. 



When either of the surds occurs free in the beginning of a 

 word or doubled in the middle of a word, or when it is preceded or 



