MADBAS JOUKNAL 



OF 



LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 



NO. 9.-NEW SEEIES. 



April— September, 1859. 



I. On the Power of the Letter p. By Rev. T. Fotjlkes, Church 

 Missionary Society, Madras. 



In most languages there is but one authoritative witness on 

 such a subject as this, namely, prevailing usage. In the case of 

 Tamil letters, although the same usage is still our leading evi- 

 dence, it does not stand alone : we have also other distinct modes 

 of testing the accuracy of the testimony which it offers, and of in- 

 terpreting that which is equivocal and doubtful in the depositions. 



An appeal to usage alone in the case before us leaves us in un- 

 certainty and apparent contradiction : we need therefore the colla- 

 teral helps referred to in order to reconcile that contradiction, 

 and, if possible, to arrive at the strict truth respecting the relative 

 position and power of this seemingly anomalous letter. 



The Tamil noun ' a river' affords an illustration of this 

 apparent difficulty. It would be said that the power of the con- 

 sonant in question in this word is that of a hard * r' ; and unques- 

 tionably it has this pronunciation in common usage. But let this 

 noun be inflected, or compounded with another noun succeeding 

 Vol. xx. o. s. Vol. vi. n. s. 



