APBIL — sept. 1859.] On the Power of the Letter p. 5 



greater certainty, however, regarding their power if we assume as 

 our standard the pronunciation which these letters bear when they 

 occur doubled in the middle of a word : because in such case the 

 former of the two consonants shuts off all external influence upon 

 its companion, and also assists in bringing out the radical pronun- 

 ciation of the second letter in its fulness and purity. 



In the cases of i— and p 9 since they cannot occur as initial 

 letters, we are necessarily obliged to take this second criterion of 

 their power as our only guide. 



Judging of our p by this rule, it will be seen that its hard or 

 radical sound is that of a species of ' t,' both as the final conso- 

 nant of the first of the two syllables of the word in which it is 

 found doubled, and also as the initial consonant of the second of 

 such syllables. And, according to the analogy of all the surd 

 consonants, the other two sounds of which p is capable are 

 to be regarded as soft and aspirated modifications of that radical 

 sound. 



3. The laws of the euphonic changes of final and initial con- 

 sonants afford us illustrations in the same direction: 

 p is treated throughout these rules as if it were a member of the 

 ' t' family 



i. It is almost impossible to pronounce correctly either of the 

 three Tamil 'n's after another 4 n' of a different power : pro- 

 vision is accordingly made, when such letters happen to meet, to 

 change the initial 6 n' of the second of the two words into an 4 n' 

 of the same power as the final 6 n' of the word which precedes it. 

 Thus Qurr&sc jswrsmn becomes Ouirearesrm-mmi and aiewr j5m®niA 

 becomes u^emmr^crmi^. 



The same reason influences the change of the initial * t' of the 

 second word into a surd of the same power as the final ' n' of the 

 preceding word. Thus los^t^^j becomes Losmi^^j ; and Qurresr 

 becomes Qun-drjfi^p. 



The case of the hardening of the final * n' of the first word into 

 its corresponding surd is subject to the same rule : in that case 

 also the initial ; t' of the second word is changed into that par- 

 ticular ' t' which corresponds in power with the ' n' so changed, 

 thus producing a doubled ' t,' both of which take their radical or 



