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From: "Chandrasekaran, Periannan"
To: "'agathiyar@egroups.com'"
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 15:34:56 -0400
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Subject: [agathiyar] Re: ukara, UkAra uyirmey ezhuththu uruva mARRam.
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I feel that we shoud take a look at the whole nedungkaNakku (alphabet)
to overhaul it once and for all.
While the ukaram and UkAram series are the worst offenders, we should
examine other series also and completely linearize our script once and for
all and
even put in place a scheme and structure to enable smooth evolution to keep
up with
the technology at the same time preserve the integrity of our phoetic
heritage that
prevents corruptive influences.

What I mean is:
linearize even the script for uyir:

அ அ* இ இ* உ உ* எ எ* ஐ ஒ ஒ* ஔ
க கா கி கி* etc...

As a teacher, I generally desist from uttering that the total number of
(graphical) letters (or graphemes)
in Tamil is 247 which summarily discourages young kids from learning tamil.
Actually the
total number is around 90 even with the current script since most other
uyirmeys do not have
custom figures but are built linearly from existing components:
only the series for i/I, u/U cause explosion; the rest require that a
*single* symbol and its uniform
placement be learnt as with A, e/E, ai, o/O and au.

nanRi
Chandra


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nagamanickam Ganesan [mailto:nagamani_ganesan@...]
> Sent: Monday, September 13, 1999 3:17 PM
> To: agathiyar@egroups.com
> Cc: tamil@...
> Subject: [agathiyar] Re: ukara, UkAra uyirmey ezhuththu uruva mARRam.
>
>
>
> Thanks, Dr. Kalyan. Every other Tamil letter follows a great
> order. In the orthography (the way we write a letter),
> the the vowel-consonat combos in u and uu series only show
> some variations. If we bring order to the "ukara, uukaara
> uyirmey" series, the teaching of Tamil will be simplified to a good
> extent.
>
> Regarding how to reform that series, I am open to whatever
> the "future TN govt. committee" decides.
>
> 1) It could be a separate symbol like oRRaic cuzhi or iraTTaic
> cuzhi kombu. Personally, an inverted "oRRai cuzhi kombu"
> for "u" series and, with a tiny circle in the same for "uu"
> series.
>
> Or,
>
> 2) Like the Tamil "ku" letter all with a ring underneath
> the main letter.
>
> Whatever.
>
> But this change will be a great step to teach and
> remember Tamil letters.
>
> Regards,
> N. Ganesan
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Dear Dr. Ganesan:
>
> Thanks a lot for your interesting post on possible tamil
> script reform.
> We had earlier similar propositions from Prof. Selvakumar also.
>
> The forthcoming Tamilnet2000 / TamilInaiyam2000 conference
> (to be held in Colombo during March 2000) has allocated specific
> sessions on the topic of Language and Script reform.
> I quote below relevant sections from the website
> :
>
> > Topic 1: Language and Education:
> > 1) Tamil Script: A script is not laid down in concrete. It keeps
> > constantly evolving to suit the needs of its sustaining society.
> >
> > a. Improvement: While maintaining the main graphical form of the
> > letter improving its presentation
> > b. Change: Change the graphical form of the letter to improve
> > presentation.
> > c. New letters: Create new letters to represent sounds not found
> > in the Tamil alphabet.
>
> Tamilnet97 and Tamilnet99 conferences had a fairly heavy
> minister-level
> attendances. There may be similar participation from govt.
> representatives in Colombo as well. So, if I may, I would like
> to suggest that you and Prof. Selvakumar submit papers for this
> conference on this topic of script reform and possibly present it
> in person at the conference.
>
> Tamilinaiyam2000 website has even an email discussion forum on this
> topic. I am even cited (without my knowledge!) as one of the
> coordinators to take responsibility on the topic of "script reform"!
>
> Personally I not very convinced as to whether Tamilnet conferences
> should take up discussions on politically loaded topics like
> language/script reform. More appropriate forums could be Annual
> Tamil Conferences organized by TNF and even govt. agencies.
>
> At the last Tamilnet99 conference I had rumours on the corridors
> that the present Tamilnadu Govt conside "inclusion of Tamil
> numerals" in the proposed glyph encoding scheme as a political bomb.
> So it was no surprise to me to find that these disappeared in the
> final officially recommended TAM, TAB encodings!
>
> Good luck to you and to Prof. Selvakumar.
>
> anbudan,
> Kalyan
>
>
>
>
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