From Ramanathan Shankar <shankar@...> Mon Sep 20 07:42:06 1999
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<BR>Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 20:15:28 -0400
<BR>From: Ramanathan Shankar <shankar@...>
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<BR>Subject: [agathiyar] Limitation ???
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<BR>Dear Agathiyars,
<BR>
<BR>One of my friends says tamil has this limitation of various sounds being
<BR>expressed by the same letter (for instance ka, ga etc are represented by
<BR>the same letter).
<BR>
<BR>He wasn't convinced when i said, the usage is context sensitive. He
<BR>refuted that while expressing some proper nouns, say kamala, one can't
<BR>distinguish whether it's kamala or gamala(!!).
<BR>
<BR>"When one writes this name to a person, how will he be able to identify
<BR>whether it's kamala or gamala ????" is what his argument is.
<BR>
<BR>According to him this is a limitation (or lack of sophistication).
<BR>Tamil can't express all the sounds that come from ones mouth.
<BR>(i threw "zha" garam to him and asked him to write it in sanskrit which
<BR>obviously he cudn't do).
<BR>
<BR>My argument was that, if that particular sound itself is not used by the
<BR>people speaking a language how can one expect that language to support
<BR>the sound.
<BR>
<BR>He wasn't convinced with that. I seek the help of agathiyars to give him
<BR>a more convincing answer.
<BR>
<BR>thanks,
<BR>shankar
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR> 
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