BRIEF C O M M U N I C A T I O N

TOLKXPPIYAM ON INTERVOCALIC STOPS

In his Comparative Grammar 1 Caldwell formulated the law of the convertibility of surds and sonants, which referred to the allophonic distribution of stops. According to this law the stops in the initial position are voiceless, whereas the intervocalics are voiced. This state of affairs observable in most of the Modern Tamil dialects was also assumed for all the Dravidian languages by Caldwell. Though his views on this point are not accepted now, it has given rise to a controversy regarding the nature of the intervocalic hard consonants (p, t, !, .t, c and k) in Old Tamil. The law implied that in Old Tamil also the intervocalics were voiced. Some scholars like M. Srinivasa Aiyangar, P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri and C. R. Sankaran 2 have voiced their doubts and argued that the Old Tamil intervocalic stops were voiceless on the evidence of Tamil script and the rules of Tolkappiyam (a grammar of Old Tamil). The evidence they have brought forth from Tolkappiyam so far is that it lists only thirty "linear phonemes" (twelve vowels and eighteen consonants), and it refers to all the six stops as valle.luttu 'hard consonants' to imply they are voiceless. As F. B. J. Kuiper 3 points out, the arguments based on this evidence alone are quite unconvincing. However, I will show below that though Tolkappiyam does not make an explicit statement regarding the unvoiced nature of the intervocalic stops, it dearly implies it. 1 Rt. Rev. Robert Caldwell, D.D., LL.D., A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages or South lndian Family of Languages, 3rd Edition (Univ. of Madras, Reprint 1956),P. 138. 2 M. Srinivasa Aiyangar, Tamil Studies (Madras, 1914); P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri, JOR Madr., VI, 1932; and C. R. Sankaran, Phonemics of OM Tamil (1951). All as quoted by Kuiper. See foot-note 3. 3 F.B.J. Kuiper, "Two Problems of Old Tamil Phonology", lndo-lranian Journal, II (1958); and, "Note on Old Tamil and Jaffna Tamil", Indo-Iranian Journal, VI (1962-63).

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It is unfortunate that the commentators of Tolkappiyam have failed so far to appreciate the consistent use of the metalanguage in it. The pertinent terms to our problem on hand are ieaittal 'voicing' and uyirttal 'breathing'? Note that ieai and uyir, the stems in the two terms mentioned above, also mean respectively 'music' and 'life', for which voicing and breathing are indispensible. When Tolkdppiyarn describes sounds that are voiced it employs the term icai; but when it describes sounds that are voiceless it employs the term uyirttal. According to Tolkappiyam 5 the vowels (sutra 84), the nasals (sutra 100) and the liquids (sutra 99) are voiced; the stops are breathed (sutra 17), except when they are preceded by nasals (sutra 25). When Tolkappiyam carefully employs the word ieaika[ to refer to the voiced allophones of the stops occurring after the nasals, we could reasonably expect that it would indicate explicitly if the intervocalic stops were voiced. So I propose to reinstate the problem of intervocalic voicing in Old Tamil, in spite of Kuiper's Greek evidence. 6 Annamalai & Malaya Universities R. Radhakrishnan

4 For a detailed treatment, see my forthcoming articles on "The metalanguage of Tolkfippiyam" and "The Phonetic details from Tolk~ppiyam". Tolkdppiyam, E.luttatikSram: Naecindrkkiniyarn, edited by C. Kan~caiyar (Cunn~kam, 1952). 6 See foot-note 3 above.