Malayalam Pronunciation: Chandrakala and Chillu

Рет қаралды 1,369

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 10

@sergeruss2881 10 ай бұрын

Writing of this "shewa" sound must be one of the most confusing and unstable topics of Malayalam orthography. Rodney Moag called it an "echo vowel" and throughout his books the vowel is written together with the "u" sound, like അതു്. So, "chandrakala" by itself is presented as a "no-vowel" sign and "chandrakala" with "u" as an "echo vowel". Later in Andronov's "Malayalam Grammar" I found out that this is an undue simplification, since originally "chandrakala" as a sign was used to represent this "shewa" and that Rodney Moag's "u" was not always there. Knowing all that, when typing in Malayalam, to enter a ligature one has to enter one consonant, "chandrakala", and then another consonant. If the given computer or device cannot show this ligature, it shows two consonants with "chandrakala" inbetween, which is kind of confusing. Like, ഗ്ബ. Connection of two consonsnts cannot have any "shewa" inbetween. So, computer continues to understand the "chandrakala" as just a "no-vowel sign". Finally I got it all confused and don't understand anymore if there is any sound and simple explanation to all that...

@Learn-Malayalam 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing! It is very confusing. I generally feel if it's at the end, it's a schwa, and in the middle of a word it's a no vowel sign. Have you read Dr Gamliels text?

@sergeruss2881 10 ай бұрын

Oh, that's quite an elegant and natural solution! Thank you! But then it means that shewa never occurs in the middle of a word. Is that so? As ashaming as it is, I never heard of Dr Gamliels and his works... )

@Learn-Malayalam 10 ай бұрын

I'm not sure if it is a hard and fast rule, but I do see the pattern I mentioned more commonly. As for Dr Gamiliel, her work is Ophira Gamliel, A Linguistic Survey of the Malayalam Language in Its Own Terms, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2020. You may be able to find it online@@sergeruss2881