4 A GRAMMAR OF THE
| Labials. | പ...... | Like an English p as pa. |
| ഫ...... | the same aspirated. | |
| ബ..... | as b in bud. | |
| ഭ........ | as bh strongly aspirated. | |
| മ........ | like m in made. | |
| Semi-Vowels. | യ...... | like y in yarn. |
| ര........ | as r soft. Very great attention is necessary to acquire the correct pronunciation of this character. | |
| ല....... | like l in lane. | |
| വ...... | as w in wife. Many persons learning Malayalim give the Tamil sound of v to this letter which is incorrect. | |
| Sibilants. | ശ....... | like s’a. In pronouncing this character the tongue must be depressed so that the tip of it fall below the front teeth in the lower jaw. |
| ഷ...... | like sh in shoe. | |
| സ. .... | like s in so. | |
| ക്ഷ.... | is a compound of ക and ഷ and pronounced by the Malabar Brahmins ksha, but in common, like cha strongly aspirated. | |
| ഹ ...... | something like h in hoop, but pronounced more forcibly. | |
| റ........ | like r in rough. |
10. There is another letter, of the same form as the dental ന,
derived from the Tamil ன, which, though not introduced by the
native teachers into their list of letters, nor even noticed by them,
is of very extensive use in the language: and as the pronunciation of
it is quite different to that of the dental ന, great care must be taken
to distinguish it from that character.
When the dental ന is pronounced the tongue, as before observed,
must be placed between the teeth: whereas, when this letter ന is pro-
nounced, the tongue must be raised so that the tip of it touch the up-
per part of the front teeth in the upper jaw; care being taken not to
raise the tongue too high, or the sound will be confounded with
that of the letter ണ: thus ആന Elephant, ആണ as Oath. It
will be easy to distinguish the dental from the other ന by remember-
ing the following short rule.
