The Riddle that is Tamil is not a full length research work. It is a collected work containing thirty one papers dealing with diverse is-sues of the Dravidian linguistics in general and Tamil linguistics in particular. In rememberance of Prof. N. Kumaraswamy Raja, his paper on Three Consonant Clusters in Tamil published in 1980 in A Festschrift for Prof. M. Shanmugam Pillai is included in this collection as a mark of respect to Prof. N. Kumaraswamy Raja whose whereabouts is not known since July 1989. Since more than one paper in this collection deals with the NPP and LPP clusters, it be-comes necessary to briefly present a discussion here how marginally and yet significantly we differ from Prof. Kumaraswamy Raja.
Tamil grammarians identify three types of three consonant clusters namely yPP/yNP, rPP/rNP, and IPP/INP where P is plosive and N is nasal. Added to these clusters, Kumaraswamy Raja (hence-forth, Raja) rightly insists the necessity of including two more three consonant clusters namely NPP and LPP where N is nasal and L is lateral. This is a significant finding of Raja. Of the five types of three consonant clusters, those that traditional grammarians recognize occur in the surface system. e.g., kayppu 'ripening', tirppu 'settlement, completion, judgment', kalppu 'close grain' (as of the heart of timber, essence, harden, solidity'. The remaining two types i.e., NPP and LPP do not occur in the surface system in Tamil. Notice, *katkku, *enkku, *makankku, "makaļkku, *nilkku and nilppu are not admissible in the surface system. However, after due phonological process, these constructions turn into karku 'to the eye', erku 'to me', makarku 'to the son', makatku 'to the daughter' nirk(u) and nirp(u) 'non past bases of nil 'to stand' (e.g., nirri (will) stand-you(sg)', nirkan 'standshe', nirpan 'will stand-he'), respectively.
R. Kothandaraman's "The Riddle that is Tamil' is a collection of 31 scholarly essays grouped under four sections viz Tamil movement, Phonology, Morphology and Syntax. Linguistic implications of pure Tamil movement, the first paper in this collection deals the issues related to Tamil movement which created so much controversies among Linguists, Politicians and Cultural activists. After analyzing the entire issue Kothandaraman came to the conclusion that this had neither anti Brahmin nor anti Sanskrit implications in the early stages. 'The Riddle that is Tamil' is an earnest attempt to explain the lexical source of the expression tamil. In another paper Kothandaraman tried to exploit Linguistics to examine place names ending in pur, puri, puram and ur. After a long discussion he concludes that the etymological connection of ur/ura with triplets pur/puri/puram is yet to be settled.
The papers appear under the sub titles Phonology, Morphology and syntax are comprehensive in content and analysis. Under the sub title phonology, issues like writing system, prejunctural plosives, semi vowels, NPP theory, word final nasals and empty markers in Tamil were analised with utmost linguistic care. Subtitle Morphology covers papers like Finite Verbal bases in Dravidian, Palatalized Verbal bases in Dravidian, Dative representation in Tamil etc. Sub title syntax contains eleven papers, having a wide range of topics like Verbal base as a sub class of Noun, Non-Finite Dravidian verbs, Emergence of gender Pronouns, Impersonal Finite system in Dravidian etc.
According to the author, the papers included in this book were thoroughly revised after taking into consideration the arguments and views emerged from symposiums and seminars. In total the analytical tactics followed in this book is attractive and elucidative. The impartiality kept by the author while dealing the emotional issues like pure Tamil movement, etymological observations on the word tamil and views on loan words are quite appreciable.
'Three Consonant Clusters in Tamil' authored by N.
Kumaraswami Raja included in this book is an obsequies before the profound memory of a great Dravidiologist.
This book is published with the grant of the Department of Tamil Development, Chennai.
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist