Progress Of Indic Languages Vs English - 2

[Hauma Hamiddha]

Swamy- I am in agreement with BV 's take on this issue. I think the possessor of a proper name like a company or a personal name can insist on or demand a particular pronunciation. But enforcing it is not possible for dialect differences are a fact of a languages. Of course in the case of literary languages like Tamil one can point to a correct standard as opposed to a vulgar dialect. But the latter is still a natural development and likely to prevail among its speakers.

However, due to lacking certain consonants Tamil tends to develop pronunciations that are largely unacceptable in other languages (e.g. ka/kha/ga/gha all merging). So such words if pronounced outside of Tam in that style are wrong in the context of the other language.

As for the "zh" in Tamil (or Tamizh) it is part of the peculiar linguistic evolution in the sub-continent cutting across linguistic superfamilies:
The following sounds are homologized in the sub-continent and may acquire any of the given values:
R*<->Dha/Da<->La<->zha
* a sound as in Hindi laDka=boy
In the R^igvedic dialect we have La as in iLA. In the yajurvedic dialect it is IDA. In the Nambuthiri RV and SV recitation we here zha for La as in Tamil.

Pandyan The blog will remain in wordpress until any change is announced.