| We have
now come across 15 vowels and 36 consonants. In this session, we would
look at how words are formed by combining the sounds
of these vowels
and consonants. |
| First,
let us see how this is done in English: to produce two
different sounds using the same consonant, the corresponding vowel
letter is added. For instance, consider the words, sip and seep, both
starting with the same consonant, 's'.
Changing the
vowel from 'i'
to 'ee' , has
changed the sound to produce an
entirely new word. This is what makes 'a',
'e', 'i', 'o' and 'u' so powerful
and indispensible. (Recall your frustration
while playing scrabble games with no vowels in hand). |
| In Malayalam, as
already mentioned in the earlier
lessons,
vowel letters are substituted with certrain symbols, when they are used
to change the sound of a consonant. These symbols are called as 'maatras',
and
can
be
used
with
any
of
the
36
consonants.
This
means,
that
for
all
practical
purposes, the vowel letters you learnred in Lesson 2 are
written as such, only when a word begins
with a vowel. Within or at the end of a word, these symbols replace the
vowel letter. |
| How
many symbols? There are 15 vowels and therefore, there are 14
symbols. The first vowel sound, 'ah', need not
be added to a consonant since the default sound of each consonant
includes 'ah'. ( 'ka' = 'ka' + 'ah') |