Add the Schwa to Thamizh Dictionary

 Add the Schwa to Thamizh Dictionary

(Schwa is the fourth quadrant rotated image of 'e' in the second quadrant

What is the name given to the captain of the Chennai IPL team by the teams’/captain’s erstwhile rabid fans (they may no more be rabid as the team in the latest edition was buried below the wine cellar)? The answer: Thala, the “Head”.

This is corruption of the Thamizh word Thalai. The ‘ai’ has lost its tail, the ‘i’ while retaining the head, ‘a’.

The above is the start of my lesson on Thamizh pronunciation.

Ask any certified non-Thamizh to pronounce the Thamizh word, “Dosai” and listen keenly to how she pronounces it. It comes out as Dosa, and in all probability, the ending vowel voiced as elongated. Even a native Thamizh speaker does not want to be identified that she is a Thamizh native; there is apparently some shame attached to it. She would pass-off as a non-Thamizh and the pronunciation of “Dosai” as “Dosa” helps. I know this from my experience in the university canteen where the name of the breakfast fare is only “Dosa”, and not “Dosai”, among both Thamizh and non-Thamizh. 

“Dosa” is the common sound voiced among Thamizhs who have lived outside the state of Thamizh Nadu for a considerable stretch of their life, or they want to pass for a non-Thamizh when the shame factor kicks in. 

The response would be the same from a certified Thamizh. You would be excused if you thought the responder was a non-Thamizh (non-native speaker, or someone who has lived outside the state of Tamil Nadu (Please note that state’s official name is Tamil and I have no right to change it) for a considerable stretch of her life, or someone who wants to pass for a non-Thamizh as they feel shame to call the language his mother tongue (the last one, I call a pseudo-non-Thamizh!).

Thamizhs, speaking among Thamizhs and excluding pseudo-non-Thamizhs do not pronounce the word either as “Dosai” or “Dosa”. So how do they pronounce “Dosai”?

As “Dos”. Aha, the schwa (the shaded letter) enters the picture! Huh...what is a schwa? Schwa is given as a “the neutral mid-central (I do not know what this means; don’t mid- as well central mean nearly the same? I suppose mid- may not mean the precise centre. All confusing, as English takes pride in) vowel sound of the most unstressed syllables in English.” The fun is that the same dictionary gives example as “a” in the word “ago”. “a” is NOT the mid-central, as the word is of three letters and has two syllables, none of which could be called mid-central! But, I have digressed; my apologies. 

The critical point is that the “a” in “ago” is unstressed, and there the schwa appears. Yes, this “unstressed” is the critical point. I have argued that how a dictionary gives the meaning, indeed more the pronunciation is only a guide to it meaning in the context it is mentioned. Even an unstressed “i” as in “unity” is indicated by the schwa (I checked this, and it is so in the dictionary I refer). One purportedly need not even open their mouth to create the sound of. 

Ignore the last line above. A dosai is not a dosai when a certified Thamizh who is not ashamed of her mother tongue pronounces it. It is Dos. Yes it is, and this is not a singleton. Many years ago, a Thamizh song “Kolaveri dee” was a fad in Delhi and perhaps other North Indian cities and town too. Its written form in transliteration is neither “Kolaiveri dee, (meaning a strong impulse to murder, kolai) nor “Kolaveri dee” but “Kolveri dee”.

The same goes for cat, not “poonai” but “poon”; for elephant, not “yaanai” but “yaan”; for palm tree, not “Panai maram” but “Pan maram; for Coconut tree, not “thennai maram” but “thenn maram”; for younger sister, not “thangai” but “thang” (in some regional dialects, “thangacchi;); for “open the door”, not “kadhavaitthira” but “kadvtthre”, and the list is longer than the mythical tail of the monkey god Lord Hanuman.

M. S. Dhoni’s nickname? Not Thala but Thal.

Raghuram Ekambaram