| Feature | Tamil | Sinhala | |---------|-------|---------| | Language family | Dravidian | Indo-Aryan (related to Sanskrit, Pali, Hindi) | | Script type | Abugida (vowel diacritics attached to consonants) | Abugida (similar to Brahmic scripts) | | Direction | Left to right | Left to right | | Number of letters | 247 (12 vowels, 18 consonants, 1 special character, plus combined forms) | ~54–60 basic letters (plus many conjuncts and modifiers; total glyphs > 300) | | Notable feature | No aspirated or voiced consonants (e.g., no kha , ga separate from ka ) | Differentiates voiced, unvoiced, aspirated, and nasal sounds | | Official in | India (Tamil Nadu, Puducherry), Sri Lanka, Singapore | Sri Lanka | 2. The Tamil Alphabet (தமிழ் அரிச்சுவடி) Tamil is known for its phonetic simplicity and syllabic structure . It avoids many distinctions found in other Indian scripts. 2.1 Vowels (Uyir Ezhuththu – "Soul Letters") – 12 Tamil vowels are independent forms and also appear as diacritics (called uyir kkurukkam or short modifiers) attached to consonants.
ඓ (ai), ඖ (au) – rare, mainly in Sanskrit loans. 3.2 Consonants (Vyanjana) – ~40 Sinhala organizes consonants by place of articulation and voicing/aspiration . Velar (back of mouth) | Unvoiced unasp. | Unvoiced asp. | Voiced unasp. | Voiced asp. | Nasal | |----------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|-------| | ක (ka) | ඛ (kha) | ග (ga) | ඝ (gha) | ඞ (ṅa) | Palatal | ච (ca) | ඡ (cha) | ජ (ja) | ඣ (jha) | ඤ (ña) | Retroflex (tongue curled back) | ට (ṭa) | ඨ (ṭha) | ඩ (ḍa) | ඪ (ḍha) | ණ (ṇa) | Dental (tongue against teeth) | ත (ta) | ථ (tha) | ද (da) | ධ (dha) | න (na) | Labial (lips) | ප (pa) | ඵ (pha) | බ (ba) | භ (bha) | ම (ma) | Semivowels, sibilants, liquids | Letter | Sound | |--------|-------| | ය | ya | | ර | ra | | ල | la | | ව | va | | ශ | śa (palatal sh) | | ෂ | ṣa (retroflex sh) | | ස | sa (dental s) | | හ | ha | | ළ | ḷa (retroflex l) | 3.3 Diacritics (Pilli) Like Tamil, Sinhala vowels are attached to consonants as diacritics. Example with ක් (k + inherent a removed): tamil sinhala alphabet
| Short | Long | IPA | |-------|------|-----| | அ (a) | ஆ (ā) | /a/, /aː/ | | இ (i) | ஈ (ī) | /i/, /iː/ | | உ (u) | ஊ (ū) | /u/, /uː/ | | எ (e) | ஏ (ē) | /e/, /eː/ | | ஐ (ai) | – | /aɪ/ | | ஒ (o) | ஓ (ō) | /o/, /oː/ | | ஔ (au) | – | /aʊ/ | | Feature | Tamil | Sinhala | |---------|-------|---------|
| Letter | IPA | Sound example | |--------|-----|----------------| | க் | /k/ | ey | | ங் | /ŋ/ | si ng | | ச் | /t͡ʃ/ | ch in | | ஞ் | /ɲ/ | ca ny on | | ட் | /ʈ/ | t op (retroflex) | | ண் | /ɳ/ | retroflex n | | த் | /t̪/ | dental t (like Spanish t ) | | ந் | /n̪/ | dental n | | ப் | /p/ | p in | | ம் | /m/ | m an | | ய் | /j/ | y es | | ர் | /ɾ/ | Spanish pe r o | | ல் | /l/ | l amp | | வ் | /ʋ/ | between v and w | | ழ் | /ɻ/ | retroflex approximant (unique to Tamil/Malayalam) | | ள் | /ɭ/ | retroflex l | | ற் | /r/ | trilled r (Italian r ) | | ன் | /n/ | alveolar n (English n ) | 2.3 Special Character – Āytam (ஃ) Represents a voiced fricative (like /h/ or /f/) used in borrowed words or poetic contexts. Rare. 2.4 Combined Forms (Uyirmey Ezhuththu – 216) Each of the 18 consonants combines with the 12 vowels (minus the inherent a ). Example with க் (k): Velar (back of mouth) | Unvoiced unasp
| Consonant + vowel | Tamil | Sound | |------------------|-------|-------| | க் + அ | க | ka | | க் + ஆ | கா | kā | | க் + இ | கி | ki | | க் + ஈ | கீ | kī | | … and so on | | | Sinhala is more complex. It distinguishes voiced/unvoiced , aspirated/unaspirated , and has conjunct consonants (like Sanskrit). Sinhala uses two main sets: Shuddha Sinhala (pure Sinhala, ~54 letters) and Miśra Sinhala (additional letters for Sanskrit/Pali loans). 3.1 Vowels (Swara) – 14 basic (each with short/long) | Short | Long | IPA | |-------|------|-----| | අ (a) | ආ (ā) | /a/, /aː/ | | ඉ (i) | ඊ (ī) | /i/, /iː/ | | උ (u) | ඌ (ū) | /u/, /uː/ | | එ (e) | ඒ (ē) | /e/, /eː/ | | ඔ (o) | ඕ (ō) | /o/, /oː/ | | – | ඇ (æ) | /æ/ (like a in cat ) | | – | ඈ (ǣ) | /æː/ |
ஐ and ஔ are diphthongs. 2.2 Consonants (Mey Ezhuththu – "Body Letters") – 18 Tamil consonants are unaspirated and unvoiced (except for the 3 nasal sounds). Each consonant inherently contains the short vowel a (அ). To remove the vowel, use the pulli (dot) above the letter.