Roman transliteration of Tamil n's

[S Krishna]

With respect to the n-n2, r- R discussion, we have:


>
>        (similar to Midwestern American r). The two r's are: r=
alveolar flap or
>        single tap; R/_r is an alveolar trill which developed from
Proto-Dravidian
>        alveolar stop in the intervocalic position. Like Old Tamil,Old
Telugu and
>        Old Kannada also had two r's but in modern languages there is
only one; the
>        trill R merged with the flap r. Only Tamil scholars try to
distinguish the
>        two in reading.
>


 I have been told that the koDAgu dialect of kannaDa retains some of the
features of archiac kannaDa; further it has also been influenced by
malayALam....I therefore remember being told by somebody who was
familiar(atleast to some extent) with the koDAgu dialect that the locals
retain the otherwise archiac difference in pronounciation of the _r & R.
I believe that this may be correct since modern Malayalam retains the
difference, old kannaDa maintained the difference and by virtue of being
related to both, koDAgu kannaDa does retin the difference. Can anybody
please confirm this for me? It would also be interesting to see if tuLu
retains the difference.....

REgards,
Krishna

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