Thank you both!
Yes an alternative spelling of long vowels, such as அ+ா instead of ஆ would be an example. Other situations I could envision why that would happen could be to express even-longer-than-long vowels, like ஆ+ா, or alternative spellings of diphthongs or diphthongs that do not exist Tamil. I have not seen these myself but wanted to check with others.
In fact I am interested in any cases where the initial vowel would take any mark - how about pulli on vowels?
I am imagining not everyone is adhering to the Tolkāppiyam rules, be it either modern usage, transliteration of other languages, or manipravalam texts.
Best regards,
Jan
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> On Behalf Of a.murugaiyan
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2022 1:52 PM
To: indology@list.indology.info
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Tamil initial vowels with vowel signs
Dear Jan,
Do you mean அ+ா instead of ஆ at the initial position?
Best regards.
A. Murugaiyan
Le 19/05/2022 à 12:22, Jan Kučera a écrit :