ಶುಕ್ರವಾರ, ಜನವರಿ 08, 2016

Palatalization of *k- to c- in Tamil



From Dravidian Etymological Dictionary. 
PDr *k- is palatalized in Tamil before front vowels (an approximate statement); Tamil, therefore, in many forms has the initial phoneme c- when the reconstructed PDr form would have k-.

From the following table, its evident that Kannada preseves Proto Dravidian's (PDr) *k- as it is whereas Tamil has switched to 'c-'



However, when 'k' is followed by pattern [front vowel][retroflex], switching to 'c-' doesn't occur in Tamil.

Kannada  Tamil   English
kēḷ            kēḷ       to ask, to hear

Here ē is front vowel
        ḷ is a retroflex