Tamil phonology

Tamil phonology (English pronunciation: /ˈtæmɪl/; தமிழ்; Tamiḻ; [t̪ɐmɨɻ];  pronunciation ) is characterised by the presence of retroflex consonants and multiple rhotic consonants. It does not distinguish phonologically between voiced and unvoiced consonants; phonetically, voice is assigned depending on a consonant's position in a word. Tamil phonology permits few consonant clusters, which can never be word initial. Native grammarians classify Tamil phonemes into vowels, consonants, and a "secondary character", the āytam.

The vowels are called uyir ezhuthu ('life letter'). The vowels are classified into short and long (five of each type) and two diphthongs.

The long (nedil) vowels are about twice as long as the short (kuṟil) vowels. The diphthongs are usually pronounced about one and a half times as long as the short vowels, though most grammatical texts place them with the long vowels.

Tamil has two diphthongs /aɪ/ ஐ and /aʊ/ ஔ, the latter of which is restricted to a few lexical items.

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