TTaammiill((ssoolluuttiioonnss))
                       TTaammiill((ssoolluuttiioonnss))
                       SolutionsbyMorrisAlper,problembyAnandNatarajan
                       BelowaresomewordsintheTamillanguage,transcribedusingasystemofphoneticsymbols
                       developedbyAmericanlinguistsinthe20thcentury.Thesymbol“:”followingavowelindicatesthatit
                       islong,ṭ,ḍandṇareretroflexversionsoft,d,n(pronouncedwiththetonguecurledbackwards),č
                       soundslikeEnglish“ch”,šlikeEnglish“sh”,ǰlikeEnglish“j”,ñlikeSpanishñin“Español”,ðlike
                       English“th”in“that”,βislikeSpanish“v”in“lavar”,ɹ̣ isaretroflexsoundlikeEnglishorMandarin
                       “r”,γislikeSpanishgin“pagar”,ŋislikeEnglishngin“sing”,ḷisaretroflexversionofl,andɨ
                       representsahighcentralunroundedvowel,likeRussianыorGuarani“y”.
                            
                            1.  vi:ḍɨ                 “house”                                           26. paṇam                 “money”
                            2.  paɹạ m               “fruit”                                           27. naṇḍɨ                 “crab”
                            3.  kaβam                 “phlegm”                                          28. aŋge:                 “there”
                            4.  iḍaðɨ                 “left”                                            29. čirippɨ               “laughter”
                            5.  vaŋgi                 “bank”                                            30. aččam                 “fear”
                            6.  ka:ḍɨ                 “forest”                                          31. viral                 “finger”
                            7.  ka:ṭṭɨ                “show!”                                           32. namakkɨ                “tous”
                            8.  añǰɨ                  “fear!”                                           33. ru:βa:y               “rupee”
                            9.  pe:ččɨ                “speech”                                          34. vanda:y               “youcame”
                            10. čonne:n               “Isaid”                                          35. mo:šam                “bad”
                            11. romba                 “very(colloquial)”                               36. tamiɹ̣                “Tamil”
                            12. maγan                 “son”                                             37. ya:ɹ̣                 “harp”
                            13. makkaḷ                “people”                                          38. ella:m                “everything”
                            14. ka:ppa:tta             “toprotect”                                      39. malar                 “flower”
                            15. muðɨγɨ                “back”
                            16. kuppai                “trash”                                     
                            17. eɹɨ̣ ttɨ              “letter”
                            18. eɹɨ̣ ðɨ               “write!”
                            19. mu:ñǰi                “face(colloquial)”
                            20. arivɨ                 “knowledge”
                            21. pe:šɨ                 “speak!”
                            22. pe:ši                 “havingspoken”
                            23. činna                 “small”
                            24. pašikkiraðɨ            “isfeelinghungry”
                            25. toṇḍai                “throat”
                   AAssssiiggnnmmeenntt11::Ifyoustudythedatacarefully,youwillnoticethatnotallofthesoundsappearinall
                   AAssssiiggnnmmeenntt11::
                   positionsinaword.Thisiscalled“defectivedistribution”bylinguists.Describetheenvironmentsin
                   whicheachsoundinTamiloccurs.Youmayignoretheconsonant“y”forthisexercise.Ifyoufeelthat
                   youdon’thaveenoughdatatodrawasolidconclusion,pleasementionthis.
                    
                   Allgeminatesappearintervocalically.
                   
                   Wehavenoexamplesofgeminatefricatives,andallvoicedfricativesappearintervocalically,exceptfor
                   whichappearsatthebeginningof"viral","vanda:y".
                   
                   Voicedplosivesonlyappearbeforenasals,whichalwaysmatchtheirplaceofarticulation,exceptfor
                   <ḍ>whichalsoappearsintervocalicallyin4.
                   
                   Voicelessplosivestonotappearintervocalically,except<ḍ>in4.
                   
                   <š>appearsinthesameconditionsasvoicedfricatives,and<č>appearsinthesameconditionsas
                   voicelessplosives.
                   
                   <ɹ>̣   onlyappearsintervocalicallyorattheendofaword
                   Syllablestructureisgenerally(N)C(:)V(:),meaningoptionallyanasalonsetifthefollowingconsonant
                   isaplosiveoraffricate,apossiblygeminateconsonant,andapossiblylongvowel.However,thefinal
                   syllableinawordmayhaveacodaof.Also,thefirstsyllableinawordneednot
                   haveaconsonantalonset,anditmaynotcontaintheoptionalnasalorageminateconsonant.
                   <ñ,ŋ>onlyappearasanasalonsettosyllablescontainingvoicedconsonantsoftheirplaceof
                   articulation.
                   
                   
       AAssssiiggnnmmeenntt22::Inordertodescribethesoundsystemsoflanguages,linguistsmakeuseofthenotionof
       AAssssiiggnnmmeenntt22::
       the“phoneme.”Aphonemeis“acontrastiveunitinthesoundsystemofaparticularlanguage.”In
       structurallinguistics,eachphonemehasaseriesofrealizations(actualsoundsthatareproducedbythe
       speaker).Realizationsofthesamephonemearecalled“allophones.”Knowingthis,howmany
       phonemesarethereinTamil?Foreach,givetheirallophonesandtheenvironmentsinwhichtheyoccur.
       Vowels
       /a/,/e/,/i/,/u/,/o/
       /ɨ/onlyappearsinthelastsyllableorinasyllableadjacenttoonecontaining/ɨ/
       /a:/,/e:/,/o:/,/i:/,/u:/
       
       [NB:InthetraditionalanalysisofTamil,ɨisconsideredanallophoneof/u/innoninitialsyllables.
       However,thisisnotcompletelyclearfromthegivendata.]
       
       Plosives/Affricateslistedallophonesoccurintervocalicallyandafteranasal,respectively
       /p/[β],[b]
       /t/[ð],[d]
       /č/[š],[ǰ]
       /ṭ/[ḍ],[ḍ]
       /k/[γ],[g]
       
       Nasals
       /m/,/n/,/ṇ/,/N/archiphoneme;onlyoccursbeforeaplosive/affricateandassimilatestoitsPOA
       ([ñ,ŋ]arenotphonemic)
       
       Approximants/Trills
       /v/,/l/,/y/,/r/,/ɹ/̣ 
        
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       NNBB::TheTamillanguageisaDravidianlanguagespokenintheSouthIndianstateofTamilNadu.Itis
       NNBB::
       spokenbyapproximately77millionspeakers.