Tamil liquids: An investigation into the basis of the contrast among five liquids in a dialect of Tamil

Abstract

The Brahmin dialect of Tamil (Dravidian) has an unusual inventory of five distinctive liquid sounds: plain and retroflex rhotics, and plain and retroflex laterals, and a fifth liquid which has been variously described as a rhotic, a lateral, a glide and/or a fricative. This paper investigates the articulatory, acoustic, and perceptual properties of these liquids, and, in particular, the fifth liquid. Electropalatography (EPG) and static palatography were used to examine the articulatory properties of the liquids, the acoustic properties of the liquids were examined, and we tested the intelligibility of the EPG recordings in a perception experiment. Our intent is to propose a classification for the fifth liquid based on these studies. The fifth liquid is classified as a retroflex central approximant, with characteristics that make it distinct from the other liquids along three dimensions of contrast: static ∼ dynamic, central ∼ lateral and retroflex ∼ non-retroflex.