Page:Tamil studies.djvu/393

366 GRAMMAR:—To determine what words are of pure Tamil origin and what not, we have definite grammatical rules giving the letters which should come at the beginning, middle and end of words. This is not possible in the case of Malayalam which has freely borrowed words from Sanskrit and foreign languages and incorporated them in its vocabulary.

The coalescence of letters or sandhi in Malayalam, owing to the influence of Sanskrit, follows wholly neither the rules of Sanskrit nor of Tamil. Sometimes the one, sometimes the other is followed, and in some cases neither. Sanskrit rules are sometimes applied to Tamil words. The expression location 06515f, if the Tamil rules are applied, must be SOLO 6361 and @ETHW + Dow will become சொல்லவில்ல and not சொல்லீல்ல, inor are they according to the Sanskrit rules. பல + இடம் will be in Tamil பலவிடம் and not பலேடம் as in Malayalam, In the last example the Sanskrit rules are applied to pure Tamil words. Many of the Tamil sandhis which existed in early Malayalam or Tamil have now become obsolete, as in all LVL, 67 007 49 205, மேற் றரம் (now மேத்தரம்), பொற்றுடி (பொல்த்துடி), &c. In Malayalam ண் +ச becomes ஞ்ச, ந் + க becomes ங்க, ள் + த becomes ஓத்த or த்த, but these are not allowed by the Tamil rules of sandhi. The Malayalis cared more for ease and always tried to avoid difficulties instead of facing them boldly. Hence, they have abbreviated several compounds : thus, செய்து + கொள்ள + ஆம் has become செய்தோளாம்,