Page:Tamil studies.djvu/398

Rh (8) Surds in most cases are changed into nasals. குஞ்சி becomes குஞ்ஞி; குன்று, குன்னு ; நரம்பு, ஞரம்பு ; நாறு, ஞாற்று ; அங்கு, அங்ஙு ; தாழ்ந்த, தாண ; பஞ்சு, பஞ்ஞி ; &c.

This change is noticeable in the early Tamil works of the Chera poets. Malayalam has a softer and more nasalized sound than Tamil. And this may be due to the climatic conditions in the Kerala country, which has an unusual rain-fall of 116 inches in a year. The peculiarities of the Malayalam language may be stated curtly thus : 'it is the home-speech of a Brahman-oppressed Dravidian race, whose vocal organs were affected by an incessant cold'. Highly cultivated languages like Sanskrit or Tamil are always free from such confusions which characterize the lower stages of a human speech.

We shall conclude this short essay with a statement of the circumstances which led to the origin of the Malayalain language. It must not be difficult to determine them as the change has taken place within the past six or seven hundred years.

(1) The natural facilities for communication between the East and the West coasts of the Indian Peninsula were very little. The lofty ranges of ihe Western Ghats, with only a few passes between, and the impenetrable and extensive forests down the sides cut off the two regions.

(2) The marriage connections between the Chera and the two other Tamil dynasties had ceased partly on account of the extinction of the