స sa becomes స్ as in tlie word తేజస్ tejas 'lustre.' Thus ప or pa becomes ప్ as అప్ ap i. e. water. These are Sanscrit words, and rarely occur in the free dialect.
The letter న Na assumes the form న్ as in the word యింటన్ intan 'in the house;' లోపలన్ lopalan 'within.'
This mark is called నకారపొల్లు nacara-pollu.
The letter ర R when followed by another consonant adds it beneath, as in the word area అర్క ar or sometimes changes places with it and assumes the form న్ thus అకన్ acr. So ధర్మం Dh r m, dharmatn, may also be written ధమర్ం, dh m r m. So కర్త cr carta 'a lord' may be written కతర్ c t r. Thus పూర్వం p r m purvam ' formerly' may be written పూవర్ం, p v r m. Either way the pronunciation is the same.
This mark is called గిలక gilaca (literally a rattle,) from a fancied resemblance in shape) or more usually వలపల గిలక valapala gilaka, which means, "the gilaca on the right hand," i. e. placed beyond the letter.
The letters of the alphabet appear very numerous, but the reason is that a separate character is used for each sound, instead of using the same letter with two or three different sounds, as happens in English.
The consonants also are multiplied and have such a variety of forms, because they use a separate shape for each variety of sound. T has one form and Th another; K has one form and Kh another. And this happens also in the Greek alphabet.
This spelling is easy; as the letters when correctly pronounced, never deviate from the sound given in the alphabet.
But a difficulty (felt by those who have advanced far) arises from the liberty of spelling the same word in various ways.
