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Another aspect of oral work which has come in for detailed attention at the hands of our author relates to the need for speech education as an integral part of language education. Not many, even among Tamilians, may know that the Tamil language is among the first languages of the world to have systematised its phonetics in the manner found in the Tolkappiam and later gramaical works. Ignorance of this has led to disastrous consequences. Though, unlike in Sanskrit, the letter symbols of Tamil do not cover all sounds, some of the letters are in combination in a word do haves, sounds other than the basic ones for which they stand in the alphabetical system. Thus, we write in Tamil Ka, m, pa, ms in combination as a word unit we do not pronounce it or transliterate it as "Kampan' but as 'Kamban*. Another 'instance is Pa, n, ta, mn. This is not transliterated as “Pantam’ but as “Pandam'. Ko, n, tu, is not to be transliterated as ‘Kontu' but as ‘Kondu'. Va, n, t, aa, n is not “Vantaan' but ‘Vandaan’. We could multiply instances in respect of the multiple sound-purposes of certain jetters in combination in words. Professor Reddiar has devoted the requisite length to the importance of the ‘Oli Ayal’ in Tamil. I am not aware of any other scholar in Tamil who has emphasised the need for codifying the phonetic principles of Tamil as they are available in the earliest grammatical works; and the day may not be far off when Professor Reddiar's inspiration produces a Daniel Jones for Tamil.
The discussion on oral and silent reading is really scholarly. The author has distinguished three types of reading : developmental, recreational and functional. Language education is, to a large extent, self-education in so far as it relates to the mother-tongue. The role of the teacher will be as much a negative one as it would
