--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "suzmccarth" <suzmccarth@...> wrote:

> Yes, but 'brook', from the quote, would actually be [pirUk]. Or
> would it be pUrUk? I don't think there are initial voiced

consonants

> in Tamil anyway. So, obviously no voiceless vowel after a voiced
> consonant.

Spoken Tamil does have initial voiced stops - or so it is often
reported, e.g. look at
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/book/chapter1/chapter1.html
and follow the link to voiced consonants.

Richard.