Malayalam script
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The Malayalam script is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write the Malayalam language. Both the language and its writing system are closely related to Tamil, although Malayalam has a larger phoneme inventory.
The alphabet is classified into two categories: swarams (or vowels) and vyanjanams (or consonants).
If you don't have a font that has Malayalam characters and Unicode support, the Malayalam characters in the following tables may not appear correctly.
| Letter | Vowel sign | Vowel with [p] | Unicode name | IPA | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| അ | പ | (pa) | A | a | short 'a' | |
| ആ | ാ | പാ | (pā) | AA | aː | long 'a' |
| ഇ | ി | പി | (pi) | I | i | short 'i' |
| ഈ | ീ | പീ | (pī) | II | iː | long 'i' |
| ഉ | ു | പു | (pu) | U | u | short 'u' |
| ഊ | ൂ | പൂ | (pu) | UU | uː | long 'u' |
| ഋ | ൃ | പൃ | (pr) | VOCALIC R | r< | |
| ഌ | VOCALIC L | obsolete/rarely used | ||||
| എ | െ | പെ | (pe) | E | e | short 'e' |
| ഏ | േ | പേ | (pē) | E | eː | long 'e' |
| ഐ | ൈ | പൈ | (pai) | AI | ai | |
| ഒ | ൊ | പൊ | (po) | O | o | short 'o' |
| ഓ | ോ | പോ | (pō) | OO | oː | long 'o' |
| ഔ | ൌ | പൌ | (pau) | AU | au |
| Malayalam | Unicode Name | Transliteration | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| ക | KA | k | k |
| ഖ | KHA | kh | kh |
| ഗ | GA | g | g |
| ഘ | GHA | gh | gɦ |
| ങ | NGA | n or ng | ŋ |
| ച | CA | c | tʃ |
| ഛ | CHA | ch | tʃh |
| ജ | JA | j | dʒ |
| ഝ | JHA | jh | dʒɦ |
| ഞ | NYA | ñ or ny | ɲ |
| ട | TTA | ṭ or tt | ʈ |
| ഠ | TTHA | ṭh or tth | ʈh |
| ഡ | DDA | ḍ or dd | ɖ |
| ഢ | DDHA | ḍh or ddh | ɖɦ |
| ണ | NNA | ṇ or nn | ɳ |
| ത | TA | t | t |
| ഥ | THA | th | th |
| ദ | DA | d | d |
| ധ | DHA | d | d< |
| ന | NA | n | n |
| പ | PA | p | p |
| ഫ | PHA | ph | ph |
| ബ | BA | b | b |
| ഭ | BHA | bh | bɦ |
| മ | MA | m | m |
| യ | YA | y | j |
| ര | RA | r | r |
| ല | LA | l | l |
| വ | VA | v | ʋ |
| ശ | SHA | ś or sh | ɕ |
| ഷ | SSA | ṣ or ss | ʃ |
| സ | SA | s | s |
| ഹ | HA | h | ɦ |
| ള | LLA | ḷ or ll | ɭ |
| ഴ | LLLA | ḻ or lll | ɹ |
| റ | RRA | ṟ or rr | r |
There is no distinction of case, i.e. no uppercase and lowercase letters. Diacritics, or vowel signs, are used to associate a vowel to a consonant. When no diacritic is used, the vowel sound 'a' is assumed. To specifically denote the absence of a vowel, a chandrakkala ് (also called virama) is used.
| Symbol | Name | Function |
|---|---|---|
| ് | virama or chandrakkala | denotes the absence of a vowel |
| ം | anusvaaram | nasalizes the preceding vowel |
| ഃ | visargam | adds voiceless breath after vowel (like h) |
In addition to these symbols, there are many more symbols to indicate ligatures of the various consonants with each other.
Malayalam digits are written as follows:
| Malayalam | Arabic |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| ൧ | 1 |
| ൨ | 2 |
| ൩ | 3 |
| ൪ | 4 |
| ൫ | 5 |
| ൬ | 6 |
| ൭ | 7 |
| ൮ | 8 |
| ൯ | 9 |
Malayalam in Unicode
The Unicode range for Malayalam is U+0D00 ... U+0D7F.
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | ||
| D00 | ഀ | ഁ | ം | ഃ | ഄ | അ | ആ | ഇ | ഈ | ഉ | ഊ | ഋ | ഌ | | എ | ഏ | |
| D10 | ഐ | | ഒ | ഓ | ഔ | ക | ഖ | ഗ | ഘ | ങ | ച | ഛ | ജ | ഝ | ഞ | ട | |
| D20 | ഠ | ഡ | ഢ | ണ | ത | ഥ | ദ | ധ | ന | ഩ | പ | ഫ | ബ | ഭ | മ | യ | |
| D30 | ര | റ | ല | ള | ഴ | വ | ശ | ഷ | സ | ഹ | ഺ | ഻ | ഼ | ഽ | ാ | ി | |
| D40 | ീ | ു | ൂ | ൃ | ൄ | | െ | േ | ൈ | | ൊ | ോ | ൌ | ് | ൎ | ൏ | |
| D50 | | | | | ൔ | ൕ | ൖ | ൗ | ൘ | ൙ | ൚ | ൛ | ൜ | ൝ | ൞ | ൟ | |
| D60 | ൠ | ൡ | ൢ | ൣ | | | 0 | ൧ | ൨ | ൩ | ൪ | ൫ | ൬ | ൭ | ൮ | ൯ | |
| D70 | ൰ | ൱ | ൲ | ൳ | ൴ | ൵ | ൶ | ൷ | ൸ | ൹ | ൺ | ൻ | ർ | ൽ | ൾ | ൿ |
See also
- List of alphabets
- Grantha Script
External links
- [Website including resources for learning Malayalam script]
- [Unicode Code Chart for Malayalam (PDF Format)]
- [Malayalam Unicode fonts]
- [Indian Language Converter] Web-based tool to transliterate from Romanised English to Unicode Malayalam
- ['moodle' in Malayalam] Virtual Learning Environment
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