Malayalam script

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Malayalam
Type Abugida
Spoken languages Malayalam
Konkani
Time period c. 1100–present
Parent systems Proto-Canaanite alphabet
 → Phoenician alphabet
  → Aramaic alphabet
   → Brāhmī
    → Grantha
     → Malayalam
Sister systems Sinhala
Tamil
Unicode range U+0D00–U+0D7F
ISO 15924 Mlym
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
The Brahmic script and its descendants

Brāhmī
Image:Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg This article contains Indic text.
Without rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Indic characters; or irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts.

The Malayalam script is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write the Malayalam language. From the Brahmi script, the Grantha script emerged as one of the earliest Southern scripts. It further evolved into the Malayalam script. The Malayalam script covers all the symbols of Sanskrit as well as special Dravidian letters. The alphabet is classified into two categories: swarams (or vowels) and vyanjanams (or consonants).

Contents

[edit] Vowels

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<
ൠ (pr) LONG VOCALIC R Obsolete/rarely used
ഌ VOCALIC L obsolete/rarely used
ൡ LONG 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
അ.
അ:

[edit] Consonants

Picture showing the relation of Malayalam to Brahmi
Picture showing the relation of Malayalam to Brahmi
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 CHA ch tʃ
ഛ CHHA chh tʃh
ജ JA j dʒ
ഝ JHA jh dʒɦ
ഞ NJA ñ or nj 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 THA th t
ഥ THHA thh th
ദ DA d d
Malayalam Unicode name Transliteration IPA
ധ DHA d dɦ
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 ɾ
ല LA l l
വ VA v ʋ
ശ SHA ṣ or s ɕ
ഷ SSA sś or sh ʃ
സ SA s s
ഹ HA h ɦ
ള LLA ḷ or ll ɭ
ഴ ZHA ḻ or zh ɻ
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 denote the absence of a vowel specifically, a chandrakkala ് (also called virama) is used.

[edit] Other symbols

Symbol Name Function
് virama or chandrakkala denotes the absence of a vowel
ം anusvara nasalizes the preceding vowel
ഃ visarga 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.

[edit] Digits

Malayalam digits are written as follows:

Malayalam Hindu-Arabic
൦ 0
൧ 1
൨ 2
൩ 3
൪ 4
൫ 5
൬ 6
൭ 7
൮ 8
൯ 9

[edit] Malayalam in Unicode

The Unicode range for Malayalam is U+0D00–U+0D7F. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points.

Malayalam
Unicode.org chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+0D0x     ം ഃ   അ ആ ഇ ഈ ഉ ഊ ഋ ഌ   എ ഏ
U+0D1x ഐ   ഒ ഓ ഔ ക ഖ ഗ ഘ ങ ച ഛ ജ ഝ ഞ ട
U+0D2x ഠ ഡ ഢ ണ ത ഥ ദ ധ ന   പ ഫ ബ ഭ മ യ
U+0D3x ര റ ല ള ഴ വ ശ ഷ സ ഹ         ാ ി
U+0D4x ീ ു ൂ ൃ     െ േ ൈ   ൊ ോ ൌ ്    
U+0D5x               ൗ                
U+0D6x ൠ ൡ         ൦ ൧ ൨ ൩ ൪ ൫ ൬ ൭ ൮ ൯
U+0D7x                                

[edit] See also

[edit] External links