Malayalam script

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Malayalam
Type:	Abugida
Languages:	Malayalam language
Time period:
ISO 15924 code:	`Mlym`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

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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.

Image:Brahmi mal1.gif

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.

**Malayalam 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<
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 consonants**
Malayalam	Unicode Name	Transliteration	IPA
ക	KA	k	k
ഖ	KHA	kh	k^h
ഗ	GA	g	g
ഘ	GHA	gh	g^ɦ
ങ	NGA	n or ng	ŋ
ച	CA	c	tʃ
ഛ	CHA	ch	tʃ^h
ജ	JA	j	dʒ
ഝ	JHA	jh	dʒ^ɦ
ഞ	NYA	ñ or ny	ɲ
ട	TTA	ṭ or tt	ʈ
ഠ	TTHA	ṭh or tth	ʈ^h
ഡ	DDA	ḍ or dd	ɖ
ഢ	DDHA	ḍh or ddh	ɖ^ɦ
ണ	NNA	ṇ or nn	ɳ
ത	TA	t	t
ഥ	THA	th	t^h
ദ	DA	d	d
ധ	DHA	d	d^<
ന	NA	n	n
പ	PA	p	p
ഫ	PHA	ph	p^h
ബ	BA	b	b
ഭ	BHA	bh	b^ɦ
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. </p>

**Other Malayalam symbols**
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 numerals**
Malayalam	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.

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

ൢ

ൣ

൤

൥

൦

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

[edit] See also

v • d • e</div> South Indian Society
Languages	Kannada - Kodava Takk - Malayalam - Tamil - Telugu - Tulu
Script	Kannada script - Malayalam script - Tamil script - Telugu script - Tulu script
Literature	Kannada literature - Malayalam literature - Tamil literature - Telugu literature - Tulu literature
People	Kannada people - Kodava people - Malayali people - Tamil people - Telugu people - Tulu people
Music	Carnatic Music - Ancient Tamil music
States	Andhra Pradesh - Karnataka - Kerala - Tamil Nadu
Related	South India - South Indian culture - Self-respect movement