Malayalam script: Difference between revisions
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{{Unicode chart Malayalam}} |
{{Unicode chart Malayalam}} |
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MUNEER |
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MALAPPURAM |
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== See also == |
== See also == |
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Revision as of 04:16, 4 January 2009
| Malayalam | |
|---|---|
| Script type | |
Time period | c. 1100–present |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Languages | Malayalam Konkani |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Sister systems | Sinhala Tamil |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Mlym (347), Malayalam |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Malayalam |
| U+0D00–U+0D7F | |
| Brahmic scripts |
|---|
| The Brahmi script and its descendants |
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. Early Malayalam was heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Tamil. Earliest records of the Malayalam writing system include inscriptions on rock and metallic plates from around 10th century CE [1]. Nowadays, written Malayalam is widely used in the press of the Malayali population in Kerala, India. [1]
Malayalam is traditionally written from left to right and each character represents a syllable though modifications in modern times have incorporated alphabetic elements into the script.[2] During 1970-1980, a simplified script of Malayalam emerged in which the diacritics were linearized so that complex characters could be organized from left to right to simplify typesetting in printing presses. Further modifications also broke up consonant clusters into more atomic characters. Though both these modifications aim to make the script more alphabetic, the changes are not consistent across all of the characters.[2]
The characters are classified into two categories: swarams (or vowels) and vyanjanams (or consonants). Swarams include 5 long and short vowels (a,i,e,o,u) and two additional symbols: the enuciative vowel /ə/ and the marginal segement found in english borrow words. Vowels also occur in phonetic dipthongs though only two are expressed as unitary symbols (/ai/ and /au/). vyanjanams include stops, fricative, nasals, liquids and glides.[3]
In the Malayalam Script, there are many ways to form words. In the most straightforward case, svaram and vyanjanam character can be strung together to form words. Often, it is more complicated because svaram characters are used only when a word begins with a vowel and vyanjanam characters are used to signify a consonant and a vowel[2].
Stop and fricative consonants do not occur in the final position of words. Certain nasal consonants do (m, n) and can end words depending on the dialect(ɳ, l, ɭ, ɾ, and y). Consonants all can occur in the initial position of a word except for ɳ, ŋ, ɭ, and z.[3]
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 | ɹ̩ | |
| ൠ | (pr) | LONG VOCALIC R | ɹ̩ː | Obsolete/rarely used | ||
| ഌ | VOCALIC L | l̩ | obsolete/rarely used | |||
| ൡ | LONG VOCALIC L | l̩ː | 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 | ൌ | പൗ | (pau) | AU | au | |
| അം | (pum) | UM | um | |||
| അഃ | (pah) | AH | ah |
It is important to note the vowel duration as it is can be used to differentiate words that would otherwise be the same. For example, /kalam/ means "earthernware pot" while /kaalam/ means "time" or "season". [3]
Consonants
| 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 though with some vowels such as "u" and "ū" are irregular with certain consonants. 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.
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.
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 |
Unicode for Malayalam
The Unicode range for Malayalam is U+0D00–U+0D7F. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points.
| Malayalam[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+0D0x | ഀ | ഁ | ം | ഃ | ഄ | 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 | ഩ | പ | ഫ | ബ | ഭ | മ | യ |
| U+0D3x | ര | റ | ല | ള | ഴ | വ | ശ | ഷ | സ | ഹ | ഺ | ഻ | ഼ | ഽ | ാ | ി |
| U+0D4x | ീ | ു | ൂ | ൃ | ൄ | െ | േ | ൈ | ൊ | ോ | ൌ | ് | ൎ | ൏ | ||
| U+0D5x | ൔ | ൕ | ൖ | ൗ | ൘ | ൙ | ൚ | ൛ | ൜ | ൝ | ൞ | ൟ | ||||
| U+0D6x | ൠ | ൡ | ൢ | ൣ | ൦ | ൧ | ൨ | ൩ | ൪ | ൫ | ൬ | ൭ | ൮ | ൯ | ||
| U+0D7x | ൰ | ൱ | ൲ | ൳ | ൴ | ൵ | ൶ | ൷ | ൸ | ൹ | ൺ | ൻ | ർ | ൽ | ൾ | ൿ |
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
See also
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
References
- ^ a b Andronov, Mikhail Sergeevich. A Grammar of the Malayalam Language in Historical Treatment. Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1996.
- ^ a b c The World's Writing Systems. Ed. Daniels, Peter T.Bright, William,1928-2006. New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.
- ^ a b c Asher, R. E. Malayalam. Ed. T. C. Kumari 1934-. London ; New York : Routledge, 1997.